Electric Gypsy's

Dissatisfaction with most commercially available role-playing game systems prompted me to embark many years ago upon an effort that eventually let to what you are reading now. My intent was to come up with something light on mechanics, readily understandable, and conducive to an immersive style of play with the primary emphasis being on imaginative shared storytelling. An overabundance of stats, charts, math, and myriad complex special-case rules encumber most other table-top RPG's in ways that I feel actually detract from the enjoyment of genuine role-playing. I wanted to keep noses out of rulebooks during the gaming session. I also desired a system that didn't encourage as the motive of play that tendency in players to be excessively focused on acquiring "points" and other in-game rewards so as to "level-up" their characters. In short, I wanted to facilitate more role-playing and less roll-playing! Perhaps you will deem this effort of mine to have been a success. Feel free to take what you need from these guidelines and adapt what I offer however you see fit.

This home-brewed game system positions the Game Master (GM) as final arbiter over the rules and all that takes place within the game's story. The minimalist nature of Electric Gypsy's RPG necessitates such an all-powerful orchestrator in order for things to function properly. (But in no way does this imply that the players should refrain from making suggestions or negotiating maters!) Therefore, choose wisely someone of copious talent and experience as your Game Master!

These guidelines are written with a presumption that the players will be portraying human characters with realistic human capabilities. Non-human characters and extra-human abilities can easily be represented by further adding to what all has been given herein. It is to be expected anyhow that some modification and tailoring of this system will be required to properly fit the genre and setting! Such is easily enough accomplished. What you read here is merely a fundamental starting point upon which to build!

I may decide to eventually publish an expanded printed version, but I release the current digital text of this writing unto the world free of charge for non-commercial uses! If you post it on your own website or elsewhere online, please provide a return link to http://electricgypsy.info (...just don't allow there to be any ads on the page where mirrored!) Those who wish to show appreciation for this effort are invited to donate a couple dollars to my rock & roll band. At least, please spread the word about the existence of this RPG and of Electric Gypsy!

Electric Gypsy's RPG is to be played by a small gathering of people (anywhere from 4 to 8 players usually works best!) One participant assumes the role of Game Master (henceforth referred to as the "GM") and that person shall be responsible for developing or acquiring a prepared scenario that is placed within a fictional setting. The other players will act out the roles of the lead characters in an imaginary story to be created together.

The setting may be as elaborate as desired. It doesn't matter what genre is chosen so long as it is conducive to exciting action and adventure. The GM should ensure that enough overall background detail has adequately been made familiar to the players before play begins. As for the scenario, it needs to have challenges for the player's characters to overcome. There should be adversaries to contend with and problems to solve. Ideal scenarios will be rife with opportunities for drama and suspense!

Once a setting and scenario has been sufficiently prepared and established, the players will create suitable characters under the supervision of the GM. (Or perhaps, ready-made character templates can be provided.) Individual character concepts should include enough background detail for the player to be able to understand and portray their character properly. Players will require a firm grasp of their character's personalities and motives! Equipment that is carried and possessions that are owned should be decided. Careers and vocations should be chosen. Finally, some statistical information will need to be generated regarding the character's aspects, skills and capabilities. All these sort of things are to be written down on a character record sheet.

During game-play, the GM sets forth the scene and explains the situation to the players. The players in turn state the intended actions of their characters. The GM will then reply describing the outcome of those actions. An action (or reaction) attempted by a character is called a task. Resolution of tasks is the core mechanic of role-playing!

In Electric Gypsy's RPG, all tasks shall take the form of a yes/no question formulated from the perspective of the involved player's character regarding the success or failure of its' attempt. (If the task being resolved happens to be a contest of some sort between different player's characters, simply choose one over the others' point of view when framing the question!)

The GM must decide if an undertaken task is going to be at all possible to achieve given the stipulated circumstance. Sometimes, tasks will simply be ruled as impossible no matter what! At other times, what a player wishes his character to do might be deemed trivial enough in nature that it can be proclaimed to automatically occur without further bother. However, dice shall be used to resolve any task the GM desires to have a chance for either success or failure.

Electric Gypsy's RPG utilizes sequentially numbered polyhedral gaming dice of the d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and d30 varieties. Rolls of d2 are also called for. (In those instances, simply roll any other die and allow odd results stand for "1" and even results stand for "2".) Ideally, the GM and players will want to bring as many dice as possible to the game session! (Rolls requiring as many as ten of each die type at once can occur!)

The letter "d" stands for die (or dice) and the number following it indicates the number of sides it has. The term "3d6" indicates a roll of three six-sided dice, adding together the results of each producing a total sum of 3 to 18.

After appraisal of the situation, using sensible, reasoned good judgment, the GM will arbitrarily decide how hard a task is to accomplish in that particular instance. A difficulty factor is to be selected on a scale ranging from 1 (rather easy) to 10 (almost impossible!) The number chosen as the difficulty factor equals the number of dice that will need to be rolled for the task's resolution.

The type of dice to be rolled is determined by the rank of the character's trait that is being tested by the task. A trait can be almost anything about a character in game terms! It may be a skill, talent, or other character aspect that provides a capability to accomplish an action or reaction. (See below for more regarding traits!) The trait selected to be tested should be the one the character has listed on his sheet that is most appropriate and suitable to the task at hand.

All traits to be used in Electric Gypsy's RPG are to be ranked with a descriptive adjective (on a human-scale) and shall have the associated die-type as shown:

Exceeding the normally humanly possible levels are two other provided ranks:

(Yes! Dice with a hundred sides do actually exist! But, a d100 roll can be produced by using two separately colored ten-sided dice that are labeled from "0" to "9". Allow one of the die to represent the ten's place digit and the other to stand in the one's place!)

