Ready, Willing, Prepared

“So be it, send your armies. There’s no man or machine who can stop me, and you’ll soon see: I come for vengeance for the first Son of Light and I’m ready, and I’m willing, and I’m prepared to fight.”

You were not created for this. Yours was a peaceful life, a privileged life. But you stood twenty stories over the city and you knew you could not leave it be. You could not watch it burn. Not so long as the man in the tower controls it all.

And so you changed yourself. You took the body you had and you made it dangerous. You made yourself an enemy of the state, and you marched. Others have stood, before you. Others have marched. But you will outshine them all. Only you can make things right.

Tonight, hope rides alone.

This is a single player role-playing game. Your character will stand against the technocratic state that suppresses society, and you will bring all the fire and passion in your heart with you. If you fail, the city will once again fall into darkness. If you succeed, the sun may yet rise again, and there just might be a chance for hope.

You have two stats: Machine and Hope. Machine represents brute force and violence, and Hope represents passion and morale. You begin the game with 10 points of each.

This game makes use of two six-sided dice. One die is the Machine die and the other is the Hope die. When you face off against one of the Six Generals, decide how you want to overcome them and roll the dice. If the die that matches your intent is the higher of the two, things go smoothly and they fall to your might or join your cause. If the die that opposes your intent is the higher, you stumble. Subtract the difference between the dice from the stat you wanted to use.

When you roll doubles, you immediately overcome the obstacle and may move points from Machine to Hope or vice versa. The number of points you may reallocate is the number on the die when you roll doubles.

After you defeat the Six Generals, you face the tower. Overcome it, and choose a stat to sacrifice. If you sacrifice Machine, your death inspires the populace and they rise against the machines that suppress them. If you sacrifice Hope, you take the tower for yourself, and do your best to change the working parts into a different machine. If you have nothing to give when you reach the Tower, you fall.

Use the tables below to construct the Six Generals. Roll two dice for each General, using the results to pick one of each of the following details.

1. Fast
2. Strong
3. Beautiful
4. Broken
5. Cruel
6. Grotesque

1. They know you
2. They hate you
3. They love you
4. They envy you
5. They respect you
6. They want you

Use the tables below to describe the dangers of the tower. Roll two dice.

1. Automated security systems
2. A former ally swayed by power
3. The loyal citizens
4. A private militia
5. A killer built to stop you
6. Nothing but the man himself

1. Deadly traps and hazards
2. Indestructible walls
3. A maze of teleportation devices
4. Precarious scaffolding or walkways
5. Intense, abnormal weather
6. Your greatest fear

Acknowledgements & Notes

This game is inspired by The Protomen’s first album. The quote in the header is taken from the song Vengeance on that album. This game was written for the Record Collection 2k19 game jam.