Lord of the Dice
with Eric Goldberg
[A complete, original roleplaying gaming in 500 words or less! A dramatic advance in the state of the art of game design! Sort of, at any rate. This is what happens when you stay up too late gaming. Be warned.]
(1.0) Introduction
Lord of the Dice is a simple, easy to play fantasy roleplaying game. It is specifically geared to those people who wish to join this fascinating hobby without having to learn extremely complicated rules, and is also challenging enough to interest the veteran roleplayer. The Player assumes the role of an adventurer in a fantasy world, and allows his persona to merge with that of the character. Creativity is necessary to this game; the more fertile the Player's imagination, the better the game.
(2.0) General Course of Play
One Player is designated the Gamesmaster; it is his "world" the other Players will adventure with their characters. The Gamesmaster co-ordinates the Players' characters within his concept of a fantasy world. He is responsible for adjudicating all actions of the Players' characters in as logical and coherent a manner as possible. While the Player is responsible for breathing life into his character, it is the Gamesmaster who gives the Player the milieu in which his character will react. It is recommended that the Gamesmaster allow no more than six Players to run characters at any one time; otherwise the number of Players will become too unwieldy for the best of Gamesmasters.
(3.0) Game Equipment
- 1 Rules (presumably what the Player is reading at the moment)
- 1 Set of Percentile Dice (not included but necessary)
- 1 Hoard of the most brilliant ideas ever to hit the fantasy roleplaying hobby (presumably within all competent Players)
(4.0) Character Generation
The Player rolls dice until he obtains a series of die-rolls he feels are esthetically appealing to him. The Gamesmaster then assigns names to the appropriate characteristics, detailing their effects upon his world. The GM need only assign any reasonable sounding name to the characteristic; it is only necessary to fool any semi-knowledgeable passerby. The Player then thinks up a name for his character, and he is ready to begin play.
(5.0) Play of the Game
Whenever the Player wishes to undertake an action with his character, the Gamesmaster rolls the percentile dice. If the Gamesmaster rolls a high number, the character has succeeded in his action, and reaps all benefits accordingly. If the Gamesmaster rolls a low number, the character has failed in his action, and must suffer any attendant penalties. If the Gamesmaster is not sure as to whether the roll is high or low, he should roll again until he decides one way or another. The Gamesmaster is, of course, responsible for embellishing upon the results determined via the die-roll.
(6.0) Game Notes
(6.1) Designer's Notes
The designer was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.
(6.2) Developer's Notes
This is it, roleplaying fans. No more bullshit-sounding fantasy games, or thinly veiled ripoffs of well-known fantasy novels or series. The Player is given free rein to expand the parameters of his game to the outer boundaries of his imagination, rather than the narrow confines of a designer in, let's say, the State of Wisconsin. No more will Players be fettered by crotchety old designers, but their spirits will soar as they discover the many facets of the game. I only hope you enjoy it as much as the playtesters did.
(6.3) Player's Notes
(Unfortunately, HTML is unable to reproduce meaningless doodles, obviously done by a low-grade moron masquerading as a playtester. We could scan them in and reproduce them as GIFs, we suppose, but it hardly seems worth the effort.)
(7.0) Game Credits
Game Design: Greg Costikyan
Assumption of Game Development Role: Eric Goldberg
Acknowledgements: Playtesters Anonymous
Another Fine Fly-by-Night Fantasy Game. Send money for other fine games in our catalogue; our next vacation in Mexico is due.
Other Silly Things
Copyright © 1979 by Chaosium, Inc; © 1995 by Greg Costikyan.