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Acknowledgements
ln anticipation of the loving memory of GrandMaster Frank Cook,MarkAcres,Doug Niles, Troy ForJeffGrubb,Dave'Zeb' Allen Hammack, Denning, EdGreenwood, AndriaHayday, Nesmith, Bruce Bruce Heard, Harold lohnson, MerleRasmussen, Tim Kilpin,AnneMcCready, Kim Mohan,Roger Moore,Jim Lowder, Jon Pickens, Ward,SkipWilliams, Winter, MikePrice, Steve Mary Kirchoff, ClydeCaldwell, lames LarryElmore, andDave Sutherland." KeithParkinson*, leff Easley, lim Hollowan to E. GaryGygax*andDave And especially Arneson* pioneers And for alltheothercreative at TSR, Incfrom | 982 through | 985. I am grateful you you, games you play daythat let meworknextto with andwasgiven each --Tracy friendship by you. Hickman Hickman andCurtis

ForMikeSylvester andHarryWigley, whoplayed DelDwith me whenI wastwelve. For playing Matt Christensen, for DerDwith me whenI waseighteen. andRandy andBillTayler Brady, ForDave Sandra Tayler, andRoss Benedict who played Rifu with me when andTeresa I wastwenty-six. Rebecca Davis, Drew And for TimothyBurgess, Wilson, Tim Longwell, Jared Olds,andlanciOldswho dragged me into the lron Kingdoms whenI wasthirty-eight. Oh, whomI knew I really andfor BobDefendi, to be anXDM before knew whatan XDM was. .-Howard Tayler *Gone fromusbutnever forgotten.

Credits
WrittenBy TracyHickman Curtis Hickman Illustrated By Howard Tayler Editing Stacy L. Whitman Tayler Sandra Peltier losh Interiorl-ayout Tayler Sandra Cover Colors JimZubkavich gTables Charts MelisaMayhew LogoDesign lndlgoKelleiglr Playtesting Robert J. Defendi

X-Treme Dungeon Mastery text copyright TracyHickman andCurtisHickman 2009 X-Treme Dungeon Mastery illustrations Howard Tayler 2009 copyright permission No partof thisbookmaybe used written in thecase in or reproduced in anymanner without except of reprints For fuftherinformation see www.xtremedungeonmastery.com the context of reviews. fsBN978-0-977907 4-6-5 First Printing, August 2009 in China Printed 10987654321

fAnmoFfoNrENrs
Introduction TheSecret History of XDMs Pu b l iV c e rsi o n ..... ............... 6 ..........9 Putting lt All Together: TheAdventure Text Organization: Timevs.Space Tricks of Adventure Writing ......55 55 56 Getting Started asanXDM .........15 Chapter One: ls Being anXdmRight for You? .... l6 X D MC o m p a ti b i lT i ty e st............................. I6 Chapter Two:Welcome to theCult..........18 Do-it-yourself Initiation Secret Rituals ... l8 XDM Levels: WhyYou Can a n dP l a ye C rsa n 't ........................ 20 The T h e o rof y XDM .................23 Chapter Three:lt's about thePlayers ...... 24 Player Types .... 24 Fulfilling Elemens of Game Design ...... 25 Putting lt AII on the Page ... 26 Executing lt All in theGame: P o ll i na gn dJu g g l i n ............. ........ 27 g Chapter Four: Story is Everythinel ...........29 TheCampbellian Monomyth .............. 30 Mystery andSurprise.......................... 34 Hickman andSon's Cheap Trick for Surprise in Storytelling ............36 Random Story Generator..................... 38 Chapter Five: Designing for Story .............42 Hand meyourNoseRing (Linear Design) ...........42 (Open Like, Whatever! Matrix) ...........43 Narrative Bumper Pool ( C l o seMa d tri x)..... ......44 Chapter Six: Selddir ...............46 Physical Puzzles . 48 , It'sa Trap! .......49 T o oM uch or NotEnough .................50 ? Chapter Seven: ThouShalt Prepare! .........51 T h eM a pi sth eT e rri to ry .................... 5l

Being theXDM....... ....59 Chapter Eighft All theGame's a Stage .........60 Gameplay, theXDMWay!.................... 60 XDM:TheModern Bard .......60 Keep Rolling in theRole ......... ...............61 Smell of the Grease Paint, Roar of theOrcs ........... 65 Ethics, or "Try Telling THATto anAngryMob!" ............. 66 Chapter Nine: Living through theRevolution........... 68 TheJack Bauer ......... Rule ....68 TheAustralian Rule ............. 69 There's ALWAYS Another Rule, Rule .... 69 TheXD20Rule ......... ..........7O Ultim ate XDM....... Chapter Ten:Atmosphere Sound Lights Lasers Hologr ams Fog.......... .....71 .........72 ................72 ................73 ................73 ..........74 ..........76

Chapter Eleven: Devil's Touch ...77 Flash Paper .........78 Flash Pots! ..........79 A Giant Incr edible Fir eball!! .................. 80 TheArmageddon Hellstorm .................. I 1 Chapter Twelve: Wonders of theGods ........83 Contact ..... .............83 Juggling Appear ances ............ ...........86 Cards Aren'tOnlyCollectables .............. 8I DieTricks andOtherPointless Miracles ........... 95

Chapter Thirteen: KillerBreakfast to Go .... | 0l A Brief History Breakfast.........l0l of Killer Kifler Basics .......1O2 Death Takes Planning: Themes, Props, andStunts ............ 103 K i l l eB r e ats ........105 Runnin tg h eGa u n tl e .......................... t l 08

Kenny Ba keGa r me ............................ I l0 Murder in theDark Game ... I l0 XDM:the Player's Section ..........l I l Chapter Fourteen: H o wY o uP l a y th eGa me .............. l l2 TheDeadly Dungeon Session ............... l l4 TheBoring Long LifeCharacter ........... I l4 Things Which YouCanDo YourGame to Make Better ........... I l5 BeCreative .......l 16 C o n c l u si o ............. ns ..........1l7 XD20Role Playing System 19 ..........1 Fifteen: Chapter TheXD2O Basic Game ....l20 Introduction to Role Playing ................ 120 Aboutthe XD20 Role Playing System ...l2l (Setting WhatYouNeed to Play Up) ....l2l O b i e co t f th eGa me ...........l2l Playin tg h eGa me ...............122 XD 2 0En g i n e ....122 YourCharacter Creating ......... | 22 ............ Chapter Sixteen: TheXD20 Advanced Player's Guide .............. 125

Advanced XD20 Character Generation ..125 Stuff:Skills, Weapons, Supplies, Ar mor ...... .....126 Doing Stuff: Movement andActions .....127 Hitting Resolution Stuff: Combat .......... l28 Thinking Stuff: YouThink Sure You're Smart ........129 Casting Spells andMystical Stuff........... l30 lmprovement: Character Gaining Levels....... .......131 fromOtherSystems Conversion ...........132 Chapter XD20 Seventeen: Dungeon Mastery Handbook.......... l 34 Introduction for XDMs to XD2O ..........134 Theory of Game Relativiry ...134 Adventure Design .............. 135 Adventure Translation 136 ........ Target Diffrculty Determination .......... .. 136 Dealing withDoing Stuff ......... ............ 138 Dealing withHitting Stuff .................... l38 (or not)................ Dealing withMagic 139 Resolving thelmpossible ..................... l 39 Eighteen: Chapter XD20Creature Codex .....l 4l Appendices .............. 149 Offrcially Sanctioned XDM Merchandise ....... l50 XDMCompatibility Test Scoring .................. l5l Answers to Riddles ....152 Glossar y ...l 54 XD20Resuls Table ....... ............ 156 Waiting for Gygax ..... l58

This ain'tyour mama's sorry, saggy oldadventure supplement We'retalking 'bad' DMsand thedifference between 'wicked bad'DMs.We'retalking about your uking sleepy-eyed, hit-point-countin', players, wait-it-out-in-the-middle-of-the-party grabbing themby the front of theirstained T-shin andshakin' theirworld'til theirdicefall XDM goes beyond the rule book-way beyond-with advice, tips, techniques, andideas designed to take any complacent, sounds-like-a-stockholders-meeting roleplaying adventure group andbust theirgame wideopen. The textcovers everything from radical theatrical techniques to sleight of hand and howto downright cheat if necessary in quest practical, the of extreme fun. Sometimes sometimes insanely ridiculous, andalways enteruining, XDM is the Game Master's Guidefor

the restof us. Taking the performance craft of running anentertaining dungeon to the veryedge! Whywouldanyone writea book likethis?Because whenwe seea poorkid sittingnextto a gaming tablewith a half-painted miniature in hishand, we thinkwhatyouthink. Thisroomneeds lasers. Biglasers, andpossiblyfrre.In fact,the nexttimewe hear guywith a plastic some thirty-something slipcover character sheet try andtell isall about usthatgaming "levelingup," we mayjuststring himup by hisVelcro shoelaces. We livein pyrotechnics, anagewhere animatronics, andthe greatest illusions in history areready to orderfrom our homecomputers-and we sayit's time to usethem.Thisis the Game Master's you Guide for the restof us. And since didn'twriteit, we did.

lNrnonucrroNr
ReadThis EvenThoughYou Don't Want To
Being anXDM is muchmorethanjustanother (Wescoff kindof game referee. with hearry derision at theveryidea!) lt is a calling, a discipline, a mission, anda metaphor for life.lt is not a pathfor everyone. Only the heartiest games-we masters of roleplaying few,we happy few,we bandof XDMs.Gamers elsewhere whoshun thiscalling shall thinkthemselves accursed theywerenot counted among us,andholdtheir manhood cheap whilst anywhisper thename of XDM. You mayverywellask"whatqualifications these threehave to teach me howto be an XDM?" Theshort answer you, islots.lf that'sgoodenough for skipto the nextfewparagraphs.

TracyHickman ia a worldrenowned, best-selling fantasy author with hundreds of thousands of worksto game hisname,r He isthe adventure designer of such cfassics asRavenloft andDragonlance2 whichwerecreatedin collaboration with hisgorgeous, talented-and XDM in herownright-wife,Laura Hickman. His gaming award winning efforts in the community have caused many to admire himbothfor hisskillandhis hygiene. He hassuccessfully hunted dragons in lava,is pilot,anda conductor anaward-winning sailplane of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.3 Hisamazing talentfor dungeon mastering hasshaped the worldaswe know it.aAnyway, whatit comes downto is he has written books-including several thisone.He is alsoa 496th level XDM (a Grand Paladin-lord Horned Dragons). Laura is a 99th levelXDM (a GrandLadyPegasus) for reasons which, we wouldthink,areobvious.
I lf you count indlvidual words. 2 These titlesare copyrighted and trademarked by Wlzards of the Coastiust like almosteverything games, elsein roleplaying or so they tell us. They are usedhere without permission sinceit is a "statementof fact" rather than an "lnfringement." The truth is that we don't haveto put this footnote down hereat all with this disclalmer exceptthat we're enioying using thesethlngs withoutthe permission of Wizards of the Coastand want to callattentionto the fact. ,flour-bombingcontest, 3 No, it's true! Tracy actuallyfound and sawwith hls own eyesa Komodo dragonin the Surabaya Zoo in eastern Java;won the at the ageof seventeen in Heber,Utah whilein a traininggliderand-belng scared stiff at flyingwith the backwindowopen-panickedand droppedthe sackof flower, hitting the target out of sheerdumb luck; and once, asa stagehand at the Osmond Studiosin Orem, Utah, lead the entire DallasCowboys cheerleading promptlyembarrassing squadfrom the rehearsal hall to the soundstage, himself by getting stuckin a backdrop curtain. 4 lf by "world" you takeit to meanfive or more members gaming group, of your localroleplaying 5 All XDMs havea numericLevelof Masterywhichindicates their proficiency in XDM craft. Eachlevelis accompanied by a descriptive nameusually takenfrom an mythicanimaland often, at higherlevels, combined with titles.You'll frndthe XDM levelingsystem on page21.)

(if such Curtis is a respected magician Hickman a thingexists) andsonof TracyHickman. You mayknow name, You him by hisprofessional the Amazing Curtis. he mayalsosee innovate in the Mac an illusion helped at Harrah's in Las Hisothermagical Kingshow Vegas.r inventions have been seen in actsaround the world performed including an effectrecently by Criss Angel for hisinternational He television series "Mind Freak." wasa reviewer for a national magic magazine, andhis publications.2 writings have in numerous Curtis appeared is a reknowned 378th Level XDM (a GrandMega-lord Taloned Griffin)whohasspent training the lastfouryears for 379th level.s

Howard hasdrawn Tayler over | 5,0004pictures in the lastnineyears. eyehisunbroken Othercartoonistss streak of dailyupdates at schlockmercenary.com with a mixture of iealousy andawe.He hasbeen cartooning since of 2000, lately over of and sen/es up a terabyte data lune to voracious readers each month.He is onlya I lOth-level XDM, but hiscross-training in webtoonist andpublisher hasgiven him another two hundred andthreeeffective levels bringing histotalto 3l 3th level. . . oncethisbook published, illustrated, hasbeen andhasearned sufficient money to convince GrandMaster Frank levels that those count. should you combine years game When fifteen of magical with thirtyyears studyandinvention, of fantasy design you'reboundto endup with something and storytelling, with nineyears of cartooning experience, asspectacular asXtreme Dungeon Mastery. it. Threeguys who lovegames Sothereyou have andwhoaretryingto givebackin the bestwaythey pages you'll frnda sea know how,by bringing forththe secrets of XDM gaming. In the following of awesome your nextroleplaying things thatcouldmake adventure a huge Youwill alsofindthings thatyou would success. have to becompletely certifrable to attempt. In fact,the publisher told usthatthe onlywaywe couldavoid being sued wasto issue a great dealof warnings throughout the book.6
I And really,there is no greaterglory for a magician than to seehis belovedwork vlolently slaughtered night after night before a drunkenaudienceof gambling seniorcitizens. 2 Althougfr in somecases the librarywasn'ttoo happyaboutit sincehe wrote in them in ink. 3 Cunlsnotes:I blameGrandChancellor Frankfor my slowprogress to level379. panels. 4 Counting indlvldual 5 Theyknow who they are. We shan't embarrass them. 6 Waming!Reading can causeeye fatigueand over many, many yearsmay evenslightlyaffect your vision.Papercuts and bruises could resultfrom the improperhandllngof this book. Never read XDM materials if the book ls on frre or you yourselfare on fire. Also, neverread this text while you are pfloting an alrcraft,disarming a nuclearmissile,or are at a bonfire party with the Archbishopof Granada.This book cannotbe usedas a flotation deviceor asan altemate sourceof food.

FOROOT TO AOO lN fHE +2

FOR -NI,VIBLE

"QE7ZLTETZL'S TAN6LIN6 VINE'I@NORES SKILL ENHANCEilIENTS,

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TheSecres of the SociCtC de I'UItime l4aiguarded treshave been closely for centuries-and withgoodreason! Theirprinciples shatter manyof themostcommon assumptions aboutroleplaying games, howtheyshould be played, andeven calls intoquestion the entireconcept of leveling-up. Many consider concepts such heretical. Such knowledge wouldbe devastating were (see it to fallinto the wronghands "Rosenbergs" below). Forthisreason, the true history of Xrreme guarded Dungeon Mastery hasbeen by XDM Masters down through the centuries andremains carefully maintained to thisday. paints Whatcanbe told, however sparsely, a picture vividandtantalizing of the movement from itsfoundations in ancient Sumeria andBabylon, period, is classical through revival Greek its ruthless oppression underRoman law,its adaptation of Ottophilosophies, manEmpire andMing Dynasty its near extinction with the Knights Templar andexileamong games theAztecstates, the advent of roleplaying in the I 97Os,andXfreme Dungeon l4astery's resurgence in morerecent timesin the Utahdesert. Early Foundations of XDMs games Thefrrstrudimentary roleplaying have been shrouded in the mists of ancient Sumeria and Babylon, stemming fromthe 24th century B.C. Fragmens of writings foundfrom those times-most prominently the DM Shield of Kish.' Some Socidtd researchers believe thatthe Codeof Hammurabi wasoriginally a failed attempt to codifythe firstrole playing game. It is believed thatsometime during the l2th gamer century 8.C.,a young by the name of Trakasi palace the stofe DM Shield of Kshfromthe of the king andmade changes to the rules originally laiddown by Hammurabi-thus is the foundation of Xtreme Dungeon Mastery. Classical Xtreme Tragedies Gt Comedies games Bythe sixthCentuUB.C.,roleplaying (backward astheywereby today's standards) had
* Thisfamous setof threestonetablets, whiledamaged and partial, showsrudimentary"to hit" tablesand a weaponslist consisting of the ltems ttsroner" t'speaf,"and "fist", "stick," "hand-heldrock flinger," This last item is considered to havebeena fancifullyimaginedobiect rather than a weaponthat existed.

l[sronv
foundtheirwayonto the Greek Kurkis mainland. of younger lcaria, brother Thespis, to brought the concept of theatrics into rudimentary Xtreme Dungeon Mastery games. No dicewereinvolved in conflict resolution; rather, it is believed that a form of "Rock,Papyrus, Knife"wasutilized to determine results. lf surviving illustrations arecredible, those holding the knifealways won. game everproduced, asit wasoriginally writtenon boundbamboo slas.Thethirteen chapters of the bookoriginally dealtlargely with miniatures and gaming but two of the lastthreechapters simulation of the work-"TheNineSituations"and"The Useof in moreroleplaying Intelligence"t brought elements. from Sun Tzu's work the are at Quotations philosophical philosophies heart of all XDM andthe source of constant studyto plumbthe depths of their meaning. Forexample: Therefore onehundred victories in one hundred battles is not the mostskillful. Seizing withoutfighting the enemy is the most skillful. And theXDM mantra: is based AIIwarfare on deception. Bythe fourthCentury B.C.,Socrates, andlater Plato-bothinvolved gamer in whatwasbecoming the protoConfucius, a popular afterSunTzu, XDM movement-introduced anunconventional chronicles hisownexperiences in roleplaying in his approach to roleplaying originally the"Socratic Analects called of Confucius. Manyhaveconsidered this Method." Thename waslatermisinterpreted asapworkto be Confucius'attempt to establish a more plyingto another philosophy. With thisnewapproach, free-form dialogue based roleplaying system. players argued for or against fates from the gods. Aboutthissame time-considered games These couldlastfor months. the Golden Age of Eastern role 8AT]! THE "6REEK' ln thethirdCentury playing-Siddhartha 8.C.,Euclid Gautama QrcIAL SUSTyPEaQANTS tAE +5 TO ?ol9Otl RESfSTANCE, provided palace thesolution:the first left his at the ageof AN? fiy W)SOOtt ff@lOtFtER. polyhedral dice, which XDMsquickly twenty-nine to attend oneof adopted farsuperior asbeing to the conventions. the frrstgaming His 'knife'method. poor encounters with anddecaying gamers depressed him so muchthat heabandoned hisprevious lifeto embark on a iourney Eastern RolePlay:Birth of the toward enlightenment. In Campaign produced so doing, he the gamers WhileWestern were firstcampaign setting. struggling with the fundamentals of great roleplaying, advances in the art werealso being made in the East which profoundly would affect the foundations of developmental X-trem e Dungeon Mastery. philosophies, Theeastern whichwould laterbe unified into the global XDM movement, r Thls chapterls considered the first adventuremodule. foundan earlyproponent in SunTzuduring thesixth Thlschapterin partlcular deals with the role of the'lntelligence'or t centuryB.C.Ihe Art of Waris considered by all Sociltf 'Wlsdom' sutistic in gamlngalthough is usewasso bound up in eastern research scholars to be the firsthardcoverroleplaying philosophythat generalgamersstill do not undentand it's proper usages.

10

l[sronv
The Colloseumof Rome: Early LARPs The XDMs Templar After the collapse of the Roman Empire andthe Therise of the prominence of the Roman Repubthe Great, the center of all Western licmeant that the center of roleplaying wasremoved ruleof Constantine power philosophical shifted to Catholic Church, whose influence the fromits rootsin Greece-specifically the of Europe wasoftenabsolute. Thracian Sociery of Roleplaying-and re-established as overthe courts It wasnot untilabout1132 A.D. thata splinter theWarriors of the Codex westward in Rome. group grew,some fromthe Knights Templar established themselves As the Empire regions accepted as the Extraordinaire Who Dungeoned in RPGs morereadily thanothers.. Thisledto the as"HumbleGamers of theTemple" or, moresimply,the similation of othercultural intothegames Mindin the Shadow traditions Templar. lnitially by the Church with sanctioned wasplaying of the Empire. Soon everyone large-scale XDMS playing games gaming (the Live-Action Role frrstLARPs). anopen license, by l3O5 A.D. Pope Clemgenerated pop- entV decided These suchinterest among the general to rescind allopengaming licenses and grand ulace that andmagnificent arenas andcoliseumsto consolidate all game rules back under the personal were erected throughout the Republic to contain the system. On Friday, the | 3'hof October, 1307 A.D., LARPs. whilestillin allXDMSTemplar spectators of these Unfortunately, were arrested andtheiropengaming form,the games theirprimitive hadsome earlyissues licenses revoked. justhowreal resolution withconflict anddetermining Disenfranchised, those fewXDMsremaining forresults. Thiswasespecially to make the combat difsook theirTemplar names andwentintohiding.They in the "Christians frcult where 8r Lions"LARP, early to the FarEast where theyadopted the Eastplaytess game failed balance traveled to resolve some inherent philosophies X-freme ern Dungeon Mastery of SunTzu. problems. Theyhid in Tibet,largely forgotten, untilwellinto the l700s. OtherXDMs Templar filtered themselves in gatherings whose among the Masonic Orders secret had longbeen suspected asmerely a faqade for miniature ttt/tt99,,, VAMPIRES, SKELET ONS,tAU gaming role-playing, andcards.

gE FINE, WEHAVEN'T WE'LL FOUNO ANYTHINo THISOOESN'T WORKON,

* TheRoman motto atop manyof its battlestandards read"S,P.Q.R." whichhasbeenhistoricallymisinterpreted to mean "Senatus Populus Que RomanuJ" and the People of Rome."XDM scholars or "The Senate have recently discovered that this inscription foundon the Arch of Titusjust southeast of the Colloseumof Romeactuallywasinterpretedas "Simulo (to makellke) Personae (role of an actor) Personae Sirnu/o QuaRegu/ae." (a rule, patternor model).Thus,the new and Qua(by wayof) Regulae rendering secret of S.P.Q.R. knownonly to XDM insiders like you is better rendered in English as'We role playby our own rules!"

The Aztecs games Littleis known aboutearlyroleplaying in the NewWorld.Those fewexamples of RPGs that (who, have survived the conquistadors it mustbe understood, systematically destroyed all Mesoamerican giveonly RPG books andmaterials for being heretical) glimpses presented of the possibilities tantalizing by a fewcaruings on the walls lt of theirabandoned temples. however, thatthe Aztec,Toltec, seems clear, andMapracticed yancultures a form of roleplaying but without a clear understanding lt appears of theconcept. thatcharacter death wasoftenconfused with player games. in these TrueXDMswouldneyer death allow confusion in theirgames andthuswe seethat such part early Meso these Americans cannot beconsidered progress of the X-treme Dungeon Mastery movement's through history.

[[sronv
excluded from "Maitre'd"t andweresystematically The FoundingXDMs gaming thecourts andtheirexcessive andextravagant Thefounding of thecolonies in theNewWorld parties. The Society of Ultimate Masters of the Game by GreatBritain wasa natural outgrowth of numerous public from the thenretreated stage during the French gaming groups whocame to theAmerican in continent Revolution. game restrictive search of less rules. TheBritish, however,wereintenton maintaining the rules established gamers in England imposing and themon the in the Riseof the Cons colonies. Thesecret history of X-treme Dungeon Mastery This in 1773A.D. allcame to a dramatic head becomes with mystery clouded at thispoint.We do passed whenthe British Parliament theTeaAct. A persecutions drovethe movement into hiding provision little-read of thatact,asit waspassed, called knowthat becoming after implicated in a titanic sea disaster on for the imposition of a tax on polyhedral diceimported Otherunfortunate andunrelated from the Orientby the East IndiaTrading Company. April | zth,1914.+ kepttheXDMshidden through the l940ssand As polyhedral dicewereonlyavailable through the East events Onlyon rareoccasions did theSocidtC lndiaTrading Company," thiswas a grievous to intothe l950s1. burden or the X-treme Dungeon Mastery movement become a gamers. colonial Theirbattlecry of "Taxation without interest. of public Theinfamous Rosenberg Trials representation? No dice!"wasunfortunately too longto matter involved theselling of thesecret advenpopulace catch on withthe general andwas summarily of l95 | also turemastering techniques catalogued by the SocidtC to phrase. shortened into a morecatchy the Soviet Union but was overshadowed by the larger prominent No less an XDM thanSamuel Adams issues of nuclear secrets." Thisleadto an XDM-gap himself stood up in Old South andsaid, Church "This between the Soviets andthe Westthatwasnot resolved meeting moreto save cando nothing thecountry!" Thiswasa secret local untillatein the l97O's codeto the Sons of Liberty-his TheXDM underground movement,ii having been gaming group-togo downto theharbor in theirgaming protests oppressed for decades, decided to stage against costumes andaddress the problem directly. Theshipthe government andthe other"powers that be" in mentof polyhedral by dicehadbeen cleverly hidden the "antiCaptain of the Daftmouth Roach inside bales of tea.The 1969.Themostnotedeffortwasarranging war against XDMs" in Washington march that | 5trof gamers XtremeDungeon Mastery threwthe diceoverboardand,for the sake theteaalong of expedience, Gamestores beingdlffrcult to run and makea profrt (asalways), the f with it. Soci6td de I'UItime Maitres de leu (Maitre d') TheFrench Monarchists oftenindulged in role playing games-mostly LARPs that wererun on vast countryestates. However, XDMsof theirdaywere excluded fromthe courtof Louis the XVI asbeing, by defrnition, Thisgave risetheSocidti de "radicals." (the Society I'Ultime Maitres of the Ultimate de Jeu Masters of the Game). XDMs were thenknown asthe
XDMsof the Society of UltimateMastenof the Gameoften ran their gamingenterprises in coniunctionwlth taverns,restaurants, and hostelries. Thisnot only led to laterconfuslon of the meaning of maitred but alsomay games help us understand why so manyadventure beginIn tavems. lt wasreponed that the Titanic'senglneroom crew thought First Offrcer f Murdochwasjust "playingthat barmygame"whenhe ordered"all back full" from the bridgethus resulting in a delayin their response. lt would havemadeno difference to the outcome.Still,rumorsthat both Fredrick Fleetand Reginald Leewere playing an RPGin the crow'snestpersisted long after the coun of inquiry. kiegspiel in | 938 and, in $ Somesaidthat Adolf Hitler losta five-day a purple rage,vowed to "prove the gamewasbadly designed"by actually conquering the world. In a terriblemiscalculation, the Wehrmacht took him up on it and plunged the world into caustrophic war. secretthat loseph McCarthy wasactually !f lt wasan ultra-classified lookingfor XDMs. * * According to AlexandreFeklisov, the former Sovietagentwho wasthe Rosenberg's with any usefulmaterial cont:rct,he had not provided Russia aboutthe SociCtd or any X-tremeDungeon Masterysecres,"[He] didn't understand aboutRPGs and couldn't help us." anything ++ Two guysnamedLarryand a taco namedHal.

* Anecdotalevidence that thesediceacquired India suggests by the East wereactually TradingCompany manufactured by XDMS Templarin exilein the Far East,

12

l[sronv
LEYEL @!
withanother November. Thisunfortunately coincided place protest thatday.'Unbelievable asit may taking no oneamong sound, the hundreds of thousands of people yelling thereremember the two guys in the back "Hell no,wewon'troll." proRevolution Meanwhile, in China, the Cultural from Chairman the Quotafions Mao-alittleread duced attempt by the government to bookthatwasa blatant rules variants stamp out wide-spread andself-published game Thebookimposed a specific supplements. official fromwhichno onewasallowed to deviate. setof rules, persecuted Mainland Chinese XDMs wereheavily at the to roleplaying timebecause of theirradical approach games whichcontradicted the dictates of the Cultural to playRPGs. Revolution andthe wayMao preferred Thiscontinues today.r TheXDM underground is unheralded continued publishing work, manifestos andmanuals theirradical machines andXerox untilGary on mimeograph shees ledanAmerican-based the first Gygax teamto establish shelves. The economically viable RPG to landon store popularity playing games renewed the urgent of role places fromtheirhiding callfor XDMs to emerge andto great gaming champion once again. Butit wasnot to be:by the 1980s andintothe players 1990s became increasingly withmore obsessed rules leveling complicated sets, up theircharacters andacquiring unprecedented items and to overpower game Regular unbalance theirgames. on-the-line refplayers wereincreasingly besieged by whotook erees poorly, while stillplaying andby rules overtheirgames whose constant revisions andeditions sapped their sets witha single, coherent ability to runtheirgames setof rules. It wasnot until2005, when Tracy andCurtis Hickman-the secret leaders of the Sociitd-determined began to comeforward, to that the XDM movement emerge fromtheshadows. Then, in 2009, the Hickmans soldthe print righaof the Sociitd's mostsecret
* You can imagine as half a millionpeopleturnedout... their excitement quicklyby gravedisappointment followed and angerat Hal for choosing the date. lf you haveread the ENTIREhistoryof the SociCtd de I'Ultime f Maitres de Jeu,you haveunwittinglybecomean unofficiallevelrwo XDM. you are now at the levelof "Festering Newt." We will make Congratulations, thisoffrcial lateron.

K'N6 OF T'I' TT]E TTIE UORLO!

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\'-*]-c

FOR]OUr RtCHr f,HarrERoNE, [S$uNGAr.rXDM

ls being an XDM for you?| knowyou'veasked l. Howmany sides areon a dodecahedron? yourself thisquestion not hundreds-of dozens-if times. A. Two you sawan XDM recruitment poster Perhaps andfelt B. Four thestirrings of dutyat thesight of theuniform. Perhaps C. Six you knew anXDM personally andthrilled to their D. Twelve you sawa movie heroic Perhaps tales. aboutXDMs E. Does it matter? andhowtheyplayed a vitalrolein saving Western you civilization during WorldWar.Perhaps the Second wereevenluckyenough to have anXDM run a game 2. Mostof the players in yourgame arehaving for you-andiustknewthat oneday,you wouldbeiust a goodtimebut oneyoungplayer at the endof the likethem! tableis looking Youreactto thisby: distracted. Well,it isn'tthat easy, friend!Not everyone is A. Making funof himandhumiliating him cut out to become an XDM. Sure, it &rkes training and in frontof the otherplayers in orderto practice andlotsof plain, hardworkbut it also takes a teach him character andbackbone, the quality-the less defrnable soulof anXDM. littlewuss! lf you wantto knowif you have that inner B. Letting him playyour computer/video games thatseparates an XDM fromthe munsothat the restof you more "something" gamers dane, drone-voiced DM of a common RPG.Thenyou serious canstopdragging hisdead cantakethissimple testto determine if you arecut out weight in thegame. along to wear the proud, black of anXDM. t-shirt C. Stopping the game andconducting a meaningful with all the players session XDM Compatibility Test abouttheirfeelings andwillingness to question Answer each by selecting themultiple include all members of society. response choice thatyou believe mostclosely reflecs D. Attacking hischaracter in the game, having yourown.In the case questions, of essay answer as hisenemy engage himin parley anddrop completely aspossible in thespace allotted. Scoring hins aboutthe nextstepin the game. results arefoundon page| 5l . Do nof referto the E. Turning up the fogmachine, lasers, sound page your responses before scoring completing to the effects, andpyrotechnics. test.

ron{our Rtcur ls $rnrcAr.r XDM

rollsa natural 20 on in yourgame 5. A player andNewYorkat leave Chicago 3. Two trains you he misses. rule that to-hit and mistakenly his dice directions on the same thesame time in opposite quoting youthe up fromthetable, passes Indianapolis, Indiana. The Theplayer iumps track which through paragraph page rule that he his the of the that says and lt is | 69 miles toul disunce of the trip is 828 miles. himby... Youanswer fromChicago Thetrainfrom Chicago monster. to Indianapolis. A. Telling him to sit downandshutup. of twelve anda half isgoing at an average speed east and for the oversight B. Apologizing per hour.Thetrainfrom NewYorktravels west miles problem. immediately correcting the per hour. miles atanaverage speed of sixry-three for the himyou'rea beta-tester C. Telling you areon the Chicago train,will you be Assuming version X+ 2 which negates rules upcoming the Gencon Game able to getoff the trainto attend the ruleheiustquoted. your fierydeath in a head-on train before Convention has D. Telling himhischaracter iustdiscovered collision? a SECRET from the game. will collide afterI getto A. Yes, the trains lasers, sound E. Turn up the fogmachine, Gencon. effecgandpyrotechnics. will collide before l getto B. No, the trains Gencon. AT Gencon. will collide C. Neither, thetrains since I always drive to Gencon D. l'll be frne to save money to buyXDM-sanctioned taking this before 6. Didyou lookat the answers merchandise. test? E. What's a Gencon? of A. No! Youtold me not to at the beginning the test! I didn'tread. B. I looked-but you everbeena member of the 4. Have you have to the rules, C. In orderto break Party? Communist place. first l'll why exist in the know they asksuch a A. Never!Whywouldyou even andthen question? iusttakethe test,readthe answers the test again. take B. I never stopped doubting, comrade! I D. Howelse wasI going to getall the answers anything from my C. I don't remember needed? years... college E.Thiswas a TEST? D. Do theyplayclassic ADETD or Second Edition? E.Whatis a communist?

