"Interesting" is definitely what I was aiming for. It's a bit weird, but weird settings call for weird measures. Hit me up if there are any particulars you'd like to discuss further. I'd be interested to see how it turns out, regardless of which bits you find useful.

The objection I always see to this is that it would be hard to make the successive killings and class trials work in a forum RP setting. For what it's worth, I did make a statless system to provide a framework for that all to happen. I'd certainly be willing to join as a player if people were willing to try putting it into practice.

This is a system designed for telling stories set in a universe similar to those of the Persona series of video games. The mechanics center around a parallel world where the repressed aspects of the collective unconscious manifest as monsters called Shadows. The players' characters are capable of traveling to that parallel world and fighting the Shadows using the power of the social archetypes they embody, their Personas. As the video games do, this system draws heavily from the mythological interpretations of Jungian psychology structured around the Marseilles Tarot.

The main focus of the system is on players-versus-enemies combat resolution. Admins and players set up Gauntlets of Shadows which function like puzzles which anyone among the players can attempt to solve. Each Gauntlet is tied to the outcome of a story situation, and whichever player solves the Gauntlet first chooses how that situation turns out. The pieces of the puzzle are the players' Personas, and by making threads together to develop Social Links, a Persona gains abilities that will be useful for clearing more difficult Gauntlets. When resolving a Gauntlet, there is no randomness and no hidden information. The same player choices will result in the same outcome each time. The administration's only required role is to know the rules and ensure that everyone's following them.

This system was designed mostly with Persona 5 in mind, but it can function in any Persona-like setting where defeating monsters in a parallel mental world results in changes to the physical world. Gauntlets might be treated as floors of a universal dungeon like Tartarus or Mementos, or they might each be an individual's mental world as with the Midnight Channel or Palaces. The administration should specify which of these is the case for each site according to their own preference.



Archetype Manifest uses a turn-based battle system with different rules for Shadows and for the players' characters. Instead of tracking HP, all damage comes in the form of status effects. Each status effect comes with penalties of its own, and any character or Shadow hit with two status effects is defeated. The focus of the gameplay is on trying to figure out how to put together a team of Persona-users to defeat a group of Shadows before being defeated in turn.

The skills and status effects of this system are based on the Persona series, but because of the greater focus on status effects, skills involving manipulation of HP (Dia, Regenerate) are absent and skills involving manipulation of status effects (Energy Shower, Stagnant Air) are treated as extremely powerful. Instead of spending HP or SP to use skills, each skill can only be used once before the user must rest. Additionally, powerful skills can impose status effects on the user as blowback. In general, skill definitions have been stretched somewhat far to accommodate this kind of system.

Each type of Shadow follows a simple and completely predictable behavioral pattern. This means that players can say with complete certainty what will happen 2 or more rounds into the future depending only on which skills the players themselves choose to use. The difficulty comes from the fact that the players have a limited number of skills uses to work with, and against higher-difficulty Gauntlets, it becomes necessary to predict many moves ahead in order to avoid getting wiped out.

This system is somewhat unusual in that it's not about characters fighting each other and comparing power levels, but it still involves definitive win and loss states. I believe it's best to think of it less as a JRPG and more as a cooperative puzzle game with roleplaying elements.



This section details the character aspects that are required by the mechanics of the system. The administration should use a standard character template that includes all the usual aspects (personality, history, etc.) and then add these fields onto the end. These descriptions make reference to mechanics explained later in this guide. Refer back to here when deciding which options are most fitting for a new character.



The Marseilles Tarot deck consists of 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana can be read as steps along the journey of a human lifetime, from infancy to complete fulfillment and enlightenment as an emotionally self-sufficient adult. However, successful completion of this journey is not to be taken for granted. Humans are social creatures, so they need each other's help in order to achieve healthy development. Each of the Major Arcana is associated with a character archetype, and people who fill that archetype can help others take the corresponding step. The choice of which of the Major Arcana one's character represents is an extremely important one.

In game terms, most of the Major Arcana have two unique properties each: a Major skill which the character can use and teach, and a Link Effect which can be granted to other characters. Both of these properties are bonuses granted for completing a thread with the character. Additionally, most of the Major Arcana have access to 3 Minor Skill lists. There are a total of 6 Minor Skill lists (one for each of the suits of the Minor Arcana plus one for aces and one for royals), but because there is some overlap between the Minor Skill lists, most characters will have access to most skills. The skill lists can be summarized as follow.

• Coins: Utility skills that change the battlefield for allies and enemies equally, including passive skills that implement those changes automatically.
• Cups: Support skills that remove or prevent status effects, including passive skills that redirect negative effects from allies onto oneself.
• Swords: Physical skills that quickly defeat opponents in exchange for taking negative effects as backlash, but with passive skills that grant bonuses when under negative effects.
• Wands: Elemental skills that put status effects on multiple enemies, with passive skills that nullify or reflect an individual element.
• Aces: The few most powerful skills from each list, most of which include some sort of drawback, and without any passive skills.
• Royals: A large number of skills from each skill list, but without the most powerful skills, and without any passive skills.

Each character must pick one Major Arcana archetype to embody. There are 22 to choose from, including 0 (The Fool) and two which are numbered 20 (Judgement and The Aeon). 21 (The World/The Universe) is not included, as an individual who has reached total completeness and fulfillment is by definition not subject to character development. Such people might exist in the background, but they are not suitable to be the focus of the story. Descriptions of the Major Arcana and their archetypes follow.





Each character knows a certain set of skills. The base amount of skills that may be known and equipped depends on the character's level, and some additional skills can be known through the Storage mechanic. Skills in Storage are skills that are known by the character, but are not equipped and therefore can't be used in battle. Characters can swap skills between their equipped list and Storage at any time between Gauntlet attempts. Characters can also choose to forget a skill at any time, but a skill forgotten in this manner can only be regained by being learned as a new skill after a successful Gauntlet attempt.

Storage slots are gained via certain Social Links. The skill list of a Level 0 character with the Justice and Death Social Link effects and several extra learned skills would look something like this:
This section lists the basic skills that will make up the bulk of a character's skill list. In order to learn a Minor Skill, the skill must be on one of the lists associated with the character's Archetype. Starting characters pick 3 Minor Skills to know. Additional skills are learned through Gauntlets and Social Links.

Each Minor Skill is listed under one of the Minor Arcana. Most skills are also considered to be on either the Aces list or the Royals list. Skills on the Aces list are bolded and skills on the Royals list are underlined. A character who has access to either of the lists a skill is associated with can learn the skill. Note that passive skills, which are neither bolded nor underlined, do not appear on the Aces or Royals lists.

Some Minor Skills are considered to be upgraded versions of a base skill. When a skill is listed indented next to a bullet point under an un-indented skill, the un-indented skill is the base skill and the indented skill is the upgraded skill. In order to learn an upgraded skill, the character must already know either the base skill or another upgraded skill with the same base skill. For example, to learn Bufula, a character must already know either Bufu or Bufudyne. Characters with access to the Aces skill list are exempt from this requirement.