To resolve a task, roll the number of dice designated by the difficulty factor utilizing the die-type prescribed by the rank of the trait that is being tested. Resulting "1's" on any of the dice that are rolled will indicate failure at the attempted task!

The exact particular details of "how & what specifically occurs" when an action succeeds or fails is left to the imagination of the players and the GM.

Any conceivable aspect, skill, talent, or other capability allowed to a character can be represented and defined as a trait. The precise definition of each trait utilized in the game shall fall to the discretion of the GM. Traits selected to be recorded on the character sheet ought to fit the genre of the game's story and setting. (A caveman from the stone-age probably won't know a thing about computer programming!)

Electric Gypsy's RPG could feasibly be played with only a single all-encompassing trait, but that would be rather unsophisticated. On the other hand, it is urged not to go overboard by including too many traits. (Keep the game simple!)

Traits can be either as broad in scope or specific and specialized in their nature as required in order to best reflect character capabilities. Recommended for use are three very broadly defined aspect-type traits hereby called "mind", "body", and "spirit". When no other more specific trait encompasses a given task, mind could be the fall-back trait for mental tasks, body would be contingent for physical tasks, and spirit can be the default trait dealing with metaphysical things like magic and the supernatural.

For the purpose of even more detail, the following are suggested as slightly more specific, (yet still rather broad) basic traits that would be suitable for human characters of most any genre:

Players tend to be ingenious and they will likely come up with lots of other traits beyond those suggested here! The game's genre and setting might also call for other specialized abilities to be added. (A world of comic-book super hero's might have characters that can fly! A pseudo-medieval fantasy could have wizards and witches that are able to cast magic spells!) The GM only needs to allow traits that make sense and are appropriately applicable to the setting and scenario.

Keep in mind that it is not necessary to devise too many specialized traits! Certainly, do strive to represent in game terms the important capabilities and features of each character, (after all, that's what having traits is for!) But allow most things to simply be covered by more basic traits like the ones suggested above!

Trait ranks could be assigned in any number of ways. But keep in mind that it is urged to presume (as the standard baseline of the game) that typical human characters shall simply be given a rank of fair = d6 at those traits encompassing normally humanly performable tasks if and when no other rank is to be deliberately assigned! A point-based rank-purchasing method could be devised for allocation of non-standard ranks, or perhaps players might simply be allowed to negotiate the desired ranks that best represent the concept they have of their characters. However, it is offered that the GM might instead opt for such trait ranks to be randomly generated. Four suggested trait-ranking ranges are provided. Select an appropriate range, roll 3d6, then consult the following table:

As a general rule of thumb, the broader and more all-encompassing a trait is in its' scope, the lower the allowed range should be when assigning its' rank. If the above table is used, the recommended default traits of mind, body, and spirit (for example) should probably be determined using the low range. The other basic traits suggested would usually advisably fall under the typical range. And, a specially devised skill-type trait that a character is stipulated to have explicitly trained for (perhaps, as part of their career) might appropriately best be determined using either the high or the highest suggested range (depending on the whim of the GM.)

Other ranges can of course be devised as needed to reflect non-human and extra-human trait ranges (and/or to accommodate the precepts of the setting and genre.)

It is up to the GM to decide if and when any trait is to be altered during the course of the game due to practice, training, the effects of aging, etc. Those traits that are rather broad in scope should usually be considered as innate or inherent and are not advised to be allowed much improvement by any act of will on the part of the character. However, many conceivable specialized skill-type traits could certainly be ruled as improvable.

When the time does come to check for the advancement of a trait, a max roll utilizing that trait's next higher ranking's die will suffice to indicate graduation to that next higher rank. (In other words, to increase a rank from "fair (d6)" to "good (d8)", roll a d8. If the result of the roll is an "8", the trait can be allowed as improved!)

Players should try not to be overly concerned with the "leveling-up" of their character's traits. Keep the emphasis of the game on the story, the setting, and upon quality character portrayal!

Electric Gypsy's RPG was intentionally designed without stringent mechanics dealing with injury and harm that might befall the characters. The concept of "hit points" and other character-damage tallies utilized by most other RPG's arguably steers things away from genuine role-playing towards what would probably be more appropriately called "war-gaming". Although such point-based systems might serve to indicate when characters meet their demise, should a GM make a habit out of killing-off the protagonists of their story because of a few unlucky dice rolls?

Certainly, keep a loose record of what all ails each character! But wounds, fatigue, encumbrances, and other such hindrances can all be lumped together in game-terms as afflictions. The GM shall simply take any character afflictions into account when determining the difficulty factor of those tasks that would be affected by the affliction. Suggested are the following penalties:

The GM should only apply penalties of affliction when it makes sense to do so. (A character with the affliction of a broken arm probably shouldn't suffer a penalty when attempting to use his intellect to figure out a problem!)

Nothing here is intended to be taken as "set in stone". These are guidelines and not rules. Most anything else that I might add would be something specific to a particular genre/setting, (for example; magic or super-hero powers) or it would be something that can be extrapolated from real world data. (How fast can a person heal from a stab-wound? How far can a team of wagons or a sailing vessel travel in a day? What is a lethal height from which to fall?) There is a wonderful tool you are likely using right now called the Internet! But regardless, it shall always be the GM who has the final say in all matters.

Just play and have fun! (Don't let yourself get bogged down with too much complex mechanical detail!)