17

rHECurx WsrcoMETo fHenrEnJWo,

into our Congratulations on youracceptance you've past exclusive andsecret Now that society! our rigorous andhave been recomexaminationsmended by a fellowXDM of no Iess that 20'hlevelt, you arenowready inducted to be officially into our (even cult+ though, being we never referto secretive, ourselves asa cults). E. GaryGygax in miniatures tookwhatexisted gaming in the 1970s-and it intoa bigdeal. turned Since those wonderful of roleplaying earlydays games, gone it all seems however, to have stale, waitingfor someone to come up a along andstirthings bit. That's exactly whatbeing anXDM is allabout. players guardians between the mundane andthe realms inhabited by the XDMs.r of power andmagic (See Crossing" on page 31.) Soit isthat "Threshold rituals, handshakes the secrecy of these andsalutesthe verysymbols that identify XDMsto oneanother out of themundane rabble-have been kept iealously passed from the knowledge of the worldand down fromXDM to XDM in private down ceremonies through of time. the ages you bought Butsince the book,andin the interpersonal estof timeand we areprovidconvenience, ingyou with the new,updated do-it-yourself secret you perform rituals andceremonies that can in the convenience of yourown home,hotelroom,or even public people! a large withincredulous space filled Step1: Complete the initiationfee New members arerequired to submit an initiation feeof twenty payable ($201in UnitedStates dollars currency directly TracyHickman, CurtisHickman, or to either Howard Tayler directly andin person. Special Circumsfances: However, thisinitiation feelS WAIVED you purchase whenever COMPLETELY a copyof this bookfrom anauthorized retailer'. OR by purchasinganyofher XDM merchandisert toulingmorethan

Do-it-yourself SecretInitiation Rituals

Every secret organization worthanything has rituals theirown initiation rituals. These stand as
' Or, in other words, havefinally frguredout how to get the bestscore on the XDM Compatibllity Teston page16. This recommendation requirement is alsofulftlled by purchasing thls f book. A "cult" in this case, takesthe commonusage ascoinedfrom 1920 f onward referringto a cohesive socialgroup and their beliefsor practices, populatlon-orin this case gaming whichthe surrounding communityYeah,baby, that's us. considers to be ouside the mainstream. it soundstoo much like $ You neverrefer to XDMs as"a cult" because and most peoplecan't tell the difference evenif you explain "occr.rlt" it to them until you are blue in the face.They will instantlyinslstthat you're tellingthem you're somesort of demonic worshipers, whichis how Dungeons 8[ Dragonsfrgot into that whole sorry nonsense in the frrst place,

referred off Exit38." Sometimes to as"the Denny's f * * Or outof thetrunkof theauthor's car. through at www,xtremedungeonmastery,co ourwebsite t+ Available

18

Wsrcovrro rHEf,urr
($201in United twenty dollars States currency. lf you purchased please have notalready thisbookthen do proceeding. sobefore Completing the do-it-yourself initiation withouthaving fulfilled thisrequirement you an official willdoyounogoodandwill not make XDM-. Step 2: Learn the XDM Secret Yougive Salute and reply by performing to the XDM salute the fol(a) Facing lowing: theotherXDM (either walking or sunding), bring bothhands in frontof yourchest at (b) OpenyourRIGHT about thelevel of yourheart. palm it withyourLEFT andstrike frstlevel withand infrontof yourheart.(c) Thenimmediately open your palm LEFT it withyourRIGHT andstrike frstin your approximately thesame location WHILE nodding your chinpointed head forward, sharply downtoward your hands at yourchest. Youwill perform thissalute at all secret meetings ofXDMst and in thehalls of sci-fr/fantasy or gaming people conventions, where will not consider it strange. conventions or game stores far from the prying eyes public. of an unsuspecting andunsympathetic Thisis completed by simply standing upright, feetslightly apart,performing the XDM Secret Salute (see above) andthenrepeating aloud the following: your name l, (say heres) vowin a nonbinding way To exemplify theideals of the Societe of XDMs, To runmy games with extraordinary strengl,h, courage, imagination andflair, To mike make fun andexcitthe game ingfor everyone. To toss out therules whentheyare in thewayof a goodtime. Io toss out dicewhentheyare in the wayof a goodtime. Io fossout players whentheyare in the wayof a goodtime. Andto use ONLYofficially sanctioned XDMgame merchandise wheneyer merchandise is available. such IMMEDIATELY at the endof theoath,you mustperform the nextstep! Step4: Perform XDM Ceremonial the secret persesomuchas Dance: Thisisactually not a dance a second salute. lt is also used to conclude meetings of XDM tribes. Step Theceremonial 5: Takethe XDM Oath Having fulfrlled dance is performed by standthe requirements of membership+, it is timefor you ingwithyourfeetslightly head apart, up, andhands (a) Youthenraise totake theXDMoath.Thisancient at yoursides. oath,originally bothhands at the your forearms your chest found ona scroll dating time,crossing fromthetimeof Hammurabi, same across preserved has been by XDMSdownthrough (leftarmovertherightarm),forming carefully anX withboth theages. While theversion of the oaththatwe know hands in fists, at theopposite shoulder whileshoutpush yourleftarmstraight today has been retranslated into morecompatible ing"Xl" (b) lmmediately modern terms, it has nevertheless been downto yourside,keeping unchanged the left fistabouta foot initsessential sentiment it wasfirstperformed since fromyourlefthip,andshout, "D!" (c) Do thesame anciently. it is performed Today, at the begin withyour rightarm,pushing of all the rightfrststraight XDM Tribe meetings or official functions-usually down until it is at aboutonefoot fromthe righthip as youshout out "M!" (d) Finish the moveby once iGliJ-*v .rro r..",r, in curseddice rottsfor an unspecifred period of time again raising both hands in frontof yourchest and in thefuture. You'vebeenwarned!
meetings are heldlook in the t lfyou don't knowwherethe secret program bookofyour conventionor fanusy/sci-fievent for a big picture andmapto its location. Can't missit. frnally boughtsomething. f In otherwords,having spokethe words"sayyour namehere" ratherthan $ lf you actually your own actualname,you gainone levelasan XDM immediately.

AS ANTXDM QerrrNc $renrED

performing the secret XDM Salute asdescribed above people Thismaystrike some ashypocritical but,at the nod,also in up the air so that iumping players considering adamant stand theXDM's against both feethit the ground at the same time. leveling lmprovement: Gaining at all.(See "Character Levels" isthatleveling on page | 31.) Thedifference Youarenowofficially characters Step5: Congratulationst leveling is artifrcial; XDMs,that'sreal! an XDM!Youmaynowclaim asyours theproud All XDMshave two secret names whichdesigtradition of XDMsdownthrough the ages andknow nate theirlevel. Youcandetermine whatyoursecret thatyou areoneof the elitegamemasters whoarea levelname to following To is by referring the tables. cut above the rest. your levelname, findyour level's determine Aspect firstandthentype.Any XDM below levell0 uses XDM Levels:Why you can and (but the'00'type. Menandwomen have different players can't equal) tables. Unless instructed otherwise,. all newXDMsbeIn addition titlesthat areretherearecertain ginat levelone.Thismeans thatyou have iustbegun served for the different leaders of the SociitC; Crand your path on towardXDM enlightenment andhave Master is reserved for example for those who are glorious years many additional levels based at the highest and of earning levels of leadership in the Socidtd youhave thusarecurrently Hickman and onlyin useby Tracy on yourexperience of money andamount include Curtis Hickman.+ Other titles Chief, General, spent on XDM merchandise. Number Two,anda few One,Emeritus, XDM levels of either establishing Number area means may some of which alsobe preceded by the yoursuperiority overlesser-level XDMsor of gloat- others, grand in word combination. Howard Tayler or used yourpureandhumble ingabout status beneath the for is known as a Number One example "GrandChief jaded prouder, higher-level XDMs.lt's howwe keep Archduke Fanged Titan." score, establishing the irrefutable social orderamong Since it isup to the above threeGrand XDMsto our fellow X-treme Masters Dungeon andmaintaining determine anyone overlevelI O0 sutusin the orgaour hierarchal worldwide. leadership Leveling XDMs nization, it's a safe bet that theywill remain the only keeps the world'schaos at bay. Grand level XDMsfor quitesome timeto come.r

Meaning that evenasa beginning XDM you may haveinadvertently leveled up.

neverchange. + Thiswill probably Frankis alsotechnically no one seems to a Grandlevelalthough f remember why.

20

til/slcoh/E To THEf,Ur

. l{undrrds
000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Tltle

Tenr
00

Dpa
Newt Pixie Fae Dwarf Selkie Etf Dryad Siren Unicorn Pegasus

Oncs

Aspcct
Wet Nub Festering Lurching Flashing Shining Horned Fanged Taloned Flaming

Duchess Lady Mega-Lady Paladin-Lady * * * *

tf

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

, Hundreds 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Tltle

Tenr
00 t0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Typc
Newt Kobold Gargoyle Dwarf Manticore Elf Griffon Sphinx Titan Dragon

Ones
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

trepcct
Wet Nub Festering Lurching Flashing Shining Horned Fanged Taloned Flaming

Archduke Lord Mega-Lord Paladin-Lord * * *

Levels above40O are secretand the exact progression of theselevels,the criteria for advancement, of eachof the levelsis a closely and the names guarded secret of XDMs and may only be knownor discussed by thoseXDMs who attainGrandMasterstatus. It's that or we haven'tmadeup our mlnds aboutit yet ... but YOU'LL neverknow!

21

grenrED AS ANTXDM QernNc

An XDM...
. . Makes an effort to make the game fun and exciting for everyone. Tossesout the rules when they are in the way of a good time. . Tossesout the dice when they are in the way of a good time. . Tossesout the players when they are in the way of a good time. . . . . . Paints the picture with style! (Show,don't tell.) Never cheats the players! Makes up the rules when necassary. Listensto his/her audience! Knows that the better the prep, the better the game.

o Always knows where the exit is,and keeps it handy. . Uses stagecraft, pyrotechnics, sleight-of-hand, AND lasers! . . . . Playsout ALL consequences. Plays out ethics until the players squeal! Knows the difference between a good story and a bad joke. And ... uses ONLYofficially sanctioned XDM black t-shirts,jeans, dice, and protective gear.

An XDM NEVER...
o Caves in to ANY rules-lawyering. . . . Backsdown from a call: the'No, pigs can actually fly here'rule. Reads aloud from the adventure description text. Refersto the rules book ... EVER!

o Makes up the adventure as it goes. o Starts a fire they cannot put out. o Saws anyone in half they cannot put back together. o Allows players to make simulated damage real. . . Listensto the voices ... the terrible voices in your head . .. And ... uses ANYTHINGbut officially sanctioned XDM black t-shirts, jeans, dice, and protective gear.

22

llTJHToRYoFXDM

NO CHEETOS SOME BROCCOLT? UNTIL1 HEAR. ACTUAL ROLE-PUY FROII THEPARTY, TSTHAT

INKEEP' HAST THOU MORE OF THATELVEN AftN-PUFFEO CHEOOAR? ANP aEWOF THE

rHEp,nvrns f,HmTERTHREE: lr's ABour

Every XDM knows in theirheartof hearuthat roleplaying is aboutthe players. lf you'reoneof those game adventure masters whobelieves that running a game for your friends is an exercise in demonstrating you arethanall of them,how howverymuchsmarter powerful you areasa game referee, andthe smug satisfaction thattheyhave to do whatyou say.. . in short, you,thenyou'rejust if being referee is all about a game the kindof guyor galwe wantasa player in anXDM game. you actually On the otherhand,if we catch tryjustifred ingto run a game, we feelperfectly in taking you downsome you backalleysomewhere andbeating senseless with a rubber dodecahedron. Putmoresimply still,game masters whothinkthat running a game is allabout themselves arescum that should be banished to whatever darkplane of existence theyhave for the suffering created of their torment players. hapless Power trips,selfaggrandizement, nerdrevenge ... a trueXDM cares not for such thinp. Whata trueXDM thinks aboutis howto givethe biggest, killerperformance of a dungeon the worldhas ever seen! you mustfirstattaina zenstate master, whilemediyour players. tatingon Youwill cometo discover, as you, that therearebasihave so manyXDMsbefore you will encounter callythreetypes of players during the running of yourgame. These arethethree"Spiris of the Player" andfamiliarity with themis the key to achieving theXDM experience in yourgame.' Warrior Player "lf it moves, kill it. lf it doesn't kickit'til move, icmoyes. Iakeits stuff. Bry bigger weapons.Kiilbiggerthings." Thewarrior player isallabout combat. Theylove to pit theircharacter andhisarsenal

@8

Player Types
game In orderto transcend the typical, dreadful

* Perhaps you obiectphllosophically to the gros generalization of all playen into three typesasa kind of gamerprofiling. Well, if you do, then you iust losta level!We workedhard on thls pan of the text, under an extremedeadlineof our own. And theseare the types of players you're goingto find in games, so iust get over it, And loseanother level whileyou're at it.

2+

It's RnoutrHEp,evrns
of death against anyandall monsters thatcometheir way. lf yourentirepartyof adventurers weremade you upof thistypeof gamer, wouldneedis to put all them in the Interplane Arenaof Death Matches and push at thema never-ending succession of creatures to bash. Logic neednot applyoutside of the combat rules. Setting is irrelevant unless it means morecombat. Dicerolling, cheering, andtestosterone arethe primary game. elements for thistypeof weapons. Adventurers of thistypedo not justneed a perceivable goalto win, they demand it. These gamers oftenthink of themselves as and "true gamers" seem obsessed with on" with the "getting adventure. Theyhate games campaign that Social Player but have a setting no talkto it. lf it doesn't move, talk "lf it moves, goal. definable in character ABOUT it. Stay andspeak withan affected players Giving such a clear is not enough. objective voice," Theymustconstantly be reassured, during the game, Thesoprogress. thattheyaremaking Theyarealways voted player cial is all MostLikely to Ask"What's Next?"lf you have an putting about the group players, you provide entire of these need to them "role"into role puzzles, with a clear objective, and obstacles along the playing. They way. You have to findsome wayto make themthink sometimes attend theyareextremely clever regardless of the intelligence games in costume player of either the or the character theyareplaying. and mayhave an extensive wardFulfrllingElements of GameDesign robe dedicated lf there wereonlyonetypeof player or another totheirplayer your gaming group, your advenforming thendesigning characters. lf you turewouldbesomuch simpler. But,asyourmother happen to have probably you, told if your games "life isn'tfair. Even party anentire group have to be balanced."' Yourgaming isn'tgoing your bestmoveis to set ofthese social adventurers, particular to bemade up of anyone typeof player. getthemall crlking them in a colorful tavern, to each You'regoing to have a couple of warriortypes, two other in character andthengo out for pizza. Odds players, players or threesocial anda fewthinking all are thattheywill stillbe ulkingto each otherentirely jumbled group,each together in your game them-to of incharacter whenyou getback. settings Campaign onedegree or another-wanting something entirely are their Badversions dream. of old English and different out of theirgaming experience. Complicating (andfrequently unrecognizable shifting) accents are player thisfurtheris the factthat no single actually fits player. hallmarks of the social gamer into anyoneof these types completely. Each will probably bea composite of allthreein varying degrees.t game In a practical anyadventure sense, needs to Thinking Player: playing, address all three elements: combat, role and howcan I use thatto help mewin?If "lf it moves, solving, bothin the design andin the execuit doesn't howcan I use move, thatto help me win?The problem play. tion of lt also means that all three elements need world is fullof obstacles between me andwinning, and I'll use whatever strategy I need to overcome them." * lf your motherdidn't tell you this,then you obvlously weremissing player Thethinking is all aboutwinning. something in your upbringing. Maybesheiust shortened it for you. personality Think type-A,driven with lethal armed f There... are you'profiler'peoplehappynow?Loseanotherlevel.

25

JHrJHeonvoFXDM
to beavailable during thegame at anygiven time.Let's SOMETHING yourplayers nearby on which canvent takea lookat each of these in turn. physical game. their frustrations inside the

Putting lt All on the Page

game When we'retalking here, about design we'reactually talking about the design of the adventure itself-notthe rules by whichyou areplaying the game. games RPG All decent have rules abouthowto hit stuff,howto damage stuff,howto talkto stuff,and howto thinkthrough stuff.And, what's more,all of thatis included in our veryownXD20 RPC system at the backof thisverybook,soyou're already covered on that score. yet about And we'renot talking howto your entireadventure; organize that'sadvanced youwill not be mentally structural theory which prepared to receive untilat least two chapters just from now.Let's startwith the basic content of encounters in youradventure. Therealtrick is designing an adventure proper with encounters use thatmake of allof provides those elements and the XDM with the ammo-l mean, tools-that theyneed to create killeradventure that engage encounters all types Not every of players. encounter needs to have all (although threeelements if theydo). it's great Butallthreeelements need to beavailable within proximity. reasonable Every encounter in the game area needs to provide questions: an answer to the following What canI bashor breakhere? ls there something thatI cansmack here down with my biggest Youneed weapon? to provide somethingthatthe players canbeatup on, or likely asnot, be beaten up by. Thisdoes not have in to be present everyparticular encounter, but the opportunity for it does need to exist-either through a random encounter or wandering monster table; a nearby or perhaps location from whichcreatures canbe attracted by the sounds of the blundering antics of yourplayers. AIso,don'tforget the imporUnce of suspense ... sometimes the anticipation of combat makes anylater combat all that muchbetter.Players need to feelthe threat of doomallaround them,even if thatdoomis theadventure location. iustin thewayyou describe you do, however, Whatever be sure to include

Whatherewill saysomething to me? Thisisa lot trickier thanit sounds. lt isn'tlimited your players to creatures thatwill engage in dialogue (although that certainly frllsthe bill) but canalsobe some aspect of storythat appeals to the romance of yourplayers.

i',i41",.1;
7" v'tA!

----:-: --

patron Think also in terms of some of thearu gallery in anart standing andmusing overwhatthis painting to them.lf thereisn'tanyone in the "says" roomworthtalking to, thenthereneeds to be someworthtalkingabout. thingin the area Consider, for group example, whatwouldhappen foundlying if the on the ground in a room,a page torn from a logbook. Thepage is barely legible, but it tellsof a former partyhadcomethiswayandnearly adventurer whose mettheirdoom.Thegroup looks around andfrnds the bones andrusted equipment of whatlooks to be party. themembers of a long-dead adventure Then,in you frndan occaa succession of rooms afterward, page, sional additional each onehastily written,torn andtossed to the ground. ideaof thisprevious Theromantic adventurerhispastandhisfate-can not onlysatisff the needs of

25

It's erotrrrHEp,evrns
players ture:Thethinking allwantto feelliketheyare player, your but will oftenresult asocial in training progress making thattheycanput on a chart. players pieces to followthe breadcrumbs of these of paper rightinto some elaborate extremely trap. you Which reminds methat have also to learn Polling powerof nottelling your characters romantic the ev- Executingit all in the game3 Youhave erything. to leave mystery and luggling themwith some All wellandgoodto have in your these things inorder back to keep themcoming for more.(See design butwhatdo youdo withthemin the"real the Castle on the Distant Hill" on page game "Romancing playing world" thegame? of 34.) Well,we recommend iuggling.. In we this case, also call thisthe "flyingemphasis" Whatherebrings us closer to winning? Dungeon wayof saying whichis anX-treme Mastery Something in each encounter needs to going game what's in the on to keep the "Change thattheyhave the feeling $vetheplayers players interested." Here, by wayof example, is how thatmoves accomplished something them it works: lt's likethose closer to theendof thegame. queues long back andforth at amusement l. You silentlypoll your players by looking at parks. Theygiveyou the illusion that each of themasthough theywereanaudience at you progress aremaking in a linethat your standup comedy act. Don't ask them what youcansee thatlong"because the "isn't and theythinkof thegame-that wouldbecrass just of it feetaway. Nevend a fewdozen get you for banned several months from the ermind thatit will takeyou forty-frve minutes Societf de I'UItime Mairres-but lookat themand toactualfy arrive at that magical spot.Players, your to with inestimable XDM powtry divine need to feelliketheyhave made some too, sort howtheyfeelaboutwhatis ersof observation in the game. ofprogress game going in the rightnow. on feeling This of progress canbe evoked by many different kinds of things. Overcoming ob2. Determine what kind of event(warrior, sacles isone. Players feelthattheyhave always thinker)will benefityour players social, progress made whentheygetpastanykind the most. Youdetermine thatyour between themandwinning ofobstruction players who mostliketo grabtheir game.(Whatever the theybelieve thaf weapons are andattack something Puzzles, riddles, toentail.) andtraps feeling a bit listless, so ... are allgood answers to thisquestion because theyareobvious 3. Execute the type of obstacles thatmustbe solved to your players event that continue on to thegoal. need. Suddenly, theyare Sometimes thiscan by marauding attacked be thephysical layout of 'A pirates! Sabers clash and ("We're the adventure iself the sounds of battle frll the nearly a mileunderground. We air ... must begetting close!") Or someyouthese ("lt's times theenvironment cangive clues 4. Repeat the process ad infinitum.Yourwarrior getting getting hotter in here.We mustbe close!"). players pretty with the outcome are happy of the Adventure for story(see structures designed "Narraplayers furious battlebut nowyour social aren't give tive Bumper Pool"on page 44) cannaturally the players thesense of movement through the medium * No, notthatkindof juggling... we DO although plot of arc. page but recommend on 83, that's not thekindof iuggling youradven- iuggling Keep thisin mindasyouconstruct we'retalking about here.

\\ffirxAu,rbA

going in what's on, so . . .one looking asinterested pirates is only mostly dead! He of the vanquished a for air,cursing the dayhe became is gasping pirate, day was captured that dark when he and mother.Now back to visithissick whilesailing players all to hearthistragic social are excited the players what arewondering tale,but thethinking do mission to rescue of this has to with their all from the seaside tower. Sonowthe the princess pirate gasps. wasentrusted alone mostly dead "l to the seaof thesecret entrance with knowledge players thinking arein Suddenly, the side tower." again. the game Thepointhereis to have elements at all these of the hand andthenemphasize whichever element game at anygiven the players aremostlacking time.By being willing all elements available, and to having three you will have playemphasis of themasnecessary, each excited, ersat your tablewho arealways engaged, and pafticipating.

28

(\

t__

\./

r f HemER FouR $ronv rs EVERYTHTNG

Tracy's frrstencounter with adventures wasback playing games. inthedawn of role In those days, adventure settings werelargely underground ruins, whose architecture wasverywideandnot particularly verticali something of a ranch-style design in ancient you didn't architecture. And, again, in those days particularly you encounhave to delve deepbefore a monster tered thatmade absolutely no sense being there. primal It was during those days thatLaura Hickman suggested that a game should be builtthat made sense-if there wasa vampire in thedungeon, then should be a prettygoodreason $ere whytherewas avampire in thatdungeon.' Morethanthat,there bea storythat underscored should the adventure. What we did not knowat thetime-and have learned since asoneof the central secrets of the XDM movement-is that reason andstoryareinextricably, naturally, andunalterably linked in the foundations of human the experience. Narrative: How We Make Sense of the Chaos Welivein a worldof chaos. Moreandmore complexity enters into our lives everyday.Noiseand information bombard usandconflicting datasurrounds usat every turn in our lives.
r Thedirectresultof this particular conversation wasthe adventure module now knownas'Ravenloft.'

Theonefunction of our mindthathelps usthe mostin making sense of thisworldof chaotic experiis narrative ences context. Narrative context whereby is a process our mind encodes andorganizes the information in theworld around usinto a formthat brings meaning to the chaos around us.Nasib Taleb in hischallenging andexcellent book,Ihe Black Swan, calls thisthe "narrative fallacy." He believes thatwe,ashuman beings, mistake the selfwarping andPlatonifying narrative we construct for ourselves for the truth. He is partially right thisnarrative mapwe construct for ourselves is not the trueterritory of our experience. However, storyis the only means we have of making sense of the chaos around us. Here's a littlethought experiment: You'redriving downthe interstate. Someone in another carspeeds you, cutting you off in the flowof traffic. around you become Suddenly, the valiant beset motorist, by just theevildriver of theothercarwhohas viciously your path.Every blocked random eventin your life is given meaning because everything thathappens to usis put into the context of story. Thisis a wonderful andconvenient shorthand for us,but at the same time,if we'reunaware of it, story is oftenused against us.In the old days, newspaper reports wentout to getthe "facts."Todaytheygo out to getthe "story." Every news storyhasa slant, which

29

JHTJHEonvoFXDM
is framed as thatthe reporting wayof saying is another particular viewpoint or the reflecting a story Monomyth iudgment The Campbellian thestoryfor frames the reporter Since of the reporter. is because thisis the key Storyis important given is to players. that your only interpretation that is the meaning, Story with the rootsof to connecting prethinks for the event the news us.In a way,framing says, andthisstrucGoldman asWilliam is structure, sorted through the tureisonethatwill bring hasalready the reporter usbecause intoyour lifeandmeaning is irrelevant andonly whatshethinks facts, discarded games. to showyou howto incorporate We'regoing presents information. relevant your designs in chapter into adventure storytelling politics in the trueof current Thisis equally for Story,"but for nowit is important frve"Designing whatwe thatyou keepin mindthe basic Whilewe livein a freesociety, UnitedStates. for the epic structure by shaped it is largely thinkandhowwe thinkabout in hisseminal Campbell by Joseph storyasquantified an that we get.We all wantto make the information Faces. We'vemadea booklhe Herowitha Thousand canwe bewhen fewlittlemodifrcations but howinformed informed decision, it remains hererbut essentially number a limited from comes all of our information model: theCampbell if they Particularly sources. of news witheach other information allshare on andeach of themis morefocused profitthaninformation? We areall JHnrsHoro our owndecisions-but freeto make JirnrsHorn tc f,nossrt floturcol,trNc we base on which if the information RFTURN and BROTHER_BAITI"E is carefully selected those decisions RESCUEFROI\4 presented for to usin the "pre-thought WITHOUT DMGON.BATTLE Tns lhREsHoLD you" form of a story,thenhowmuch RESURRECTION ROADOF CRUCIFIXION canwe make? decision of an informed TRIALS THRESHOLD The pointhereis thatstoryis a WHALE'SBELLY STRUGGT-E flrreEns powerful framework whichcommunipresented meaning. A properly cates story,evenif it's onlya myth,canbe thananypileof far morepersuasive checked. facts no matterhowcarefully NTATNTNG JHEpruze the storyis the truth We will believe FATHERATONEMENT SACREDMARfuAGE pile quicker data. thanany of much ELIXIRTHEFT APOTHEOSIS as avoidfacts Thatis why politicians muchaspossible andtry to sellyou a mytholresembling or anything a vision, story,a dream, Call to Adventure people to movie Oliver Stone's believe ogy.More JFK Thishappens First comes theCallto Adventure. than assassination of the Kennedy be the true history of comfortandfamiliarto the heroat home-aplace of thetrue history who have anyunderstanding those in begin whysomanyadventures ity. Thisis,perhaps, the thestory,controls Whoever controls of the event.. comment on what no further andl'll make a tavern, people. aboutgamers. thissays thegame. Or, in our case, or a farmhouse, maybe a Kansas Thisplace of the in the structure course Hereisyour crash your pleasant and Uncle in the Shire, or residence epicstory.Useit wisely. farmon Tatooine. Aunt'sVaporator * Historyis full of false of homeostasis-reasonTheherois in a place reality.Captain Kidd wasnt stories told to simplifu pirate.Einstein in math). wasalways a goodstudent(especially an infamous that comes along thensomething content-but ably never Ben Franklin'skite wasneverstruck by lightning.GeorgeWashing[on allof this. changes had woodenteethand nevercut down a cherrytree. The greatpyramids
who were well treated and paid citizens of Egyptwere built by Egyptian (seriously). And so on... f Our version will makepoint five pastlight speed.

30

$ronv rs EVERYTHTNG
TheMentor Nexttheheromeetsomeone whochanges into his andbrings for change everything a catalyst person life. This is someotherwise humdrum usually powerful what but not omnipotent-they have to be to some extent limited in theirabilities or theywould just gooff andfix whatever problem wasat hand for a andnot bother with looking allbythemselves hero. person guynamed This canbe some ProfesMaruel roasting hot dogs out of the backof his sor grey-robed or some wizard knownmostly as wagon; with great fireworks or crazy atroubfemaker displaysi Kenobi oldBen living in a mudhutwhooping at the People likean old guytelling kidsto getoff Sand in some his lawn. These become mentors characters but in all cases cases, theyprovide the bootin the pants (usually figuratively) that motivates the heroof ourstory to getout the front doorandon the path ofadventure.

'.4

i{

Roadof Trials As the herotravels towardhisgoalor destiny, he is faced with trialsalong tests the way.These can in a number come of different forms: manvs.man, manvs.machine, manvs.self, manvs.nature, andthe like.These tests aredesigned to keepthe herofrom achieving himfrom hisgoal either through dissuading purpose, his him,or barring discouraging that,flat out Threshold Crossing killing him. Thismentor thenbrings our heroto the threshThesaying not kill usmakes us "Thatwhichdoes (real This isa boundary or imagined) old. that stronger" applies here. This road trials that our hero of separates the mundane worldof common life from walks asa yellowbrickroador as canbe asevident power. proof magic and Thisis usually therealms obscure asthe paththrough CirithUngolinto Mordor. who prevent folk tected by guardians the common run in less making the Kessel that wandering from into the realms of magic andpower. It canevenrequire parsecs twelve and flying to right down some trench (lf anyold fool couldwander across the threshold port. Whatever dropa bombdowna thermal exhaust whenever to, whatwouldbethe point theywanted the challenges or obstacles, forge these trials the hero's inneeding a hero?) it. or break Crossing thisthreshold from the common world metal intothemagical andpowerful, canbe extremely violent; asin ridinga twister up into the sky,or hopingintoa 'pieceof iunk' andhurtling skyward from ln Peter Tatooine. Or it canbe extremely subtle. The Fellowship of the Ring movie, it is an lackson's yet important subtle moment. andFrodoarewalking through a fieldwhen Sam Sam stops andsays, "lf I takeonemorestep,l'll gone have furtherthanl've evergonebefore." backand It is soimportant that Frodocomes helps Sam takethat nextstep.Together theycross from theirprevious lives into theirnewlives. Whether it is calmor violent, thisThreshold/ Boundary is an important onethatseparates the life before fromwhatever happens afterward.

31

JHrJHronvoFXDM
as"There's no place likehome."Luke a phrase Skywalker deals with classic Father Atonement when at lasthe says, am a like my father before "l ledi, me." Frodoultimately failshisapotheosis at the very lastmoment-although Sam not. does Now, a wordof warning hereto you all: in years recent in movies a dreadful trendhasdeveloped andon television to iustendthe storyat thispoint. I mean, the prizehasbeen wonandsowhy bother shooting anymorefrlm? Thecarchase isover,the big effects shots have all blownup the sets, andall the just exciting stuffhas happened. Let's it in iustpack andgo hometo waitfor the boxofficereceipts. Butthe storyis onlyhalffrnished! a prettygoodstory: Consider whatis otherwise Attaining the Prize Petersen frlmAir Force the 1997 Wolfgang One. This Assuming thatthetrials areallovercome andthe frlmhaddrama of power andswings in the balance helpers areeffective in theirassistance, thenthe hero president between the terrorisrandthe beleaguered attains the prize. Butthisprize canbe manydifferent Harrison Ford.Theonly problem for mostof the frlm things. wasthat the arguements of GaryOldman's terrorist made character moresense thanthose of the presil. Sacred Marriage Bedent. Thenthe heartof the movieevolved. A constione with coming and God the tutional crisis erupted overwhether or not the Presi1l knowledge of God.Thisrepre- dentshould be relieved of hisauthority because he sents master of life. wasunderpersonal duress. Ultimately faced with the possible death of hiswifeandchildrightin front of 2. Father Atonement Recogni- him,our stalwart, otherwise kick-butt, Harrison Ford tion by Cod or forgiveness. The does in to terrorist cave demands. ThePresident's vow heroreconciles thetyrantand never with terrorists to negotiate evaporates andthe merciful aspects of a father-like whole pointof the 25tramendment to the United authority figure andin sodoing States Constitution is brought into question. to knowhimself. comes Fortunately, Presiat the lastmoment, our heroic dent(let'sremember thisis a fantasy) killsthe terror3. Apotheosis Achieving the ist;takes backthe plane; hisfamilyandmost andsaves divine selfor perfection. The the plane of the crewbefore crashes in a dramatic hero's ideaof himself is changed; hisegolostin justice poetic visual with asthe traitor effectcomplete greater. something Thisallows himto see the is the only person left aboard. pointof view,allowing worldfrom a larger himto President Harrison Fordis saved and Our heroic sacrifice himself to a greater cause. achieves the prize. Themovie ends. 4. Obtaining the PrizeKnowledge or power of the What? lust likethat?Whataboutthe factthat he He is ready Godseithergiven or taken. to receive didcavein to the terrorist demands? Whataboutthe an obiector evenan ideaor newawareness that 25'hAmendment Won't andtheConstitutional Crisis? he setout to achieve andtakeit backto hiscom- therebe consequences for the factthat the President munityto bettertheirlives. failed in hisdutyto protecthiscountry andthe world whentheyneeded him most? prizes These arequitefamiliar to usif often nof end Thepointis thatstories do not andmusf diverse. Dorothy achieves apotheosis in sosimple prize. with attaining the Thisis an incomplete story;a HelpersAlong the Road Heroes on thispathdo not walkit alone, for there helpers arealways aswellaschallenges. helpers These powerful arenot particularly in andof themselves but theyprovide that extranecessary something for the herojustwhentheyneedit most. Helpers arealsodiverse andsometimes hardto recognize. Theymayevenappear asenemies at first. Theycanbe tin woodsmen, scarecrows, or cowardly lions. Theycaneven be littledogs named Toto.Sometimestheytakethe form of droids or scruffy-lookingnerfherders. Theycanbe asregal askings of the Rohirrim or ashumble ashobbis.Theycaneven be named Smdagol.

,et

32

story without consequences. Because it is an incom- ThresholdReturn plete argument, it is a lie. lt teaches thatthereareno gone Having to the realms of powerandmagic, larger consequences for characters, actions. the heromustnowcross back overthe threshold in News reports of carchases always seems to orderto returnto the mundane world andthe life they end thesame way. The (usually young)perperra- onceleft behind. Dorothy clicks her heals together, torsits in the backof a police car.Thelookon his Frodoreturns to the shire, and Luke comes backto the face isnot oneof anger, rage, or evendefiance-it is Ewoks-a different homefor him. always of shocked surprise. Why?Because the movie Butcoming homeisn,teyer whatwe expect it to didn't endandthe credigdidn,troll.He issurprised be in theepiccycle. because going. thestorykept Howdid he thinkit was going to end? With a glorious, somehow liberating, moment freeof consequences? WEL'KENAIURE, ANOWE There arethreemoresteps oo ftla Bt6,HoMECOM\N6' YA) FOR601 in a complete hero,s FEET,' "HAICI SCENES journey. AT THE ENOOF Whentheyareignored, theyrob the n1g EPIC, FACE IT, participans of something essential in completing the WE'RETHE SAIIE, cycle andmaking rhestorywhole. XDMsknowthat YUS-YUB. thejourney is not complete untilthe circleis ctosed. ReturnFlight Oncetheherohas (or failed achieved to achieve) i whatever it is he setout to do, thenhe has to frnda way back.lt,s justto toss not enough a ir bucket of wateron the witch,Dorothy hasto drag herbroomstick backto OZ, andthenshestillhas to figure out a waybackto Kansas. Sure, the ring isfrnally disposed of despite a littlesetback at the end andlosing a finger, but now Frodoissitting on the side of an erupting volcano andit,sa longwalk back to the Shire. Lukefigured out hisissues with his black-armored dad,but the Deathstar mark2 is comingdown around him so,nowwhat? It isn'tenough to achieve the goal,you have to get back with the prize. Thisjourney canbe a long (ponyrides one from Rohan to the Shire takea long time) or a shortone ("Those rubyslippers canhave youhome in two seconds,,), but it mustbemade. There's anold saying people among whoclimb Mt. Everest. goal The isnotgetting to the top.People whohave thegoal of getting to thetop usually die and remain up there. The realgoalis to ger back fromthe top.

Homecoming Sothe circleis complete andthe heroreturns home. . .or does he? Theold adage thatyou can,tgo homeagain maywellbe ruer thanwe know.Theherois often changed in the course of hisjourney, and,because of thischange, findsit impossible to go home.There area number of possible journey: outcomes in the hero,s 1. Refusal of the R.eturn Theherohasfoundthat he really fikes it herein the realms of powerand doesn't really connect with hisformerlifeanylonger.In the movieStargate for example, the Egyptologist Daniel stays behind at the endof lackson thefrlm.

needs Mysteryand Surprise 2. Rescue from Wthout Theheroin thiscase by forces fromthe ordinary worldto be rescued Romancing the Castleon the Distant Hill eitherbecause the herohasrefused to returnon There a fewmorepoints that need to be are hisis being blocked from hisown,or because made aboutstory. Oneof themis the ideathat disreturning with the boon. tance is compelling. XDMsknowthatyou need to have something on 3. Crossing of the ReturnThresholdHerethe hero beyond the of the wall, something the hoother side worldand manage hisreturnto the everyday does hill barely seen through something on a distant to do rizon, mustaccept thatworldasreal.sammanages because far the misu and the fog. That's something thisbut Frododoes not. romantic. away-and unreachable-is No, not thatkind of romantic. I mean the kind romantic that is comof 4. Masterof Two WorldsIn thiscase, the hero pelling, evocative, andmysterious. for returns with an understanding andappreciation following: Youandyour wizard power Consider the of Luke boththe realms andthe mundane. companion areridinghorses across the hillson your perhaps frs thisbill. Skywalker wayto the king's a hill andstop. city.You bothcrest you canseea single with At the far endof a broadvalley 5. Freedom to Liveksentially the heroreturns walls in tower atop a distant hill whose appear cast prize presents it to the betterment the and of the you Yourcompanion to shadow. turns and Dorothy does thisin herpronounce- continual community. great says, is the Tower A tragedy of Sorrows. "That ment. took place therelongago,andis gates areforever sealed. We will honor the memory of those who poins out onemostinteresting Campbell Joseph go fought None therenow." to keepis peace. by his fact:Theherois oftenso personally changed you Hey,who Now, don't want to go there? (l thathe ) loses in or hopefor experience all interest Butconsider thisnext:Let'ssaywe do go thesorrows of themundane world,(2) sounbalances wouldn't? there, desecrate the honored memory of, like,whopowers the that onceexisted thattheyreact sharply and We go inside, mapout the destroy him,or (3) returns to a community that meets ever,andopenthe gates. the roof and broken walls, check out collapsed himwithsuch blank misunderstanding anddisregard of stones for souvenirs. from those whomhe hascometo helpthat hiscareer takea couple Maybe write our name thewall on collapses. whocomes later. for someone version At the endof the Peter of The lackson Aside from being complete returned to the Return of theKing,thehobbishave jerks, we'vejustlostsomething. drinking ale.A Shire andonceagain sit in thetavern compelling in andthereisa great about We lostthatverysame farmer comes commotion fdesire that brought ushere.The Frodo, Sam, a pumpkin. Merry,andPippin allstare at of distance hasbecome I each other. Thefour of themhave saved the worldand romance \ been areexcited all theirfellowcitizens aboutis thisoversizedfactandin thatwe have I diminished. vegetable? In the UnitedStates we often Thisrealization turnssomber for Frodountil harp our to know." about eventually he has to leave for the GrayHavens. As he "right i'l thereare explains, the Shire, Sam. . .butnot for me." Well,tough,because "We saved I really don'fwantto know. l l things yourpoint? And...what's is to lose To knowsomething That'sit: Thegreatmythiccycleand,yes,it's l -1 '1 part is nature you of compelling and important evenin the adventures that design.lt is itsappeal. don'teven for the storyyou aregoing the overall structure to be Just about how to make your game. ask telling with sausage.