The list of all 108 Minor Skills follows. An alphabetized glossary of all skills and their functions can be found at the end of the rules.


Rakukaja

• Autorakukaja
• Blood Ritual

Rakunda

• Autorakunda
• Spell Gloom

Sukukaja

• Autosukukaja
• Taunt

Sukunda

• Autosukunda
• Fog Breath

Samakaja

• Autosamakaja
• Pain Eater

Samanda

• Autosamanda
• War Cry

Charge

Concentrate

Makatora


Recarm

• Samerecarm
• Recarmdra

Freezedi

• Me Freezedi
• White Wall

Burndi

• Me Burndi
• Red Wall

Shockdi

• Me Shockdi
• Blue Wall

Downdi

• Me Downdi
• Green Wall

Cursedi

• Me Cursedi
• Black Wall

Attract Ice

• Capture Ice

Attract Fire

• Capture Fire

Attract Elec

• Capture Elec

Attract Wind

• Capture Wind

Attract Dark

• Capture Dark

Frost Edge

• Glacial Edge
• Tousatsujin

Fusion Blast

• Scorching Blast
• Nuclear Blast

Bolt Strike

• Lightning Smash
• Thunder Smash

Jinpugeki

• Reppu Strike
• Kamikaze Strike

Arrow Rain

• Hailstorm
• Myriad Arrows

Arms Master

Sharp Student

Endure

Life Surge

Heat Up

Self-Destruct

Plasma Discharge

Firm Stance


Bufu

• Bufula
• Bufudyne

Agi

• Agilao
• Agidyne

Zio

• Zionga
• Ziodyne

Garu

• Garula
• Garudyne

Mudo

• Mudoon
• Die For Me!

Hama

• Hamaon
• Samsara

Resist Ice

• Null Ice
• Reflect Ice

Resist Fire

• Null Fire
• Reflect Fire

Resist Elec

• Null Elec
• Reflect Elec

Resist Wind

• Null Wind
• Reflect Wind

Resist Dark

• Null Dark
• Reflect Dark

Resist Light

• Absorb Light
• Reflect Light

When two characters finish a non-Gauntlet thread together, the social bond formed generates power for them both. This is referred to as a Social Link. The benefits a character gets from a Social Link depend on the Archetype of the thread's other character. Finishing a thread together should always result in a Social Link unless the admins judge it to be extremely obvious that the participants aren't actually trying to roleplay.

In their final posts in the concluded thread, each of the participants should tell the admins, out-of-character, which benefit they wish to get from the Social Link. Depending on the Archetype of the partner, this will usually be one of two choices: learning a Major Skill, or obtaining a link effect. Each Major Skill is associated with one of the Minor Arcana, and the Major Skill cannot be learned until the learner knows at least 5 Minor Skills of that Minor Arcana. This requirement is decreased by some Social Link effects, and skills in Storage count toward the requirement. Furthermore, a character can only equip 2 Major Skills at once (note that this limit starts at 1 for characters of The Fool's Archetype, is increased by 1 by the Magician's Link Effect, and does not count skills placed in Storage). It is never possible to learn two copies of the same Major Skill at once.

It's only possible to get one benefit at a time from a Social Link with a single character. However, one can have a Social Link with two characters of the same Archetype in order to get both the Major Skill and the Link Effect of their Major Arcana. It is never possible to know two copies of the same Major Skill, but a forgotten Major Skill can be replaced with a new social link. There are two special cases:

The Fool teaches Minor Skills in place of Major Skills. There is no requirement of already having a certain number of skills of the same Minor Arcana before learning a Minor Skill in this manner, but they still count toward the limit of Major Skills a character can have equipped at once. A character can only have two Minor Skills from this effect at once, regardless of how many Fools are befriended. Learning a skill from The Fool can never result in knowing more than one copy of the same skill.

The Aeon's picks two Major Skills to be able to teach at character creation. A character can only ever have two Major Skills learned from characters of this archetype at once.

When characters form Social Links, they should update their character sheets to explicitly note what they're getting from each person. It should look something like this:A Social Link can be reversed by either member at any time. Additionally, characters who are removed from the site due to inactivity have all their social links dissolved. The effects of a social link being reversed or dissolve are as follow:

• Learned Major Skill (or Minor Skill from The Fool) - Skill is forgotten
• Duplicated Skill - The duplicate is forgotten
• Gained storage - The character must reorganize skills, forgetting skills if necessary, so that the storage is emptied before the next Gauntlet attempt
• Decreased requirement to learn Major Skill - Requirement returns to normal, but old already-learned Major Skills are not lost

These effects kick in for a character as soon as that character isn't in the middle of a Gauntlet. Reversing a Social Link is most often done when two characters are in disagreement as to how a coming Gauntlet should resolve, as they shift from friends to rivals. A reversed Social Link can be rebuilt in the same manner as forming a new Social Link.

Group threads can also result in Social Links. When a thread with more than two participants is completed, each character's concluding post should pick one other participant who has not been picked yet to form a Social Link with. This results in every participant forming two Social Links: one by choice, and one by being chosen. This number remains the same regardless of how large the group thread is.



A character's Level determines only one thing: how many skills can be equipped. Not counting Storage slots, this is also how many skills the character can know at once. Starting at Level 0, the character can equip 3 skills. Each Level adds another skill. At Level 5 (the maximum) the characters can equip a full set of 8 skills.

The only way to increase one's Level is to be a part of the group of characters that clears a Gauntlet. Clearing a Gauntlet of higher Level increases the character's Level by 1 and allows the character to learn a new skill. Clearing a Gauntlet of equal Level allows the character to learn a new skill, but does not increase the character's Level. Clearing a Gauntlet of lower Level does not give any reward.



In Archetype Manifest, combat is turn-based. Shadows behave predictably, following a few simple rules, but players have a variety of actions available to them.



Both Shadows and characters are organized in battle by their position. Most skills and Shadow abilities work based on their targets' positions, which means that a large component of Gauntlet strategy is arranging the positions such that Shadows end up wasting their turns. Each side of each battle has positions ranging from 1 to however many units are on that side. The units at position #1 are on the front line and in the most danger, while those at higher positions are further back.

For the players' characters, starting position is determined by the order in which they join the Gauntlet. Whoever started the Gauntlet thread is at position #1, and each additional joiner takes the next position. This can be overridden by players specifying which position they wish to start in, with any disputes decided in favor of whoever posted first.

During combat, whenever a character uses a skill, that character is bumped up to position #1, and all the characters that were previously in front are bumped back a spot to make room. This cannot be overridden, even if the character would prefer not to change positions.

Shadows' initial positions within a Gauntlet are determined by the player who makes the Gauntlet. After that, Shadows only change position when they're DEFEATED. A DEFEATED Shadow is removed from the Gauntlet and all remaining Shadows move forward to fill the vacated position so that the frontmost Shadow is always at position #1, the next Shadow is at position #2, and so on.



