(This is a re-do of an older post that was screwed up by Google Chrome. The original has since been deleted.)

I've always been fascinated by tabletop games- after all, D&D is where a lot of modern video games came from, and the idea of building a story with a bunch of friends sounded like a ton of fun to me. So, I played Dungeons and Dragons for the first time- or, at least, tried to. Just one look at the character creation sheet scared me shitless. What were all these numbers doing in a storytelling game, anyway? What's the difference between Strength and Constitution? When do I get to play this game? Eventually I got started, but in the back of my mind, I kept thinking to myself, there has to be a better way of doing this. Not one to simply complain, I decided that I would design my own system, taking elements of the Dungeons and Dragon ruleset and boiling them down to their essential core. The result...

SEXY ADVENTURE TIME!

All right, it's just a working title, but the real point is to make a system that's easy to grasp so that players can get on with the actual game. This is not meant to supplant D&D, though- for experienced roleplayers, this is a more relaxed and fun version of the game they already know how to play, and should fit in easily. Newcomers will be able to grasp Sexy Adventure Time's rules very quickly, and can use this as a stepping stone for more complex RPGs if they so choose.

But enough talk, how does Sexy Adventure Time actually work? Well, you start off by creating a character. Your sheet will have the following:

Character Name
Player Name
Physical Description

They will also have the following, under the subcategory Skills:

Strength
Speed
Smarts
Special

The first part's pretty self-explanatory, but the Skills section is a bit different. The player assigns a number to the skills; one is given a 3, another a 2, and the last a 1. These numbers indicate how, er, skilled they are in that particular area, 3 being your best and 1 being your worst. The Special skill is always 4, and can be any unique gift the player desires. The more obscure or seemingly pointless, the better. Besides the player's health, these are the only numbers needed in the game, and are used in what are called conflicts. Let's use an example conflict to demonstrate how the system works.

Mr. Player wants to punch a goon in the face. Since he is physically attacking a character, the DM (or Narrator as they are named in SAT) decides to use the player's Strength stat, a 3. The goon, meanwhile, does not like being punched, and so will try to dodge the blow. This will use their Speed stat, a measly 1. The Narrator and the player both roll a die (it doesn't mater how many sides they have). The Narrator comes up with 3, and Mr. Player rolls a 4.

Narrator- 1 (Speed) + 3 (Dice roll)= 4
Mr. Player- 3 (Strength) + 4(Dice roll)= 7

Mr. Player has successfully punched the goon in the face. From here, the Narrator can take 3 points (the difference between the rolls) off of the goon's health, and add some story bits about him being knocked
backward. Easy, yes?

"But wait," you may say. "Where do I use each stat, and when?" The answer is easy: Whenever you want. The real trick to Sexy Adventure Time is that your luck is not only influenced what you say, but how you say it. If Mr. Player had a 3 in Speed instead of Strength, he could say that he wanted his character to sneak up behind the goon and then punch him in the face. The Narrator, likewise, can use this to either help or hinder the players, depending on how successful they have been. In our first example, if the goon had a 3 in Strength, the Narrator could have described him wanting to block Mr. Player's punch, making it a more even match. By encouraging players to play to their character's strengths, they can get more into the role they've created for themselves and enhance their own playing experience. I'll go more in-depth with possible strategies for both players and Narrators, as well as other gameplay devices on the next installment. Until next time...