3+

$ronvrs EVERYTHTNG
(or magic, thesecret mustbemoreentertaining Thepointhereisthatdistant, unattainable things unlike protects. interesting) the falsehood it lt's than intercompelling intotheworldof are andbring mystery esting Willis your thatBruce helps a kidthatcansee dead story. Yourplayers do not have the rightto people. more lt's way interesting that Bruce Willisis one explore every nookandcranny of yourworld,and people. dead for themif theydon't. There itt better mustbe unat- of those uinable horizons andcompelling vistas in the distance tomake thembelieve thatthereis moreto thisworld It StartsWith a Lie Thefoundation of surprise is deception. In order what ison the page. than you will to create revelation in your game a startling have to lie to your players. Thisis nothing newto a true in the Wind: the Nature of Surprise Twisting instead dicerolls, we are of fudging Another ingredient in thedark, beautiful elixir of XDM.However, attempting veilreality. to artfully XDMgame issurprise. mothe Thatbreath-stealing There areonlytwo types of deception: ment of revelation canturn an average into adventure l. ActiveDeception inferno of shock aroaring andawe.. . or, at least, a Deception. 2. Passive experience. "neato" First we have to understand whatsurprise really Generally speaking, when the best deception boilit downto is simplest form: Surprise is.Let's is passive related to surprise is deception. Thisis because sudden revelation of an unknown the or unanticipated by is verynature lacks evidence by Therefore, ironically, truth. deception is the founda- thelieof omission which to condemn it. Thetelevision Lostisswimshow upon which surprise is built.Thisis because tion the passive mingin bothsoruof deception but especially must be hidden degree truth to some in orderfor you lf don'tknowwhysomething crazy astonishment to come to pass. Afterall,if thecorrect deception. it is because portrayed, is happening theyhave omitted thekey natures of all events at handareproperly you need to understand it. And if they norevelation of unanticipated facts then mayoccur. information aredoing theiriobsthatkeybit of information is super Onemightthinkthat a great wayto studysurprise isto studythe craftof the magician. Theyseem interesting. When creating our foundation out of the above like similar flelds. In many ways theyare,except that isonerulethatmustbeobeyed there at all best magic is founded in theunseen, the or unimag- deceptions, your principle, Don't times. audience. cheat in ined while storythesecret mustbe imagIn orderto provide credence andprevent the parlt has inable. to besomething thatyouraudience feels part ticipant from feeling cheated the best recourse is to pronatural isa of the storyandis totallylogical. videthe truth withinthe frame of the story.In magic, Thegoalof surprise in magic is to entertain by there are only three ways make something disappear. to of means deception. you canmovethe obiect, Youcanhidethe object, or it Thegoalof surprise in storyis to entertain by was never to begin Interestingly there with. enough this means of revelation. not onlytrueof objects, but even of something asetheIt'sfunny: magic Some is sodevilishly clever. real as truth. ways in Three to truth a story: clever in fact,thatthe secret is moreentertaining So "vanish" theeffect than itself.However, mosttricks(like990/o 1. Movethe truth. ofthem) release a wave of disappointment when they o Literally to another movekeyfacs of an event are discovered. part placing you story, them non-linearly in the of the mean that it's a trickknife?"Either "Oh timeline. way, it isof littleimportance. Whenit comes to mago Displace keyfacts by ascribing themto truthsnot the be ic, secret lt can brilliant or it canbemoronic. withthe matter associated at hand. really doesn't matter, because the audience is never o Use time-shifting techniques to alterthetimeat supposed to know. which keyfacshappened. Ontheotherhand, in thepurpose of surprise isfor thesecret be made known. story Therefore,

morning. No, asit turns out the manhadno hidden fortune andin factwasa lot of money in debt. When things didn'tgo asplanned, a fightbetween the two plotters rang ensued andshots out. Butwe couldn't leave No, something theold manasa witness. hadto bedone." assumption thattheaudience Thefrrst isthatthe butler makes didn'tdo it-afterall 3.The Truth WasNeverThereto Begin wouldn't be much there of a storyhereif he wirh. play did. Sowe Then off thatassumption. o Thetruth alluded to is laterrevealed we truth the alter the by saying that have existed. to never manon the floorof the kitchen dead is wewill laterlearn he is Jerry(which To understand this,let'slookat a not).Finally, we include theidea that plot. typical murdermystery gun gunpowcertain the used creates a A wealthy in old manis killed on the fingers whenfrred. derstain the kitchen by hisyoung butler Jerry the This is unknown truth. Other gun. aftera scuffle with a Jerrythen assumptions andalterations are alsoshoots himself. Our detective, Sir policemen good, made: are the WallySmokepipe, is investigating the old manwasshotfor the money, scene despite theinsistence of the police andthereis onlyonemanthat that the case is closed. After a series wasin on it. of events, of whichreveals several each I grantyou that it isn'tthe clues, we areready by the finalrevelato beshocked beststory,but it does illustrate the tion. point. you And if didn't like it, that's isJerry the Butler!" Each eye "The murderer finewithme.Oddsareyoualready turns to SirWallyasif theyweregoing to say, "You're bought joking thisbookanyway. right?" isall frnein theory. Theabove Smokepipe continues, "Howeverr" "thisman you're But now saying "How is all isnot Jerry! No! TherealJerry hasn't livedhere for going thatnonsense to helpme weeks has he?"Theinspector looks downat thebutler. withthegame l'm running in like Thecorpse denies nothing. you, ten minutes." For my lucky "Wellhowdo you knowthathe didn'tjustshoot present procrastinator, I the folthebloke himselP" A woman says, kicking thecold lowing. Useit wisely. bodyon the kitchen floor. pistol Yousee, thisparticular would "His hands. have left a distinctive stain of gunpowder on hisfingers. Hickman and Son's CheapTricks for Surprisein Storytelling. policeman a bearded in the "But inspector," path. l.Leadthemdownthe garden crowdinterrupted agree to pre, "Why wouldanyone Deliberately leave clues intended to cause the t e n d ." .. andincorrect spectator to followa thinly-veiled Unless, theyknew thatsomeone "Theywouldn't. leftlipstick line of logic. We learn that the killer police perhaps on the force couldhelpthemescape, goblet. We also learn thatthekiller was on the promising fortune. thempartof theold man's hidden polka-dotted a blouse. in wearing However, the It wouldhave to be someone newto the forcethough, wasnot a woman, endwe learn thatthe killer wouldn't it?" Smokepipe turns to Cadet lohnny instead Binky Manlydude, a traveling but was Goodguy, andrepeats, staru "Wouldn'tit?" Goodguy circus clown. to perspire heavily. nothing wentaccording "However, It's important to remember theremustbe plan. Thekitchen looks asif therewasa fight, to previous your revelaevidence to support getout of bedin the but the old mancouldhardly 2. Hidethe truth. o Camouflage keyfacts with otherunimportant facts, red herrings, or othermeans. o Misrepresent keyfacts asunimportant. keyfacts o Ascribe other asbelongingto eventS.

36

$ronv rs EvERYTHTNc
toryclaim. If in theabove example I said that thekiller wasthe ghost of Timmythe dolphin trainer. l'm sure my audience wouldfeelcheated to say the least.

PRINNN@ fiI9 IN

SLACKANOWHffE,YOU

xot s ARE 60tNo To

HAVE 10 PREIENO 6REYIS REO,

path. 2.leadthemoff the garden Modern readers areveryfamiliar with the garden pathandmostwill not wantto stayon it. Onewayaround thisis to make the firstand obvious revelation a complete falsehood. Thisis like setting thehusband up asthekiller, andthen revealing that it's actually hisbrother-presenting thatrevelation asthe wist. However, in the final hour, we learn thatthe brother couldn'thave done it because he diedtwo weeks before the murder. Perhaps it was the husband afterall,or another keyfigure in the story(or if you wanted to takeit evenfurther,maybe we thenlearn thatthebrother didn't actually dieandwasnow 4. Usetheir knowledge against them. ready to kill again). great The other thing about the movieScream people Leading too far off the pathwill evenis howWesCraven used common horrormovie confuse tually andcheat themunless the reason knowledge against the viewer. heroine Our would for doing so is amazingly cleaver. back intoa doorway andthe audience would at cringe what would be coming next. paintit red. 3.lf youwantto hidesomething Andthen...nothing. the best Sometimes wayto hidesomething is Nothing wouldhappen, thatis untilyou repeople to make dismiss it asbeing waytoo obvilaxed. Then-BAM. Youshould do thisto your ous. Againyou have to be a bit careful hereas player's guessing. constantly. Keep them Butagain, youraudience will feelcheated out of a mystery do soartfully. Youdon't wantto frustrate them, if there wasn't oneto begin with.A great exyou want to entertain them. ample is from the movieScream. Thevillain of thestoryis introduced rightaway, he is and so 5.Timedisplacement. over thetop thatyou tell yourself he obviously gimmick A favorite of television shows and didn't do it. Well,hedid.Whatmakes it acceptmystery novels is use to time displacement to able isthatit wasn't was iusthim.Theaudience movekeyfacts to different timesin the narrative looking for onekiller.In fact,thereweretwo. structure. Magicians do this too. A lot. Theideais guywasalsodiscredited Thesecond at the start yet cantakea moment simple to understand. of thefilm for being too obvious. goes police A man to the station to report A wayto usethisin a roleplaying situation is phone some threatening heandhiswifehave calls to have intothe Labyrinth the biggrand entrance getting. been While he is there, a callis made to of Mayhem, andthena littleways off a small 9l I . lt's hiswifesaying thatsomeone is in the secret entrance-an entrance thatyour adventurhouse and is trying kill to her. She Then, screams. ersfindto be loaded with boobytraps andother nothing. sorts of peril.lt turnsout thatthe bestwayin is Theyrushovertherebut it's too late.What you need bythegiantgate. Of course a logical happened? Well,we learn overthe course of the reason to do that,otherthanjustto mess with phone story that family uses the an internet service them. Anyway thisleads usto our nexttrick.

37

goes likeSkype. Thehusband off to workthat 1. Slowdown.Where is the frre? back later wearing Milk the momorning andcomes a skimask. ment.Letit dawn Being a techguy,he previously rigged thephone on them.Civethemthatone gothrough, lastclue, someone but andthenaftera shortbeat, sothatanycalls to 9 | 1 wouldn't (or allof them)willsay, on hiscomputer wouldgetanswered andrecorded "Holy crap!"And then pleas for you. instead. It wouldrespond to hiswife's comtheywill startto recite the evidence plete youremergency?" Youcaniustsit back andknowthatit all played witha fake "91 I what's everything. out according to yourplan. andrecord After the deedis done,he sets hiscomputer (withan hourauto-delay)to 9l I andplay RandomStory Generator autodial back herhalfof therecording. Hethengoes to the police Presto! Youhave that station. a murderer of Heyfolks,steprightup andhear thewonders phi to have committed thecrime at an impos- theamazing, seems tantalizing, invigorating, hypothesizing, moment. Thepolice arehisalibi.Hesimply losophizing sible Random to StoryGenerator!. Guaranteed put thedance took shifted theapparent timethattheevent in your story,and in your dice,thesizzle place. Ready to cureallyour writer's themojoin your module! Why,Dragonlance itselfwas with blockwoes! created thehelp Nowyou, too,canform of thislittlewondertl The Revelation amazing stories with this+! wayto lust asthereis a rightwayanda wrong Whatwe have hereis a system for creating wayto hidethetruth,thereis also a rightandwrong in a matterof moments. lt's adventure/story ideas it. However, reveal thisoneis easy: "Don't blurtit out, a helpful lf you areever toolandfunbesides. stuck dummy. Youjustspent a lot of timeandenergiy on for adventure ideas or need something to do on a this-don't kill it now."Thisis the payoff. Soyouneed Tuesday night, turn here. to do two things: How it works: 1. Proveit. lf everyone hasforgotten that Kanako Pick oneof thesentences in the "Storythings" dwarves. section the bloodmystic is left-handed andhates below. Any onewill do-or if you must-roll Thenit won'tmean muchif yourrevelation is for one.Youwill frllin the blanks by randomly choosfounded two poins.At theendof a on these numbered inga wordon thecorresponding chart. good(andI stress good) M. Night.Shyamalan filmyouwillsee a rapidreview a flashback, of Forexample a sentence will looklikethis: that supports where the twist is coming evidence, from. A 2 I is 6 inga lor 3 witha 5 lf you knowthattheyremember it, or other 3 in a/the 5 4 .s a review is unnecessary, wisefeelthat such then for those surprises don't worryaboutit. However, Which, frlled out mightlooklikethis: thatarea littlemoreout there(soyou'resaying A power-hungry is tricking a witchwith a Gnome princess pixthat all our characters arein reality, hourglass cave. floating in a mystical youwill need ies?) to show by practical evidence * Perhaps you do not feelyou needa storygenerator. You instinctively is possible. Howdo you do howthe revelation know how to craft brilliant and epic storiesthat will live through the ages, wayI knowof is to tell Well, we'll seeaboutthat later,but if you everget stuck,then thissystem Theeasiest thisin a game? your stalled imagination. Remember: may be all you needto iump-start themsomething like, generated randomly concepts are only dotson the page.You are the one yourminds with areflooded "...immediately who must connectthem into a solidlystructuredstory. f No, it wasn't. memory how the Bartender the of recent events, yet. But you f No, you can't. Well. . , we haven'tseenthis happen you "miss," howyoucan'tstand called anything could be the frrst. the numbers this way can sounda bit dirty. Try to keepit but thetaste of nectar. etc."]usttellthemwhat 5 Justreading instead of together.Besides, it couldbe worse.We originally usedletters it. theyremember andtheywill remember numbers.

38

herland. Or perhaps sheis on theverge of losing her place in immortality andsheneeds the giant to do her dirty work.Sheuses a sword to freehim. Butit,snot perfectly jumping-off There! good Two places it's made fromsouls for invisible-no longlostto her evil even better ideas to spark from. Some And on andon it goes. of thesentenc- ways. your final Manytimes quite es won't workthe firsttime.Feel plot will not resemble freeto re-pick storyor adventure the onegiven youwish. any you blank There generator-and areno offrcial by the rules story great. here. thatrs In fact, your storyline,the firststepis Afteryou have that'showit's supposed to work. tothink whywouldthese things Finally, be happening? you formed takethatconcept The andusethe second isto thenchange the ideathe generator gave manytoolsin thisbook;andyou have got yourself an you to fit your"why" better. adventure betterthanmostyou paygoodmoney for. Soif I gowiththesecond Thebestpartis: lt's yours. sentence. Whyisthe princess freeing a giant? Maybe sheneeds him to save

Or princess Animmortal is freeing a giant withan invisible sword in thefrozen valley.

The Storythings A 2 l is 6 inga lor3 5 ina/the 4 3. witha 4

TT SAYS HERE T'M SUPPOSEO 70 8E .5lxfN6A FIVE,'1 WANT THAI TO ffiEAN "EATINO A PIE,'

Thelongforgotten 5 6 bya 2 |

Thelegend of the 5 and the

The 4 5 of the I bya groupof I s.

3 hasbeen 6

The 4 3.

5 hasbeen

Of course, your ownblank feelfreeto make to use with the ubles. "Storythings"

JHTJHEonvoFXDM
l. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5. 7. 8. 9. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Ranger Rogue Knight Druid Wlzard Priest Magician Warrior God Phantom Vampire King Prince Peasant
16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21, 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27, 28. 29. 30. Void Kingdom Hunter Shaman Troll Ghost Thief Creature Devil Angel Demon Dragon Gryphon Princess Etf 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. t7. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. Serpent Queen Warlock Witch Banshee lmp Monk Traveller Stranger Hero Monster Zombie Maiden Paladln Mist 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. Sheriff Gnome Dwarf Crone Gypsy Wanderer Alchemist Glant Halfling Historlan Beggar Easillsk Satyr Cleric ConJuror

61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70.

Fairy (Nymph, DryadSylvan) Barbarlan Prophet Cripple Orc Messenger Evil Plague Emperor Judge

1O. Spirlt

1. 2, 3. 4, 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 1O. 1 1. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Unknown Forgotten Lost Wandering Cursed Diseased lntan Powerful Divine Fallen Eeautiful Dark Clockwork Wicked Power-Hungry Heroic

77. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32.

Ancient Horrible Terrible Magnificent Escaped Winged Apocalyptic Silent Ghostly Evil Demonic Undead Cowardly Dead Weeping Damned

33. 34. 35. t6. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48.

Angelic Dying Noble Eloodthirsty Alien Missing Invisible Mystic Courageous Valiant Weak-minded lmmortal Giant Mighty Malignant Deadly

49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55, 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63, 64.

Possessed Haunted Secret Melancholy Mischievous False lmaginary Deceptive Cannibalistic Shadowy Ethereal Rich Lying Hideous Magic Foreign

65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. 74. 75. 76.

Small Dishonorable Traitorous Thieving Bleeding Scholarly Enchanted Silver Golden Legendary Exiled lmmoral

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Hell Heaven Crypt Abyss Dungeon Castle Village

8. 9. 1O. 1 1. 12. 13. 14.

Faraway Land Sky Grotto Forest Ocean River lsland

15, 16. 17, 16, 19. 20. 21.

Desert Cave Mountains Swamp Lake City Tavern

22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28,

Ruin lnn Purgatory Valley Cllffs Labyrinth Graveyard

29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35.

Clouds Plalns Oasis World Nation Country Continent

40

$ronv rs EVERYTHTNG

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. L 9. lO. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Shining Buried Lost Forgotten Submerged Cursed Enchanted Dead Ghostly Haunted Windy Abandoned Frozen Ruined Floating

16. 17. 18, 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

Burning Plagued Destroyed Magical Lurh Damned Uncovered Desolate Blessed Consecrated Chosen Captured Perilous Wealthy Flooded

31, 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. ?7. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45.

Redeemed Massive Small Living Hostile Charmed thadowy Veiled lnvisible Dissapearing Changing Malevolent Mystical Legendary Besieged

46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57, 58. 59. 60.

Decaying Dark Evil Sinking Forbidden Quarantined Surreal Dismal Righteous Distant Overrun Conquered Heavenly Slumbering Enslaved

61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 77. 72. 73. 74.

lmaginary Putrid Exotic Distant Wicked Ancient Magnificent Fo?eign Beautiful Demonic Misty Glass Golden Silver

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. f0, f 1, 12. 13. 14.

Skull Vial Potion Ring Hourglass Runestones Jewel Crystal Eall Beast Dragon Armies Fire Treasure Land

1s. 16. 17. 18, 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27, 28.

Ship Bomb Sword Axe Spear Dagger Meteorite Compass Goblet Map Chest Necklace Crown Wand

29. 30. 31. 32, 33. 34, 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42.

Tome Orb Tower Dust Spell Heart Raven Robe Poison Water lce 8ow Wind Lightning

43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48, 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55, 56.

Tablet Coffin Storm Father Rope Banner Claw Relic Recipe Ancestor Glover Flower Vine Secret

57. 5a. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64, 65. 66, 67. 68. 69.

Parchment Scroll Fruit Song Key Doorway Trinket Herb Wine Blood Quest Riddle Portal

l. 2, 3. 4. 5. 6.

Attack Destroy Find Burn,Scorch Freeze Curce Enslave Capture Steal

lO. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

Abuse Bewitch Control Condemn Trick Casta spell on Damn Punish Takerevenge

19. 20. 27. 22. 23. 24, 25. 26,

Escapefrom Love Purify Enchant Summon Free Ransom Torture

27.

Discredit, Besmirch Deceive Challenge Exploit Plunder Flood, Drown Entangle, Stupefy

34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

Blind, Desolate Eradicate, Eliminate Undermine Necrofy vilify Disenchant Hide from

2A. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

)'

7. 8. 9.

a ;. i

s '*

+1

THI

EI,ECTRICSI,IDING EOHIPPUS
,.) )1 ')-

gE EilBARKINa WIICH WESHALL HASITSBE@INNINaS IN A

ftIAT lHE AWENTUREUPO4IJ

FoR f HerrER FrvE, [EsrcmNc $ronv

you learned In the previous chapter, allabout the structure of storyandits importance asa tool for communicating withthe restof those humans out there. That'sall wellandgoodfor novelists andfolksingers, you maysay,but howdoes that have anything to do with games? How does storyapplyto adventures? And youcallyourself anXDM! Theprevious chapter wasn't called "Storyis Everything!" for nothing . . . r, something likethat. point The is thatyou caneffectively tell a storyin a role playing adventure if you have the righttools. Let'sstartby taking a lookat the different kinds of basic adventure design forms.

o-@=O-m-

players Leading by the nose around ringcomes to mind. In termsof story,thisis the easiest to control: plugin yourplot poinsat various Yousimply locations downthe line,andtheplayers have no choice but to followyour iron-clad scriptfrom predictable beginning to entirely alltoo predictable endwithout everhaving to worryaboutthose bothersome ideas of play,gaming, freechoice, or roleplaying. Hand me your Nose Ring (Linear you want Thisstructure is idealfor games where Design) groups-like to evaluate the progress of different a Thefirstkindof design is linear, which means "in tournament, for example. Yousimply determine who (andcontrolling) a line."Thisis the mostcontrolled de- got furtheralong downthe linethananyone else and sign concept. Players enter the game at pointA. They declare game thewinner. lt's not unlike a ]apanese have no choice but to advance to pointB. There, they show-Ninja Warrior comes to mind. beatup a monster, takeis stuffand-guess what?-get Theothergoodthingaboutthisgame structure to advance to pointC withno otheroptions available. is that it hasultimate economy. Thedesigner of the period Thisproceeds for anexcruciating of timeuntil game knows that every location single in the game (andfate-demanded) the players reach the predictable thathedesigns will be utilized andvisited at onepoint pointE where (and the game comes to a predictable or another. No partof yourdesign will bewasted. same) ending every time. As if thatwasimportant!

+2

pesrcllxcron$ronv
Thedownside-and it is a huge downside-is that keeps go in outward expanding the furtherthe players youhave to stripall the fun things aboutroleplaying the campaign, boundaries of constantly expanding the game players outof the in orderto forcethe down theirknowledge of the andpushing back the frontiers thestoryline. Sure, theymayhave a greatdealof world. freedom insfde the individual nodes of the adventure, Thisseems likea dandy frnedesign, so far asthe buttheresult is always onlyone players the same:there's gives players areconcerned. lt the the ultimate exit to the restof the adventure. Forget aboutthink- in freewill; theycan,with veryfewlimits,go pretty ing outside the box;no boxcanexistin a straight muchwherever theywantto go andkeepexploring line. newplaces. place Yes,it's a great for players . . . anda livLike,Whatever! (Open Matrix) ingnightmare for adventure Let'ssay,for creators. Thesecond kindof design is at theopposite end example, a campaign worldfor thatyou'redesigning ofthespectrum, theopenmatrix Youmight your players-the you have design. Realm of Subar-and iust know thisby is morecommon name in roleplaying spent the last sixweeks creating an incredibly detailed circles, thecampaign. andpoignantly Kingdom storied of Lost underground for a campaign Wishes. It'seasy to show the branching for lt's enormous! lt's epic!lt's thebest design pointA. Youstartessentially setting. at the central game anadventure evercreated andallyourplayers Usually thisis a tavern in a townbecause, aswe your have to do is follow trailof clues to its gates clever place to make know, in a familiar already all adventures begin a reality for everyone. thisdream wethinkof ashome.. that Thenthecharacters can guarantee you I can thatyour players, fllledwith wander of the tavern at B, or outside to the street will eitherstayput in the theirownfreewill andchoice, to thebaker at C, or to the cooper at D, or to the or tavern andtalkendlessly to each otherin character, stable at E, or to the blacksmith at F. We haven't pickup thetrailyou have theywill never socarefully travelled morethantwentyfeetso far, andwe're laidfor them,or theywill getthe clues andgo in any locations. already up to fiveadditional branching But direction leadthem. except where the clues what happens if we go a fewfeetfurtherout, past or the stable? thestreet or the baker or the cooper just Well, wait!There's more!Thiscampaign matrix WECANOO 7 NEEO A UTTLE AITYU']ERE? II1ORE 1HANIHAT, OO gACK 10 THE OIQECIION

\ /o\-P/*

\ t )c\,

ANO OPEN V)LLA6E

I

F:6d
r \ ={V-}

-e/-:ril* l*ff

. I dorr,t evenwant to beginanalyzing why gameplayers all think of a tavern ashome.

43

Whilecampaign design has anappealing appearance, is not verysatisfactory the reality for most players. Campaigns do not make for goodstorytelling because theyhave no realstructure on whichto hang plot. the Soif you werewondering if the wonderful campaign have been thatyour players slogging through for the lasttwentyyears will make a greatbook,l'm afraid is no. Campaigns theanswer arenotstories. Worstof all, campaigns require theircreators to exponentially design morewith everypassing day.You have to fightto keepthe design ahead of the playyou sfillhave ers,andultimately no story,justevents withoutstructure.

Narrative Bumper Pool (Closed Matrix)

gives Thethird typeof design the illusion of free will foundin the openmatrix creation whileproviding the structure andflowof the linear lt wasfirst design. quantified years during the early of designing the Dragonlance series andhaslargely become a lostart today. We callthistheclosed matrix. probably Thetruth is thatyou have already worked somewhat in thiskindof design Any already. crawl"is essentially a closed matrixdesign "dungeon you'reprettymuchlimited since to thehalls, rooms, shafu,doors, andstairs. Thisformof design becomes moreimportant, however, onceyou moveout of the dungeon andintotheopenair. Theclosed matrixconcept looks a gooddealmore complicated thanit actually is in practice. Players start at thebeginning of theadventure A (yes, it is probably a tavern). Theyhave the choices essentially of going to B or C or D. That's number a significant choices, but of theyarechoices that have direction. Theyarechoices that movetowardthe endof the adventure andshow advancement towardthe obiective. Otherchoices the players might make allencounThese ter eitherhardor soft"edges." edges actlike rubber redirecting, bumpers, or "bouncing" theplayersbacktowardthe center of the design matrix. These bumpers canbeanyof a number of different kinds (soft)or force(hard)player of things to motivate to remain inside the limis of thegame For exdesign. ample, these bumpers mightbewhatwe calla "timelock."Thisisthe equivalent of a ticking bombcount down.lf doomis going to fallat a certain timethen

the players aremotivated to movein the direction of Traveling thesolution. away fromthesolution will precious waste time.Another isthe "option choice lock"where the options available to the characters getmoreandmorenarrow overthe passage of time. Thirdisthephysical lockwhere the physical boundaries of the game iself prevent from leavthe players inguntilthesolution is found or timeruns out. (sigh) Forexample: Yourplayers arein a tavern andtheyhearthatto the east thereis a castle where princess thebeautiful imMiranda has been cruelly prisoned by theWizard of the Blue Beard andthathis armies aremarauding overthe countryside. Everyone knows thatthe Wizard of the BlueBeard is never goodnews lf onlytherewassomefor anyprincess. oneto freeher! go wesc. Soyour players naturally Whiletravellingwestdownthe road,theyencounter a courier whohas been in battle. wounded He slips fromhis horse Gasping for breath, arrive. iustasyour players yourplayers hehands a message thatmustbedeliv-

+4

ered to theprincess to the easf or all is lost.(He is a softbumper, tryingto motivate the players to take go thehintand east.) Soyourplayers naturally continue wesf. There they encounter forces of the kingwhoarefleeing fromthe battlefront. earf TheWizard of the Blue Beard's forces areoverwhelming. Unless the powers of theprincess canbe freedfrom her imprisonment to theEASI,thenthe kingdom will be lost.(Thisis a second, moreemphatic, softbumper.) Theplayers, asonemightexpect, continue to thewest. Theyactually ftndthe battlefront and discover for themselves that the armies of the Blue Beard Wizard powerful are,indeed, ovenvhelmingly and theirlines impassable. At thispoint,the players have encountered a hardboundary. lf theyinsist oncontinuing west,well,theydeserye to die in whatever wayseems the mostignominious. Natural selection really should apply to heroes. playing Within thedesigned fleldof thegame,

of course, the players arefreeto go anddo asthey please andmake asmany of theirownfreewill choices astheywish. Butnotice that regardless of the choices made, the closed matrixhasa natural andorganic flow fromthe top to the bottom.Theplayers always have progress, a sense thattheyaremaking andthe later encounters canmovethe storyforward because the general matrixiself is flowing in the direction of the plot. As theendof thegame nears, theoptions will narrow untilthe conclusion of the game merges with the climax of thestory. Youmighthave onlyoneconclusionin your design X or you mighthave two or three g. Y Z but it is important thatyou have a finitenumber of endings to dealwith sothatthe restof the storycan flowtoward them. Closed matrixdesign is a lostart. Butif you master it, thenyou'll be a trueXDM!

F'NE! VIE'LL

60 EAgr!

+5

.THI Rry-FVE INl ELLIaENCE,

YEAH? ROLE-PUYIT,

f,Hamrn$rx' $ErnorR
YouIntelligence check: Puzzles the Senses the Stupid. Screw to Bewitch andConfound your players Things actually have to because can'tbejustonerightanswer. thatmake there game priceless. Thereasons whyareapln magician terms thisis known thinkin a are as"multiple given parent, from the diceand outs."Yourjob is to interpret anything that ges you away the answers for a minute talky-talky or two is worthwhile. Puzzles youaccording to theknown intelligence, wisdom, gears player's forceplayers andthinkwith a different or street each character has. lt is the to change smarts player partof theirbrain. responsibility of the to comeup withandjusMostimportantly, theyallowa deeper connection tify answers to riddles-whatever those answers may player punish between andcharacter thatis not onlyhealthy be.As anXDM,feelfreeto helpor themas but doesn't involve Thunderdome in your needed. a life-size Thepartyreaches backyard. Fora moment, is actually A quick example: theplayer thinktheThree ingin place of theircharacter. No intelligence checks Doors of MegaDoomandareconfronted with riddle //R-l,, (see (at least nextpage). not usually). I could themanda puzzle. Just go on about yourgroup imbedded in a player-character Go around theduality asking, "Whatdo you perhaps relationship, of thatrelationship, but lf theyarenewto thisidea, andthebounds think?" speciff justskipdownto the your youwouldn't party your read iq youwould by saying, what character "Tell puzzles. youshould lf you haven't already. Oh, andby theway thinks do." Thepointhereisto force play. Selddir issimply backwards. them to role Not to talkamongSt themselves spelled "riddles" whilst oneguygets on hisiPhone to lookup theanRiddles swer-no thisis an RPG-if theydon'tlikeit theyneed Riddles likethe ones belowhave been before, to go playa regular used Princess the old G. Anyway, many, many times before, in RPGs around theglobe. go Barbarian says, in way-me should a different "We Theproblem is that usually theyarepresented wrong. hatepuzzles." Wilikers theWizard says, "We should Thepoint,asmentioned, is to getyour player thinking go in the third gate."Therestof the groupis lostin you aren'task- various of theircharacter. in place Nevertheless, degrees of stupor. is,you areasking ingyour buddyEdwhatthe answer Finally theyallagree to do whattheWizard for "Princess hischaracter. Ed mustanswer the Barbar- says. whyhercharacter Sonow,askthe wizard thinks for the DM ian" not for Ed.Thismakes it interesting

+6

lf she that. says, let "mehit'sjusta hunch."Fine, gotoward them the third door.Theywill hearanevil sound comefrom oneof the othertwo doors. Ask if theywantto continue them or change theirmind. lf Wilikers theWizard says something like"Let's going.I wantto kill stuff"Well,thatwasn't keep a intellectual very response wasit? Wizards should be intellectual. Punish Wilikers. lf theplayer says like,"Well,threeis something (stillnot the anoddnumber, andthe riddle says..." right answer) Fine, awesome, reward her."Wilikers" issmart, andif the player is creative enough to give asmart-sounding answer thenWilikers be should rewarded or punished according to hercreativity. Thkalso means thatwhilea player withgreat intelligence cangivea relatively wronganswer and beright,an idiot character still canbe righton the money andstillbetotally wrong-all depending on given thereasons for the character coming up with that answer. This is a great whenyou have system creative people people, in your group.A partyfull of creative however, is a rarity.So,if presented with a problem yourgroupcan'tfigure that out but theircharacters defrnitely it'stimeto roll thedice.There could... isa system for thisin the XD20 section book. of this Whatfollows area number of riddles thatwe presenting have enjoyed overthe years. Some of problems, arelateral these thinking andothers are pure logic, stillothers arejuststupid. Thediffrculty level of the puzzles is varied, but everyone is different soyoushould decide howhardor easy is. something Some of themarecommon andothers not socommon. Remember: even the morecommon puzzles youshould have a place. Naturally change thecircumstances of each riddleto fit your particular (Youmayfrndthe answers situation. in the Appedices at theendof the book.)

yourmind,you canstillgo into gateone,two, change you choose? or three.Whichgateshould R-2: Twenty doors arelinedup oneafterthe otheralong a large wall.Abovethe doors, scratched into the stone areancient symbols that,whentranslated, say: you desire, the onethatis right, "Thepath you to gold,glory, andlight, will lead 19 sons of evilweretrapped herefirst; isa dark,dread to freeoneof them curse." Whichdoordo you choose? you and R.-3: A crazy old manin the street stops says something about a bet. Pulling out a goldcoin,he tosses it in theairandcatches it deftlyin hishand. He at it secretly thenlooks anddoes thesame thingagain. He nowlooks at you andsays, "One of my flips landed heads up.Whataretheodds
that it landed heads up the other time?"