In order to act, a character simply posts in the Gauntlet thread and puts the name of the skill to be used at the bottom of the post. Because skills are automatically targeted depending on the other side's positions, there's no need to specify a skill's target. A valid skill usage must fulfill the following requirements:

1. The character is a member of that Gauntlet attempt.
2. The character has not yet used that skill. (It is not yet "used up.")
3. The character did not act last turn.
4. The character is not under a status effect which prohibits acting.

As noted above, a character who uses a skill is always moved up to position #1, bumping back other characters on the same side as necessary to make room.

Characters may post in a Gauntlet even if they aren't using a skill. This can be useful in setting the scene or roleplaying interactions for characters who are injured or saving their skills for later in the Gauntlet.

Once one of the characters acts, the turn passes to the enemy side. This means that having more characters in the party does not grant more actions per turn.



Multiple Shadows can act in a single turn. Every Shadow has two possible actions it can take: one action which it uses when it survives the round (its "Soul" ability), and one action which it takes on the turn it is DEFEATED (its "Body" ability). Shadows only begin using their Soul ability when they're close to the front of the position order, but a DEFEATED Shadow will always use its Body ability unless specifically prevented from doing so by a status effect. This means that it can be dangerous to defeat a large number of Shadows on the same turn, especially for a low-level party.

Shadows act in positional order, meaning that the one at position #1 acts first, the one at position #2 acts second, and so on. Even if the Shadow in front doesn't act due to status effects or other factors, Shadows further back can still act normally. See the information on building Shadows later in this section for more details on when Shadows act.

Some Shadow abilities are targeted at a single character. Each turn, Shadows which use targeted abilities aim them at the characters in positional order. So, the first Shadow to use a targeted ability aims it at the character in position #1, the second aims at #2, and so on. This doesn't generally mean that Shadows attack characters at their corresponding position. For example, if the Shadow at position #1 doesn't use a targeted ability but the Shadows at #2 and #3 do, then Shadow #2 will target character #1 and Shadow #3 will target character #2.

A character cannot be hit by two targeted abilities on the same turn. This means that if the Shadows use more targeted abilities than there are characters in the party, the extra targeted abilities will have no valid target and therefore do nothing. This can give an advantage to small parties. However, note that characters can still be affected by any number of untargeted abilities at once.



These are the negative effects that the game is built around. They persist across multiple turns, remaining in effect until removed by a skill except where noted otherwise. Because Shadows play by different rules than characters do, some status effects have separate rules for afflicted characters than they do for afflicted Shadows. Status effects are always denoted with ALL CAPS text.

Note that attempting to inflict a status effect on a unit which is already suffering from that same status effect does nothing. As such, it can be a good tactic to bait Shadows into wasting their turns hitting characters with status effects they're already suffering from.

DEFEATED
The unit can no longer fight effectively for one reason or another. Any characters who have the KNOCKED OUT status effect, or have two other status effects, immediately have those status effects removed and replaced with DEFEATED. When a Shadow is DEFEATED, it can't use its Soul ability, but it uses its Body ability instead. Note that while DEFEATED Shadows are removed from the position order, DEFEATED characters are not, which means that they're still valid targets for Shadow abilities. DEFEATED characters are immune to all other status effects, so using them to take hits can be very effective.

KNOCKED OUT
The unit has taken a single very powerful hit. It's usually the characters who will be dishing out this level of pain, either against Shadows or as backlash for using strong moves, but some rare Shadows can perform attacks like this as well. This status effect is usually immediately replaced with DEFEATED, but some skills can prevent that.

EXPEL
The unit has been smited by holy power. This status effect is only applied against units who are already suffering from a different status effect. Units who aren't already under a different status effect are immune. As such, EXPEL only works to defeat a unit that's already been weakened. This status effect is imposed by light-elemental attacks.

CURSED
The unit is especially vulnerable to further damage. This status effect doesn't do anything on its own. A CURSED enemy suffers no penalties aside from the fact that a second status effect will DEFEAT them. This status effect is imposed by dark-elemental attacks.

DOWN
The unit has been sent sprawling by a forceful attack.
For Characters: The character cannot use skills, but can instead take the special action Get Up. Taking this action removes the DOWN status effect, but it uses up a turn, so it's important to only use it when it's safe.
For Shadows: On the following turn, affected Shadows cannot use their Soul action. The DOWN status effect is removed at the end of the turn.

SHOCKED
The unit is seizing up due to electrical discharges.
For Characters: If the affected character uses any skill, the character is immediately KNOCKED OUT by the exertion.
For Shadows: If the affected Shadow tries to take its Soul action, it is immediately DEFEATED. This also causes the Shadow to take its Body action afterward. As always, the same character cannot be the target of multiple Shadow actions on the same turn, so if both the Shadow's Soul action and Body action are targeted, the Body action hits the next character in the position order.

ABLAZE
The unit is being rapidly consumed by fire. Once afflicted by this status effect, the unit can survive for 2 turns. After the unit's side has taken 2 turns following the affliction, the unit is KNOCKED OUT at the end of the turn.

FROZEN
The unit is immobilized in ice.
For Characters: Once afflicted by this status effect, it lasts for 3 turns. After the character's side has taken 3 turns following the affliction, the FROZEN status effect is removed. While FROZEN, the character cannot use skills and does not benefit from passive skills or individual buffs.
For Shadows: If the Shadow is under this status effect when it gets KNOCKED OUT or DEFEATED, it cannot take its Body action. Its Soul action is unaffected, but unlike for characters, this status effect does not go away over time.



These actions are not skills, but they still cost a turn to use. They don't directly result in progress through the Gauntlet, so it's generally best to avoid using them. However, sometimes they're the only way forward.

Get Up
This special action is only usable by a character with the DOWN status effect. It removes that status effect from the character. Because it's not a skill, it can be used multiple times in the same Gauntlet. In some circumstances, multiple characters might get caught in a loop of repeatedly getting knocked DOWN after getting up. In these cases, it might be best to Run Away.

Arrive
This special action allows a character who wasn't part of the Gauntlet attempt to join it. It can only be used as long as it doesn't take the number of challengers above the Gauntlet's Max Challengers. Because it uses up a turn, it's generally better to have everyone be part of the Gauntlet from the start, but there are a few cases where joining midway through can be smart.

Run Away
This special action removes the character from the battle. The character is then free to start or join another Gauntlet attempt. The character is removed from the position order and the other characters are moved forward to fill the emptied position. A character who flees in this manner cannot be replaced with the Arrive special action - the party will be shorthanded for the rest of the attempt. This is generally only useful when a Gauntlet attempt has become hopeless and everyone wants to try something else, but sometimes it can work as a last-ditch effort to get a more favorable position order.