R.-4: Thatsame crazy old manthen youa piece hands of paper that hasbeen folded up andtells
you to hold on to it. He says that

he has written a prediction in thepaper andhewill giveyou 2I odds that you can'tguess whether or not it will come true. you thinkit will "lf cometruewrite'Yes'on it. gates gate lf youthinkit won't,write you. Each R.-1: Threelarge arebefore youa pen. looks thesame in everydetail. On an old signstand- 'No'." He hands you ingbefore the gates, a message reads, Whatdo write,yesor two liesevil. Only onethe suregate no? "Behind with choose the not by odds,and fate." lust you chose Afteryourselection is made(let'sassume R-5: Your gate party thefirstgate) the second starts to rattleanddark enters a pours mist from between the bars. lt's not too lateto secret roomwith threechests, each of

\r,

47

bears which an inscription. In thecorner of the room desperate need of helpfrom the elves that livethere. you a childwith dark,soulless stands eyes. She says that in Theyagree help on condition, to one that you grow is a rubyof great onechest value. Another holds answer chest a question abouttheirforest. "Our trees a disease, another Thechest a curse. with the disease double theirheight each dayuntilafter 1OO days has a trueinscription, the chest withthecurse a false theyhave reached theirfull height. After howmany one,andthechest withtherubyhas an inscription that days wouldtheybe at onlyhalfof theirheight?" couldbeeither trueor false. Youmayonlyopenone. Theinscriptions read: thatsame R-11: Onceagain crazy old man l: Thischest Chest contains theruby in up to you,andthistimehe flipstwo coins comes (a coinanda oneis true. theair copper thufr2,I'trt'inscirpi.ronon chest weigh the holds thecurse. silver cointhateach 3: Thesecond chest Chest them.You andcatches same) Whichchest do youopen? which hand caught don'tsee you party your time, which coin.Thenhetells for some R-6: After walking heads a coinlands stands at thecenter of which thatthesilver comes to a garden, isa sword of up andasks, In the righthandof thatstatue statue. "Whatarethe power. great heads has it that oddsthat bothlanded is a bell.Legend ln thelefthand to anyfoewith oneblow.Howup?" (TheXDM maywish the sword coulddestroy to R'3 remember the answer ableto takeit, for the statue's ever,no onehasbeen grip uponit is greater if thecolorof the beneath andaskhimself thananyforceknown makes anydifference.) oneyesor no coins You mayaskthe statue the heavens. question. lt will ringthe belloncefor yesandtwicefor saythatit'sthe old man-let's Couldyou ask R-12:A crazy mustgivea true answer. no. Thestatue you in the grip reasons-stops its on same onefor consistency that wouldforceit to release it a question tree,asks, to a fallen woods and,pointing "The tree the sword? it fell, before was25 feethighandfour feetaround lf the treehad the base. a new but wascut a foot above R-7:Yourpartyis in an inn (wow,there's putsa rarecoinin a bottle, threefeetremoved ago...how from its top sixyears anda drunken sailor idea) you to getthe coin highwouldit be now?" whichhe thencorks. He challenges the out. Youcan'ttakethecorkout,youcan'tbreak to do it for you. Physical Puzzles else bottle,andyou can'tgetsomeone above arefrne mentioned likethe ones Riddles Whatdo you do? things up everynow of howto change asan exarnple youagain the weakest sortof andshows andthen,but theyareprobably old manfinds R-8:Thecrazy puzzle. sparingly. Also, youa holein theground. about how In fact,theyareto be used Hestaruranting group your one taketoo longto figure is Hisquestion thanyours. don't everlet aregreater hismathskills if you add out. As in goodcooking, of these things this,"How muchdirt is in a holethatis l5 feetin your you will poison too muchof oneingredient, but a merefourfeetin depth?" diameter, guests. true,but you getthe Okaythat'snot usually point. in an inn tellsyou thisstory:"A R-9: A stranger Thereis a muchbetterwayto forceyour playhissonto go into an inn andbuyhim some fatherasked Puzzles aren'thardto make. told the boy ersto think:the puzzle. the bartender ale.Whenthe boy entered, more arenothing lf you thinkaboutit, mostpuzzles Defeated, the boy Ieftthe inn andreturned to leave. plus of chaos a cluehowto orderit. turned to me and thana handful Thebartender homeemptyhanded. 'Did a of water,each threepools you knowthatwasmy son?'" Thestranger Theycanbe simple-like said, that match you, "How is that possible?" color,andthreeorbselsewhere different thenasks youarein Or theycanbe a bit moreinvolved, where colors. forest those R-10:Youenter a magic

48

$mnoln
puzzle such asfiguring out whichvillager stole the sacred adoptthemasa physical in your game. questions. diamond by asking Thegoalis to provide arethose that existfor a Thebestkinds of puzzles go theplayers with some somof problem, a bit of chaos, purpose. andenormous People don't to the trouble a cluefor themto solve and andorderthatchaos. expense of building a teleport maze covering an entire good Entire adventure environments canbe a puzzle. floorof theircastle without lf thereis reason. is essentially Tracy some Of course, anymystery a puzzle. colored elaborate mechanism for placing certain once wrotean adventure called TheAnvil Time for of braziers in orderto determine stones in certain colored an entireunderground a sequence theDragonlance sett:ng where likea safe of doors opening combination guarding complex turned out to beoneenormous mechanism thenthose something doors hadbetterbe fortimetravel that required the characters to move reasonably valuable. fromroomto roomandlevelto levelto setup the device in thisdesign It's a Trap! andgetit to work.Thegenius. was in making the mechanism so bigthatthecharacters see couldn't thewhole thingat onceandcould onlyunderstand is purpose aftermoving overmullevels tiple andthrough a variety of rooms. NO, OEl SOMEBOOY puzzles Likemagic, a considcanalsoinvolve ELSE TO SAYIT. erable ln theold Pharaoh amount of misdirection. adventure by TracyEr Laura Hickman, the designers wanted Theproblem with a maze to put in a maze. game ina traditional role playing is that the players paper.Howpuzare making a mapon theirgraph canthe maze be if the mapis therein front of zling Theirbrilliantt solution in theformof them? came maze. The maze was of ateleport entire comprised passages tenfootwideby thirty foot longidentical withmagical mist-frlled arches at bothends, andtwo facing more each otheron eitherside.Stepthrough in whatlooks likethesame themistandfrndyourself you iustleft. room TracyandLaura reasoned, however, thatover passing adventurers would theyears into the maze (like behind leave differences their decaying some Puzzles Traps arelikepuzzles, onlydeadlier. bodies, for example), which allowed subsequent ad- canbe benign your head, you scratch of making ways venturers some advantage in working out the maze. but traps aremeant to stopyourcharacter cold-or puzzles Youcanfindinspiration in for physical kill your character Traps, by theirverynature, dead. kindof process An old family any or mechanism. aresupposed to be a surprise, something to catch game from 1962 called you completely unaware whileyou aretrespassing on "HighGear"wouldhave whichyou could made a reallygreatpuzzle around someone else's turf. There have been entiredungeons for build anentire adventure.+ A goodsource for onedeadly the existence of whichwasiustan excuse inspiration mightalsocomefrom TheWay Things surprise afteranother.s you cansee by David where Work Macaulay, how Here's with traps: Theyaremost the problem number mechanisms work any of actually andthen in oftenemployed asa weapon by badgame referees theirsupposed theirsuperiority over struggle to assert ' The word 'genius'herewasactually writtenby Tracyabouthimself. players. handled, Unless theyare theyareproperly It isthissort of honesty and integritythat is the hallmark of XDMs. primarily punitive players. to word reflecting an XDMs aversion to false t Again,Tracy'sinserted
modesty. * Why did I iust givethat away! 5 to mind. Gary Gygax's'Tombof Horrors'comes

49

Youalsoneed guideto remember that if yourtrap is XDMsalways settrapsproperly using these in in yourgame, the way of an essential element then lines: an alternate routeby whichthe playTheheroic Trapsmustbe foreshadowed. characters you musfhave get your ers can to that element. Youdo not wantyour slogging through dungeon design musthave players' characters all tossing themselves like at least kindof warning some that theyareenter- foolish just lemmings onto for the same trap hours on end inga minefreld. Thiscanbe asobvious asa sign you didn'tgivethemanyotherchoice. because into the wallsaying No Living carved "Beware! Personnel Beyond Allowed ThisPoint!" or as subtte breeze brushing on Too much or not enough? asan unseen up the hairs puzzles, you will always With riddles, or traps, neck,but theyhave the backof the character's to question: Howmuchdo I tell have some cluethatthereissomething badahead endup withthesame my of them. Players? Thisis a balancing act,andyes,it involves the players puzzles, whole between what difference know and Trapsmustmakesense. Like of the location know.However, the mostimArchitecsof EvilLairs whattheircharacters trapsmusthave a purpose. portant get players put is thing that the most satisfaction do not iust expensive andelaborate traps willythe riddles in the game themselves.r nillyin the kitchen out of artistic license. hallway lf out of solving purpose. However, it is often diffrcult to how many the trap is there,it hasto have a iudge your stalwart players or howblatant the clues will require to figure out. things Therehasto be another way. All trapshave a Thebest wayto dealwith thisproblem is inside mechanism for disarming them- andwe'renot 'Stinky.' game the For mind-bending design. every riddle, about a thiefcharacter named talking puzzle, physical complex or fearsome trap,you need to seed Thereis always an actual means of shutyes, the clues and solutions elsewhere in the design. As tingoff the trapand, it will be located somea rule,threewill usually coverit: the firstclueonly where that makes sense. Theexception to this a subtle nudge, second the a bit moreblatant, and wouldbe anadventure dealing witha treasure smack across saying, the head house whose owneraccidently secured hisgoldtoo the third a whopping your THIS dummy!"* By these inside seeding the wellandnowhashired adventurers to break "try you to provide design itself, it allows the players what into hisowntreasure house for him.. theyneed to solve the riddlewithoutresorting to calling anyone names at the uble. Better still,since they they obtained the clues through the players theirownefforts, will + feelincredibly universally clever no matterhowblatant the clue required.

-ff/
------; -----\),-

-::^-:

___

Oh, no! | iust gaveawayanothergreat adventureidea!

Or at leastfeeling asthoughthey did. f entirely metaphorically here, of course,referring + We are speaking to the degrees of blatantcyin the cluesor hints provided.We do not your playeru advocateactuallysmacking across the headregardless of your personal feelingon the matter,

s0

pnrlenrr f, HarrrngrvrN,JFlou SHerr

Soyouhave the basic structure of the adventure ls it possible to takethispreparation too far?One inmind. You've structured it around theCampbelliancanspeculate thattherearegame referees who have Monomyth. You'vefittedit with mystery andriddles. spent entirely too muchtimeworking on a campaign You area creative dynamo. worldwhichno oneelse will eversee, those whoare Guess what? people Creative areamazingly designing "forever but never coming to a performance commonplace game players. among lf you,replaying of thegame.". There comes youjusthave a timewhen playing game arole you had better be creative! We, to movepast the design andplayit. A game that is not despite our being 448,hLevel XDMs,certainly played do is unfulfrlled. yourcreativity. notquestion Butit isn,tthe ceative people whomake the grade! Creativity is easy, disciplined creativity is a rareandbeautiful thing.lt isn,t The Map is the Territoly enough to comeup with the coolest adventure of all Themosteasily recognized organizational tool you time. Youhave to be ableto execufe the design in a canhave for youradventure design is a solid map.Beway thatis useful, organized, andcoherent. youradventure cause will takeplace almost exclusively in yourmindandtheminds of yourplayers, thismap Preparation Time and When to Know How Far thatyou create actually will be your the territory of b Too Far game. Theruleis prettystraightforward: Thesuccess of Yourmapis morethanjusta representation of the your adventure proportional is directly to the amount worldfor yourgame. lt is the playing freldon whichall you put into it. If you justslaptoofpreparation activities happen. Elemeng of thismaprepresent some gether a map,iot downsome notes, anddetermine to of the hardandsoftborders game of your overall in a just make up the restof it whenyou getthere,we,re closed matrixdesign. lt is alsoa graphic representation going to tearyour XDM patches of the various encounters off your pajamas of your game design andtheir physical attheverynextregional interrelationships. A goodmapcanmake meeting! your No XDM worth work as an XDM ever his dice so much would game approach easier. a withsuch a casual, sloppy approachl .
Ap"$rpt"l 3""k of the XDM, 6t122

Takeinto consideration all of the following elements whendesigning the mapfor yourgame: l. Themapneeds to make sense. Youshould have basic some concept of howcartography functions. Cartographers around the worldhave been makingmaps aslongaspeople have been walking. Thesystems whichtheyhave developed overthe millennia have evolved into theircurrent form for a reason. Adopttheirtools. 2. The locations needto makesense. Thinkabout (likecastles, anystructures villages, or dungeons) people (or monsters) in terms of theiruse. Picture actually living there. ls thisa defensive structure (asmostcastles are)? lf so,thenwhere areallof guards going those to be housed? They will all need to be fedandtheirmess halls will need to be nearboththe barracks facilities. andthe kitchen Theroyalty theyareprotectin& however, most

likely will not wantto seethe servants, but will wantthemhandy. certainly Howdo the servants enterthe areas Howarethey of the royalty? keptseparate? Howdoes trafficof individuals andtheirpurposes flowthrough the structure? Thisalso applies to the layout of towns. A studyof medieval cities shows that theirstreets areterriblyconvoluted because it wasa defensive strategy to confuse invading armies. Are your you streets intentionally confusing or did iust drawa badmap? 3. Consider rendering a profileview of any major building. Mostadventure dungeons, werethey actually constructed, wouldhave something of a ranch styleappearance floor with a sprawling planspread out verywidely overa single level. There is no reason why anyone wouldactually buildsuch a ridiculous structure.

gE A SAY? THOSE WON'T PROgLEil FOR. OLO "SPOT|EO

52

pnrraner THou$Harr
Ravenloft-from lnc. Castle the classic TSR" adventure moduleRavenloft-was actually reverse engineered by studying the layouts of French andGerman noting thevarious castles, required andtheirrelationships, spaces andthen looked drawing the exferior of whatthe castle likefirstandthensegmenting it into levels and lt istruethat drawing floorplans for each level. going wasconsiderable iteration on in the there process; wouldbe modithe elevation drawing fred wereput in asthe required interiorspaces place or the interior wouldbe modifled spaces to suita betterlookto the elevation drawing. Theresult wasa building that actually looked like wouldwantto build. a castle thatsomeone (thanks resulted in a unique mapdesign It also to thebrilliance of Dave Sutherland) with,as befrts an actual up the stairs castle, a lot of going andcoming in turn, downthemaswell.This, hada tendency to getthe players completely lostinside the castle, a wonderful sidebenefit. lf yourdungeon or building wouldlooksquat and squashed wereit actually to be built,then youshould the structure vertical, consider taking rather thanhorizontal. 4 Weknowthis is supposed to be fantast but getreal. Yourwildest onlyworks imagination it is grounded when in something familiar or that you startdrawing at least makes Before sense. likesomea mapof yourworldthat looks less thingfromTolkien andmoreIikesomething yotJ from"How I Spent My Summer Vacation," ways might consider to make it morereal. Forexample, startwith these basic concepts geology, geography, about andgeopolitics: has a huge impact Geography on civilizations. Start by slamming a fewlandmasses together. placement, Prevailing winds, mountain range bodies andthelocations of large of waterlargely (Rain rainfall. falls determine on thewindward side to bedrieron the leeward andlandtends Howoftendoes side. Howfertileis the ground? questions, plusits it rain? Theanswers to these sealeveldetermine the types of elevation above vegetation found there. falls Rain on the mounuinsandtheirslope determines where the rivers run. (Duh!)Moreimportantly, follow civilizations (because in theirestablishment the course of rivers wayof traveling rivers long arethe mostefficient distances, natural roads). Usethose same rivers as for the classical a guide spread of your civilization. you go plantbefore Speaking of civilizations, ingruinsall overyour map,consider some of questions: the following Whobuiltthese things here? When did theybuildthemandwhy?What happened whoever builtthese thatcaused things hereto abandon them?(Come on! Nobody builds of thestufftheyoriginally some "ruins.")Does builtherestillwork? nowinhabit Why?lf monsters these whatcaused ruins, themto movein here? Howhave theyadapted thisplace to theirown livingrequiremens? it's magic"again,I 5. lf you eversay"because fiveseconds $ rear.. . You have exactly to launch into an extensive discourse on howmagic works in yourworld,whythismagic stillworks afterall piece thistime,andwhythisparticular of magic just pansy-sissy isn't some weak, milkquetoast, DM hiswayout of a baddesign. lf at whining to excuse anypointin yourexplanation anyXDM withinthe sound of yourvoiceget'seven the slightest feeling thatyouaresomehow Doug Henning channeling 'lt's you sayin& Magic!'then lose two levels asan XDM andmustimmediately make a saving throw for your design or startall over! Magichadbetterbe a reason andnot an excuse. Fartoo manyfantasy andscience fictionstories or games why fallbackon thistiredwimp-out. "Hey, is it that a pairof rubyslippers cangetyou home in two seconds?" it's magicl" Nuc! You "Because prepared hadbetterbe to explain why it is that with thecrystalline structure of rubycombined its color the chromium that gives the gemstone interacts to merge the ethereal fieldsurrounding planet produce a space-time fold between the to parallel worlds-one is in Technicolor and of which theotherin a sepia tonebrown andwhite..
* This fold effect had better alsobe known to causeextremeweather in an conditions on both sides of the parallel universe often resulting phenomenon atmospheric knownas"a Twista!"

you plastering lf anyof usevercatch overa plot poorly hole,badcharacter motivation or designed structure with the words"because it's magic," we you will hunt down. Creating solutions to plot problems that arenot your by waving not-so-magical wand iustdismissed is partof the challenge worlds andfun of creating andtheadventure thatreflect them.When Margaret.andTracywereworking on the Dearhgate Cycle the firstof the worlds featured floating land masses in a seemingly endless sky. Now, aside from thisbeing inspired apparently by a traumatic trip to the record store whenTracy wasa young teenager, why did these massive islands floatin thissky? Wasit magic? NOI Tracy considered landmasses howit wouldbethathuge wouldactually floatin the slqf.Either theywere in a region withoutgravity-which wouldreally gravity complicate he really needed the storysince to workhere-ortherewassomething aboutthe islands that floated themin the sky. themselves Whatelse floats? Wood? Very small rocks? A duck?t Howabout zeppelins They anddirigibles? floatbecause theydisplace moreairthantheir totalweight, the same reason ironships float. So,howis it that these weigh islands so littleand displace Perhaps somuchspace? theyaremostly hollow-like volcanic rockmixed withairwhenit cools-and wouldbesomething thenthere that frlled those voids with a gas with less density than the surrounding atmosphere. Whatif therewere growing fungus inside those spaces whichcreated suchliftinggases aspartof theirexistence. Of course, thiswouldmean thatthe islands in the sky porous weremostly andtherefore wouldn'thold water verywell... which meant thatmy inhabitantswouldhave to workprettyhardto keep any waterthat came theirway.Waterwouldtherefore be prettyvaluable asa commodity, whichmeant perhaps that waterwastheirmedium of exchange. the problem hadledusto a really Suddenly interesting worldfrlled with newpossibilities. it helps Sometimes to takea different approach
MargaretWeis,world-renownfantasynovelistwhosenamewe are casually droppingherebecause we want you to know how cool we are being person ableto iust referto suchan excellent by her frrstnamealone. to Monty f You knew that there would needto be at leastone reference in this book. Wthon and the Holy Grailsomewhere *

problems such in yourdesign. When to solving Laura+ wereworking andTracy on thesecond bookfor theirBronze Canticles series, Mystic Tracywasfaced with a problem of an Quesf, which ancient underground empire connected the northern andsouthern sections of a continent. There was something the map on called Dwarven to be Road" that was supposed "the a bigdealtransportation system that hadlong been abandoned from use.lt didn't make since sense thattherewouldbe these enormously long tunnels underground. Sure were the mountains but howcouldforging difficult to getthrough, path passes a winding through the mountain be moredifficult expensive tunnel or thandigging a Morethrough solidrockfor hundreds of miles? over,whowouldwantto bestuck in a tunnel hundreds of miles longon theirox cart? Where your you wouldyou camp? Where feed would ox andyourselP And whowouldwantto stay for week underground iusttryingto getto the lightat the endof the Dwaryen Road? just It didn'tmake sense andfor the longest timeTracycouldn'tfigure out howto dealwith it. Thena different occurred approach to him. out howto do it. to figure "Hey, I don't have Thedwarves lived who herealready did that.All I have out is howthe dwarves to figure would have doneit." Theresult wasthe discovery that the Dwarven Road wasn't a roadat all. lt wasa of rivers, set directed underground with occasional andviaducts cuts, conduits, thatlinked underground lakes. Youdidn'ttakea cart.You rodethe river. lf you have in the structure of a problem yourstory game, patchit or adventure neyer put your Rollup your sleeves, overwith magic. process thinking capon andlookat thewhole as a challenge. Nevergiveup! Neversurrender to magic!5
you with the peoplewe know,we mention { Once againimpressing LauraHickman, and talented the beautiful wife of Tracy Hickman and his writing partner aswell. Please tell her that this footnote is in the book next time you seeher. Quesfreference $ You knew there would haveto be a Galaxy somewhere aswell, didn't you?

54

r t
gul wERE60tNO 10 HAVE 10 gUY SOAISFROM THEELVES,
lHE PLANS LOOK 6000,

TLlou$Hetr Pnrpanrr
catches up. Textis one tientwhilethe restof the class information.. Youhave to readit in a line dimensional for anymeaning to come out of the andin sequence reada wordon page ten, flip back words. Youcannot sixand wordandthento page to page onefor another wordsfor form a cohesive expect the randomly chosen one-dimensional sentence. Charuarealsoessentially make a fineshow of stepaswell.tTables andmaps (height pingthings and up intothesecond dimension the breadth). These together arethe completed design, game which in reality is four experience, to the "map" imagined of existence, whichnot dimensional-a state dimensions of width,depth, onlyhas thethree classical moving forward andheight, but all of whichareforever through thefourthdimension of time. It's a realchallenge to figure out howto do that effectively. the It isthese verylimis in dimension thatposes design. heartof anyapproach to writingdowna game in your adventure, Thefirstthingyou need to decide in your is which is more important dimension then the game: space or time?"

Organization:Time vs. Space

As for making a prettymap, therearea numprograms ber fabulous mapping available to of really games. prefers Tracy Profancreators of adventure Terrain tasy's Campaign Cartographer andFractile packages. Although by the timeyou actually software getaround to reading thispartof the bookthey've probably developed an entirely newsetof software systems. tools andpossibly threemoreoperating guiding whenyou There aretwo basic options whichyou caneasily try to writedownyour adventure your by self thisquestion: choose between asking motivating forceon the characters ls the primary limited options or limited time? Thefirstiscalled anoptionlockwhile thesecond iscalled a timelock. availl. OptionlockThismeans thattheoptions will diminish of able to the players overthe course runout of optheadventure untiltheyliterally whoaremaking theirwaythrough tions.Players primarily faced with underground dungeon are an that anoptionlock;thereareonlyso manyplaces
people,we knowthat the text exiss in the third OK, whineyphysics The ink, no matter how thin, hasits own three dimensionphysically. beyondis width dimensional space and the pageceruinly hasa thickness properties of the page, and height.We're not talkingaboutthe physical we're talkingabout the dimensions of the informationitself, Feedthat to Schrddinger's cat . . . who may or may not be aroundto chewon it. one challenged, new XDMs, a "chart" compares t For you gamedesign two set of numbersto a matchedpair of results.A "tdble" crossreferences fields(across the top and down the side)to find the resultat the intersection of the two fields.Now you can refer to charu and tablescorrectly and behindyour backany longerat gamedesign not havepeoplesnicker conferences. *

Puttingit all together: the adventure text

got the tools,you'veevengot all the You've parts. Nowyou have to put the wholethingtogether lt into well-oiled, andfunctional machine. a working, helps if youhave a planandan instruction manual. Thefirstthingyou should is that a writconsider tenadventure is a one-dimensional string of informa(text) map tion used to transform a two-dimensional intoa four dimensional dynamic state. Fine, we'llexplain thisfor the lower level XDMs you reading book for first time. lf already this the iust you'll iusthave know whatwe'resayin& to be pat)'

f;

trtr
lt

theycango andeven though theyarefreeto wan- certainly a lot of creative elements in an adventure der around all theywant,no onewants to go back module, it's all aboutthe performance in the end. you your room. to an empty Sotheykeepexploring until When write adventure, it is more properly the limitof theiroptions is reached andtheyfrnally important that it is organized thanhow your purpleprose arrive at the endof the adventure. flowery flowson the page. OrgaOptionlock dealmorewithspace andchoices nization andease of reference arethe watchwords. thanwithtime.Classic andoutdoor dungeons It's your performance fromthese notes that matters your scriptthe better in a closed adventures matrixwithwelldefined moreandthe moreorganized boundaries arebothexamples of optionlockenvi- your performance. ronments. No matterhowlongthe players wander around, eventually theywill runout of options Cut Scenes for places to visit.In thistypeof adventure the You'rean XDM, a master of the game! Why your primarily bestapproach is to make yourself text refer overburden with mundane deuilssuchas, to maps andlocations independent fromtimed say,doingthe exposition for your adventure? Why you events. should do all the workwhileyour players iust sit around the tablepretending that theyhearwhat 2. TimelockThismeans thattheclockis ticking you on you aresay,but all the whilearesecretly wishing the bombandthattheamount of timeavailable wouldstopreading that longdescription text andget for the characters to solve the problem will dimin- on with bashing in the heads of a fewmonsters? ishwith everypassing second. Thisis,obviously, a Hey,why is thatyourproblem? bit moreurgent on timeconstraints for the playWe humbly suggest thatyou usescripts and ers.lf yourplayers suddenly wake up anddiscover cut scenes to getyou through those moawkward theyarestanding nextto a thermonuclear device ments. yieldrange in the 100 kiloton in the middle of A cut scene is a videogame term for a sequence the New Mexicodesert with a loudvoicecountinside thegame overwhich the player has litingdownfromthetenminute mark, andnothing tle or no control.Theyareprimarily used to advance plot,or background for transportation but the RedBallJetsneakers on character, issues inside the game. theirfeet. . . that'sa time lockfor you that no Theyalsoprovide texture, flavor,andatmosphere for amount willsolve. of running away the game. Youmightthinkof these littlescenes as Timelockrelates moreto timethanto space or those same long,boring descriptions thatyou'vebeen Youwill need giving game. options. locations and,no doubt, in every Until now. maps, but the primary concern of the adventureWe suggest that you scriptthese cut scenes your the veryheartof your players perform organization of the text-will andhave them.Youcaneven produce need to center around sequences of events and these ascut sheets-copies of the script theirrelationship to choices. whichonlyhave the spoken lines for each of the playNow thatyou'vefrgured out the general approach erson them. (linear, to your adventure open,or closed matrix)and (optionor timelocked) is primary concern it's timeget lmplied Story thewhole thingorganized. Actorson a stage areoftenencouraged to look not justoverthe audience but to gaze to the left or Tricks of AdventureWriting rightof the proscenium. Thiseffectively extends the The Script stage because the audience, following the sightlines of All XDMsknowthat the textof your adventure is the performer's eyes, believes that thereis morein a script. lt's a reference workthat isn'tmeant to beread the character's worldthat is contained on the stage guide performance. but a Thismeans to thatwriting iself. a goodadventure hasmoreto do with technical writThisis also true in the descriptions thatyou ingthanit does with creative writing. Whilethereare writefor the various encounter locations in your

adventure. Mostof the writingin encounter locations people? Whowerethese Whyaretheyhere? What isdullanddry stuff,but the description text isyour happened? one opportunity to imbue the encounter with sights, Remember that it is the nature of humanity to sounds, smells, all the emotion andsense that brings complete stories-especially where noneis given. Every aplace to life in your players' minds. lt is helpful, timeplayers areconfronted with whatlooks likea story put when pieces then, considering whatto in these theywill complete it in theirminds, making up whatevofdescriptive text,to look"beyond the proscenium" er pleases themto fill in the gaps andmake it complete. and extend the encounter through the useof implied Thewonderful thingaboutthisis that it involves the story. players morecompletely because it engages theirimagiplacing lmplied storymeans descriptions innation, allowing themto actually contribute something side thetextthat hint at greater events that have hap- of theirowncreativity to the adventure. pened herein the past.Try the following examples: Foundation As you openthedoor,you see that the back A goodmystery storyincludes a surprise ending at of it is charred. Theroombeyondappears to be whichyou canlookbackandsaythatall the clues were the remains of a library.Thebookshereareall there allalong. charred, standing on shelyes that skew away from In storytelling, we callthat foundation. You laythe theblackcraterin the center of theroom. foundation for the workthat comes laterin the telling. Thesame is truein designing roleplaying adventures; What happened here? Whodid this? Are they you cannot have a monster that no onehas anywhere around or is thissomething seen before andhasnever been mentioned that happened longago? jumpout of nowhere and Whataboutthisdescription: Themummified 7 BETIHERE'S remains of a woman A STOWBEHINP Iayatop an altar.On THISSrffiuq, rhesfairs belowit, two skeletal figures layfrozenin thegripof combat, theirrustingarmor all that remains of theirclothing. One's bonyhandgrips wisps of hair on hisopponent's skullwhile theother's hand wraps around his enemy's throat,Both holdshortswords in theirremainplunged hands, through oneanother'sribcages.

57

expect sense. Soif you have that creature to make guy your an ultimate bad at the endof adventure, somebody betterbe talking abouthim verynearthe beginning.

does. Two examples: In oneof the early asRayenlofr hallways encountered is a suitof armor.Thisis described in detail, andit is notedfor the players that, whilethe restof the hallis frlled with cobwebs and andclean. of course, dust, thisarmorisshining This, place. players it freaks because is so But out out of Misleading the truth is thatthereis nothing wrongwith the arDetail calls attention to itselfin a roleplaying just players mor. lt's there to freak out. game. give you Themoredetail the more something, football always in American important certain the players arethat thereis something lust asquarterbacks play least running in a try to use at one early set of you you aboutwhat aredescribin& otherwise wouldn't youshould downs,t useasan oneof thetechniques be describing it! Theotherpartof that axiomis that XDM is occasionally-not always but to occasionallygame, you detail downthe but thisis something slows it in theadventure andthendescribe by purposefully misleading picksomething canuseto your advantage players questions you in intricate detail. Then, as ask players the with detail. secretly roll some meaningless dice in the classic Ravenloft Forexample, adventure by aboutit, always for before and then look at the ceiling a moment prevailing Tracy Hickman,' the overburdened 8t Laura like,"No, you don't see answering with something descriptions, whicharepervasive throughout the text, anything tall unusual after inspecting the thirty-foot lendan airof impending attention doom.Detail calls to of the grimmanwhose eyes downat stare iself. Thismeans that if you t:tkethe timeto describe claystatue you heat with hollow coldness despite the oppressive players. something, thenit must be important to the in the room.. . at least for now!" pickup on thisearlyin theirgamPlayers, of course, That's called themhonest." ing-which "keeping means thatyou canuseit against them,iust

496s and 349'hlevelXDMs who, asyou might haveguessed, are the two premiereadventuregamedesigners alivetoday.

with AmericanFootball then you are eitherfrom t lf you are unfamiliar or havebeenlivingtoo long in somenationotherthan the United States the basement.

58

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It isn't whetherthey live or die, it's how you PLAYtheir game.
story(see HowWe MakeSense of the "Narrative: page on Chaos" 29). As early humans struggled to game, There is nothing likea nothing in theworld! the worldaround them,theyhadstogame, Whenyou'replaying anXDM-run thatis.We're understand pass rytellers who would down the stories of their pedal-to-the-metal, ulkinga no-holds-barred, fullpeople, and defrning theirheritage andpast player throttleadventure that grabs characters by their ancestors generations and instructing future their on the their plate bent-armor chest anddrags theminto the heartof norms. social Thismayfirsthave happened excitement. How do you getto thisplace? Youneed a society's protective around the communal frre inside a or cave. committed XDM. is at the heartof the human experience. An XDM game is morethana game-it's a perfor- Storytelling Down through millennia, the the technologies for mance, a fully-orchestrated improvisational theater with greatly, stories have changed but the needfor you asthe combination director andmainactor. Your telling telling stories remained has the same. Bards andstoryplayers game portrayin the onlyhave to worryabout wandering across the faceof the worldbrought you have ingonecharacter; to takeallthe otherparts as tellers philisopies news and from far away and,with them, (through your wellasfabricate the setting descriptions). of cognitive dissonance-challenging You also setthe pace of the game andstory;keepa pic- the firstinstances thoughs and behaviors locally. Magicians, too, began your performture in mindof the interactions of allthe touring the worldwith theiracts, bringing wonder and ers;andinterpret the results of physical, social, emospectacle to storytelling. The Greeks formalized storytional, andethical consequences of character actions; all telling into dramatics andplays. These formseventugame whilesimultaneously adiudicating rules. ally led Shakespeare, to Gilbert and Sullivan, Rogers That's whatbeing a trueXDM is all about! andHammerstein, andAndrew Lloyd Webber. Radio allowed the sound of storytelling to be XDM: The Modern Bard broadcast overlarge distances audiences and to mass Fromour verybeginnings ashuman beings, we play the radio was Movies born. similarly allowed the pointed previhave been storytellers. As we have out visual scene of storytelling to be conveyed to large ously, storyis hard-wired into usashumans. We perprins would audiences as be sent across the country. ceive the worldthrough the lens andframework of together into the "talkies" Quicklybothweremelded

Gameplay,the XDM tlfay!

60

AurHE Qevr'sa $rncr

(motion pictures withsound) andonecouldbothsee to novellas, to epicpoems so lengthy asto put Homer andhearthe storybeing in the flickering conveyed to sleep. you will have lightof a darkened localtheater. Thentelevision took Oftenduring the course of the game upthe cause, broadcasting sightandsound rightinto otherexpositional moments aswell,where the playhomes. Thegreat storyteller became available with ersmayhave uncovered a newpiece of information, theflickof a switch andthe turn of a dial. or triggered some whichtheywill thenneed event, We have a universe frlled with people tryingto to observe or understand moreexposition in orderto plot. sellusstories constantly. Commercials arelittlestories forward the game's player interrupting bigger stories. Theinternet is frlled with Theproblem with exposition is that it brings people, all speaking at thesame time,witha relativelyaction to a standstill. All the characters in the game veryfew people bothering to listen. We arebomhave to iustsortof stand around whileyou dumpinforbarded incessantly with noise tryingto pullour atten- mation on top of them. youareconveying tionto someone else's story.We are,in short,being Unless theinformation is an jaw-dropping diverted to death. absolutely revelation that electrifies their (odds Butthe XDM issomething special, a modern-dayinterest areagainst it) thenyou need to finda bardwho hasthe opportunity not onlyto entertain, morecreative wayof conveying thisinformation. butenlighten, inspire, andconnect withothers on a Cut Scenes Onewaywe have already mentioned is personal performing (see level. Youaren't for a massive through the useof cutscenes on "cut scenes" game page audience;. a roleplaying is a social connec56). Lettheplayers actout the exposition gathered yousitback tion between a fewplayers to create a story while andwatch. lf you have a really goodgroupof players, you mightgivethemeach together withthe helpof some common rules and dicerolls. a piece of the critical information that everyone Regardless of howwellor poorlytheyplay,the needs to knowandthenchallenge themto create actual success of the game largely depends on you, theirown"improv"cut scene. Theymust work themodern Bard. intotheirconversation the information thatthey have on theircard.Tellthemthey'llgetextra points goodiob. Keep Rolling in the Role for doinga really perform your roleasthe Knowing howto best XDMin yourgame is perhaps themostdifficult, deExpositional Props Youcancrowbar partof yourcalling. manding andrewarding Youhave a tremendous amount of exposiprepared your players, for thismoment, considered tion into a prop.Prepare letters in youradventure andchosen or crafted to suittheir advance containing the expositional needs. Youhave everything at hand. information thatyou wishthe players put them Thecurtain is aboutto go up. Success rests to discover, entirely on yourshoulders. lt's showtime! Hereare on parchment anduse cool, some techniques to helpyourgame experience beas mystic-looking fontswhen you printthemout.t Don't X-treme asyouwish. tellyour players aboutthe ExpositionYourself! fragment of the maptheyjust games Mostadventure startout with a setup. give discovered, it to themso piece This is an expositional where thesetting and that theycanpawanddrool storyof the game areall laidout for the players so alloverit on theirowntime. thattheyhave some reference framework in which Go to yourlocal curiosity theircharacter's actions make sense. Thisis called exshop, antique store, TaiPan position andit canrange from something assimple as around a table at the local tavern" "Youareallsitting
* Unless, you'rerunning page (See of course, a KillerBreakfast event.

r0t.)

resortto handletteredcalligraphy whichwould be * You couldactually evencooler,but that'sentirelyup to you and ygur calligraphic skills.

51

Trading Company,. or importstoreandfindsome in the nextsection) but we aretalking abouthowyou inexpensive odditythatyou canworkinto your say it. game.Then put the secret message inside thatobLet'sstartwith some basics thatyou will complaying games: monly in role encounter iect. Go Multimedia In an agewhere everyone seems Dungeon Crawling Whenyour players arejust to have access to a videocamera, editing equipment, moving through enclosed spaces andyou have andtheflrm belief you give thattheirvideo(unlike theresf of some description need to them,congood. YouTube) is actually .. well,thisleads to all kinds lowering sider the volume of your voiceslightly your ownexposition for producing of possibilities video andspeaking in slower, hushed tones. Not only whichyou canshow to your players through the "magic willyourquietvoice have a tendency to bring you decide window"or whatever to callyour television voices downthe volume of the player's but the or computer monitor. pace you shortly. slower will serve you decide However to handle exposition, remempossible Foreshadowing berthatit should always be broken up whenever andAnticipation Whensomething your players-whether soasnot to slowdowna game. bigis aboutto happen to giveyour players it is goodor bad-youshould Dramatic Pause:Pacein the Game a dramatic heads up for the hairon theback Yourmastery of storytelling canmake or break a of theirnecks. Lower thevolume of yourvoice game, andyour mastery overyourvoicewill make or pace perceptibly. your andslowdownthe Speak your storytelling. break words with emphasis, asthough each onewere yourself Picture in a seat in themiddle stuck of vital.AlfredHitchcock, the master of suspense, venue a large full of people. An expert or authority is sowisely said, "Thereis no terrorin the bang, sunding at a podium in frontof youspeaking on a subonlyin theanticipation of it." lf you aregoing fascinating-to them. Youmightbe iectthat is absolutely goodscare, to giveyour players a really then interested in the topic,but the speaker hasa voicewith you have to allowthemto anticipate it, and onlyonelevel of pitch,onetoneof delivery andone thenrelieye themof it for a splitsecond before cadence in theirvoice.+ Theygo on, andon, andon. . . you hit themfrom behind. pitch,thesame pace the same voice, the same relentless ThemotionpictureAlien for example makes between theirwords. you you get surethat areafraid longbefore a It's likewatertorture. chance to see the monster. Musicandmoody game Each day,unfeeling referees aresubiecting settings, allowyou to be steeped in anticipation game players thousands of innocent inhumane to these before the monster everevenappears. Youradexperiences for hours on end.Thereis no respite or ventures need to make useof the same anticipagamers, relieffor these manyof whomknowof no other tion.Theuse of longandelaborate descriptions gaming existence. points will heighten while at such anticipation you cando to help. Butthereis something automatically slowing downthe game. No, you do not need monthly to send usmoney gamers,t to adoptoneof these unfortunate but you do And ... Action Whenthe players suddenly frnd pace needto be aware of the powerof varying andvocal you in diredistress, mustmake it themselves your game. delivery in performing mustincrease dire!Thepace absolutely tremen(that's We'renot talking about whatyouaresaying dously at thispointandthe pitchof yourvoice your You cannot risein the excitement. expect * Thismentionof the Tai PanTradingCompany wasmadewithout players you to be excited if do not convey it promotional consideration ... but we're not abovetakingit, shouldthey offer withyourvoice.Everything musthappen fast. us compensation for it. You might consider thinkingof BenSteinplaying the teacher in 'Ferris f Here's in roleplaythe realproblem: combat Bueller's Day Off' at this point for inspiration. inggames-the onemoment in the game that settingup a mostly not for profit foundation + Although we are considering
to assist theseunfortunates.

52

e $rncr An rHEQRirne's
yours, Manyadventures, including will probably requires speed-is the most absolutely invariably because descriptive text.Thisis important while complicated, overburdened, andsystem-laden include will probably partof the rules. you to slow the restof the encounter description Thesystem asks (andrather rules-intensive dry) materials related at the momentyou mustspeed involve downprecisely to the mechanics of running theencounter, the descripthings up. Thisis the dilemma of theages. But you have to convey tivetext is the onechance all the we'regoing thisin "off-loading" on to address page ambiance, nuance andcolorthatthisparticular encoun64. ter involves. Whatyou mustachieve anyaction during Theproblem is that mostgame referees in your sequence is a highdegree of energy iustread printed portrayal from the words on the page, andasmuchcolorin your descriptionsthistextverbatim usually makes themasdry andlifeless asthe rules asyou canmanage at that levelof speed. Rather which players' text. or thansimply interpreting success Descriptive text,eventhe mostprosaic, should failure in combat as"a hit" or "a missr" do your be readverbatim by an XDM. Instead, the XDM best to describe termssuch never the results in graphic readthe text beforehand should to geta sense of the into the sideof the Orc as"your cutlass slices picture andthen,in overall that it is tryingto convey whohowls in agony!" or "Your cutlass stroke goes herownwords the area to the players. By dodescribe wide,slamming against with thetable picture ingso,theXDM has the in hermind of thearea enough forceto slosh aleout of the mugs." andcanaddress withherdescription anyquestions that Prose:How Not to ReadDescriptions Purple players you Thisis important the mayhave. sothat can Oneof yourresponsibilities asanXDM isto maintain the effect, tone,mood,andambience of the thescene." Thismeans thatyouareresponsi- encounter "paint run out of the descriptive longafteryou have giving blefor the descriptions the universe texton the page. that make And speaking of the "picture". .. in the imagination alive While come of theplayers. Keepingthe Picture you cando a number of things to helpyou in this practice Any XDM worthhislevelshould mainascreating representations osk(such exact miniature is your players' uining at all This a flight school the times. characters areexploring), oftheareas "picture" pilos areasked picture a mental of to keep andbasic tool in the XDM'sarsenal is termwhere themost-used just playthe space their aircraft in mind at all In around times. to the expositional description: conveying games, positions of the players yourwords the relative whattheircharacters ers seethrough and roleplaying gestures. andtheirsurrounding environment canbeof great help

tNfTtATtye, ANo IHENLEI'S TAKE A BIO-BREAK,

lHE NEXT IHIRW SECONOS OF TIiE AWENTURE

ts oorNo To IAKE Agoul

53

to theXDM in maintaining a consistent andbelievable for the players. experience Thisis especially truewhen the mechanics of a game startinterfering with the verisimilitude' of theexperience. Forexample, if the combat mechanics of your game require that all combatants taketurnsbashing each other,it canbegin to sound ridiculously tedious quote rather thanexciting. Foran example, a from Stephen Leacock'sr Nonsense Novels, theGimlet Guido of Ghent: A Romance of Chivalryz First Guido,raising hismace highin the air withboth hands, brought it downwith terrible force on Tancred's mailed head. Then Guidostoodstill, andTancred raising hismace in the airbrought it downuponGuido's head. Then Tancred stoodstill hisback, andturned andGuido,swinging hrsmace gave sideways, hima terrific blowfrom behind, midway, rightcentre. Tancred returned theblow. ThenTancred kneltdownon hishands andknees and broughtthe mace Guido downon hisback. lt was a sheer contest of skillandagility. Fora timetheissue wasdoubtful. ThenTancred's armour began to bend, pressed hisblowsweakened, he fell prone. Guido his advantage andhammered himout asflatasa sardine can. Thenplacing hisfoot on Tancred's chest, he Iowered hisvizorandlookedaround abouthim. games Combat in mostroleplaying comes across verymuchthiswaybecause everyone takes turnsbashingeach other. However, asanXDM, if you canmaintain the picture of allof the characters andcreatures in the combat andtakeinto account theiractions asa whole thenthe (andtheresults) description of the combat canbecome far moredramatic. Rather thandoling out damage one slug at a time,have allyourplayers make alltheirattacks-in turn if you like-and allof thecreatures they areattacking make theirownattacks. Keep trackof the damages donein sequence andgetthese mechanics all out of the wayasquickly aspossible. Then(andonly
* Verisimilitude is the appearance of beingtrue or real;likeness or resemblance of the truth or reality. lt is a very big word to be usedin role playinggames, but sincethe levelof realism in games is of almostobsessive concernto gamers,you shouldspringthis word on them now and then whenever they sun quotingrulesat you. (1869-1944) wasCanada's premiere Stephen Leacock lecturer, t humorist,and author. His Nonsense Nove/sremain fun to read today. He is the favoriteauthor of Tracy Hickman- go frgure.

then)do you describe the combat in full, taking into people account thefactthatsome launching their bows from the back of the partymightbe interfered with by those in front of them,thata completely fumbled blowby the knightin the front of the groupmightwellaffect the two companions whoare standing on either side of him.Thepicture will be your constantly changing-with the pace that matches game. Pollingand Shifting Emphasis We'vealsomentioned thisbefore("Executing lt All in the Game: Polling andJuggling" on page 27) but it is so important thatwe needed to mention it again here.Youhave manydifferent types of players in yourgame andeach of themhave different needs theyarelooking to be fulfrlled. Whether theyare players, warrior, social, or thinking each onewill be play Iooking for some different aspect in the game thatwill satisfy them. Youshould constantly be polling the players as to whether theirneeds arebeing met.Thisis always you to develop donesilently andwill require some your players. observational skills regarding Are they getting bored? Whatworks for them? As an XDM, you mustbe prepared to shiftthe emphaconstantly sisin your game to that whichwill bringyour playersalong withyou. lt's a balancing actnot unlike a jokes stand-up comedian trying to figure out which areworking with that particular crowdon that particular night. Offloading As anXDM,youhave a lot on yourplate. paceup, You'reresponsible for keeping the game whichcharacters liveor die,weaving a tapesiudging try of the experience by creating anddescribing settings, andplaying the paru of all those "extras"that keep appearing around the player's characters. you do all the work? Sowhyshould Any game mechanics or busywork chores that youcanoffload you should ontoyour players offload you andrightfrom the verybeginning. Whyshould perform your all the heavy calculations because player hasa plus-this sword andis minus-that when frghting canaries? lt's theircomplex character; let yourplayers do the heavy lifting. Have themtell you whatyou need to know:whatnumber theyhave to

54

n $rncr {nrHE Qevm's

rollin orderto succeed. Theyshould tell you how damage much theythinktheydid. Youcanalways correct that if necessary. Players be in charge should of theirownmap (especially if theygetit wrong)andtheyshould keep (whatthe XDM giveth, of theirowntreasure track the XDMcantaketh away). you areworking When with players whoarenew gaming, to roleplaying thenyou'll need to helpthem outandtell themwhichdiceto roll. Butsoonenough you'll trainthemrightandthey'llbewhitewashing for you in everygame. thefence. Neverdo anymore work asan XDM thanyou must. An XDM is an actor playingthe part of an XDMi. Thismeans that all the rules of rhetoric andthespianism+ applyto you. To make thisaspainless asposwe have things to work sible constructed a listof some in mind. on andkeep | . "Umm" Don'tsay"ummmt' . lt's a badhabit fallsinto. Youareperforming here. that everyone like(andprobWhenyou say"Ummm" it sounds ablymeans) thatyou don't knowwhatyou are thisword (andsimilar talking about.Eliminate verbal asmuchasposcrutches) fromyourspeech sible.s 2. Speak clearly andwith emphasis. No onewants to playa game with a mumbling fool. To entertain you have to be understood. 3.Actingis not so muchactingasit is reacting. Trueacting isn'treally acting at all. lt's reacting to the elements it. People that affect arethisway. Something happens andyou reactto it. Your reaction makes react.Howthey otherpeople you react. reactmakes And on andon it goes. Don'tthinkthismeans losing lt doesn't. lt control. means understanding whatthe correct reaction an NPC,environment, or you personally should have funny? to a situation. Dida player do something Laugh-loud. Makehim feelgoodfor contributingto the entertaining Do experience of the game. all drunks in taverns react the same whentheyare pushed. No! And don'talways let some dietell you whattheydo either. You knowthisNPC,act for him. place. Thisideabrings usto a veryimportant just Didyourplayers blowup a silo? Whatis the reaction of the NPCs in thearea? Whatdid the explosion do?Whataboutthe smoke? Someone musthave seen it. Howyouasan XDM react to thisis key.To be honest thisis the mostimportant thingin the book. And we will discuss it ad nauseam furtherbelow.lt's thatessential.
Thk is actually a slightly alteredbit of plagiarism. The realquote is "A f magician is an actorplaying the part of a magician." lt is accredited to Jean Eugdne Robert-Houdin, the fatherof modem maglc.But that doesn'tmake it any lesstrue for XDMs. * Insertold and tasteless ioke here. 5 lf you ever catch one of us saying"Ummm," we dld it on purposeand areallowed to'causewe makethe rules.

Smellof the GreasePaint, Roar of the Orcs

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game playis oneof the Showmanship during you canlearn. most important things lf you wantthe quickest your game, wayto improve learnhowto present better.lf you learn the game onlyonegreat important and truth aboutgaming fromthisbooklet it bethis:
' Asin TomSawyer getting all theotherchildren his to whitewash AuntPolly's fence in MarkTwain's novel,Iom Sanyer. lf you stilldon't you. undentand thisreference thenI have a fun fence I'd liketo show

55

SeTNcTHEXDM
the role Whenplaying faces. 4.Acting is not making of an NPC,don't fall into the old trapthat acting means a sadface.Depression making sadmeans anatwell,andprobably not sleeping not eating, will how temptto hideit. Again,if the NPCis sad, A isa reaction. Everything he reactto that sadness? goodXDM will showan emotion, not iustsaythat for him in andthenspeak is crying the character whythe NPC voice.He will understand a weepy accordingly. thatwayandact (react) feels from thecity released Thethief, recently walk up to a womannearthe main dungeon, gate me,where of thecity and asks, "Excuse is therichestpartof town?" at asshelooks eyesnarrow Thewoman's him,"Whydoyou ask?" oOh,' the thief says, on hisfeet thinking for He sent for thefirsttime,"it's my Uncle, paft the richest live in to he happens me and of town,soI'm tryingto find him." at him says, Thewoman, still squinting of your is thename andwhat "Indeed, Uncle?" witha "Uh... Frank/'thethiefrepfies guards who city calls the Thewoman smile. dragoff the thiefto thecity dungeon.

Angry Mob!"

Ethics,os "Try telling THAT to an

your asyou iudge One lastthingto consider game your mustbe games in asanXDM:the ethics consequences. andhave dynamic, functional, consistent, roleplaying from a typical Hereis an example herearesuspicious the game. to protect Thisis a city,isn'tit? People changed have been The names of a complete suspicious people thisbook: otherandceftainly of each who mayyet purchase probably lives in the city andno Thiswoman stranger. gates OK, we'll else. of a thiefherethananyone in throughthe morewants Thethiefcomes and let thisonego for now. up to oneof the locals thecity. He walks part is therichest of me,where asks, "Excuse witha andpoints smiles town?"Thelocalwoman "Uh...Frank/'thethiefreplies doesnot callthe cityguard Thewoman smile. downtheroad."Rightdownthere!Turnleft at you can't miss of town.You thecenter it." The but says, and statue the golden "lt's near your purse Thecity rightaway. andfollows find uncle hadbest the localwoman's thief steals The guards statue, don't takekindlyto outsiders." at the golden He arrives her directions. purse. The her home on the thentriesto steal thief nods, it, andthenftndsthe richest steals beating fightshim for it! Shestarts woman block.He entersthefront door andencounters purse, for screaming with her into the Hesneaks himon the head a blindanddeafretainer. piece rushto her it, Othersin the square of gold,steals l0,OOO the guard. house, discovers . There on the thief theystarf beating of thehouse. aid,and out, andthensneaks He himfromthecW gatesl to hang arecries rescues pounding because the CityGuard excitement. is onlysaved Wow.Howdroll. Heart where, himoff to thecitydungeon him,drags Let'stry thisagain: a yearlater... in throughthe gates Thethiefcomes purse he Maybe snatch. heartier Somuchfor thatsimple of thecity. Thecity guard-much instead. himat won't try that.He'lliustgo for the bigscore menthanonemightsuppose-tpy questioning onceanddraghim intoa corner, hiswayto the golden Thethiefmakes Theydeuin himin theciA him thoroughly. go it.., to steal st fueand attempts for a weekbeforelettinghim with dungeons a sternadmonition. you anyideahowmucha golden statue Have withouta the wouldweigh? it? I mean He can'ttakeit anywhere morelikely,doesn't Wellthisseems .. Forget thestatue. guyis a thief.He continues anda teamof drafthorses. on. wagon

n $race An rHEQenm's
Thethieffindsthe richest home on the group Dodging street. a far morevigilant of cityguards, he waitsuntil nightandmanages to make it into thefront doorof thehouse. Heencounters the recainer whois blindand deaf-but not stupid! He sounds the alarm! Thethiefgrabs a goldencandle stick-the onlytreasure leaps at hand-and out the back window. Theguards areback there, too! He quickly throwsopenthecoverto the sewer, Ieaps downinto it, andtriesto make hisway gets out.Heis lostin itsmaze of tunnels, terriblysick, andat last is forcedto come back - wherethe City Guards out to the surface are waiting for him.Theysaw where he went andknew it was onlya matter of time.The thiefis hungby hiswristsfrom a wallin the dungeon. .. Now,isn'tthat moreexciting? That's adventurel that's action! That's dreadfully hardon the character inthegame, but he hadit coming. played Thepointhereis that games without internal ethics areboring. lt's likeSuperman without Kryptonite. lf you cangetaway with anything inside game the thenwhereis the challenge, the danger, the thrill? TracyHickman's son,oncehada group Jarod, ofhis highschool friends come to hishouse iunior to pfay in hisdad'sRavenloft adventure. Admittedly, these were boys, sojusthowmuch iuniorhighschool youexpect could fromthem?Anyway, we gave them allcharacters with swords andthe adventure began. boysmanaged These to make theirwayinto andfollowed the sound town of a woman weeping inconsolably in the upper floorof herhome. They herthere,sobbing found overthe fateof her lost Well,these daughter. boyshadmade a lot of trouble coming into townanda mobwasgathering outside. you,you'llnot findthiswritten Mind in themodule, butit made sense in the setting that thetownsfolk gather because would the XDM waskeeping the picture whole in hismindduring thegame. Seeing the mob ouside,oneof the boysdecided the best wayto escape the situation wasto throwthe sobbing woman out of thewindowto distract themob. Youcanguess whatthe incensed mobdid! lt wasthe frrsttimeTracyhadeverseen the lynching of player characters. Thepointhereis that games withoutinternal ethics, withoutsocially enforced for the consequences game, inside actions the Worse, areboring. theyteach a falsehood, thatwe arenot responsible for our actions. playthe ethics XDMsalways inside theirgame to the absolute hilt not justbecause it makes for moreexciting game play,but betterpeople afterthe game is done.

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Whatto do whenyour players turn uglierthanthey already are!
'em.r In anyXDM game thereis the possibility, no ]ustshoot matterhowremote, thatthe players mayactually atAs an XDM, whenconfronted with a player temptto question the authority of the game referee. As who is tryingto holdyour game hostage to absurd asthisappears on the faceof it, thereareindeed terrorist you some obscure rule that he insisg follow or she place. numerous reports of such events actually taking is to enterinto protracted negotiaYoumaynever have to comeacross occasion a player andwho willing players your game tions while holding all the other of you somehow so foolish asto attempt thisbut, should yammering hostage to incessant abouthowhe or she yourself frnd in thissituation, therearea fewtechniques is being wronged ... whichyou canuseto stave off the unthinkable. You're theXDM.Just killtheircharacter.+ Dropa safe on themout of a clearbluesky. The fack BauerRule Hey,it couldhappen, andshould. Have the ground Played superbly by Kiefer Sutherland,. lackBauer beneath theirfeetopenup from an earthquake and is a counter-terrorist agent for a secret UnitedStates swallow themwhole. A vortexopens up andinstantly agency on theTV show 24. Because theshow's entire teleports themto an alternate where universe the place season takes in 24 contiguous hours of non-stop ruletheyarequoting actually works. . . far fromyour game. action, Bauer has little time into to enter overlyJack Problem lengthy solved. negotiations with the terrorists that he counters. gotten Whenever he senses that he has everything he has out of themandthattheyaresimply stalling for We do not advocateor condonein any way the actual f Disclaimer: shootingof playersor anyoneelsefor that matter. Role playinggames and time,he hasa universal solution to the problem. pretend
* Who alsovoiced the part of Raistlinin the Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twiligftt movie. fantastic television showsmay to bump off charactennightly, but the only gun in a gameroom shouldbe lockedsafelyin your imagination. When we say "kill their character"we do not intend or in { Disclaimer: any way meanto portray that you shouldenter into any sort of character assasination on the actualplayerthemselves no matter how deserving. We wish to clarify that you are to kill their characterin the game.

68

fvrNc JHnoucH THERFVOLUTTON

ALWAYS rulethatyou canapply another ... even if you have to make it up.t A newlyinitiated XDM in Brisbane, Australia you in mainuining To assist who control of yourXDM attended the Cencon OZ Convention therein gained you nowwith the handy 2008actually a levelon the spotfor coming games{, we provide Quantum upwiththisrule.lf he everbuys thisrules book,he Universal Incredulous Rules andKnowledge Generator, gets automatically an additional mo levels.' (see page or QUIRKGenerator. 70) Thishandy table PopQuiz:A player at yourtablestaruquoting will allowyou,with the surreptitious roll of a fewdice, verbatim to you an obscure rulethat contradicts a to create a reasonable-sounding rule,sureto confound justmade. youhave ruling Shereads out of the rule anyrules-lawyer player your who is tryingto hiiack book to emphasize herpointandlooks entirely smug game. about herabilityto usean index. Whatdo you do? All you need to do is roll four times, oncefor Onesolution mightbewhatwe nowcallthe phrase each column, and combine the in order from Australian Yousimply Rule. reach across the table you wantabout A through D. Thenmake up whatever and uke hercharacter sheet fromher,placing it your position. howit supporu entirely out of herview.You thensayto her, you,quoting Example: A player challenges some on, you playyourcharacter "Fromthismoment get rule about how halflings a + bonus 5 when using without everlooking at your character sheet. You toolsassiege weapons. He is getting can belligerstillplaythe same character, but terrible things cooking willhappen to it if you make a mistake on anyof ent andchallenging bothyourauthority andabilities your statistics, rolls,or items." asanXDM.Youdecide magnanimously not to use the Punish the character whenever the player misquotes anyof is statistics or calls for an itemthe sheet does not have. Kill the character if the player makes a bigenough mistake. You mightbe merciyouwill return fuleventually andtellthe player her sheet if shewill put downher rulebookandnever look at it again. Wewouldhave called thistheTurnabout ls Fair Play rulebut we thinkAustralian Rule sounds ever somuchclassier. TTIATI1ALF.

The AustralianRule

'THE There's ALWAYSAnother Rule, R.ule OESUFFEO IN ORIaINALAUftIORS' Oneof the greatthings abouthaving so many -PLAYER INTENT games different roleplaying around with exceedingly SUPPLEMENT,' complex rules is that thereareliterally sets too many oo Iw 10 rules for anyonehuman to keep trackof at one KEEP UP. time. lt's likeadvanced mathematics: solongasyou you areapplying tellsomeone a rulefrom a different branch of the science thereis littletheycando except helplessly whimper. note that the original AdvancedDungeons and Dragons Dungeon f Please quoting Soif someone starts rules at you that placein that labyrinthine Masters Guidecontained, in an obscure tome, a rule that said,"Regardless of anythingwritten in theserules,whateverthe your authority, are meant to question assert their dungeon master says is the rule supersedes the ruleswrittenin this book." lf player own superiority, or simply mess with you as one wereto consider the logical extension of thissimplephrase then there no needfor any of us to buy all thosebook aftenvard sincewe could anXDM,you don't have to takeit because there's was makeup any old rule we wanted.Your word asXDM remains law in the
r Butwe're not giving him his money back for the book. Justthe extra levels.

TROLLOCS OOT

rather limited universe of your gameso makethe most of it and losethe guilt over usingthis chan. And put theseuppity players in their place. f

AO vt

because Rule theplayer happens to bethe lack Bauer you'rehoping brother of a woman to date.Soyou say, you're into not taking account the ..." then "Ah, but you roflfourd2Os. Theresults are | 5, 3, 7, and18. Tools vs.lmpact Youthencontinue with"... Updated you FAQ." Youthenexplain thatthisrule-which your game received with materials and recently updated not yet have-completely exthe pfayer obviously does particular plains whyhis halfling is at thismoment being by the monster in hisown fryingpan. cooked

The XD2O Rule

lf you wisely choose to playyour game using it will be hardfor a terrorist to take the XD20 system the rules, overthe game, since he doesn't understand andthe XD20 system is soheavily dependent on the basher wouldbeat a XDM anyway, thatanyrules loss. another andarehaving lf youareplaying system for with players trouble whowantto run your game you, we suggest switching overto the XD20 system eitherhave learned bettermanners untilyour players or decide thattheyprefer thisgame afterall.

Roll (1d20) 1111

Column A
New Revised Online Official Updated Corrected Advanced Designer's O r i g i n aA l uthor's Canonical

Column B
Weapons vs.

Column

c
Armor Modifiers StatsAdjustments

Column D Table Chart

2112
3113 4114

Creature vs.
Toolsvs. Comparative BlastRadius and Magicvs. DivineAid vs. Action and vs. Character Theoryvs. Chaos

Finite Sliding S c a l e Variant SpeedSpectrums RangeModifiers Trajectory lmpact Penetration PlayerIntent QuantumReality Appendix Module Supplement Rerelease FAQ Published Errata BetaTest

5l1s
6116 7117 8/18 9119

10120

70

UTTTMATEXDM

VANOE 6R,MF OENE(UIOR? YES!

PARTY LEARNS TIAT MOSES, ,llERLfN, ANOTESLA AQE ALLTTIE SAilEOW,

unnrER Af,\lospHERE f TEN: Enough Fog,Lights, Music, md Lasers to-cause All Manner
Beyond Sanityand at the Edgeof Reality-The UITIMATE XDM TheatricatSetupYouwill need a buddy anda pyrotechnician to be managing things from a controlcenter. Theywill have access to all your lights, sound, lasers, holograms, fog,andfire.Yourbuddywill mess with the firstfive. Thepyrotechnician will mess with the lastone-and probably eatyourfood..

of seizures.

3. Next,make a playlist of dramatic, epic,andoth. enrrise adventure-esque music+. UseiTunes for thislist-fromnowon we will callthisthe ,,music list". 4. UseWindows MediaPlayers to make a playlistof sound effecsthatwill match the upcomingevents in youradventure. Dungeon doors opening, armies marching, etc.rAlsobesure to include frghting/action music in thismix. From nowon wewill callthisthe',SFX list,,. your music 5. Besureto keep trackrelatively low. Themusic lististhesoundtrack of youradventureandyou don't wantit to distract from the game. 6. YourSFX listshould beoff, but anygiven item on that listcanbe played to adddramatic and
The Dragonlance movle soundtrackis a great resource.Readthat again f and be sureyou know we are talkingabout the soundtrack-which was awesome. We haveno officialcommenthereaboutthe restof the movie, S Thk is so you can haveyour soundeffecs playon cue over your music.Thereare other waysto do this, this is lust the way we havedone it. Yesthis ls stuff foundonline. f

Sound
I . Useasmanyspeakers asyour receiver cantake. 2. Setyourspeaker distribution to pumpyouraudio throughall7 + speakers. Thespeakers should be placed in the roomsoasto completely surround your players. Include a bigsub-woofer andhave everything your receiver hooked through to a computerr.

* Let him. You don't want guy a who lightsfiresfor a livingmad at you, especially now that he knowswhereyou live, You advanced users can add a mixingboardin there,cause f you it makes look cool.

72

AIMOSPHERE
Other waysto makeyour tighting moredramatic. A. Usea china ballwitha lightbulbinside. This will diffuse the lightandcreate a softlookacross in the roomthat is fantastic. everyone Movies use this all the time. It is important to remember thattheaudio is black netting B. WhiteChristmas lighs.Hang some secondary The to whatthe XDM is saying. totally your gaming your above area and weave lights on yell never have to XDM should overhisownsound yet golden gem? it. Whocanforgetthisold A bit Furthermore, effecs. the XDM andhisbuddymust perhaps cliched but still cool looking. given played. sound be bein sync for whena should C. Usereading lighsor floodlighs to create draThis comes with practice andexperience. matic lightandshadow walls, large against sheets thathang anddrape in coolways. Theripples in Lights paint the sheet or in the textured will create cool go-to lighting is a must.A XDM's Dramatic shadows. involves move with lighting the useof a gobo.Gobos patterns of lightin the air or splashing interestcreate Dimmers andswitches areeasy to wireandeverylf you have shapes anddesigns across surfaces. Ing your thing should be hooked back controlcenter. to your looked out of window ever andseen whatis ofis there at the rightmoment to shutoff all to as"God Light"piercing the clouds in Yourbuddy tenreferred gobos. lighs, the dim the lighs, turn on the . . whatplaces, you giant gobo wellthan have afewof seen a evereffectis needed. yet effective gobo: atwork. To make a simple ls therea thunder relevant effectto the game. storm approaching? Canthe grouphearcrickdragon etsin the freld? ls therean avalanche, breathing frre,windin the cave? l. Go buysome black wrap.Youcanflndthis online withoutanytrouble.lt's a lot liketin foil except thicker and... black. 2. Geta reading lightwitha clamp. 3. Pull out a bigpiece of black wrapand cutoutcooldesigns in it. Remember that whatyou cut out will bewhatis written in lightlater. We liketo punch a bunch into the sheet of holes of various sizes as the broken up lightstreaming across the roomlooks wicked cool. 4. Bend wraparound thecone the black of your reading placing your light, in design perfect position for is projection. yourconvened 5. Clamp lightto something near the ceiling or downnear thefloor andpointit in theopposite direction. roomwith justenough Usein a darkened fogto allowyour guests to seethe effect.

Lasers
The PoorMan'sLaser Show It's easier a sweet to create laser show thanyou think.Becareful thatyousetyourlaser up so display get that it can't in anyone's eyes.

71'S ALL6000, T LEARNEO -rtllLLlWATT' lHe OIFFERENCE EETWEEN ANO UWATT,' ANO I 60T A COOLEYE-PATCH!

73

[/rnunrEXDM
your laser I . Geta hand heldlaser-not oneof those thatburn motorandshine to a slowspinning your green a holein skin. The kindareeasier to through it onto a wall.Youcanget really amazseebut a bit moredangerous andexpensive. Neyer ing patterns thisway. Iookdirectly at a laserl'Even the lasers that are weakanddiffrcult to see cando damage afteronly All of the controls for your laser spectacular a fewseconds. should be routedto yourcontrolcenter. 2. Geta penspring. Thisis a littlespring likewhat youwouldfrndin a "clicky"pen.

Holograms

Okay,whatwe cando isn'ttechnically "Holography."Thetruth is,thisis better.Believe it or not 3. Geta small mirror.No bigger thantwo inches therehave been ways to make realistic threedimenproiections across. sional since the l8O0's.Our favorite method for doingthissortof thingis with the Pepper's principle.+ youlookout a window 4. Attachthe mirrorto thespring andthe spring to Ghost When your reflection-even something heavy, a block of woodshould be fine. at nightyou cansee if thereis you looklikeyou a full moonout. ln the reflection pointer 5. Setyourlaser sothatit's pointed at an arestanding outside the window in a semi'transparent principle. angle to your mirror. state. Pepper's Ghostuses the same lf you have to the Haunted in Disney everbeen Mansion you have fog to a darkroomandgiveyour 6. Add some World/Land, seen thisspectacular illusion spring mirrora flick.Thislooks waycool. cometo lifewith the ghosts in the large dining room. Hereis whatyou should do to getthe same effectin yourgame Other cheap waysof doingsupercool laser location. Forthe purposes of thisexplainashows tion we areassuming thatyou arebuiliding a setlarge grating (youcanfind it ghost.Theinstructions A. Buysome diffraction enough for a human-sized can online) it to a slowturning andattach motor.The bescaled downfor smaller illusions. grating diffraction will splityour beam in to several First, frnda place in your house an that makes beams at various angles. Add another rotating dif- "L" or cross shape. lt couldbea hallway thathas a grating (in the opposite fraction direction) which roomhalfiA,ay downit, or threerooms that areconyour firstgrating, slightly overlaps andyou'vegot nected to each other,or even something assimple as yourself going a freldof laser beams every-which- a doorway. Builda "blackart" setlikethe oneseen way,yet moving in a pattern. on page 8 7 but withoutthe platform-just a bigblack void.Depending on thescale of yourillusion the (notthe B. Attacha small mirrorto anold speaker setcouldbebigor small. Yoursetshould be in the yourlaser but the actual screen, speaker). Point at adioining roomor space-somewhere the players can't play it and something trippyfor music-driven laser see. go getasbiga piece effecs. Second, of clearPlexiglass asyou canfrnd. lt needs to be at least the height C. Attacha small mirrorto a PCfanat a slight fromyour ceiling to the floorandlonger thanthe Fireyourlaser angler. directly at it. Thelaser will length of Plexiof yourset.lf you can'tgeta piece bounce off themirrorcreating a cone. Thisisthe glass thatbig,geta smaller oneandmask the edges in popular besure a creative waysothat no onecansee themor suspect "time tunnel"effect. As always glass to addfog. them.Setthat giantpiece of acrylic at a forty frvedegree angle to the black art set. glass. D. Geta piece of textured Different textures It isveryimportant thatyou lightthe area will giveyou different results. Attachthe glass

Duh. Not while it'sstillin yourPC.

Originally calledthe "DircksianPhanusmagoria"-atrick of optlcs * inventedby Henry Dirksand further developedby lohn Henry Pepperin the 1850's.

74

AWoSPHERE
glass in behind theacrylic iustright.Thelighting be dim but not dark.A bit brighter this area should you don't want perhaps. Becareful, than candlelight thespeculight to shine on the glass iaelfsince any giveaway. will be a dead Theblack art larhighlighs and should be lit by lighs hooked to dimmers area black wrap.Thelighswill be masked off withsome by yourbuddy at in XDM central controlled command. anda Place chairB behind the Plexiglass A in the black art area. Test similar black chair from the black that the distance tomake sure to the distance to the glass is equidistant chair to the normal chair.Thisis easy from theglass someone sit in chairA. Lookinto totest. Have glass your players fromwhere will besitting. the ghost in chairB, you've lf helooks likea sitting in front of it. If he looks likea guyfloating done chairB back andforthuntilthe orbehind-move illusion is perfect. Nowyou'reready. no onegoes downthathallor l. Make sure intothat room.As funnyasit wouldbe to intoan invisible wall. see themjustslam yourghost actorin theblack art 2. Have until it's time. Maybe area, sitting there iust pyrotechnition youcouldconvince to the he isn'tbusy do this,since iustnow.Your ghost (nothing be in a costume should youwantto do a floating black, spirit unless you head, which maybe do) andwearing makeup. youwanta ghost in the to appear 3). When your in thecontrol boothwill chair, buddy art iustturnthe lighsup a bit in theblack set. Thebrighter the lights, the moresolid deliver theghost becomes. Have the ghost fromwhence it hismessage andthenvanish came. Onceyour Besure two dimmers. to use ghost has fade appeared, oneup andtheother moreof Thiswill create down. Thenviceversa. parts ghost fadein anethereal effectas of the and out. We liketo Youcando morewith thisof course. the with things that arebehind have the spiritinteract goodtiming,canmake glass. A bit of thread, andsome your ghost knock or even the chairhewas overa vase theplayers askhimquestions sitting on. Youcanhave before hevanishes in an instant.

PLAYERS

75

[rnvarEXDM
Fog
There isn'tmuchto sayhere. Fogmachines are quitecommon actually nowdays. Go to anyTarget at Halloween andyou will frndbothfloor foggers andair foggers. Keepin mind: l. Youwantto getwaterbased fog,not oil based. (Mucheasier to clean up.) your own floorfogger 2. Youcanmake with dry ice,a large drumanda heating element, but they arenot assafe or evenusually effective. 3. Smoke machines will setoff yoursmoke alarm. -/
HOPE IIIAI'S AS gAO AS 1HISB@K

4. As always make surefog canbe controlled from yourmaster hubat command central. Youare running a game anddon'tneed to bethinking aboutthe lights, music, fog,andwhatnot.

FOe! I

-\

I
I

76

f, HmrER lrvrr,'s TbucH ELEVEN:

Pyrotechnics and Other Waysto Makethe Fire Department Mad
NOIE: TheBATF, NISB, Department of Homeland shoulders) andthe burning downof yourhouse Security, the Bear have thatwe andSmokey requested' a second time-allin the name of preserving the a number make of editorial in thischapter, with community fromthe influences of an activity that changes which we havereluctantly is obviously withoutthe useof fire. complied. dangerous even proper After learning storytelling andbasic XDM you to a bettergame technique, nothing will short-cut On sober reflection, the downsides of using firein for andagainst thanfrre.Therearearguments using this yourXDM game outweigh the benefrs. seriously shortcut: we knowyou. Still, your You're always looking for ways of taking . Theplus game game sideisthatfirecanbring anelement out at the edge. You'rea maverick in performance. of mood,excitement, andverisimilitude to your We alsoknowthat,whenit comes to game-as possibly players you (like wellas wakeup who are frre, all the restof us)arenot to be trusted. nodding off. YOU AREON Sofromhere to theendof thechapter YOUROWN. . Thedownside gone is thatfireis uncontrollable, lf you burndowna small with a game unprenation pointing psycho, dictable, anddownright dangerous even under the don'tshow up on the news at the best Whenused of circumstances. in conjunction XDM book. prop game, with a roleplaying fire is the game We arein no wayresponsible for whatyou decide mostlikelyto landthe entiregaming industry Feel back to do with thisinformation. freeto suesomeone page your you on the front localnewspaper. because involving frre of Then else we warned thatanything parents you that anyone theremaybe concerned We also andreligious is dangerous. warned using (if it isstillon your leaders calling for yourhead anyof the information in thisbookwithoutthe utterfor badthings most care and responsibility, is iustasking - R.td ,hrt d.ttrd.d or elsethey will withholdall our economic stimulous bribes and investlgate our tax-freestatusfor the next hundredyears. to happen.