Because this system has no randomness and no hidden information, the resolution of a round of combat can be determined by anyone who understands the system. The admins can nominate any player who shows a strong grasp of the system to be a moderator and post updates to a Gauntlet in their place. If a moderator makes an important mistake in an update post, the combat should be rolled back to the last valid update and re-done from there.

It's entirely possible for the players challenging a Gauntlet to think several moves ahead and know which skills they want to use in advance. In this case, they can post their skills one-after-another without waiting for a moderator or admin to update the thread. This changes nothing about the resolution order - the moderator should still have the Shadows act in between skill usages as normal, even if that means they're acting more than once in the update.

The following is an example of a resolution post. The exact form of the post isn't important, as long as all the relevant information about the state of the battle is recorded. Moderators should try to make resolution posts as often as possible to ensure that the players are all on the same page regarding their attempt.





This section covers the rules for making shadows and organizing them into a Gauntlet. Even players who have no interest in designing a Gauntlet on their own should read this so that they know what they're up against.



Each Shadow is a very simple enemy constructed from two components, one of which corresponds to the action the Shadow takes when it survives and the other corresponding to the action it takes when it's defeated. These are referred to as its Soul and its Body respectively. A Shadow's Soul also determines the position at which it begins fighting the characters, and its Body also determines which status effects it's immune to.

There are 22 different Souls and 22 different Bodies to mix and match when making a Shadow, which results in 484 possible combinations. Each Soul and Body correspond to one of the Major Arcana. Those correponding to higher Arcana are generally more difficult.

A full description of each of the Souls and Bodies follows. The Range field for Souls is the highest position in which a Shadow will use its Soul action - at higher positions, it will only act when DEFEATED. The Immunities field for Bodies is the list of status effects the Shadow will be immune to. The Cost field is used as described in the following section on building Gauntlets.











A Gauntlet can be set up by any player. This is a two-step process. First, the player should decide what the stakes of the Gauntlet will be. Second, the player should make a list of Shadows to be part of the Gauntlet.

The stakes of a Gauntlet can be just about any question of how an individual or group of people will react to some circumstance in the outside world. Challenging the Gauntlet represents fighting against the phantoms of the unconscious in order to give people a chance to change their way of thinking. The question posed by the Gauntlet might be a simple matter of "yes" or "no," or it might be more open-ended. In either case, whoever clears the Gauntlet first will decide what the answer will be.

As for populating the Gauntlet with Shadows, each Gauntlet has a level which represents how dangerous the associated mental landscape is. The level determines both how many Shadows are in the Gauntlet and how many "points" the builder must use to buy Shadows. The point cost for each Shadow is equal to the Soul cost times the Body cost. So, for example, a Merciless Tempest would cost 12 points. The number of Shadows in a Gauntlet of a given level can fall within a range of values, but the points value must be exact. The builder can always throw a low-level Shadow or two into the Gauntlet if the value comes up short. Finally, each level has a "max challengers" value, which means that the number of characters challenging the Gauntlet at any one time cannot be greater than the given number.

Admins can make as many Gauntlets as they like. Other players can have only one Gauntlet made at a time, which means that before making another Gauntlet, they must either close it or wait for it to be cleared. A Gauntlet may be closed by the one who created it at any time as long as no one is in the process of challenging it.



When building a Gauntlet, each new Shadow added to the Gauntlet must fulfill two conditions:

1. The Shadow is not an exact copy of another Shadow already found in the Gauntlet. So, for example, if the Gauntlet already has a Merciless Tempest, then it is not allowed to add a second Merciless Tempest to the Gauntlet.
2. The Shadow is not immediately before or after another Shadow which shares the same Soul or Body. So, for example, it's fine for a Merciless Tempest and a Merciless Divinity to be in the same Gauntlet, but they can't be right next to each other.

In order to challenge a Gauntlet, a character should post a thread with [CHALLENGE] in the title and specify which Gauntlet is being challenged at the bottom of the opening post. Challenging a Gauntlet is only permitted if no one else is in the process of challenging that Gauntlet.

For the next 48 hours, other players may support the attempt by posting in the thread. Once 48 hours have passed, or once the number of challengers (including the one who posted the thread) has reached the limit for the Gauntlet's level, the characters may begin posting their actions.

The player who made a Gauntlet is not allowed to start the challenge against that Gauntlet, but may still support a challenge as a participant.



A Gauntlet is failed when all the characters are DEFEATED or when they have no valid actions (for example, due to using up all their skills or due to the only surviving member having already acted last turn). There are no serious penalties for failing a Gauntlet. When a Gauntlet is failed, none of the players who participated may start a new challenge against the same Gauntlet for 48 hours. However, they may still join attempts started by other players' characters. When a Gauntlet is failed, it is returned to its initial state with all Shadows revived and returned to their initial positions.

A Gauntlet is successfully cleared when all its Shadows are DEFEATED. The one who posted the challenge should decide how the Gauntlet's stakes are resolved (the other participants may offer their input, but the choice ultimately rests in the hands of the initial challenger). Characters of lower level than the Gauntlet's level gain +1 level (regardless of how much higher the Gauntlet's level was than their own). Characters of equal or lower level than the Gauntlet also learn a skill. Characters of higher level than the Gauntlet gain no reward for clearing it.

Skills learned as a reward for completing a Gauntlet must be either a Minor Skill from one of the skill lists associated with the character's Archetype, or the Major Skill associated with the character's Archetype. It is not permitted to learn a second copy of a skill the character already knows in this manner. The only way to learn two copies of the same skill is via the Duplication Social Link effect.



This section describes how each of the system's skills are used. Some groups of skills all follow the same rules, so those rules have been put here to save space.

Global Effects
Examples: Rakukaja, Rakunda, Rebellion, Silent Prayer
Rules: These skills result in conditions which affect the entire battlefield, enemies and allies alike. They can be very powerful, but they can also do more harm than good if used carelessly.

-kaja skills
Examples: Rakukaja, Sukukaja, Samakaja, and skills which combine one or more of them with another effect.
Rules: These skills produce global effects which increase everyone's defenses. In effect, they give everyone immunity to a selection of status effects. Units which are already suffering from the associated status effect are not cured. If the battlefield is already under a -nda effect, then the two effects cancel each other out, which means that going from a -kunda global effect to a -kaja global effect requires two uses of the -kaja skill. If the battlefield is already under a -kaja effect, then using that same -kaja skill again does nothing.

-nda skills
Examples: Rakunda, Sukunda, Samanda, and skills which combine one or more of them with another effect.
Rules: These skills produce global effects which increase everyone's vulnerabilities. In effect, they temporarily remove all immunities to a selection of status effects. Units already under the associated status effect on the same turn as the -nda skill is used are immediately KNOCKED OUT. If the battlefield is already under a -kaja effect, then the two effects cancel each other out and units already under the associated status effect aren't KNOCKED OUT. This means that going from a -kaja global effect to a -nda global effect requires two uses of the -nda skill. If the battlefield is already under a -nda effect, then using that same -nda skill again will KNOCK OUT all units under the associated status effects, but does not change the global effect.