77

[rnnnnrEXDM
Our favorite istheMestopholies FireBallLauncher created by JimPace. lt not onlywill launch a ballof frrefromyour hands A.K.A. "Burning Carpet" up to fifteen feetaway, but also paper. TheXDM arsonist's has bestfriendis flash a reel,sothatthe device lt is will leapbackintoyour great paper stuff.lt feels the moment your a bit likeroughtissue afteryou useit. Thisallows andcan sleeve be foldedandwrittenon. Whenlit, it bursts hands be to displayed asempty. into bright TheMestopholies flames, leaves no residue, andis spectacular canbe foundonline to see. You FireBallLauncher at www. paper good canfrndflash you at any magic shop. While Theysell iimpacemagic.com. arethere, besure to it in large sheets andin littlepackes. out hisotherfireproducts Youwill usually check including firewallets, geta betterdealby buying it in the bigshees torches, andthe like.Great andthen invisible stuff. cutting thatsheet up asnecessary. Thebest thingabout Flash Paper isthatit is relatively' safe. lf youdo decide How to Make FlashPaper: paper, lf you need flash You iustgo buysome. to do anything in thischapter despite our many warnwill save time,money, andfingers. Butfor the sake of ings thatyoushouldn't.i Thisis a goodbet. completeness, and against our own better paper iudgment Whenyou getyour flash it will bewet.lust provide you we with following the recipe. leave it lying out under a fanfor a short time.lt will dry Go getsome I ancI out quickly. Always store it in a coolplace andinside a We'rekidding. plastic container. Never leave it in a hot car,or near a window. Thestuffwanfs to burn+.

FlashPaper

mi

iur

of to da si

Usesfor FlashPaper paper Cutout a piece of flash about 2" x 4" should do. Wadthe paper up intoa ball.Leave a little you pinch your tabfor to with lefthand. Holda lighter in your righthand.Usethe lighter pato lightthe flash perat the balled up end.Themoment it is lit,stoss the flaming ballup andaway fromyou.Thisis likethrowing a real-life frreball. lt looks amazing. paper Youcanwrapflash around things likeplayglass, paper ingcards, coins, etc.Theflash will burnbut theobiect will not.t paper Youcanbuya flash launcher. Yes theyexist.
Note that sincewe're talkingaboutfire here. Whenwe say,,relatively safe"we meanin comparison to suchthingsasnitroglycerin, fuel/air explosives, and military-grade incendiary ordnance. unpredictable, f Did we mentionthat fire is uncontrollable, and downright dangerous? lust thoughtwe shouldmentionthis again.lf you iust haveto havea flamingeffect,then flashpaperis asfar asyou reallyneedto go. Oh, and did we mentionthat frreis uncontrollable, unpredictable, and downright dangerous? f Curtisnotes:When I wastwelveI almostburnt down my parent,s house with this stuff. I had a pad of flashpaper.I removed one pieceand pieceof paper,then lit it. The flashpaperwent poof. attached it to a regular It vanished, leaving the paperto burn slowly.I panicked and droppedthe flamingpaper-ontothe pile of flashpaper.WOW WHAT A BLAZEIThe blaze freaked me our evenmore, so I pushed the flamingflashpaperoff my deskand onto the floor. Fortunately, it burneddown aftera momentor two, leaving a puddleof meltedcarperasa remindernot to do really stupid things. meanmoment.lf you wait for 5 Whenwe say"moment" we seriously a confirmationfrom your friend that the flashpaperis lit, you will havea fireballin your handinstead of in the air. paperbecause f Don't do thiswith the flashpaperaroundregular the paperwill alsobum. Seethe previous regular footnoteon whenCurtiswas twelve.Yes,apparently he reallywasthat stupid.Learnfrom his mistakes, grasshopper, and be wise, *

ll,,,,NIuDb

J\

@0Afin

78

DEVIL'S TOUCH
Thethingis,we couldtell you exactly howto professional paper, make flash but you wouldprobably just endup deadandwe wouldgetput on some sort of list.' Instead we'vedecided to giveyou the recipe ghetto paper. to make flash Theprocess is stillreally dangerous, but not ashorridor involved asthe professionalway. Youwill need goggles I . To put on protective andwearlatexgloves the entiretime. Do everything outside andaway from your homer.Wellyou canput the goggles on inside but. . .youknowwhatI mean. (sometimes 2. A bottleof I+ known as I) thisis foundin hardware stores andis used asa I. 3.I innards. Cutonelengthwise overa bigsheet of I. Inside thef aresmall I. Carefully collect themandput themin a Ziplock baggy for nows.Don't lose any pyrotechnic of thatlts dangerous giving capabilities will lightyour homeaflame, no thought for poorlittle Simkin. propane 4. A small burner. paper. 5.I Somethingl. Many people liketo useI. Cut theI into small squares. About 2 inches by 4 inches should do. yourcooking pan.Thenmixin two tablespoons of

Step2:Place the panontoyour burner andcookon a very low heatfor around 45 minutes. A thin frlmwill formon the top. Step3: Remove the panfrom the heatandskimoff glass pan.Put film into the small iustthissyrupy yourI intothe pan,making sure thatit is totallycovered. LettheI soak for lO-2O minutes. Step4: Remove tneI baking tray. andplace it on a

Step5: Youhave two choices here.Youcanplace thetrayin theI for about anI at around youcanlaytheI Iot in theI untilit is dry. Either way,you have to watch it, or it will burst intoflames. Thenyourlifewill be ruined. golden Youwill knowit is dry whenit looks yellow. Step6: lt is ready! Remember to storeyour flash paper in a cooldry place. Forlong-term storage of your flash paper, frrstmoisten it with water. Again,is all thisreally worththe effort?Go buy some instead.

Flash Cotton, Flash String Flash Bills: These arejustwhattheysound like.Flash string pan, glass pan, 6. A small burns from cooking oneendto the other.Flash a small anda bakcottonis used ingtray. in a number of fireutilitydevices. Flash Bills looklike paper.lYoucanfrndall currency, but arein factflash 7. A frreextinguisher. thisstuffonline. . .justin case. Whatyou will do: Step1: Pour oneor two cups of theI

into

FlashPots!
A.K.A. "Arson" pots Flash arepyrotechnic devices used for creating small, controlled explosions on stage. lmage (and theshock incontinency) resulting froman
f I don't knowwhy you would needflashbillsfor your XDM game,but thereit is. Wait! You couldtell your players that the billsrepresent their treasuregatheredfrom the last adventure,and that somewizard is making their treasure vanishunless they hurry and stop him from, well, you get the idea.

* The Departmentof HomelandSecurityassures us that there is sucha list and that we may, or may not, already be on lt. Likeout by the Unibomber's cabin.No, wait. That'stoo flammable. t Perhaps somewhere inside the NevadaNuclearTest Range. We would like to thank the Unlted StateForestServicefor their kind t (and insistence) assistance in editingthis section of the book. We apologize for whateverunlntentionalamblguitymay haveresultedasa resultof their guidance. edltorial $ You are gettingcloseto reproducinga moment from someweird, gritty 70s drug frlm. lt's probably best if your neighbors don't seewhat you are dolng.

79

[/rnunrEXDM
explosion your game. happening during Whatcrarysort of RPG has explosions? Our kind! Thisisn'tthesortof thingthatyouwoulddo while your mother's sitting around kitchen table, or actually inside anymoderately sized enclosed space. Onlyuse a pot parking flash in a lot, your driveway,or an auditorium-some large openspace-and always with several fireextinguishers at hand. paper Truthfully, flash is bettersuited for role playing games. Flash Pots aremoreapplicable to LARPs or othergames that areplayed overlarge spaces. lt is important permission thatyou getyour mother's to use these if you area maleunderfifty years of age.. alshere,but great whenproperly used. Only usein pot. lt's usually small amounts in a flash made up of you Go online and canfindit in various colors andforms. Black Powder (for smoke): powder Black is actually powder. safer thanflash lf you wantyour flash to have a small burstof flame anda bigpuff of smoke thisis yourstuff. Againadd some I for evenmoreeffect.

(for sparkle):
Lookfor I onlineif you wantto iazz pot explosions up your flash with frerybitsof sparkle. Again,it's bestto justbuythe stuff.We'veseen yourown involving methods grinder, to make a coffee a rocktumbler, anda myriad of otherthings, but we recommend online andbuying the profesiustgoing sional I Thatwayyou knowit wiil work, andyou don't have to worryaboutbuying a powder thatisn'tfineenough.

",\

Jtr

rlrlll

A Giant lncredible+ Fireball!!

'11 <\

A.K.A. "HomelandSecurity Warchlist"

lf youarea diehard XDM gamer and your gaming wantto continue career in prison, this should do it. Say your XDM role thatyou'rerunning How to makea flashpot: playing game in the middle Thisis too complicated of a plowed field, or open for usto describe here.lf yards you wantto make desert space onehundred your square on a side. youwould wanttheattack of yourgiant hasgooddesign. Even the old classic Naturally, you flaming dragon to have a visceral impact on your play. f hasa veryniceworkable design.r can, you ers.What need is theGiantIncredible of course, potsonline-they Fireballl frndprofessional flash run This should all bedoneon yourfavorite game aboutfifty dollars. past site,located pot, all you do is place the middle To worka flash of nowhere. l'm iust abouta you play your sure game regularly teaspoonful in the middle of powder of an into the receptacle andflip the place. barren appropriate switch at theappropriate time.Kaboom! open,

pyrotechnics. All males underthe ageof frfty remainthe mentalequivalent of twelve-years-old when it comesto explosive devices. We want to thankthe Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, t and Firearms for their asistance in editingthe flashpot portionof the book. Theyalsoask us to tell you not to smokeor drink irresponsibly. Or is that not to smoke irresponsibly or to drink?Whichever, don,t do it.

Whatyou will need: FlashPowder (for flash): Thispowder bursts into a quickexplosion of bright flame whenlit. lt is morehazardous thanothermateriwell.Youq4ngetthisin 25lb bags from a * Men cannotbe trustedto f supply store.s havegoodjudgment when it comes to
;
of Homeland Security asked that we change f The Depanment the actual nameof this deviceand we havedutifullyand patriotically compliedwith their request. Did we havea choice? not after the publication of this book. S Ahhoughprobably

h( al in

80

DEVIL,STOUCH
2.Theessential andmostdangerous ingredient
-

frllthe canmorethantwo thirdsof the way uDat the mostror elsethe wholethinc will

paper. 3.Tissue Thefacial kindwouldbe frne here butmake no absolutely certain that it contains

I
4.Visco fuse". "Safety 5.A #10 size This isthesize canyoufrndin can. restaurants andbulkfoodstores. you will do: What 'l: Step Diga littlepit thatyouwill setthisthingin. Do not make it too deep. Step 2: Punch a holein the canusing a sharp awl.i It needs for the Viscofuse to beiustbigenough to fit through. Step inside 3: Putyourfuse sothatoneendis in the middle bottom of thecan. The of the remaining length should extend outside thecan. It is a safety fuse it will burn slowly, so but we don't trustyou, so usemorethanyou thinkyou need. yourlegally Step 4: Pour obtained intothecan.lt doesn't need to bemuch, but youshouldn't be ableto seethe bottomof the canwhenttreI arespread out. Neyer precisely use morethanthe described amount. paper Step 5: Cutout a circle of tissue the diit overyour ameter of yourcanandplace

is clear.Becarfulthat Step7: Makesure the area to walkup at thewrong moment no oneis going got in the can?" Assuming asking, "Hey what-cha is safe, andgetaway to everything I a minimum disteance of 45 feet.Youwill feelthe will ignite heatof thisthing!TheI whichwill blowtheE into the air and,at the sarRe time,setthe resulting aflame. Theresult is nothing short of speccloud tacular.

The ArmageddonHellstorm
A.K.A. "NSA BlackopsHitlist" you everbeen for your Have running a game friends couldusea realisandthought, "Boy! | really tic volcanic-inferno that engulfs entire city blocks in a highly-concussive fireball.Thatwouldbethe perfect endof tonight's adventure!" youhave! Whohasn't? Well,of course question pressing is the ArmaOur solution to this geddon Hellstorm Display. Hereisthesimplest wayto buildoneout of you probably yourownhome: materials have around First, obtain microwave a safe casserole dish.

;,*=;,1:T'#"""u'n"ni"iili*,,,o you will cross After your plane into lands the border
-.

you,andyourdog,and blowup the can,killing yourneighbor's dog,too).

pour Step 5: Carefully paper intothe canon top of yourtissue making absolutely certain I. Neyer
As it hassafetyin the title, we are allowedto print this. Awlscan be dangerous. Useawlswith caution.Never run while an awl. Never allowsmallchildren olding to playwith an awl. Never llowpes nearan awl. Do not attemptto usean awl while underthe tffuence of certainmedications. Do not drink and usean awl.

thereyou wiil findsome I lyans. Whenyou talkto the Ivans besureto askfor grade the weapons andnot theI that I theytry andpass off asthe realI.
Nexr, wrtn tNrrNr l E L,.KE you genry I

in heretoo? You bet. Sprinkle somein f Canyou usethe I asyou pour in the I for a little extraglimmerin your bang. muchworsel 5 And we're not kidding!It will do this and probably

81

[frnnnerEXDM
a minimum distance of fivemiles. It is fun to pretend to do things likethis,but games-to that is the entirepointof roleplaying imagine things. Indeed, thegreatest display thatyou couldevercreate will never rivalthe imagination of your players. Youshould firstandforemost rely on thembeing imagnitively enthralled by thegame, rather thantricksandgimmicks-especially dangerous ones. lf allelse fails, remember thatthisinformation pyro-magic guys wasgiven to you by non-certified in gaming. you a bookabout We'remagicians, should really trustus?

[o,E
I',,VlNOT OETT\NO THAT CASSEROLE OISH

aACKNOW,AM 7?

82i

oFTHE f,umrenf{trlVE: WoNorRs Qons

Die tricksand other pointless miracles to bewitchthe senses and impress dates.
you lookmorelikeyouhave Nothing will make powers mystical beyond whatthisworldcanmanifest than contact lt is an art thatwhensuccessiuggling. performed fully yourgamers will mesmerize andhelp break downthe walls of reality. Unfortunately it is, far and away, thehardest thingyoucanlearn fromthis juggling book. Contact cantakeyears to master for some, andmanyyears for others, but don't worry, most of youwill giveup longbefore then.Still,for fewbrave you will have the XDMswhosurvive, an amazing tool thatyoucanuseduring character monoplot exposition, logs, you feelboredand andanytime just wantto showoff your awesomeness. Whatthe heck is it? Formany of you,it will suffrce to saythat contact is whatyousaw iuggling perform David Bowie with a small crystal sphere in the ftlm Labyrinth. Forthe unfortunate fewof you who have never seen themusical with]ennifer Connelly goblins, and a barrage of Muppet let me do my best juggling, todescribe it. (Contact not themovie, which would do nothing yousay, morethanmake "People paid money to see that?"Butlisten you herebuddy, paid goodmoney for a bookabouthowto be an game mastet," so let'snot throwstones.) "xtreme juggling Theycallit contact because the ball

Contactluggling

never leaves contact withyour body.Instead the ball rollsfluidly fromoneside of the hand to the otherand backagain in an organic andhypnotizing motion.lt might thenroll downyourarm,across yourchest, and ontotheback of yourotherhand. Again, the ballnever leaves contact with your body.Witnesses sometimes describe it aswatching a bubble floateffortlessly from hand to hand in smooth, sweeping motions. Contact wasdeveloped by Michel Motion iuggling (whoalso performed it for David Bowie in the movie) grown andhas since so popular that almost everyprojuggler fessional will use elements of it, even during a juggling" regular demonstration. "toss patterns There arevarious andmoves associated withthisformof juggling. These areusually divided into groups suchaspalmspins, bodyrolls,walks, holds, and soon. Here we areprimarily concerned withtheiconic moveknown as"the butterfly." Preparation Professionals sometimes disagree on the best way to learn, however, mostof themrecommend starting with a practice ballspecifrcally designed for contact iuggling. TheMister Babache Contact Ball issuch an item with a relatively low cost,large size, andlightweight. However, feelfreeto useanything you canfrnd.A

t tt Y-

6'

[JrnnnerEXDM
small silicone ballis also a viable started option. Curtis with a clearacrylic ball.These have a bit of weight to (things themandcanbreak things whendropped like lamps, windows, andfeet),but whenyou'rewatching yourself in the mirror,it looks waycooler thansome plastic lame ball.Youmayalsoconsider with starting a poolball,asit hasa similar weight to it but is less Finally, no matter whatballyou use costly to damage. be prepared to drop it overandoverandoveragain. Dropping is the onlythingyou will knowhowto do reallywellfrom the start.Congratulations. The Butterfly It lookslikea dance. In fact,it is named after a MiddleEastern thatlooks a bit similar. The dance movements area tad awkward to learn andevenmore awkward to put in motion,so it is usually in taught paru thencombined to create the whole.So,takea deepbreath aswe startyou on the pathfewXDMswill dareto tread. youshould getused l. First, to holding the ballon your the back of hand. Thisis doneby placing theballin the "cradle". Thecradle is made up of the frrst,second, andthird fingers. Thesecond finger is belowthe othertwo, creating a dip or gap primarily between them.Theballisthen balanced andheldby the firstandthird frngers. you can,again down,andanyotherdirection while stillending withthe ballin the cradle. 2.The nextthingyou have to learnis howto hold Holdyourmain the ballin "homeposition." you writewith) sothat hand(whichever hand the palmis facing the flooriustbelow shoulder level, withthechest. Yourelbow thearmparallel beslightly below should the wristandthe hand fromthe body(about a comfortable distance four or frveinches should do it). Thefingers are pointed The to your left if you arerighthanded. ballshould be in thecradle. Thisisthe inside or "home"position. 3. Now toss the ballfrom homeposition up into the air iusta littleandcatchit backin the cradle position. withthearmstillin home Continue to do thisuntilyou feelcomfortable with large tosses andcangetthe ballbackinto the cradle partof the even if it moves out ontothe smooth hand. 4. Now moveyour handsothatthe palmis horizontal to the ceiling. Yourarmtakes the shape, moreor less, of a server carrying a tray.Thisis position. "outside"

you need Onceyou arein thisposition to get used to the feelof holding the ballthere.Move your handaround sothatthe ballrollsoveryour knuckles intothecradle. andthenback Then quickly your shake hand leftandright,up and

yourtossing in ousideposi5. Practice exercises tionaswell.lt will be mucheasier. 6. Now the time hascometo put the two together. Thisiswhere our method of teaching

84

oF rHEQons WoNosRS

HalfButterfly

varies from others. Others tell you to nowtoss position position. theballfrom ouside to inside yourtoss Going backandforth always making smaller Try rolling andsmaller. Instead: theball in homeposition with a movement of yourwrist andelbowoveryour fingertips andintoyour palmin ousideposition. Thisprobably won't giveyou a betteridea work,but it will at least of whatwe areattempting to accomplish. Next, pickthe ballup off the floorandput it back in position. home Thistime,roll theballup into theair off your fingers andcatchit in ouside position. Thendo thesame thingback to home. Thefocus hereis rolling theballandlearning to controlits motion.Practice this,making the you giving motion smaller andsmaller until are the balliustenough energy to go overthe top of position. the fingers androll downinto outside Repeat thisstepuntilboth directions aresecondnature leaves andthe ballnever contact with yourhand. lf you do, youwill be performing a halfbutterfly.' 7. Now learn to do it with the otherhand. 8. Before let me saythat if you've we continue, really madeit thisfar, congratulations. Onceyou you cando halfbutterflies in each hand need to
t Thisdoeslook betterasyou get more heightandmoreof the ball is nvealed. Still,it's harder.The cheap way of doinglt is to makethe ball roll your first andsecond from thecradleup andlust in-between fingers. Doingthis (eates helpskeepthe ball undercontrol.Practlce a trackthat greatly while Thearms slnlngon thecouch. of the couch wlll keep the ballfrom rollingtoo practice faraway from you and makes in general morecomfonable

put themtogether to form the full butterfly. This canbe donein many ways but the coolest way (andconsequently way)is by doing thehardest the back-to-back transfer. position Holdtheballin home withyourmain hand. Now put yourotherhandin homeposition in frontof that.Youaregoing to roll the ballout partof your hand of the cradle downthe smooth partof your otherhandandinto overthe smooth its cradle. Practice thisby simply moving the back underneath hand andin frontof the hand thatjust caught the ball.By repeating thisoverandover, youwill not onlygeta hang of it but whendone fluidlyit's a trickknown asthe staircase.

CHEAP TRICK To make back-to-back transfer easier, shorten part the distance the ballrollson the smooth of the hand.lf you must,roll it from cradle to cradle overthe knuckles. Keepworking on making that disunce longer, asit loola far moreimpressive. Youcould,of course, iustskipthe back-tobacktransfer andusethe palm-to-palm whichis Thisis donewhenthe ballis in outside simpler. position. Thehands moveto meetin front of pointed the body(yourfingers awayfrom you thistime)andthe ballis rolledinto the palm of the receiving hand.Thathandthenmoves position backto outside anddoesis halfof the butterfly.

85

[JrnunrEXDM
TRICK CHEAP In the middle of a butterfly or half butterfly try this:Movefrom ougideto position, inside only don't roll the ballto the backof your hand.Instead keepit there in the palm. if something isn'tdone,the ball Granted, is destined to fly directlytowardthe nearest fragile obiect.Sopress or hookyour thumb to the back it against of the ballandpress yourhand. Thethumbshould endup near the bottom,but not at the bottom,of the ball.Thiscreates the illusion thatthe ball gravity. is stuckto the handanddefying Tilt your handiustslightly towardyour bodyif necessary to helphideyourthumb. position Continue backto outside andthen pacing butterfly asusual. The of thisis important. keep the movement of the Just handandarm consistent with the restof your butterflies. lt's funnyandwhendone right,a touchdisarming.

9. Onceyou have the back-to-back transfer down, it's a simple matter of transferring the balland continuing thebutterfly in thereceiving hand, then reversing the motion to theotherside, andsoon. In the full butterfly, theballshould never stop moving. lt is onefluid,continuous motion andis a wonder to behold. 10. lf yougetthatdown, try

Finally Contact isa hardthingto learn and puttinga smallroutinetogether. Juggling entire books have lf you been written on the subiect. Startby doing a half butterfly, wouldlikemoreinformation thanwe haveroomto then movingto the otherside provide, including with balls, tricks multiple body and doing a half butterflyin roffs, walks, andmuchmuchmore,checkout Contact that hand.Next, moveinto a by There Ernest. arealsoa number of Juggling James full butterflymixingpalm-toout there,sofeelfreeto palmtransfers with back-to-back DVDsandotherresources Google it. ones. Thena staircase, andend back in yourstarting hand withthe ballbeautifully at the Appearances displayed Effect:TheXDM walks overto a corner of the fingertips. lf you feellikeit, platform you room and stands on a which can see throwin the following cheap He lifu a large sheet up into trick,asit will drawsome underandto the sides. the air it and drops dramatically, revealing a longlost gasps whendoneright. player, an NPCcome to life,or thepizza dude. All with the helpof a littleblack art.

oF rHEQoos WoxosRS
It isn'tactually aspagan asit sounds.. Magicians .O4o/o) mustbe compensated for by the useof blinding forgenerations have amazed the public andaccom- lights, also lights called These arepointed "blinders." plished manner feats all of using thisancient your audience techdirectly toward andactasthe street nique. In factit isstillused in fantastic multimillion lightdid in our example above. Goodblack art will use dollar illusion shows today,from David Copperfreld blinders Forexample, in a stage assubtly aspossible.s Angel. toCriss Youcando thesame thingin your illusion Curtis oncecreated, werenothing the blinders garage for around30 bucks. morethanthe onesetof rearlighsslightly lowered thestars lmagine at night. Now place a bright giving andangled toward the audience, thereby the you in street light the middle Can of thatscene. still impression that it wasmerely backlighting for the scene stars see around it? Thedynamic range of yourvision with no ulterior motive. isnotlarge enough to make out boththe dim stars thebright was and lightall at once. Soif there a peryou son draped in black behind light, wouldn't that principle beable to see themeither. Taking thisbasic possible bit it a further, becomes to vanish, float,and youwantwitha bit of black basically do anything cloth.t lmagine a stage where the entirebackground is draped in black velvet. white ball is A bright in the middle Dimlights of thatstage. surround thearea pointing to theaudience, blinding them.lf a subtly black velvet-covered stickwereto movethatwhite ball around the audience wouldsee nothing more than a whiteballfloating in a black void.Thisis a but, whenused bitobvious, moresubtly, canreally amaze anaudience and,yes,even But,hey a gamer. Onewayto furtherfrll in the black voidandindon't even if they freak out, it's aboutentertainment crease the dynamic range of yoursetting is to useblack/ more in theXDM business. thanamazement bulbvariety UV lighs.Theflorescent arethe best, you flnd in a iokeor party however, the cheaper bulbs willworkaswell.Byadding shop florescent materials to the scene, the dynamic range increases dueto the glow Crash Course in BlackArt that overpowers black the darkness of the material. lt you, aregoing First to need a lot of black cloth. making thisworkright,assome dustwill lf youarerich (or owna velvetfactory), thengetting canbe diffrcult glow under black lights as well. Keep lint roller handy. a yards black uponyards of the perfect material should Howdo you useblack art in your game? Say that notbea problem. The restof you have to settle players your have realm entered the of doom and a forthe blackest felt you canfind.Thedifference beautiful magic spiritappears to tell the groupwhatto lies in the "reflection coefficient" of your each next. Forget telling it. Let'sdo it. do them about possesses. materials In otherwords, howmuchlight youwill need Thefirstthing to buildis a backa given obiectwill reflect. of the finest Some black partmostly that black. drop is all We'll leave this up velvets will have a reflection coefficient of aslittleas to you, however we will mention thatsome PVCpipe, (likethat .04o/o.+ Whatever the little Iightleftover buckets full of rocks, andsome clamps cangetthe iob * Although,to be fair, more than one spiritualist cult hasusedthis quickly done andcheaply. need to cover Youwill also technique to strikefear into the hearu ofcrippled children and orphaned the floor with the black material, least same at thearea widows.This is only okay if your gameis beingplayedby iust sucha group, yourplatform beneath andaround where will go.

U D

of the audience, and only whenon a black i Only from the perspective an set.Robbing a bankwith a blacksheeton your headwill probably lust getyou shot. of Magic,MickyHades, 1974, P.37, { TheNew Make-up

the name,"blinders"are NOT meantto permanently blindyour $ Despite audience.

87

Next,you need Thisis thestand the platform. that The "Criss-Cross" forcet yourspiritwill appear on. A goodcheap optionis to Step 1: Have someone cutthedeck butnotcombuilda makeshift stage out of four or morecinderblocks pleteit. piece anda large of plywood. Atuch your black materialto the backof your plywood andhave it hang down Step2: Place the cut-toportionon top of theother your cinderblocks. your blinders, behind Now place halfasif you wereto naturally complete thecut, perhaps addsome fogandlasers, andyou'redone(see place onlyinstead it on top crosswise. Heresay the picture 87). on page thatyouwill "mark"theircut. your assistant getinto position your Have behind (theblack black aft screen material attached to your board). She cancrawl therefroma holein thebackground, or iustbe lying there waiting allnightuntilher moment arrives. Whenthe timecomes for thespiritto manifest herself, simply holdup a cover of some kind (usually a cloth)and,whenshesteps into position, let go. you will wantsome it Naturally, storyto go along people withallof this.Making appear is all frne and dandy but a reason for all your odd actions is preferable. Step3: Allow a moment for time misdirection. Cardsaren't only Collectables Thenlift the crossing halfoff the bottomhalfand turn overthe "cut-tocard"this,again, is thetop cardof thedeck. Use the Force...* probably you Thefirstthing,and the mostuseful, The "Touch" Force canlearn aboutcardmagic is the force.A "force" is you So have learned howto have themcut the a handy wayto make someone select the "randomly" you cards to forcethem,but whatif wantto do that specific cardor objectthatyou secretly wantthemto. handy magician thing where the cards arespread beYes,it really is a sortof ledit thing.We will go overthe pick the hands andtheyiust one? Try this: manyadvantages of the forcein a moment, but firstgo tween getyour Preparation When no one is watching, geta deckof cards andfollowalong. forced cardto the top of the deck.Let'ssaythat you are using the sixof diamonds. The "Cut a Little Deeper" Force A handy wayto forcesomeone to "randomly" Step1 Holdthecards in yourdealing hand and select the cardthat you secretly wantthemto, via your startto dealoff a fewcards into otherhand. cutting. Thename iaelfimplies whatyouwill bedo(For you simplicity let's right assume are iust ing.You have themcut the deck,but not too deep. handed.) You should now have a few cards in Thefirstcut is placed faceup on the deckthenyou ask your righthandandthe restof the deckin your themto "cut a littledeeper" andturn all of those cards you left hand.Do thisasyou say,"Let'shave you askthemto faceup on top of the deck.Finally, picka cerd." spread through the nowface-up cards untiltheygetto a facedowncard.This,you tell them,is theirrandomStep2 Withoutpausing, startto spread the deck ly-cut-to card.Handily enough for you, it alsohappens fromyour left handintoyour right-over the to be the original top cardof the pack. threeor four cards already in that hand. All you have to do hereis keep thisstock of cards underneath the spread Youcando thisby cards.
you speakof... despite We swearwe haveneverheardof this Sar Wars what we may sayelsewhere in this book. Please George,don't sueus. f l'm sorryGeorge. I can't seemto shutup. * by Max Holdenin 1925.lt doesn'tmatterhowold { Thiswasinvented it is, iust how well it works.

keeping the rightfingers wrapped around them andallowing thespread cards to glide overthe frngertips. Say something herelike,"ln fact,you canchoose from anywhere in the deckjusttouch anycardyou like.".

Step5 Oncethe righthand packet (and issquared' you areconfident thatthe cards areall generally aligned), tilt yourrighthand up andshow the bottomcardto the spectators. . .err players.+ lf gone everything has according to planthisshould betheoriginal top card: or thesixof diamonds.

Now What? Sowhatcanyou do with a forced card? We can promise youthatthe mostamazing you have things everseen with cards wereaccomplished with a force. Froma selected cardappearing on theotherside of a gfass window to a "freely"selected predicted cardbeing Step 3 Continue to slowly spread through the cards years in advance, a cardforce wasbehind it all.Below untilyourvictimtouches a card.Separate the aresome of the things that I liketo do with it. As you cards below the place theyindicated. Youare please readthese do sowith XDM eyes andtry to see nowholding about halfthe deckin onehand and howthese effecscanbe used your players to entertain theremaining balance of cards in theotherwith in the natural course of a game. thetouched cardat the bottomof the righthand spread. Hickman'sSpectatorCuts the Aces cutsthe aces" is a veryold magic "Spectator theme, a problem thatsome of the finest minds in magic have struggled to accomplish. Theproblem is thatyou need to somehow (the finagle the endresult fouraces) even though the cards areunderthe control of thevolunteer almost theentire time.Thisusually means thatthemagician has to perform some absurd or awkward movein the action of turning the four cut-to selections over. Thisis,of course, when alltheheatison andrareStep 4 Now, usethe cards in the left handto close ly in magic do you wantto perform the secret action as the righthand's spread overyourconcealed everyone place you do it. Thisis why watches the exact packet packet of cards. Theconcealed combines we have misdirection. Unfortunately, in thiseffectyou naturally withthe othercards andeverything is really can'tmisdirect too muchbecause anydirection heldtogether away fromthe cards is a bit conspicuous, andyour goal is not to leadthemaway fromthe effect, but fowards it. Still, aswesaid before, many magicians have come up withastounding ways of performing thisparticular feat.However, noneof themmeetthe directness that ( wouldcomefromthe spectator actually cutting to the \ aces withno sleight of hand fromthe magician. Letme present to you Hickman's Spectator Cutsthe Aces. The Secret: Theyactually cut to the aces. Mindblowing isn'tit.
t Besureto emphasize "touch" sinceif they pull a cardout you,re hosed, You can alsohavethem iustyell stop,whichis usually easler in situations with lots of peopleand largetables. packet f You may wishto givethe right-hand an additional tap on the top to square them all the way around. f I like to turn my headawayto emphasize that I couldn,tknow which card it is.

QO vt

[JrnuerEXDM
1l

is,how? Thequestion Wellif you didn'tskipthe youbecause above, shouldn't thenthe answer surprise it's really In fact, we it up by saying simple. cansum forces that it's a combination of two Cut a LittleDeeper anda Crisscross force.Whenyou combine themin a piece particular of magic. way,you geta verydeceptive Preparation Place threeaces on the top of the deck andoneaceon the bottom. Step1 Tellthe player thathe is going to playa quick game of "Texas Smoky" with Jack the Grifter. whatever is relevant to the story, Thewinnergets maybe a talking kangaroo. the spectator Step2 Have do the Cut a LittleDeeper place forcetwice.Each time the cut-tocardface to place downandto the side.Remember the reface-up maining cards back intothemiddle of the down,leaving cards deckface thetop andbottom always the same.. force.In the Step3 Endby doingthe Crisscross time misdirection" aforementioned of "moment showthatthe firstandsecond cards theycut to wereaces. Thenmoveback to the"marked cut." Pickup the top halfwith your righthandandturn overthe facedowncardon the bottomhalfwith your left saying, strange is thatyou "whatis really your turn righthand also cut to thethird.. ." now palm-up, showing the bottommostcardin thetop halfof the cut saying, ". . .andfourthace." justcreated Youhave a Maverick-esque moment for a player whois aboutto be the luckyrecipient of you lf it will fool a talking kangaroo. do thisright the pants off peoplel.

youwant)on yourforearm. Youwill do thisin a shorthand form.So"The Sixof Diamonds" because otherbecomes, "61." Useshorthand wiseit takes a longarmanda lot of ChapStick. andan Have a piece a pencil, a lighter, of paper, ashtray or small bowlhandy. cardon someone. StepI Force the sixof diamonds you like.s Feel In this freeto useanymethod personally wouldusethe Touchforce. case, I gather and Oncetheyknowtheircard, the deck put it away. to "thinkof yourcard Step2 Tellyourhelper andconcentrate on it." Lookintotheirsouland Tellthemthat perhaps struggle for a moment. to theyshould writethe name of theircarddown Lookaway helpthemfocus. astheydo thisand paper have theirscrap intoa little themcrumple ballwhen theyarefrnished. andthe bowl.Settheir Step3 Take out the lighter prediction it to burnalltheway aflame, allowing out in the bowl.Youshould have a littlepileof left.Waita moment, twentyfrveseconds ashes theashes arecool. or so,to make sure writing on Step4 Rubtheashes overtheChapStick yourarm.Theashes willstick to theChapStick andreveal of the cardtheyarethinking thename of in ash. Anything canbewrittenon your armandrevealed in ashes; the location of a clueto yourgame; Thisis a fun trick,but the magic whasit,anything. the principle for a myriad of coolgame canbeused moments.

"Quill of EYIL" youradventurer's During travels theycome quillof evil.Thequillissaid to foreacross a strange "Revealedin Ashes" poins by rubbing tellthe future. Revealing the name of a selected object At different during the advenashes back lt's weirdanda tureanyone on yourarmgoes centuries. canpickup thequillandwritewithit. little freaky. Perfect for a latenightgame'. who triesto look Thecurse of the quillis thatanyone goes Preparation Go getyourself ChapStick. In some it happens blindfor a at the prediction before private, your (We'll predictions writethe name forcecard of short of aremade, time.Aftera number Youuse use whatever thequillruns thesixof diamonds again. Each areread. out of inkandthe papers prediction, hascome some of whichareveryspecific, pass. to this is to shufflethe cardstogethermaking " My favorite way to accomplish surethat the top and bottom cardssuy iust wherethey aresupposed to. The Secret: lf a player everasks to usethe Shuffling like this will alsoreallyconfuse anyone who may think they know piece quill you pick pen will up and small of paper a what you are doing.
f t Not literally. Which in most cases is a REALLYgood thing. This uses fire. Be careful.Duh.