Passive skills
Examples: Autorakukaja, Firm Stance, Static Discharge, Null Ice
Rules: These skills aren't used like other skills. Instead, they always take effect every round whenever they're relevant. This means that they're never used up, but it also means that the holder can't choose not to use them. If a passive skill would be a hindrance, then the holder should forget the skill or put it in Storage before starting the Gauntlet.

Auto- skills
Examples: Autorakukaja, Autorakunda, Autosukukaja, Autosukunda
Rules: These passive skills repeatedly use -kaja or -kunda effects at the start of the characters' turn, before they take their action. This usually results in the battlefield being constantly under the associated global effect, but there are exceptions. For example, even if one of the characters has Autorakukaja, an enemy Shadow still might use Rakunda, and Shadows which act later in the turn order would then be able to act normally since the Rakukaja effect isn't refreshed until the start of the characters' turn. If two characters have opposed Auto- skills, then both skills are ignored. Note that Auto- -nda skills result in units with the associated status effects being KNOCKED OUT every turn.

Individual Buff skills
Examples: Charge, Concentrate, Heat Up, Endure
Rules: These skills give bonuses to individual characters, working like positive status effects. Individual buffs apply only to the character that has them. Some skills give them to the user, while others give them to an ally.

Party Buff skills
Examples: Makatora, Makarakarn, White Wall, Rebirth
Rules: These skills give bonuses to the entire party as a whole. However, once they're used up, they're removed from the entire party.

Resist Skills
Examples: Resist Ice, Resist Fire, Resist Elec, Resist Wind
Rules: These passive skills give the character a conditional immunity to a particular status effect. The immunity is only active when the character is already under a different status effect. In other words, the resisted status effect can never be used to finish off the character. This is generally inferior to Null skills, but it can be used in tandem with other passive skills that require the character to be vulnerable to a status effect. Note that -nda effects temporarily negate Resist skills.

Null Skills
Examples: Null Ice, Null Fire, Null Elec, Null Wind
Rules: These passive skills give the character complete immunity to a particular status effect. Note that -nda effects temporarily negate Resist skills.

Reflect Skills
Examples: Reflect Ice, Reflect Fire, Reflect Elec, Reflect Wind
Rules: These passive skills act just like Null skills, except that they also inflict the status effect on any unit which tries to inflict it on the character. This can be dangerous, since a Shadow which is DEFEATED by a reflected Soul action immediately uses its Body action as well. Note that -nda effects remove the Null aspect of these skills, but the reflection works as normal (so that both the character and the enemy are hit by the status effect).

Attract Skills
Examples: Attract Ice, Attract Fire, Attract Elec, Attract Wind
Rules: These passive skills cause the character to take a particular status effect in an ally's place, as long as the character with the Attract skill is further back in the turn order than the character to be protected. They only function when the character is vulnerable to the status effect, meaning that they can't have an immunity and they can't already be suffering from that status effect. Both the character with the Attract skill and the character that was protected are considered to have been "targeted" by this attack, which means that the character with the Attract skill cannot be targeted by a second Shadow that turn. Attract skills only redirect the status effect as long as the character with the Attract skill isn't already suffering from a different status effect, which means that a character will never be immediately DEFEATED as a result of having an Attract skill.

Capture Skills
Examples: Capture Ice, Capture Fire, Capture Elec, Capture Wind
Rules: These passive skills function exactly like Attract skills, with the exception that the status effect is redirected even if the character with the skill is already suffering from a different status effect. This means that characters with Capture skills are more reliable in their protection, but they can also end up sacrificing themselves.

The following is an alphabetical listing of all skills in the game, including Major Skills and Minor Skills of all arcana.

This is a somewhat unusual system, so it's important to state up front what it's trying to do and what it's not. Killing Game is a system designed for collaboratively telling a story about successive murders and murder investigations. What makes this genre difficult from a roleplaying perspective is that murder mysteries are all about picking up on subtle clues, but players who want their characters to survive have no incentive to leave those clues. Therefore, this system focuses on rewarding players for having their characters bring suspicion on themselves, while still leaving enough reasonable doubt to keep the story suspenseful.

This reward takes the form of case points that are granted to players at the end of each case. The system is designed with the intent that if everyone tries to get as many case points as possible, the result will be a murder mystery that's interesting to play through for everyone. The details are at the end of the rules, but the summary of how case points are awarded is as follows.

Investigators: These are the players who don't know the truth of the case beforehand. They get case points for correctly putting the facts of the case together, which involves writing out their version of how events happened, and for being paying attention and being correct about the facts of each case.

Suspects: These are the players whose characters are suspected of the killing. They get case points for promoting uncertainty, which means dividing the investigators as evenly as possible between thinking they're innocent and thinking they're guilty. When they aren't defending themselves, they usually also act as investigators.

Killer: This is the player whose character is actually guilty of the killing. She gets case points in the same manner as a suspect, but is not considered an investigator. She also gets some bonus case points for sacrificing her character.

Victim: This is the player whose character was murdered. She plays the largest role in determining the facts of the case, but can't act in any of the other roles (except case moderator). As such, she gets a large bounty of case points automatically.

Case moderator: This player coordinates some of the initial setup of the case in secret. As a result, she can't act as an investigator. Unless she ends up as the victim, she gets some bonus case points to compensate for not being able to participate in the investigation.


[This system doesn't require characters to have any special stats. The admins can use whatever type of character profile they prefer. However, the character creation rules should include the following instructions.]

Your character should have a secret: something central to her history and personality that the other players don't know. Each character's secret should only come out either near the end of the game, or in the events surrounding the character's death. Try to think of something shocking that might have some relevance to a killing game. When you submit your character for approval, PM her secret to the admins.


In order for each case to be properly dramatic, it's important to make sure that both the killer and the victim are well-established characters with plenty of personal connections to the rest of the site. In order to help with that, the focus point mechanic is used. A character must acquire a certain number of focus points before becoming a victim, killer, or suspect.

Whenever a regular thread is finished, the participating players should notify the admins. The admins will then lock the thread and award each participating character with a number of focus points equal to the number of other characters that were in the thread. So, for example, after a thread with a total of 2 characters, each character gets 1 focus point. After a group thread with 3 total characters, each character gets 2 focus points. After a group thread with 4 total characters, each character gets 3 focus points.

Focus points can't ever be transferred between characters, even if both characters are owned by the same player. As long as the players are making a genuine effort to roleplay, the admins should always award focus points for a completed thread, even if it's a short one. Because focus points are only ever used to determine case participation eligibility, there's no reason to "grind" for large numbers of them.

The players do not spend focus points. Once a character has them, she has them forever, even in later cases. A good number of focus points to require for the first case is 5. It might be a good idea to increase this number for later cases, but requiring more than 20 or so makes it prohibitively difficult for new characters to get involved in cases.


Once a few characters (at least 4) have enough focus points to participate in a case, the admins can start the offering phase. This is the first phase of a new case. The admins should select one person to be the case moderator. This can be one of the admins, but it can also be a trusted player. The case moderator should announce the start of the case with a post like this.

The offering phase has begun!  Characters with 5 or more focus points can participate.  Potential victims can now post offering threads to provide an opportunity to kill them.  Other characters can post in offering threads in order to become suspects.

Players who are willing to have their characters die during this case should PM me their killer/victim flags now!

The killer flag and victim flag mechanic is a way to let players pretend that their characters are at risk of dying, even if the player doesn't actually want the character to die just yet. In order for a character to actually become a killer or victim, the player must PM the case moderator with a message along the lines of "set the victim flag for [character name]." If the player doesn't do this, then the case moderator will assume that the player doesn't actually want her character to kill or be killed. Killer flags and victim flags must be set separately for each case.

The offering thread is the way a player sets things up for her character to potentially be murdered. The thread should detail the "how" and/or "why" of the potential murder. For example, a thread where the character insults or threatens the other characters would work, because it gives them a reason to murder her. A thread where the character goes somewhere dangerous alone would also work, because it gives the other characters an opportunity to murder her.

Any characters who respond to an offering thread will become suspects if the one who started the thread is murdered. Their posts should demonstrate why they'd be suspicious, but shouldn't explicitly show any murdering (after all, it's still unknown at this stage who the victim will be). So, for example, if the offering thread involved insulting characters, then a suspect might describe being obviously very offended. If the offering thread involved being in a dangerous isolated area, then a suspect might just describe how she's in the same area.

Every character that makes or responds to an offering thread must have at least the required number of focus points. A player cannot respond to an offering thread she started. The case moderator cannot respond to other players' offering threads (but she can start one of her own). There's no limit on the number of offering threads a character can be in at once.

The offering phase lasts 2 weeks. At the end of this period, the case moderator privately makes a list of all possible murders. A murder is possible wherever the following conditions are met.

1. The one who started the offering thread has her victim flag set.

2. At least three characters responded to the offering thread.

3. At least one of the characters who responded to the offering thread has her killer flag set.

If there are multiple possible murders that satisfy these conditions, then the case administrator should pick one at random. Then, she should privately contact the new victim and killer so that the three of them can work together to decide on the specifics of the murder. The other characters who responded to the offering thread become suspects.

If there are no possible murders that satisfy these conditions, then the offering phase ends without a killing. A new offering phase should be started a few weeks later.


This phase is performed in private between the case moderator, the victim, and the killer. The victim and killer should reveal their secrets to each other and try to incorporate them into the killing. The three of them should discuss how exactly the killing should take place. In case of a disagreement, the victim's preference comes first, since she will be the one in charge of coordinating events with the other suspects and responding to requests for evidence.

Once the basic sequence of events is established, the victim and case moderator should privately contact each of the innocent suspects in turn. They should do this without revealing the identity of the killer or of the other innocent suspects so that the innocent suspects can still participate in the investigation phase.

With each innocent suspect, the victim should describe what the suspect has seen and what she should know about the case. The suspect should reply with how she'd react, and this exchange should continue until a clear sequence of events has been established.

Finally, the victim and suspect should decide on what the suspect's alibi should be. The alibi is a piece of information that proves the suspect's innocence. It should remain hidden until late in the case, so the suspect should try to think of something that her character would want to hide even if it makes her look more suspicious. For example, she might have been committing some lesser crime elsewhere at the time, or the alibi might hint at her secret.

Once all the alibis have been set, the victim should contact the killer again to establish a fake alibi for her. The fake alibi is a false piece of information that would seem to prove the killer innocent, but it should contradict the real alibis. Because the real alibis aren't revealed until late in the case, this allows the killer to seem like an innocent suspect until the end. The disproval of the fake alibi is the climactic moment of the case.


In this phase, the victim will describe the facts of the case and answer the other players' questions. It will be completely up to the victim to decide how much information to reveal. It's important to reveal enough to be fair, while still keeping enough things unclear that it's not immediately obvious who the killer is.

The first post of the phase is written by the victim but posted by the case moderator (in order to hide the victim's identity as long as possible). It narrates the first signs that something is wrong. It could be that one of the characters isn't showing up for breakfast. It could be a scream or loud crash from elsewhere in the building. Whatever it is, it shouldn't immediately reveal the victim's identity.

Other characters can then reply to describe their initial reaction and investigation into the circumstances. There is no need to respect post order in this thread, since it's expected that some characters will have more to say than others. After waiting a few days to build suspense, the victim writes a post describing the discovery of the body and the case moderator posts it.

Following the reveal of the body, all living characters can engage in investigation. They can do this either in the body discovery thread or in other threads posted with the investigation tag. In order to investigate, a character should describe some investigative action in her post, then put some bolded, underlined, or otherwise emphasized text at the bottom of her post asking the victim's player to respond. The victim should post to describe the information the investigation reveals. The killer and suspects can engage in investigation just like anyone else. Characters can also perform investigation via private message if they want to wait to reveal the results during the case itself. It's entirely up to the victim how much information each investigation reveals.

Once everyone seems to have collected enough information to satisfy themselves, the victim should announce the end of the phase and the start of the trial. However, investigation can continue even into the trial when it would make sense (for example, comparing a photo of a footprint to a character's shoe).


During the trial, the victim picks one of the suspects (ideally the most obviously suspicious one) and starts a thread to serve as that suspect's examination. This suspect is considered the first prime suspect. The other players should play along and focus their discussion on the prime suspect.

The thread should be used to discuss the facts of the case. There is no need to respect post order. At any point during the thread, a character can post a theory about what the prime suspect was doing during the murder. This can take the form of a character explaining the theory to the other characters, or it can be narrated in first, second, or third person form. A theory post is designated by including the test "Verdict: Innocent" or "Verdict: Guilty" at the bottom.  Each player should only post 1 theory per prime suspect, even if she controls multiple characters.  The case moderator and the victim's surviving characters cannot post theories.

Each prime suspect thread lasts 1 week. During this time, the prime suspect's character will be responding to theories and trying to defend herself, but the prime suspect's player should actually be trying to keep things interesting by making her character act a bit suspicious in order to hide her alibi. During the scoring phase, each suspect is scored based on dividing the other players as evenly as possible between innocent and guilty verdicts.

At the end of the week, the prime suspect selects the theory she feels is closest to the truth. This might even be a guilty verdict for an innocent suspect or an innocent verdict for a guilty one, as long as it hits the other important points of the events surrounding the case. Finally, she reveals her alibi (or fake alibi) in order to divert the discussion toward the other suspects.

Once the thread is concluded, the victim moves on to the next logical prime suspect. This continues until all suspects have had their turn as the prime suspect. Then, the game moves on to the next phase.