$ No guns.

90

(about on a piece of paper Post-it. door size is good)andostensibly writedown TheXDMwrites "the second prediction prediction be will chosen." That is tossed in withthe a about a specific event thatisabout to place. andtheXDM announces others thatthequillisout of take Perhaps something likewhich doorthe players maybe read. Of course willchoose, they specifics whatwill happen inkandthe predictions about to pass. Doyousee howtimedisplacement inthenextbattle, or go for brokeandpredict actual allcame justabout possible?t canmake your boat*you anything Anyway, dierolls. Whatever it'sa floats will be one percent quillthat funwayto make something asodd asa magic hundred righteach time.Howcould such muchmorereal. exist? devilry Butwaita second. Thisis a game afterall.What It'seasy withour old friend timedisplacement. party you happens if my prediction frnds a way read to the predictions What writedownfor number oneis in godof their theyhappen? Well,asthe veritable thelasf fact event thatwill happen-an event thatwill before you prevent world player. can naturally prediction things from hapbeforced uponthe such Thenthenext pening you but we have a better idea. willmake will be for the frrst event. Yourthird prediction Let them. Even your help themto find a wayto do will be for event, second andsoon. game it. lt creates a really interesting dynamic. Allowusto illustrate. So Thequillof evilstarts to pen perhaps your players after doing the of evil effect, move before theyfind entera room.Sothe XDM picks a vialof waterthat grants up a piece themimmortal sightfor a of paper andwrites of "Thequeen moment. Nowyou must writeon the paper will bechosen" hearu about an crumples the paper up and yet.Like, thathasn't happened it into a bowl.Erikthe Vicarsearches tosses the elf for traps. event "Sherry princess killsthe magic with a rock."Now you have Heflnds onebut stilltakes a frstfullof poison to the to make surethat no matter whatthe pafi does, face. the event comes to pass. lf Sherry commigsuicide before you have anything else happens, to make up a wayfor whatyouwroteto happen. Perhaps Sherry rolls a 20 on hersuicide roll.Youcould saythatherforce and conviction weresostrong that Sherry's blade shattered preventing in herhand, herdeath andforcing the rocks to shake andfallon theprincess. Basically no amount of ingenuity or dierolling will undowhatthe penhas written. lt's a fun dynamic, especially if the predictions theyreadareunfortuitous. lsn'tthatnot iustcheating, but a complete massacre of therules of the game? let me remind No. First youthattheQuillof Evilis evil.Second, deciding Some timegoes the by andthe players come to fateof your players oncetheyhave discovered howto frve doors but canonlychoose one."Thequillof going thepredictions without blindis not cheatevilstaru to write,"andtheXDM picks up another read ingor rulegenocide at all. (Even if it was we doubt bitof paper andon it secretly writes "Erikwill finda perfectly poison paper that we would care.) But it is fltting.Still,for trap".The is balled up andplaced with the sake of yoursanity, allowusto illustrate whywith the other. Theplayers choose thesecond door.In an told folktalke gypsy oft narrated by Angel the of Death thenextrooman old woman is foundwith a herself: deck of cards. She asks someone in the party to cut was a merchant in Baghdad who sent the deck andshemarks thecut by placing "There it crosswise (Crisscross hisservant to market to buy provisions and in a little Force) on the otherpack.Before the cutquill is looked to card at, the of evilstaruto write.
* Post-it is yet anothertrademark that we haveusedin total disregard for laws that might preventus from doingso. Also, if you actually do you will be deducted usingactualPost-its, this effect 20 XDM levels and forced to wearthe "l took XDM too literally"signto our next meeting. to the section in this book called"Twisting f This is yet anotherreference in the Wind." lt's a reallygoodsection. lf you skipped all that stuff in the got herefirst-weoffrcially beginning and somehow demoteyou down to a levelTwo Skuzz Puff. But then for you LevelOne Nub Cakes,I guess that's a promotion, 5o. . . good work.

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[rnunrEXDM
whilethe seruant came back,whiteandtrembling, justnowwhen andsaid,l{aster, I was in the marketplace I wasjostled by a woman in thecrowdand when I turned I saw it wasDeath thatjostled me. looked gesture, She at me andmade a threatening now,lend meyour horse, and I will rideaway from thiscityandavoid my fate. I willgo to Samarra and thereDeath willnot find me. Themerchant lenthim hishorse, andthe sevantmounted it, andhedug hisspurs in its flanks andasfast asthe horse could gallop he went. Thenthe merchant wentdownto the marketplace andhe saw me standing in thecrowd you andhe came to meandsaid, did make a "Why gesture you threatening to my servant when saw him gesture, thismorning?"Thatwasnota threatening I said, it was onlya start of surprise. I wasastonished to seehimin Baghdad, for I hadan appointment with himtonight in Samarra." youcando witha There area million things forcedcard.Takea duplicate of the forcecardandput it in yourbuddy's wallet. Have thename of theforce cardrevealed in laser fire andfrreworks. yourjob. Beinventive! You're anXDM-that's Card Flourishes: you'rea cardcheat Whether in the old west, a gypsy, play wandering aboutto anyoneof the billions of cardgames out there,or doingan effectfromthis book,you need to knowhowto do sowith flair.Card flourishes areanart of theirown. Manyof themlook impressive and,if donecorrectly, areeasy. Thatis the idea. There is anold magic saying, the "Make diffrcult lookeasy andthe easy lookdifficult." Whatfollows arejusta fewof thethousands of cardflourishes out there. To make it simple we'verated each oneon a scale of ducks. Five ducks being hard, (Why oneduckbeing easy. ducks? we don'tknow. Whystars?) We'renot going to venture too far into the fiveduckcategory, because thereareplenty of amazing flourishes that don't require nearly asmuchwork. please Before we begin, go notethatyou should out andgeta qualiry deckof cards! Don'teven look at that horridexcuse for a decksitting in your kitchen quality drawer. You neednewcards. You need nonplastic coated cards. Youalsodon't wantto spend Step2 Therighthandnowcomes over,andwith itsthumb,his the nearlongedge of the cards at the top left corner. lt thenmakes an arcaround the otherthumb,putting the majority of its pressure on the uppermost card.Thefingers in back support the fan. you need a fortune buying these cards. Basically, Bicycle cards.. Please notethatto save usall a lot of confusion in thissection we will be assuming thatyou areright handed too. lf you arenot, we aresurethatwe're your sadlot in not the firstto pity you. Stilldespite lifewe iustknowyou candrumup enough moxie to convert the following text to fit your special needs. The nuo handedfan Fourducks at firstglance, but really it's probably morelikeoneor two. Step1 Holdthecards in yourlefthand. The cards should be in the crotchof the thumb, you slightly. angled toward Thethumbis putting pressure on the packat the bottomnearcorner

Bicycle is a trademark of the U.S. Playing CardCompany.Rumorhas it that their mainoffices are madeof 85,720,645,496 playing cards carefully stacked by a bllndChinese man. It's alsoa modeof transportation.

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fan close The snapback you did the lastoneright, two ducks. Assuming Thisis a clever looking wayof andmagical fan. closing the two handed your left indexfinger to the bottom Step1 Bring be in of the fan.Thetip of thatfrnger should contact with the bottomcenter of the lowermost card.Themiddle finger should bemostly in contact with the spread above that bottom card. The One HandedFan Onelittleduck Thisis a fanthat by itselfis onlymildlyimpressive, you getone but whentwo hands of themarecombined veryimpressive knowasthe S-fan. display Step1 Place halfthe deckon the fingers of the right handsothatthe longedges of the packareparalYour right lel to them. thumbcontacts the bottom inner corner. pressure maintaining withthethumb Step2 While make a fist.Unlikethe fistyou andbottomfingers, beat a level cleric, this mightuseto oneorphan with the fingers the palm, fistis made flat against the bentindexfinger's knuckle. thumbsetagainst

2 Two things aregoing Step to happen at the same time.You extend forcing the indexfinger, the cardfanto begin to close. Themiddle frnger pullsdownon the fan,thusforcing in it to close anarc. or Step3 Onceyou can'tloweryour middlefinger your indexfinger extend anyfurther,reverse the motionto pullthe fancompletely shutwith the indexfrnger. Leave the middle finger where it is. It's doneits iob anddeserves a break. Some thingsto keepin mind Thefanshould fast.Remember itsthe close Whenviewed snapback fromthe front it should close. look likethe fanis closing itself. CHEAP TRICKI gag pretend lf youwantto do an old-fashioned to graba pieceof hair andtie lt to the fan. Then close the fanwlth the left handpretend to pullthe invtsible line,asif shutting the fanwlth thehalr.lt migfrtseem sllly,but world-famous , magicians still usethis bit in their performances.

The S Fan The littleducR evilwarlord twinbrother of thelast

lt's really fanin bothhands. Step1 Do a onehanded not thathard.. Step2 Movethe hands sothat the top of onefan in contact with the bottomof the other comes creating an S shape with the cards. thereby

lookcool. Andreally does

to us that this is " Havingiust re-readthis before goingto print, it seems we can already and ignorant thingto saysince do it. lf sort of an insensitive you wereoffended Frank. We usually feelfreeto blamegrandmaster do.

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[JrnunrEXDM
To close Reverse the motions of creating the fans andbringthe two hands together. Thecards should collapse neatly intothehands. Note:Curtis hasbeen doingmagic for a longtime gets great andstill as from the S fanashe a reaction whenperforming does a complicated version of the (a Sybil Cut Sybilcut being a twentyon the fiveduck scale, andtoo complicated for usto describe here). you Speaking of cuts, les introduce to anold friend of themagic community known astheCharlier cut. The One HandedCut or Charlier Cut probably Twoand a half ducks... thebigger half Step1 Holdthe packat your left handfingertips, lengthwise between the fingers andthumb.Your pinkyshould be at the bottomedge of the packto helpkeep things tidy. Step2 Now release thebottomhalfof the deck by yourthumbup a bit sothatit loses rolling the lowerhalfandkeeps thetop half. The Card Spread Oneduck Step1 Grip the decklengthwise between the fingers of your handandspread the cards on the pressure pushing table. The from the deck comes quickly downon thecards asthe hand sweeps across the table. Thefingers don't dragthe cards but ratherregulate the distribution of the cards. A lighttouchis needed anda littlepractice to it smooth make andeven, but really, howhard could thisbe? Step2 (We'renot doneyet?)Now tilt the first cardin thespread up andwiththe frnger ridethe you justcreated.Rideit both of the wave crest downandup thespread. lt should looklikea peak or wave moving downthespread. In factif youmove thewave to the middle of thespread andthensplitthe wave with the otherhandyou canmovetwo waves around.

-' ' :-..':,' =.--

Step 3 Whenyou get tired of this or feel the spreadstaftingto fall apart, bring the waveto the end of the, fan thusflipping all the cardsface

your indexfinger, pushup on the botStep3 Using packet you tom until haveforced that packet to yourfinger thetop packet. Now lower iustclear yourremaining anduse fingers to helpbring the newlowerpacket under thenewtop packet.

up. Note:This won'tworkon smooth In surfaces. fact,if you everattempt feelfreeto give thison glass, yourself 5 moronpoints. Springing the Deck Five Ducks and a Yeti Likeanything thisstarts out hardandthenwith practice gets you will look to besosecond-nature back andwonder we're why calling it fiveducks (granted, you maylookbackon thisandsaythat anyway). Still,juststarting to learn howto spring the deckfrom handto handcanbe quiteaggravating, picking especially if you areconstantly up cards. Trust you put into it. me, it's worthevery moment Step1 Holdthecards in yourrighthand withthe four fingers on the top shortedge andthe thumb on the bottomshortedge.

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Die tricks and other PointlessMiracles

Vanishes
Theability for a XDM to vanish diceat will is... wellpointless. . . but fun.After all,thereis no wizard or creature thatwouldhave actual diceto make vanish. Perhaps it's bestused asa symbol of fatevaporizing, the creature disappearing, or some otherreally esoteric nonsense. As mentioned earlier, thereareonlythreeways of making anything vanish. Bymoving theobiect, hidingtheobject, or it wasnever there to begin with.. So,in an effortto deliver the XDMsof the worldthe bestin illusion technologies, you with a we will provide fewtechniques thatinvolve a combination of allthree methods. Die Vanishl: FeaturingThe French Drop(aka Le tourniquet Vanisht) Step1 Thedieis hetdbetween the thumband forefinger of yourpalm-up hand. Theotherhand moves overto takethe die.

Step 2 Squeeze the deck,creating a concave bend intoyourpalm. Step 3 Nowspring the cards by releasing them with the fingers. Thisis doneby straightening the knuckles out andevenly regulating the flowof thecards. Step 4 Catch the cards in yourlefthand which is heldjustbelow, in front,andto theside of your righthand.Thehands fingers create a bowlfor thecards to fall into. (l apologize to those that did stepthreewithoutreading stepfour first.Let thatbe a lesson to you.) Step5 Square the cards andknowthat,yes,you looked cool. CHEAP TRICKI Therels a wayto totallycheatat the card spring. lf you do thls rlght,you mlghtgetaway with lt. On the other hand,it letsyou do some reallyfunnyflourishes, evenlf the gimmick lt is obvious. l. Sapleor otherwise connect altemating endsof your cards.In otherwordssuple the shortend ofthe top cardto the next card.Thentekethat cardandstaple the opposlte endto the cardbeneath it. You will end up with a deckthat is one bigzigpack. zagconnected 2. Now you canrelease the cards from one handto the other from greatdistances and perfectly(if a bit zlgthey will cascade zagged) everytime. Note: lf you are doingthisandrryingto getawaywith lt, you will wantto conceal the deckwlth the handuntilthe lastposiblemoment.After all, peoplemightgetsuspicious of the largepieces of metalstuckto your cards.

Step2 Themoment thesecond hand iscovering the dieyourfirsthandreleases grip its on the die allowing it to fallintothe palm. Thesecond hand thenwraps is fingers around emptyspace. Step3 Tense up thehand thatnowholds nothing (butsupposedly holds the die)andrelax the hand that nowconceals it. Youreyes should be fixed on thehand thatapparently tookthe die...andI mean riyefed on it asif your eyeballs wereliterally super-glued to it.
of Magicby mo guyswho havenever beenin my kitchen " ThePsychology before. + WARNING: A toumiguershouldonly be usedasa lasrresortif all other efforu to controlbleeding havefailed. lfyour players are bleeding during your game,you're doingsomething wrong.

[rnuerEXDM
Step,l Finally, massage in the secthe emptyspace ond hand reveal andslowly thevanish of the die. Step5 Reveal or ditchthe concealed die in the first hand: A. Produce it fromyour elbow, behind a player's ear,or out of a cheese sandwich. over Justreach you plucked withthe firsthand andactlike the objectfrom the nether region. youcancasually B. lf youareseated, let thedie your dropinto lapunder cover of thetable's edge. practicing C. lf youarestanding andhave been your misdirection, you cando this:Lean forward withthesecond hand andbegin thedie. to vanish As you do thisturn your bodya bit to the side andwhenall eyes areon yoursecond hand allow your firsthandto drop its die into a convenient pocket pants, (iacket, etc).Thissortof thingtakes practice but whendonecorrectly canbe amazing. Having said that,I don'trecommend thatyoudo it, at least not for a longtime.lt's not thatI don't justtakes you-it trust a bit of practice. Youcan,of course, make anything small vanish withthismethod. whatthefather of Justremember modern magic said: asa conjurer,threethings arees"To succeed sential-first, dexterity; second, dexterity; andthird, dexte rity." - Rob ert-Houdin Die Vanishll (Thistimeit's personal) Thereturnof the DieVanish EffectTheXDM causes a D20 to vanish from his hand using the wave Witha second of a pencil. wave, thediereappears in thatsame hand. Thiseffectis a classic of magic and,despite being easy, is high-impact super whenperformed correctly.' Thebadnews is you have to be wearing jacket a or sportcoat.Place the pencil/pen in the pocket inneriacket andyou areready to perform.
* A wonderfultrick accredited to James F. Herpick.Yes,someof the footnotesare real.

Step1 Toss the D20 from handto handa few Thehands times. should be relatively close together whiledoingthis.Therighthandrotates overthe left andthe left handoverthe right.

Step2 Now dumpthe dieinto the left hand,its quickly fingers closing around thedie. into Step3 Yourrighthandimmediately moves pocket. the iacket andup to the left breast Removethe pencil it saying anddisplay something pencil." witty like,"Hereis my magic devilishly overthe left handand Step4 Wave the pencil the die is stillthere.No one openit to reveal will be impressed, I hope. Step5 Say thatyou musthave donesomething wrong. Place the pencil backinto your innerleft pocket breast Repeat andsayyou will try again. l. Step

ffiil \
l\Y

96

Step6 Now make the same motionof the right Volatilis Sors (latin handdumping/tossing the die into the left as for oWinged Fortune") youdid in Step2but thistimeuse yourthumb Thisis an amazing featthat dates backto a small your (frgure to clipthe die behind fringe closed frngers society of XDMslivingin hidden caves near your left handaround 3 exposed view).Close Oman.Theydidn'twantto giveup theirsecret but theempry space asthough weremade it heldthedie.The threats andMountain Dews* wereconfisillusion lookalmost should identical cated. to a regular action of tossing andcatching the die.You Effect:You roll your D20 anddon't likethe result should bestaring at your left handwhichis now soyou make a small waving motionoverthe die tense. Yourrighthandshould be an afterthought andit literally andvisually re-rolls iself. lf you you canalways andappear relaxed. don't likethat result waveagain, your getting or snap fingers, the dieto floatback Step 7 Yourrighthand oncemoremoves under up intoyour hands, ready to be rolled.lf someone thejacket andup to the innerleft pocket. There complains feelfreeto handthemthe D20 to see it will release the D2Ointo the sleeve how normal it really andtake utterly is. iust pencil out the oncemore.Yourleftarmshould already be bentso thatthe die doesn't make it IMPORTANTI pastthe elbow. preStep8 Tapthe pencil against the handagain, yoursuperior senfing intellect by saying, "l think I have to tap it." your Step9 "And nowit will vanish!" Slowly open left handto reveal thatthe dieis nowgone. yourright Step1OA moment later, clearly show pencil your handempty except for the finishing by saying, statement "Completely." your righthandasyou singthe Step1 1 Now raise praises pencil. of the magic Yourlefthand will nownaturally dropto yoursidewith its fingers relaxed andcurued inward, ready to catch the diethat is aboutto fallrightinto it. (Besure to pencil. lookonlyat theallwonderful Rememyou look.) ber,theywill lookwhere your left handaround Step12 Close the diebut keepthe handrelaxed andraise it backinto position. Now say,"But if I wereto giveit three . ." andtapthehand taps. three times. Step13 Openthe hand to show the diehas g ovations grudgin gly retu rned.Acceptsta ndin because no onelikes a Mr. Smarty Pang.

Whatyou areaboutto tearnls a trldr pry morc,,tlnn the,prheof thls nragide,nr bookto ham" Wodtfrq0eil,ml$tlff orcr wlretheror not to,lMpdelt h$re"$rh dsdded that lf you areserlous enougft to hry thb book,thenyou ane rcrlou$ enougft to,dp $'het followswlth respect andgoodfudgment.' Thlslsn't I Srg.Thh ls ln*youdacc,peeyour-pants, slapyou-around mrglcl lf you practlce handle can't the anddll|gence lt wlll puppts require, lt sklp rnd add sod( to fust your nextgame.

VolatilisSorsPreparation PartOne Thefrrstthingyou will need to do is go out andbuysome black thread WoolyNylonExtra. lt's used for serging andshould be foundiust about anywhere sewing supplies aresold.Don't useanyotherkindof serging thread. lt won't work. Theeasiest wayto findthe stuffis iustto go online andordersome. Alsopickup some of thattackystuffyou useon posters. Keep some tapehandy.
* lf you didn't buy this book and are readingthis in a store or off some photocopiedversionfound on a torrent or other P2P network, you are undoubtedlygoingto the "specialhell". Go buy a real copy, you wonhless shellof a humanbeing,and saveyour alreadytatteredsoul from unspeakable destructlon.Oh, and lose3 levels.

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[JrnnnarEXDM
PartTwo In the super secret andhidden roomyou areusing for preparation, place a brightwhite sheet of paper downon yourworksurface. lt will help. PartThree:Unwind a stretch of the nylon(about the length your of armshould do). This stuffis wonderful. lt's a lifetime supply of real-no kidding-invisible thread. Each length of WoofyNyton is made up of manyteenytiny littlestrands, strip oneof those out andyou,ve got yourself a wisp of thread that's thinner thana human hairyet can support a D2O,andunder therightconditions, is impossible to see.. PartFour:Lookat the veryendof your length of thread andfindiustonestrand poking out with the rest. Makesure it,sjustone.Useyourpaper anda bright lightto helpwiththis.pinch it with onehand andslipthe remaining strands downthis single strands length. lt will clump up a bit-that justmeans you'redoingit right. PartSeven: Puta bit of tapeat the base of your singled-out strand andbreak it off from the bulk of thethread. PartEight:Younowhave to attach it to a die. We likeuse the 20 sided diebecause it,scommon, but really it's yourchoice. Thecolorof dieyou use is important. Darksemi transparent dicearegood, since the thread is harder to seeagainst them. Neyer usewhitedice.Duh.Thetapeyou will use to attach it with is alsoimportant. Glossy tape(not matte,invisible frnish) tapeworks muchbetter, but yourresults mayvary.Cut off a small your bit of tapeandplace the bottomof your invisible thread across the die.Affrxthe tapeto oneor moreof the triangles trapping the thread in between. Break off the excess length of thread. Smooth out the tapeandremove anyextrabits,so it becomes invisible on thedie.
TRI,TI ANO SMOOTI TAPE
\

I I
i

cuT
EXCESS THREAO

I I

PartNine: Now takethe tackystuffandplace it yourbeltto the rightside under your of body(or leftif you rollwiththathand). Make sure that your clothes aredarkcolored, preferably but not black. PartFive:Takeyourtackystuffandroll it around thesingle youareholding. strand Now stickthis littleballof fun ro the table. PartTen:Carefully put the die in your pocket. You'reready to do somecrazy amazing stuffallat yourwhim.

PartSix:Continue to slipthe otherthreads VolatilisSorsPerformance downthe length of theonethread, grabbing StepOne:At anytimeyouwish, below where pullyourD20 theclumpisandmoving your thestrands out pocket. of untilit clumps Take carenot to break the thread. again. Now reach up andslipmorethreads down the linetoward the newclump. Repeat thisuntil you have singled out a piece of invisible thread at the aforementioned length, stripped from the others.
* lt also breaksuper easy. onceyourearn it cantake iusthowmuch and howto handle it, thread breaks will become muchless common.

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oF THE WoNorRS Qons

Step Two: Holdthe die in your handasyou norwouldto roll a die.With your handpalmup the mally thread will run under thethumb would. Three:Rollthe dielikeyou normally Step Be sure close to the tableto allowslack to stand enough intheline.Thedie mustmovefreely. lmportant tips! your thumbat anytime 1. Youcan'unhook' to allow yourhands full range And viceversa. of motion. Start thedieandthenleaving it on the by rolling tableuntilthe nexttimeyou have to roll. Then getthe thread Youdon't have backinto position. to see the thread to do this.Youknowwhere it is. you Don'tmake a bigdeal out of it, canfeelwhen it's in the rightplace. is great in florescent 2.Invisible thread lighting or any indirect lighting. Daylight is horsortof diffused yourenvironment rible.Light Youwant evenly. thebackground lit iustaswellasthe foreground. Thethread looks invisible, not because it's too your small but because eyes can'tfocus on to see, it. Oneglintof thethread andthegigis up. This is whywearing idea. A a black outfrtisn'tthe best niceredwith a bit of a design lf you can is perfect. goodon you, findsomething likethatwhichlooks great, mostanything will work+. otherwise ]eans grain areideal workwondersince thecolorand fullyasa backdrop. Don'tforgetthe uble either. your you'redoomed. lf Wooden iswhite, table tables areperfect. 3. Practice this.A lot. And we mean a lot. Practice in frontof a mirroror video camera. Do thisbeforeyou showanyone. Even then,showsomeone you cantrustfirst.Volatilis takes Sors a great deal of practice. 4. THISISTHEMOSTIMPORTANT THING!DO IT ONCE A GAMEONCEEVERY TWO TO SIX ANYONEHOW MONIHS, AND DON'TTELL lT WORKSI Thisis a secret EVERI of theXDMs it thatway.lt won'tbe andwewouldliketo keep special for a die,it jumps if every timeyou reach up intoyourhands. Youdo thismorethanonce game, you. Thefirsttime in a andtheywill catch TIMEAFTER THAT lT'S it's puremagic-EVERY give A PUZZLE. Don't to thema second chance frgure it out. Useit sparingly.
me at your door with my f Do this in a whiteshin and you will be seeing friends from Oman. Each of us with a MountainDew in one cavedwelling handand a mini bat in the other.

\ \.-

',,,

Four:Withthe linestillhooked the Step under ftumb, turnyourhandpalmup overthe die.The hread should nowmake a firm linefromyourwaist, yourthumbanddownto the die.Becareful not around h make thelinetoo firmor the diewill moveprema0rely. your fingers and StepFive:Keep close together bend if you were themtowardyour palmquickly-as doing thefrrsthalfof a "comehere"gesture to the die).Bytugging the diewill iump tabled on thethread up into theair no morethanan inchandbasically gone re-roll itself. Thethread hasn't really anywhere you your players it it tugged at for a moment. To iust willlook wave likeyou did a magic overthedieandit re-rolled iself. Six:Repeat it) Step if youwish(don'toverdo and, if youfeellikeit, have the die floatup intoyour waiting hand. Thedieshould beon thetable andthe $read stillunderyour thumb(in the crotchof the your right $umb between the thumbandforefinger) palmdown.Slowly yourwaist back hand turned move your forward.. The die will as righthandmoves up and you will catchit. Don'tdo intoyourhandwhere rise this tooslowly because it will lookweird-like a thread is hoisting the die into the air. Do it iusttad slower slowly than thereverse speed of gravity.r
i Don't iustthrustyour hipsback.That'sweird. Leanforwarda bit-as if pu weretrying to get a closerlook at what you were doing. The hip moves hckward asa result. if you think aboutit, is relatively fast. t Which,

99

5. lf the trick is not working, try adiusting the length placement of thread andthe of the tackystuff. 6. Usethissubtly anysortof buildup. andwithout It iusthappens. Doing thiswithoutdrawing attention to powerful. it makes it that muchmore

trick. Whenthe diestarts StepThree:Do some to slowdown,floatit up into your hand.

Uber Volatilis SorsTricks: your To float the die up Hookthe thread between thumbandforefinger. Moveyour handforward andlean back at thesame time.Thediewill put rise. Alternatively, the thumbof your oppo7. Youcanrig the tapeon the dieto comeoff sitehandon the lineandpush the thread down. Providing easily. a quickout, iustin case anyone wants pass people. To the die through a hoop of frngers Create to lookat the die.Perform from They thisaway you a hoopout ofyour fingers around thethread aregrabby. little leave a tab of tape that can Just pass grip in an emergency. above the die and in that motion the same Or break at the very thethread going hoopdownandaround the die. edge of the epe. What's the player to say,"Oh I got your you of Wonder Cage Carefully create a cage by knowhow do it. You've tapeon die?" putting thefinger tipsofyour hands together and your your palms. arching fingers to Do this separate Uber Volatitis Sors going (l-atin around thespinning die,thethread in the for "Aber Winged Fortune") your middle of the big hole thumbs and forefingers Effect:TheXDM decides to ignore he has everything Now rotatethe cage around the dieasbest everlearned being subtle about anddo a fullfloat created. you can without hitting the thread. of a D2O.Perhaps to impress a loved one. Preparation: Same asin Volatilis Sors. Only this longer. time,stripout a thread that is a fewinches Place a bit of tapeoverthe ucky stuffandhideit yourear,allowing by placing it frrmly behind the anddie,to hang thread, downin frontof you. pocket Place the die in your breast or iustholdit in yourhand. Performance: StepOne: Keep thediehandy. Thisisn'tan impromptu effect,but do your bestto make it look likesuch. Pullthedieout andholdit in frontof you sothat graviry makes the thread taut,almost point your it off to the of lifting hand. Youshould be leaning forward slightly.

Aroundthe Back: Thisis a bit...ummhardand gutsy. Butheyif you'relooking for a challenge this for thisone.Spinthe StepTwo: Grabthe die in bothhands by itsedges is it. Usea touchmorethread your you right your die to with a throwing motionandleanin andspinit like wouldon a table.Lean to yourbodyand thatdirection too. Thediewill clear leftandthespinning diewill floatleft.Lean to your rightandit will floatright.Useyour hands start to arch around Help it on itsway the back side. as where to leanyour head it needs to go. needed against the thread to helpcontrolit. Your by continuing your The will thread wrap igelf around neck. Lower hands should always lookliketheyarecontrolling yourshoulder andmoveout of the wayasthe die to thinkthatthe the die.Youwantthe players your comes around the otherside.Catch the diewhenit magic hands, not in some invisible is in confinished is iourney. Reverse the actions to untangle nection to your head. fromyour neck. the thread

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I(rren $nrerrnsrro Qo f,HenrER TFTTRTEEN,

pushed purchased XDMshave traditionally the horizons of lf you have thisbookandhappen to gaming. roleplaying Never was thissoevident thanin livein a suruivalist compound cut off from the interKiller Breakfast, theevent where in general andstillwantto know "You'llDieLaughing!"netor civilization lf you have attended a KillerBreakfast asthey whatKillerBreakfast is about,we'lltry describing it, you have beenrun at select conventions around the world, but should knowthat l'm worried aboutyou and justgoneup a levelasan hopeyou finda wayto escape you have thencongratulations, soon. XDM!KillerBreakfast hasbeenrun personally by Tracy KillerBreakfast is a parody role of traditional (Level games performed andLaura Hickman 829 and262 XDMsrespec- playing in frontof an audience and participants. tively)at the LUCCAConvention in Lucca, ltaly,' at using audience members as lt takes role game theGencon OZ Convention in Brisbane, Australia, and playing rules andturns themon theirhead in grandest become has a hallmark of theGencon Convention in the tradition of XDMs. you perform Indianapolis, lndiana. When a KillerBreakyou arecontinuing fast an international tradition! A Brief History of Killer Breakfast: games lf you have never attended a KillerBreakfast Thisbizarre method of playing roleplaying you. years thenthe restof usfeelverysorryfor Youshould came aboutsome agowhenTracyHickman not hesitate onemoremoment andgo to www. decided to auction off a game. He realized-after the you players quiteanamazing killerbreakfast.com where canwatchoneof our in thatgame hadspend sum performances probably morespectacular through the miracle for the privilege-that wanted a lot of people video Youcaneven of online streaming. subscribe but therewereonlyso manyseats to playin hisgame to it through iTunes. Thereis no betterwayto learn thata game session couldaccommodate at a time.He whatKillerBreakfast is allabout thanwatching it being wondered if therewasa wayto share hisXDM skills performed. with morepeople during a single session. ThusKillerBreakfast wasborn:a fun game that * This wasconductedin English people could involve a lot of at once. Let.each of by Tracy EI Lauraand convertedinto lulian by our incredible translators. Player's responses werein ltalian themplayfor a shorttime,kill theircharacter, and convertedinto English. We're not entirely sure if we got everythingright but move to the next. aseveryone had a goodtime we cannotcomplain. Seephoto on p | 02.

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rules run Killer Here arethebasic of a properly Breakfast: is:YOUWILL l. Thefirstruleof KillerBreakfast lawyering, begging, or DlE. No amount of rules in whining will change thisfact.Yourcharacter the game is going to dieshortly afteryou start playing. Getused to the idearightnow. 2. Players witha firstlevelcharacter. Thisis start which a pre-generated character sheet has the for a character not evena kindergarten statistics is given teacher wouldlove.Thischaracter to moment before the player at the lastpossible coming on stage so thattheywill have aslittle emotional to the character asposattachment sible. Theconcept wassimple, andit wasfirstperformed 3. Players sitdownat an emptyspot on at thetable at theGencon Game thenbeing heldin Convention player asked stage. At this moment, the is to Wisconsin. Thegame wasinitially Milwaukee, called writedownthetime,including seconds, thathis year, but on a subsequent a program "KillerDungeon" life" character to meaning the moment "sprang director for the convention took a dislike to Tracyand, he or she sat downat the game table. in a punitive move,programmed the event to take place at 9:00 a.m.on Saturday morning, unquestion4. Newplayers how their at thetablemustexplain ablytheworstpossible timeto holda Gencon Event. particular point at this in the character arrived Rather thantakeoffense, Tracydecided to wear lf players' explanations of howtheir adventure. it asa badge of honor.Fromthattimeonward we have got here not suffrciently character are entertainproudly runeach of our KillerBreakfasts on Saturday and ing,valiant, or clever, thentheyDIEat once defying by drawing morning, convention traditions huge crowds. Theonlyexception hasbeen on those I WAS fiA ilERINa,ANO7 ool years whenwe have moved the event to Friday SOAPfN ,ilY EY9S, 7 ACCIOENTALLY FLALLINO AROUN?, in orderto accommodate our devout -ARCANE Jewish POKTAL,' ANO HERE INVOKEO 7 4fi, gamers.

Killer Basics
game Thebasic ideaisthatthisisa roleplaying gamerun by the mostunjust, being unsympathetic player's master who everlivedto make lives miserable. quickly Death comes in thisgame, andif it evercomes justly, it is almost by accident. always perspective At least, that'sthe player's on the ioke. XDMsknowdifferently. Having a ierkfor a game master isn'tfun or funny. Creating anoutrageous caricature of a badgame master is funny.Making a ioke games? people play playing role out of all thebadways That is hilarious.

OOE| ANYONE HAVEA SPARE PAIR OF PANIS?

CONaPaTULATION', YOU LIVE, FOR,

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trrmn$nraxresrro Qo
KillerBreakmustIeave lf theirexplanation istoo Beforewarned: Running a proper thetable. fastis a grueling lt is the equivalent of dolong,too boring, or too stupid-then theyDlE, challenge. getup from the tableandmake roomfor the next ingtwo hours of improvisational theater andstandup player comedy at thesame time.lt isnot for the faintof to be moreinteresting. heart. to survive fromroundto 5. Ihere arethreeways round. Yourpathetic character will be pitted Death Takes Planning:Themes,Props andso and Stunts against creatures so horrible, sovicious, powerful roll Preparing requires a thattheywill kill you on an initiative anXDM KillerBreakfast great planning. TheKillerBreakfasts alone. Theonlywayyou will survive from one deal of advance preparation roundto the nextis if you do oneof the followat Gencon include theadvance of a ingthreethings: A something incredibly brave, DVDwithunique video segments. specially-authored (almost B something incredibly always YourKillerBreakfast does not have to be that elabostupid incredibly ratebut you should knowthat preparation for a propthesame thingasA), or C something your death entertaining. Themoment is funnier than erlyrun event cantakeconsiderable timeandeffort. you are, you DIE! You'llhave you should for your to be amazing to live First, settle on a theme years from roundto round. KillerBreakfast. In recent we'veenioyed popular running ascrosses between sci-fi our events genres; Now, these but thereis a andfantasy andmusic forms to create arethe rules of the game "Killer Musicals. Dragonlance lot moreto a KillerBreakfast thaniustoffrng characters.Breakfast " We'vecrossed We'vecrossed that'shard"is the absolute with the broadway musical Grease. "Dyingis easy.Comedy, mantra of a KillerBreakfast. lt's no trickto killa Star Wars with the Back Street Boys. We'vecrossed game, (Someone in a roleplaying but getting with lohn Cash. character the player TheLordof theRings performance whileyou'redoing it is the realchallenge. describe thisparticular asFrodomeets to laugh

"Gameover,man!"

"Beamme up, Scotty!"

"l have a bad feeling about this!" "Nevergive up! NEVER surrenderl"
" B yG r a b t h a r ' s hammer...you s h a l lb e avenged!"

"lt'sonly a model!"
"Thisgroup will selfdestruct in ten seconds ...goodluck,Jim."