At this point, all the alibis have been made public and it should be clear which one doesn't fit with the others. If not, then the case moderator and victim might have to nudge discussion in the right direction using their other characters or through out-of-character means.

Once the killer's identity is clear, all that remains is to wrap up the case. The killer should reveal her own secret and the victim's secret if they're not already known. Finally, the killer should nominate one other character (either in-character or out-of-character) to summarize the entire case in one big explanation post.

After all remaining in-character discussion has been handled, the killer is executed. It should be up to the killer's player how exactly that occurs. Then, the game continues onward. In a couple of months or so, the site admins can then announce the start of the next case.


At the end of the case, the admins hand out case points to each character based on how the case went. They should go through the following list and award points wherever applicable. Some characters receive multiple awards (for example, one of the suspects is also the killer, and all the other suspects are also investigators).

As a reminder, the suspects include everyone who responded to the victim's offering thread.  The investigators are everyone except the characters controlled by the case moderator, the victim, and the killer.

• Victim award: The victim is awarded 2 points per suspect. Try to write an offering thread that lots of people will respond to!
  
  
• Killer award: The killer is awarded 1 point per suspect (including herself). Compensation for sacrificing a character.
  
  
• Moderator award: The case moderator is awarded 1 point per suspect.  This is not awarded if the case moderator is also the victim.  Compensation for not being able to participate in the rest of the case.
  
  
• Suspect award: Each suspect is awarded the lower between the innocent and guilty verdicts they received as prime suspect. Only verdicts by investigators count. Try to split the other players between thinking you're innocent and thinking you're guilty!
  
  
• Investigator award: Each investigator is awarded 1 point per correct verdict. Try to figure out the truth behind the case!
  
  
• Theory award: Each investigator whose theory is picked as closest to the truth by a prime suspect is awarded 2 points. Each player can only receive this bonus once, even if they have multiple characters or are selected by multiple prime suspects. Try to bring your theories to life!
  
  
• Conclusion award: The character who is chosen by the killer to write the final summary of the case is awarded 3 points. Throughout the case, show that you're prepared to take center-stage in the finale!

So, what do case points do? That will depend heavily on the needs and tastes of the site. The main purpose of case points is to incentivize moving each case forward. Figuring out what sort of benefits should be attached is up to the site admins. This section is essentially a list of suggestions. However, some of the items here shouldn't be put in the same game together. Therefore, you should not just copy this section into your site's rules!

The total number of case points awarded per case will range from as high as the number of active players squared to as low as half that. This will be divided among the site's members, but players who consistently put their characters up as victims and killers will accumulate a larger share. The costs below assume a site with about 10 active members, so very large or very small sites might want to scale their costs differently.

Players should be allowed to transfer their case points between their characters and between each other for large purchases. Most of these items are out-of-character purchases, so it doesn't make sense to restrict them to individual characters.

Custom appearance
Cost: 10 points
This can include granting a special-colored display name or a custom title. It might also extend to any chat programs used by the site.

In-character boon
Cost: 20 points
The character who buys this item receives some sort of resource that the other characters don't. For example, they could get a lock on their door or manage to plant a tracking device on the mastermind behind the killing game. This doesn't have any effect on the case system, but it can put the character at the center of plot developments. The admins should consider a big discount if they like the player's idea and it has a good in-character justification.

Reveal a plot element
Cost: 30 points
If the admins have a larger plot they want to slowly reveal over time, this can be a good way to do it. The player who buys this item is secretly told some plot details that no one else knows. Then, at an opportune time, the player can decide to reveal the truth in-character.

Weird character
Cost: 40 points
Some character concepts might be too weird to allow everyone to play them, but not quite weird enough to completely break the site concept. On a more realistic site, this could be a celebrity or a psychopath. On a less realistic site, it could be a robot or an alien. In any case, a player who's earned this many points can probably be trusted to handle a weird concept responsibly. Buying this item might permit making a new weird character, or it could entail revealing that an existing character was weird all along.

Reveal a new area
Cost: 50 points
This is a good way to introduce new boards in order to keep things interesting. The cost should be high enough that players need to pool their resources together in order to afford it, but low enough that it should be buyable every case or two.

Invent a plot element
Cost: 75 points
If the admins want to let the players define the plot, then this item should be offered. Don't put it in the same game as the "reveal a plot element" item. The player who buys this item can decide one of the larger details of the plot, but the admins should be ready to veto any plot element that would contradict existing characters' backstories.

Cheat death
Cost: 100 points
This item might allow a character to come back after being "murdered," or it might allow a killer to survive her execution. The admins should think carefully before including it, since it can cheapen the impact of death.

Outcome bidding
Cost: 500 points, bidding-style
As an option to let the players determine the final outcome of the killing game, this item can be used. Characters bid points toward the outcome they'd like to see, and bidded points can be retracted or moved to another option at any time. Once the threshold is reached, the site begins to draw to a close (perhaps with a climactic final case).


Here's an abbreviated step-by-step guide for how the gameplay loop for each case goes.

1. During the downtime between cases, players have normal threads with each other and accumulate focus.
   
   
2. The admins select a case moderator who then announces the start of the offering phase.
   
   
3. Potential victims post offering threads. Those who are actually willing to have their characters die PM the case moderator to set their victim flags.
   
   
4. Potential killers reply to offering threads. Those who are actually willing to have their characters die PM the case moderator to set their killer flags.
   
   
5. The case moderator selects a valid killing and privately notifies the victim and killer. The killer and everyone else who replied to the victim's offering thread become suspects.
   
   
6. The victim and killer privately agree on the main details of the murder. The victim takes the forefront in deciding the specifics of the case.
   
   
7. The victim privately contacts each innocent suspect and establishes what they were seeing and doing at the time of the murder. Together, they come up with alibis for each suspect that prove their innocence but won't be revealed until late in the case.
   
   
8. The victim privately contacts the killer again and together they come up with a fake alibi that would seem to prove the killer's innocence, but which conflicts with the real alibis.
   
   
9. The case moderator posts a thread (written by the victim) that reveals that a killing has taken place, and then reveals the victim's identity.
   
   
10. The investigators roleplay the discovery and pose investigative questions that the victim's player is in charge of answering. Once this is done, the trial begins.
    
    
11. The victim selects a prime suspect and starts a thread for her examination. The investigators discuss the prime suspect and pose theories regarding the prime suspect's role in the case. Each theory should conclude with either "Verdict: Innocent" or "Verdict: Guilty." The prime suspect picks which theory is closest to the truth and then reveals her alibi to divert suspicion.
    
    
12. Repeat the previous step until every suspect has had her turn as prime suspect.
    
    
13. Once all alibis are known, the true identity of the killer becomes clear. The killer nominates a player to write a full summary of the murder.
    
    
14. The murderer is executed. Case points are awarded.
    
    
15. Return to step 1.

The ORT System

Each character has three stats to describe her Quirk's strengths and weaknesses. New characters divide 200 points between these stats. No stat can go above 100 for a new character, but points gained after character creation may bring stats above 100 at no extra cost. The stats are as follow.

Overwhelming: How effective the Quirk is at quickly and decisively defeating enemies.
Reliable: How effective the Quirk is at controlling the battlefield and keeping things from getting out of hand.
Tricky: How effective the Quirk is accomplishing things in unexpected, unconventional ways.

When two characters get into a fight, both of them PM the admins to secretly choose which stat they're using for the fight. The admin then determines who wins based on the following rules.

1. If both combatants used the same stat, then the one with the higher value in the used stat wins.
2. If the combatants used different stats, then determine the winner as follows:
   • Overwhelming beats Reliable by overpowering it
   • Reliable beats Tricky by ensuring it can't use its trickery
   • Tricky beats Overwhelming by "fighting" with unconventional means

The admin posts in the thread to identify the winner and specify how many Results (see below) each character can choose. Results are allocated as follows.

• Both combatants always get 1 Result each.
• The winner gets 1 extra Result.
• If one of the used stats was 30 or more points above the other, then the combatant with the higher used stat gets 1 extra Result.

Results are the outcome of the fight beyond who wins and who loses. The winner will always get either 2 or 3 Results, and the loser will always get 1 or 2 Results - this means that even the loser of a fight can achieve something by fighting.

After the admin announces the winner, the winner should post to specify which Results she's picking and describe how she achieves them. Next, the loser posts to specify which Result or Results she's picking and describe how she achieves them, but she cannot pick a Result that's opposed to a Result the winner picked (except where explicitly stated otherwise). After that, the thread continues as normal, but any further fights should take place in separate threads.

The list of possible Results follows. Each Result can only be picked when you used an associated stat in the fight - this means that you might sometimes need to use a bad stat in order to accomplish your goals. The letters after each Result show which stats they're compatible with: O for Overwhelming, R for Reliable, and T for Tricky.

• Delay (RT) - Make the fight long and exhausting. Opposed to Speed.
• Destruction (OR) - Deal collaterial damage, wrecking something (or someone) beyond repair. Opposed to Protection.
• Glory (OR) - Make onself look strong or smart. Opposed to Humiliation.
• Humiliation (OT) - Make the other character look weak or foolish. Opposed to Glory.
• Information (T) - The other character reveals a previously-unknown character trait of her choice. No opposites.
• Injury (O) - The other character is seriously injured. No opposites.
• Protection (RT) - Take possession of something or someone, ensuring that the subject is safe. Opposed to Destruction.
• Resistance (ORT) - Only choosable by a loser who has also earned a second Result. The second Result can be the opposite of one of the winner's results, negating it.
• Speed (OT) - Make the fight quick and easy. Opposed to Delay.
• Teamwork (R) - Allied NPCs achieve what they set out to do. No opposites, but cannot contradict winner's results (except with Resistance).

As an example of how this works, say that someone with the Quirk to turn water into soda gets in a heated argument in the town square with someone with the boring (but ordinarily very powerful) Quirk of some sort of super strength. They both PM the admin to say that they're using their strongest stats: Tricky for the soda maker, Overwhelming for the strongman. Thus, the soda maker is the winner and the strongman is the loser.

The admin posts to announce this, gives the winner 2 Results, and gives the loser 1 Result. The winner takes Humiliate and Information. He describes how he jumps into the town square's fountain in hopes of luring his opponent after him, then transforms the surrounding water in order to soak him in sticky, fragrant flavored syrup. Then, the change in viscosity makes the fountain spray wildly, providing cover to escape. The Humiliation is self-evident, but it's left up to the loser to decide what the Information means.

The loser takes the Injure result. He describes how he jumps into the fountain without a second thought and lands a few solid blows before his opponent can escape. As for the winner's Information, the loser decides to expose his social phobia, describing how he flees from the laughing, jeering crowd with tears in his eyes, even more bothered than you'd expect anyone else to be in that situation.

The winner comes away from the fight nursing a few broken bones, and he didn't even manage to put a scratch on his opponent, but he still comes across as the clear victor. Because the system is more about the outcomes than the fight itself, it leaves plenty of plot hooks for future threads: recuperating from injuries, third parties reacting to the humiliating incident, and the revelation of a character trait that might not otherwise have come out. It doesn't really matter who's actually "stronger," because the story is driven by different things.

As a final note, I'd recommend having the advancement system be based on fights, rather than on raw posts or wordcount. This system makes it relatively easy for low-level characters to beat high-level ones, so it's not a huge deal either way, but fight-based advancement would let you put extra incentives in place. I'd probably make it something like 2 stat points per fight, with a 10 point bonus for a fight between combatants who haven't fought each other before - this would be a good way to encourage people to interact with newbies, and since the award is the same for both the winner and the loser, it also lets newbies catch up relatively quickly.

The purpose of this thread is to catalog the rules systems for forum roleplay I've written. Everything I put here is free for anyone else to use or adapt for their own sites. Just make sure to give credit and link back to here. I also appreciate being given feedback about how well each system works, in order to help fix problems and make better systems in the future.

If you want to ask me to design a system for a particular setting or just discuss game design in general, feel free to PM me here or find me on the Pixel Perfect Discord server. I'm always up for a challenge.

Table of Contents

• The ORT System - A simple system designed with My Hero Academia in mind. The resolution mechanic essentially boils down to Rock-Paper-Scissors, but with a few extra factors to add depth and result in plot hooks depending on what people pick.
• Killing Game - A moderately complicated system for Danganronpa-style successive murder mystery games. It's not a directly competitive system. Instead, characters who do a better job of playing their role in the case are rewarded with points that can be spent on narrative control.
• Archetype Manifest - An in-depth player-versus-enemies system based on the Persona series. It essentially works as a cooperative puzzle game where building stronger Personas gives you the tools necessary to beat harder groups of Shadows.

External Links

• Vermillion Frontier - The blog for my free tabletop sci-fi roleplaying game. This is also where I post about game design in general.

Other Stuff

• Designing a System - A basic outline of the things I aim for and the things I avoid when designing a system for a forum RP.

Thank you very much! I think it's important to note that different systems are good for different purposes, and a system that works well for one particular group of players looking for one particular experience in one particular setting won't necessarily work for another. Anyone who wants to use this system can feel free to do so.

I'm planning on making a thread to catalog the systems I've written and have related discussion without derailing individual request threads soon.

All I have to add at this particular point is that in order to have a climax, you need to have a buildup first. And if you want to have a buildup supported by the system itself, that's going to have to involve some complexity. A system that boils down to rock-paper-scissors is awfully simplistic and doesn't offer much buildup, sure, but the virtue of that sort of system is that it's very simple to resolve. Ditto for systems that just involve comparing power level numbers to each other. There's a tradeoff between how impactful the system feels and how simple the system is to resolve. You're going to have to decide where on that spectrum you want to be.