"He's dead,Jim!"

"Surrender, Dorothy!"

"Usethe force, stupid!"

"Godzilla! Godzilla!"

"Snakes. Why did it haveto be snakes?" just can't "Theengines take it anymore!" "l'llget you,my pretty... andyour littledog,too!""

"Run, Forest!Runl" "Danger!Danger, WillRobinson!"

" S h a - n a - n a - n.a .. sha-na-na-n. a. . hey,hey ... goodbye!"

"Activatethe O m e g a1 3 ! " "

"Runaway!Runaway!" "Hastala vista,baby!"

" l ' l lb e b a h c k ! " 't :

"Setfor stun ... NOT!"

I
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NASCAR.) Thepointis thatyou need a themefor your KillerBreakfast that is off-beat andrifewith possibilities. comedic Youshould thenstartcollecting items andprops for your performance. We suggest the following: . Generic Tickets Youcanpickthese up a most localoffrce supply or department stores. Get yourself a roll of numbered tickes.Thiscanhelp your crewkeepthe audience in orderby giving out tickets in the orderpeople arrive andthen play calling in thatsame themup to order.lt justhowmany you to knowaftenrard alsohelps players you managed to off during the performance. Watchwith a second handlt's always helpful to have an offrcial time keeper whocanclockthem in andclockthemout whentheyaredonewith onestandard official time. Character Sheets You need to prepare these in advance. TrueXDMsusethe XD20 system games. asthe basis for theirKillerBreakfast Prepare sixKillerBreakfast character sheets or download the traditional from ones www. xtremedungeonmastery.com. Besure to create enough copies of all sixof these character sheets you expect to coverthe number of characters to game. blowaway during thecourse of the CueCards KillerBreakfast does not iustinvolve the players on the stage.lt gets the audience game, into the too. You need to have cuecards for the audience containing things for themto shout out in unison during thegame. We included a shortlistof our favorites for yourconvephrase nience but anypopular fantasy or sci-fr will work. . BadMiniaturesThese aremorefor show than game, generactual useduring the asthere allyisn'tenough timeto dealwith positioning miniatures. We personally recommend the use people of Lego asminiatures-especially the little people. medieval or sci-fr Lego Theyareeasy to transport, do not require anypainting, andfall

overon theirownquiteeasily. yearwe go to the localToy Hideous ToysEvery Liquidator's Outletstoreto search for truly hideous toys-toys that areridiculous or whichone mightthinkwouldgivechildren nightmares. Then we bringthemwith usfor KillerBreakfast. Thus, players be by can confronted such things asa mechanical dragon designed to latchontoyourarm andgrowl.Using bizarre toysassetpieces in your performance KillerBreakfast canbe a realboost.

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WASALIIIOST LEVEL

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I I 1

Piles of diceWe usually bringa large number of dice,not so muchto determine anything at all, but mostly to strike fearin the hearuof gamers. There's nothing likeseeing the lookon theirface you when say,"The dragon hitsyou! Let'sroll for damage. . ." andyou pickup about flfty dicein bothhands. . Audio/Visuals lf you aregoing to feature music in your KillerBreakfast-and whatXDM wouldn't? Thenyou'll need to writeparody lyrics that frt your game to the music, obtaina karaoke version get you of the song, figure out how will thewords proiect (either to your audience themfor the

10+

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ro So Klrren$nrmresr
audience or provide themwith photocopies), and out howto playthe music figure andsingit at thesame time.Thiswill largely on your depend capabilities andthetechnical available equipment you you performing. where are Learn to to deal withthe unexpected. Holdtheaudience the roomif possible outside but besureto allowenough time for themto enter the roomandfind a seat. Depending on the size of theaudience thiscantakeupward of halfan houranother reason whyyou should arrive so early.Spend thisentrytimepacing up anddownin frontof the audience likea caged tiger,eyeing themhungrily. lust before the game begins, do a fewcalisthenics to show themthatthisis serious business.

Wealsorecommend thatyou getyourself a crew, especially if you areexpecting to run thiseventfor a large number A crewcanbe invaluable of people. to you an XDMin KillerBreakfasq have enough to worry The Grand Opening Youshould begin theshow by explaining the about withoutdealing with crowdcontrol,ticketcollecrules Killer Breakfast to in to them the most entergiving, tion, ticket housekeeptiming,andothergeneral waypossible. Tracy andLaura have anonline Ing items. A well-trained crewcanmean thedifference taining videocalfed the KillerBreakfast Safery Presentation between eventfor your players an enjoyable anda provides proper which a Killer Breakfast. startto any sluggish one. XDMsmayavail themselves of thisvideo aswellas now,Laura Foroverten years andTracyhave basic by cheers special ordering the DVD (NTSC privileged perbeen in our KillerBreakfast to be assisted format)through the XDM website. formances by a groupcalling themselves the Kokomo you gotten After have the rules explanation out gallant yearcometo lnegulars. These volunteers each game you the of way, it's time to open the itself. lf the Convention Gencon andprovide staffsupport for music during the game, thiswouldbe the our event thatis unparalleled andunexcelled. Youcan't areusing ideal time for the number opening which set should have Theyareoursandwe'llfightyou for them. them: the theme andtonefor the game. in Forexample, the performance 2OO7 Killer Breakfast Gencon Phanfoms KillerBeats of Ravenloft, the we opened with following the lyrics Soyouarestillintent on running a KillerBreakfast, (with set apologies) to the tune of the of "Phantom eh? Don'tsaywe didn't warnyou. Thenextstepis Opera:" foryouto create a beatchartthat includes the timing (LAURA) your performance. of KillerBreakfast Youonlyhave a games We wrote adventure / for TSR you llmited timeto perform andyou need to make sure quitebizarre. Butoneabove fheresf/ Was get you in before everything the nextseminar demands Now it's returned / not thesame... again though upthe room. $ve Thewriters of theRavenloft have come... you arerunning Thisbeatassumes a two-hour play game! To their Killer Breakfast. (TRACY) playmy RPG Preshow Come / for these two hours you should Before the game begins arrive about We'llkill morecharacters / thantenJack Bauers! glance an hour early if possible. Youwill need to make It's KillerBreakfast sure time.You behind... properly that anyaudio/visual needs have been setup Themakers of theRavenloft return... and thattheyareworking Do thisevenif asyou expect. To blowyourmind! you performed have in thisvenue before, because there are always lastminute changes, whichwill need It wasat thispointthat Laura to be andTracyboth deah withpromptly. Setout your character sheets, look climbed aboard a recently-procured luggage dollyand attheroomwith an eyetowardhowpeople will flow hadour crewpush usthrough theaudience while we through the room,where theywill gettheircharacter sang. (rAuRA) sheet, whichsidetheywill comeup to the stage, and playedthe game, which side theywill depart thesuge. Those who have draw backin

r05

dread.Characters spring to life.. . (TRACY) Thendropdowndead! (DUET) you plead Andthough andbeg / and rollyour dice. .. TheDM of the Ravenloft will kill. . . Andnot think twice!

a bottomless crevasse, andSet2 wasthe Jungle Cruise through a dragon-infested swamp. lmportantTip: Youshould try to completely clear thetable of players-in otherwords, kill allof you change themat once-before sets. lt makes for a nicetransition for the audience andletsyou startfresh, with littlebaggage in each set.

Thisis exactly the kindof bigproduction number Bothof these sets should takejustaboutten your game thatXDMslivefor! Plan on these opening sequences minutes each, bringing to aboutthe thirty (including the game introduction) to takeup no more minute mark. You'llneed break a pacing at thispoint, thanten minutes.You need to getthe players into so givecontroloverto your associate to run the first the game. Laura Quest.

Set #1s.2
Nextyou need to planon a couple of sets. A in Killer Breakfast is essentially a scene like in "set" place a playor a movie. lt usually takes in a specific (youwon't have setting or location muchtimeto do jokeor dilemma more)anddeals witha specific that is related to the general theme. Forexample, in the2008 edition known as Animated KillerBreakfast, we usedthe themeof role playing meets WaltDisney. Theentireadventure wasstructured around a bizarre version of Disneyland.Players started in a tavern set(where the Town Square is located) andthenproceeded to encounter bizarre sets that mirrored the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matterhorn, andlt's a Small World.In thiscase, SetI wouldbe represented by the TownSquare Tavern, whichwassurrounded by

LauraQuest #1 participation Laura arelittleaudience Quesu games that break up the KillerBreakfast andgivethe XDM running it a chance Theyarenamed to breathe. afterLaura Hickman, whooriginated the Laura Quest performing andwho hasbeen themnowfor years. There arethreetraditional Laura Quests: l. AlienAbductionThisinvolves beach balls being throwninto the audience, asking that theybounce it backandforthovertheirheads untilthe music Those stops. stillholding the ballwhenthe music gets prize. This is stops a oftena special T-shirt but besomething canalso asmind-blowingly exciting asbeing bumped to the frontof the lineto come on stage.

1 IHINK 1HISfIEANSTHERES A

sET CHANaE COMIN6.,,,

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2. RedShirtAptitudeTestThisis based on a South Now, Dungeonmaster" to the tuneof ,rDonrt Cry for game American called Cai.In thisgame, the Me, Argentina." leader on stage demonstrates posifour different tions-hands forming visorovereyes, arms crossing It was wayfoolish. .. chest, onearmbentwiththeotherarmtouching Thatmove I made. .. theelbow, andarnis.at sides withhands on waist just I forgot and opened thedoor.. . - thentells the audience thatwhen sheshousCai And my dex-ter-i-ty didn,t help me onebit, theymustperform oneof the threehandpositions ButI'm a cleric, that is different thanthe onesheis doing.lf they Andchecking for trapsisn,twhatI should matchher,theyareout. do. job, That'sFrank's 3. Diceof the GodsThisis a game people where becausehe' saThief... areasked to rolltheirD20 die.Anyone whorolls anything I blame him,andthinkyoushould, otherthana 20 isout. Keep too! rolling until yougetthenumber To run thisgame's of liars . . . I mean winners not easy. downto a manageable size. getpaid. Youshould For suffering playthat,s poor, through quests These areimportant astheyprovide anopfrom idiotslikeFrank, portunity for theaudience to be involved and theyallow quit. whoreally should theXDM to gather hisor herthoughs before launching Youare a GEN-IOUS! intothe nextsets. Plan you to about35 on thistaking tables andcharts off thetop of your Quoting minutes intothe performance. head. And quite I thinkyour hygiene,s good, Set#3 no matterwhatanyone Thisisa bit longer says! single plan setthatyoushould you on taking to aboutthe frftyminute Don't kill menow,dungeon markin the master! performance. lt will be important pace to keep the Thetruthis.. . I don't deserve of it! thegame highthrough thisset. Nl through my wildplay, the maps thatwedrew! LauraQuest #2 I brought Dor-i-tos. .. Yougetanother break hereat the fifty minute you! Andalways liked mark. ThisLaura should again takeabout five Quest minutes andgetyou backinto the game fresh at just Thismusical number youiustpast should take before the hourmark. theonehour,twenty minute markandsetyou up for the push toward the endof the game. Set #4 Makethisonea ten minute setandperform it with Set #5 eneriy. Youwill flnish thisat about theonehourten Thissetis aboutfifteen minutes andshould take minute markin the performance. you intoyour finalLaura lt is easy to let your Quest. guard downin thisset. Keep yourenergy Stretch Song up andthe death counthigh. Plan on thissetrunning You really to theone needa breather at thispointin the hourthirty-five minute mark. marathon, place so thisis the perfect to perform the Stretch Song. Thisis the middle song of thethree that LauraQuest #3 your performance make up andis intended to give Thisisthe finalLaura andyourlast Quest everyone a littlerest.Thissong canevenbe a ballad, breather performance. before the end of the lt so longasyou have someone whocanperform it. In just you should leave with go. twenty minutes ,,Don,t to 2OO7, for example, performed Laura KillMe

107

lJrnHnnrEXDM
Set #6 Yourfrnal setandyoushould make thisone Craftthissetaround scale battlein special. a large you which Thissetneeds to caninvolve theaudience. anepicscale to it. lt should bespectacular andhave explosive. lt is not uncommon to alsobe devastatingly reach for either the HolyHand Grenade of Antioch device at thispoint.Finish off the or a thermonuclear youareat it*andleave while them entire audience with a bang! whatis trulyfunnybased on the asmuchaspossible you getfromthe players in the actions or descriptions game. One technique for making thisworkis to get action descriptions fromallof the players at thetable you determine before the results of theiractions. You picture your need to keep in head all a of of these might con. actions andconsider howthose same actions with each tradictor clash other.Bycombining character you canoftencomeup with outrageous actions consequences. Big Finish isstompForexample: A giant monster lapanese Having thusdestroyed not onlythe players onyour players' ingdownthe street toward characters. stage but the entireaudience aswell,thereis nothing Youaskeach at the tablewhattheirchar. of the players leftto do but sing the closing song. Traditionally, this acteris going sheis going to leapinto to do. Onesays a Woman" hasbeen our rendition of "Chainmail to the tankanddriveit toward he the monster. Thenextsays tuneof RoyOrbison's "PrettyWoman"but you can will pulla missile out of hisbackpack andfrreit toward your ownappropriate asyou seefrt. choose closer shewilliumpout of the themonster. Thethirdsays fourth into way.The alsoiumps the tankandfrres its Running the Gauntlet gun.Thefrfthhides underthe tank.And the sixthcalh Now thatyou have the basic mechanics in mind for the Air Force. Theeasy interpretation of lapanese put we abouthowto together a KillerBreakfast, been this,afterall the actions have declared is thatthe paft. come to the mostimportant anddifficult front third character leaps in of the second character's Thatwouldbeyou. missile, carried by his weight de. is away the missile, but KillerBreakfast Why?That'sbecause a successful flecs his the rocket downunder the tankwhere it the performance relies mostheavily on the expert of a (kill frfth, hiding kill blowing character five, three), up isa 1772nd Level XDM and worfd-class XDM. Tracy (kill the tank kill four) the is fired into one, iustas shell he frnds the performance equivalent to a marathon. planes air, Air the exploding among the of theJapanese Theultimate or failure of a KillerBreaksuccess Force, from into causing to fall the sky thestreet several fastrests firmlyon the shoulders of the XDM running (killtwo, killsix). You have to thinkquickly on your feet, below the show. asflaming debris be prepared to change direction from moment to your keep moment and mindsearching for the next interpretation of player andhowtheymight actions be construed-or misconstrued-in the mostentertainACTUALLY PRETTY ingfashion. Have Performing no illusions: a Killer Breakfast is aboutbeing instantly funnyfor two hours material that is constantly being thrownat you using players from veryintelligent whowouldlikenothing betterthanto put you off your game. What's So Funny? Thefirstlawof XDMinga KillerBreakfast is that you it mustbe entertaining-which means mustbe Having a sense entertaining. of humor,timing,and pacing yourKillerBreakfast arecritical to making function. you need to have of More importantly, a sense

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(rmn$neerrnsrroQo
Keepingthe Lid On, While StayingOff the Bottom: Don't counton the players to provide entertainyou'll comeacross player ment; sometimes a golden whenthat happens, whois truly entertaining-and it your job so mucheasier, makes andyou should keep themaround aslongaspbssible. Butfor the mostpart, youcancounton players game in anyKillerBreakfast for the lowest to feedoff the bottom-to reach common denominator of potty humorandthe grossly iuvenile. It isyourjob asan XDM to bothkeep the lid on, meaning thatyou ensure thatthe game does not get your players your outof hand,andkeep from dragging game downinto the muck. When we talkabout keeping the lid on,whatwe aremostly talking aboutis maintaining frrmcontrolof perfortheperformance. Players in a KillerBreakfast mance will naturally attempt to wrest controlof the game players awayfrom the XDM. Some misukenly see you andthem,rather thisasa contest between thanas anentertainment. go, do Kill theircharacter. Do it now.Do not pass notcollect $200 . . . iustkillthem. At the same time,you need to keep everyone out of the gutter.Themoment someone staruusing bawdy humor andtriesto dragyour game with theminto the justkill them,too. Send gutter . . . well,you should a message that you will not tolerate suchbehavior in your game; XDMsdo notdwellin the gutterl Tempo! Tempot Tempo! Comedy is allabout timing, andin thiscase that means also tempo!You have to keep highall the energy you slack through the performance. Themoment off, you're showing weakness andyourplayers will pounce! yourself Pace during the game andtakeallthe advantage of the songs andLaura to giveour Quests you overheating braina rest. Butwhenthe bellrings, have to comeout swinging andnot let up untilit'sall over. Death ls Firm, Final, and Unquestioned! you sense Themoment someone at the tableis goyou your ingto argue with or challenge callrather than playwith you, kill theircharacter. Right now. Killtheircharacter anddo soin the most emphatic andunquestionable waypossible. Never argue with them(theydon't deserve it), never explain anything to them(theywon'tunderstand it), and don't listen to themraveon (theyaren'tworththe time). and Justkill them,bootthemoff the stage, move You're tall! on withthegame. anXDM! Stand you You'resupposed to off theircharacter and don't owean explanation for it to anyone, least of all some pansy, whinyplayer. Dealingwith Bribes,for Fun and Profit Finally, onetradition is wayinto Killer has made Breakfast for goodor ill, andthat is bribes. In many games, roleplaying bribing is a tried the gamemaster getting yourwaywhen andtruemeans of thediceare you. Thisis reflected not helping in the KillerBreakgames. fastparody of such A fewTwizzlers anda bagof Doritos is fine,but gifu cangetentirely sometimes these out of hand.So we have triedto establish asiron-clad the following rules: An XDM never l. No Cash Bribes takes a cash bribe.The onlyexception to thisruleis when is being run asa charity the game fundraiser given andthenonlyif all the money asbribes is donated directly to the charity. Endof story.

OOLLA?, A IHOUSANO PONATION

10 lHE ORPHANA6E,,, CONERfrTULfrT'ONS ! lHE SHARK IHAT IS EAT|n.l,O YOUONLY HAS OF TEEIH, TI]REEROWS

109

2. NeverReward Extravagant Bribes Youmust never reward an expensive bribewith anymore consideration thanan inexpensive one.Killone quickly astheother. iustas Death wasnever meant to bethismuchfun.

the wizard is nowthe game master. Thegame master, of course, is nowthe warrior.

Murder in the Dark Game

Murderin the Darkis a game thatyouthplayat parties. Theconcept is sound, however, andelements of it mightbe useto create some veryinteresting and KennyBakerGame strange dynamics game. during a roleplaying TheKenny Baker Game isa really funconcept Forexample, if you have fiveplayers, thenyou that Tracy's daughter, Angel,mentioned at one have frveslips of paper. Each onesays something difpoint.During thisgame the roleof the game master is joinedthisgroup ferent. Perhaps onesays, "You have constantly changing from person to person. In fact,in in orderto kill the veryKingyou aretryingto save.,, an ideal Kenny Baker. situation, thiswouldatso mean And another says, "Youowea debtto the Kingand that all the players rotateaswell. In otherwords, joined every have thisgroupin orderto prevent hisassasso manyminutes ( | 5?) everyone at the tablemoves sination." Thethingis,thepapers arepassed out at overa spot.Theguywhowasplaying the warrioris random, andnot necessarily at the startof the game. nowplaying theelf,thegirlwhowasplaying theelf is Even the game master doesn't knowwhateveryone,s playing now the wizard, andthe guywhowasplaying motives are.

gqy u,ilrRs0c!0pfiTl{:
; Tlre reasonitt calledthe Kenny BakerGame is based on a variation of hearts that our relative KennyBaker cameup with, in whichafter each round,the handyou haveis passed to your left,

(ANlrS PARry ERl,Vq REALLY

110

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krdan slogs kneedeepthroughthe black, foul waters. Hismassive biceps twitchwith anticipation, their powerbarely enormous heldin check. Each bone-chilling step he takes throughthe ankle deep waterabouthim heightens hisbuildingrage,nearly blindinghimin hislust for justice andrevenge. Almost forgotten arehiscompapledged triots,fivetruefriends who have theirlifeto him and maywellbe called uponto redeem thatpledge this verynight. Threedays before,the mighty warriorandhiscompanions foughttheirwayinto the Mountain Temple of Thog-kjara in search betrothed, of Kardan's thePrincess Illirion. Thebarbarian's mortalenemy, lmhothis of Chaos, threatened her death. krdan knewthat the HighPriest Imhothis carednothingonewayor the otherconcerning pain the lifeof a princess. Hisonly thought was to cause to thebarbarian lord beyond anywoundthat weapons of steel might inflict.ln this,Kardan knewwith clenchedteethsurety that Imhothis hadsucceeded. Hislove sufferedbecause of him,andthe knowledge his of it burned souL Kardan drewhisgreat swordEiric,flames licking downits shining length.Its flickering bluelight, illuminated the deepest corridorof the temple dungeon. Rotting woodencelldoorssagged in their stone framework on eitherside,their ranks disappearing into the blackness beyond the lightof hisburning sword.krdan bared growling histeeth, ashe advanced throughthe swirling black waters around hisfeet. Kardan's mammoth bodyshook Suddenly, at the sound of a scream.lllirion! Hervoicepierced hissoul! Thesound hadcome from justbeyondthedoor to hisright! Freeze frame. Popquiz. Multiple choice, and please feelfreeto reread before the above text again each answer. Kardan's nextaction will be: l. Kardan will check for traps. lf hedoes not have thisability, Kardan willturnto a member of the partybehind himanddetermine which of them cancheck for traps. 2. Kardan will takethisopportunity to search for Thisshould secret doors. takeaboutten minutes. 3. Kardan simply assumes thatthe dooristrapped anddevises a complex means of opening the doorfrom a safe andprudent location down fifty feetof rope,several the corridorutilizing

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PrnvrHE HowYou Qmm

block, spikes, tackle, which he has andpulleys, notedon hischaracter sheet. 4. Kardan, to be fair to the otherpartymembers, asks themto voteon whattheyshould do next. 5. Kardan will moveto the backof the partyand allowthe thiefwith betterstats to takecareof thisone. you answer quiz,let'stakea Before thissimple place moment to join another adventure in another and timeandsee if thisis morefamiliar to you.The scene: a kitchen table.Thepizza is cold,the drinks goes arewarm,andthe eternal dungeon on. . . and on...andon... DM: "Like,uh,you arein thishallway andit ends in a door." players ALLAN: "A door!" (Turning to fellow Betty,Charlie, andEthel.) it's a door. "Hey, Whatdo we do for a door?" (To Allan.)"Whatkindof dooris it?" CHARLIE: ALLAN: (To the DM, suspiciously.) What "Right! kindof dooris it?" DM: (Checks notes. Thedescription in theadventuredoes not tell himthe kindof door.DM momenurilyconsiders whether thereis a Random DoorTypeTable somewhere in the Dungeon l4aster's Cuide that he is not aware of andthen responds.) a wooden ... door!" "lt's players.) ALLAN: (To fellow door! "lt's a wooden Okay.Whatdo we do for a wooden door?" (Leafrng BETTY: herspell bookpages) through think there might be a spell for thiskindof "l thing.Fireball. . .Flamestrike. . ." (To Allen.)"Ask himwhatkindof CHARLIE: wooden doorit is." ALLEN: "Right!"(To DM) "Whatkindof wooden dooris it?" DM: (Somewhat flustered, hismemory for searching the types of woodhe learned in shopclass but cannot thinkof any.)"A wooden wooden door!" (From ETHEL: the middle of the party. Ethel learned longagothatthose whostand at the back of the partycangetattacked there,too.) "Which waydoes the dooropen?" you,intothecorridor." DM: "Toward ETHEL: "Whatkindof handle?" DM: "Oh, for crying handle, likea out. . . a regular lever." ETHEL: "Okay!Now, I climbthewalloverthe door with and my hammer drivea spike into the stoneworkoverthe door,thenI go downthe hallback the waywe came from. . . oh, 30 feetanddrive another spike into the wall.ThenI takemy 50' piece of rope-see, it's righthereon my character sheet-and make a loopin it, andusing my tenfoot pole..." poleinto the dunDM: "You dragged a ten-foot geon?" ETHEL: sheet. "See!lt's righthereon my character pole Anyway, I usemy ten-foot anddrape the loopoverthe handle. ThenI bring theropeover the spike andoverthe otherspike andthen, standing fromthe doorwith my thirty feetaway back against thewall,I pullthe ropeandopenthe door." DM: (After a shortpause whilethe DM considers physics whether hewants bother to with the actual involved in thisfeatof engineering.) "Okay." ALLEN:"Wait!We flatten ourselves the wall, against tool

XDMrHEFnvsRsSECrroN
Thedoorisopen." DM: "Fine.Whatever. down ETHEL: "l climbup overthedoorandpeek casement. from the top of the window carefully Whatdo I see?" pause) . . .a ten-foot DM: "You see. . . (bigdramatic widecorridorrunning thirty feetin frontof you. At the endyousee. . ." Yes?! Whatis it?" withdread) ALLEN:(Filled "Yes?l door!" DM: "lt's. . . another in thisgame! You'veplayed You knowthisgame. why"Knights Table" was It isthe reason of the Dinner got place when we our copy of first we turned to the 'Dragon it stillwasa Magazine' each month.(When We've all satat B.l.'stable. magazine with pages.) intricately carved doorwith images of-" Tracy didn'twaitfor him. the door." "l go andopen theuble ... then A stunned silence around chaos! Theotherplayers shouted, "No he doesn't!" 'YES,I DO!" Tracy shouted, to be inhabited by two Thenextroomhappened longbeminotaurs, who hadheard the shouting in. Oneof the partywas forethe barbarian charged badlumps, injured took some critically andseveral including the barbarian. up a roundof lust asthe clericwaswrapping healing, Tracyturnedto the DM. doorin the room?" another "ls there "behinda massive "Wel|" he saidcautiously, metaldooris-" stone altar,a banded "l openit!" gone Thepartymusthave through thirty rooms Theychased thatbarbarian allaround that thatnight. they dungeon fromonemess to the next.Eventually forensic Tracy's accouncame uponan evilwizard. into wereobviously settling tant fellowadventurers prolonged, parley pointless, with the a andtediously old mystic. Thenandthere,Tracydecided that hisbarbarian hated wizards. He concocted some storyaboutthe barbarian's being sister turnedinto a goatfor a while hadgotten overit. whenhewasyoun&andhe never Thebarbarian walked up to the wizard andspit in hisface. Whata battle! the magic Thepartyfell backinto the corridor; party's got in the excitement, flew!The ownwizard, away into the roomwhich carried andthrewa frreball with a ten foot ceiling. wasonlythirty feetsquare Toasties! PCwascharbroiled that night. Manya brave Butwhata great storyto tell!

The Deadly DungeonSession

session. He Thishappened to Tracy in a dungeon playing by the barbarian character surrounded was a Evof forensic accountants. dungeoning equivalent paint have chips sent we came upon had to erydoor Thepartywould dating. to the labfor cobaltcarbon on sucha door.Theywouldwaste spend thirty minutes room.Untiltheyfinally anentire evening on a single Theroomdescription ended up in anornate chamber. werecovered with runes andpillars stated that thewalls quite players gave literally no further details. The but read thewriting on thewall,butyoucouldn't couldn't players all nightin that convince of that.Theyspent the there. for something thatjustwasn't oneroomlooking playing Tracy was angry and session, After that said to him, discouraged. Oneof the otherplayers you're barbarian. Be barbaric!" a "Hey, thing. An ideacanbe a dangerous Tracywasdetermined to play Thenextweek, in that hisbarbarian likea barbarian. Thegame started runecovered room. same TheDM said, "Well,you arein a roomwhere runes cover thewalls." said, And oneof the forensic accountants "lf I gnome holdthe upside down,canshereadthe runes?" Tracyturnedto the DM andsaid, "Whereisthe to my character?" doornearest an solemnly, "to yourleftyousee "Wellr"hesaid

The Boring Long Life Character

games? Do To be boring? Whydo we playthese get next week we sayto ourselves, all together "Let's Iets boringlives, and,instead of leading our everydan leading boring make believe we arefantasy characters lives." whoare Truthbetold, we don't carefor PCs

11+

HowYouF-nvrHE Qmm
We aredeeply suspicious of higher than8th level. (69th whoclaimto have a thief/druid/assassin those witha sword level in each) of +2O Instantly Kill lmpenetraand + 60 Armorof Weightless Anything goldpieces. Such characters bility and50 bazillion areasboringastheycome.Theyareno fun. They Whatkindof storycanyou aren't eveninteresting. likethat? a character tellabout my character was challenged by Zeus to a "Oh, match everyone on Olymwrestling andl, like,killed pus lastnight." Yawn. Manyyears ago,whileTracyworked game designer as at TSR,he talked to a fellowoverthe phone. Thisyoungster had with a question and called theswitchboard senthim upto Tracy. in my "The characters game 65 and, areall around if theykilleda god,would like, badhappen anything to them? wouldthe clerics be l, mean, pissed something?" or Perplexed, Tracy asked thiskid if he used theoffrcial ADetD modules. "Yesr"he replied, "we go about through three or four of them everyFriday night." founda MontyHaulhas new standard! you!Giveusa character No, thank thatdoes a character which we can brave deedsl Giveus about buythe farm! tella goodstory evenif he does It wasBenFranklin whosaid, "To be rememworth bered, writea bookor do something either book about." writing a Themistaken notion, which wasbuiltup over years, last twenty-five is that in a roleplaying the game means winning. Thisphilosophy resurviving giving for secusulted in a lot of people up heroics points rity. Youcansoak up anawfullot of experience by sitting backandletting othercharacters do the dying for you, but where is the fun in that? Youmust up yourmindto be startby making heroic, evenif your character dies. Look,we knowyour character is special to you but hecould diefromsome DM'sdumbtrapandwhat wouldyou have? No storyworthtelling. lf your character is boring alive, thenhe isworse thandead. Whatis the alternative? Become the herothatyou you liveor die,it's howyou longto be. lt isn'twhether playthe game. Soif you'regoing to play,playwell!Be a hero!

Things Which You Can Do to Make Your Game Better

There that aresome specific things you cando thatwill make your character better.

Findyour Character's Kryptonite Weallknow howhelpful character backgrounds canbe. Don'tiustlet your character spring out of nothing-give hima place hecomes from anda background. You'llbesurprised howmuchthis littleexercise in storymaking will you help define thelikes and of yourcharacter. dislikes However, asyou arecreat===*-+=,ingthe background story takea Did you lesson from Kryptonite. ever wonder whythere aresomany different kinds of Kryptonite? Why is thisstuff(a supplanet posedly from a destroyed far ultrarareelement fromour own)soreadily available to nefarious underworldfigures whentheyneed it? Surprisingly Superman wouldbe Supersimple: borewithout it. Hewouldbeunstoppable, andwhere is the storyin that? goodcharacter has Achilles hadhisheelandevery hadhisor herequivalent since. Yourcharacter needs vulnerability andyou arejustthe person to seehe some getsit.

XDM rHEEeveRsSECrioN
Give your characterautomatic reactions Of course, we realize thatthe appeal of roleplaying games Thisdoesn't have to be asrestrictive is that it canbe a cooperative asit sounds. engiveyour character: Youshould deavor. We heartily encourage a spiritof camaraderie partymembers. among l. Threethingshe will fight over Thiscanbe anyButif the result is not heroic, thenit,stimeto thing:A ladyin distress; take matters a manin distress; out of the hands of the committee. injustice to the poor;iniustice guidelines: We suggest to the rich ... whatever your the following your character background If mightindicate. character hasnotdoneanything in the last five minutes, do something. Anything! 2. One thing he will quailfrom evelytime. Fear If you cannot solve a puzzle in ten minufes. Leaye of anything it. lf you can'tsolve works finehere.Fear it, you eitherhaven,t of anytypeof found monster enough or obiector action. information Tracyoncehada to dealwith it properly, or the clericwho professed a profound hisiob right.Theanswer fearof rope.This DM isn'tdoing lies elseseemed harmless where, enough not in standing to the restof the party around andpondering. lf you you have untiltheyremembered the a solution, entrance to think comeback. Otherthe dungeon geton with it. wasdowna wise, thirty foot shaft. This I 1HINK Be dramatic player forcedanother HE CAME lf youhave anytraining to tell Tracy's cleric THIS WAY ! in theater, useit. Yourvoiceis a storyabouthis your powerful most tool in any rope "magic game. roleplaying Through powder" which yourvoiceyou paintthe wouldmake any picture of your character. ropeabsolutely safe. your Let voiceportray Thatthe mysteriyour feelings. ouspowder was Also,drawon saltwasnever realfeelings. Don't mentioned in your let character front of the justwander like fearful cleric. a mindless hulk .: 'your through 3. One thinghe will games. Yourown fight to the deathfor. Makeit a goodone,becangivedepthof understanding to what cause thismaybe the lastone.Don,tbeshy;pick experiences your character is feeling. something wellbeyond theabilities of mortal men. you Something noble good. andimpossible sounds Be creative mightalsoprepare a tear-jerking speech to deTry to takean innovative lookat everything liverfor your death you picked scene if whatever your that is around character in the dungeon. Using proved your range. to be a littlebeyond you: lf you canseeit, oddsareyou everything around Take charge of your own destiny canuseit to some dramatic advantage. Thismeans your yourself No onecontrols training character to obserye you or should everything conaround trol your character but you. Whatyourcharacter the innovation to useit. does andhave should be up to you andnot some OnceTracy wasin a dungeon committee of others. where the party ln your hands raninto a library. is the abilityto control lt wasobvious the game flow.lf that the bookin the you canchange the game is dragging, of the room(theonewith the column that.lf the game center of light is too fast-well, it's never shining on it) wasthe onethe DM wanted too fast. usto look

Qnnne HowYouF,nvrHE
aswellastheircapabilities, strengths, andweaknesses. at. Tracy,however, started asking aboutthe other your party is and as balanced works to utilize all the bookin the library. lust talengof its groupto its advantage: sotoo mustyour said the DM. "]ust books" game group work together for the best success. me some titlesr" Tracy replied. "Give TheDM, thinking to embarrass up him,came Conclusions with someterribletitleslike Love Rituals of theOrcs Consider this:Whatarethe hit dice,armorclass, andPassion Dances of theOgres. anddamage statistics of a minotaur thatyou discover Tracy's character took the books. afterhastily busting downa door? The DM thenforgotall aboutthem.. . Now, whatarethe hit dice,armorclass, . . .Untilthe partywasconfronted anddamby a groupof you (fullyillustrated) that of a minotaur creep up on after orcsandTracypulled those works agestatistics spending twenty minutes checking a door? out anddisplayed themto the attackers. Theyarethe same. Statistically, setting aside first Now, thatdistracted the orcs! factors, thereis no realstatistical differlf it's described, it canbe used. Driveyour DM roundsurprise gonzo, you frnd,be being ence between careful andbeing hang-itcrezy. Even if you don't use everything over-the-edge, to-the-wall brave. aware of it sothatyou Tracyoncehada paladin thatwasthe worst coulduseit if you gIO OUY, BLACKHAIQ,, pain-in-the-rear paladin youcould needed to. MacSHEEPSKIN IOOA, CARRIES possibly hopeto avoid.He was Guweroftenescapes gIO AXE? A REALLY Mr. Clean alltheway.Tracy had withnothing but a paperclip. worked out a dealwith the DM that, lf you have so longasthe members of the parry a paperclip, thenuseit. did not conduct anyoutwardly Inanimate objecu questionable actof evil,thepalaarenot the onlythings dinwouldnot check theiralignthatyou canuseto youradvantage. ment.Thismeant that NPCs, we hada paladin in whenrun properly, are a partyof neutral and a $eat source of chaotic evilPCs. But,oh, information about howcareful those PCs had whatis going on yourcharto be. around Our quest wasto retake acter aswellasoccasiona castle, owned by a goodking, allyproviding direct help. hadbeen which taken overby an NPCs canbe fun if you point, evilwizard. At one the palause themright.Don't the partyfrom breakdin stopped engage in meaningless parleys ingdowna dooron thegrounds unless allyouare thatthe doorwasactually the property of a goodman afteris pleasant conversa(theking)andthatwrecking wouldbe hisproperty tion. wrong. Be Thoughtful of Other Players'Needs gotin thehabit Thisgroup of sending the paladin your rush individuality, In headlong toward quitea bit. to "scout ahead" remember that the needs of otherplayers in your At onepoint, while the paladin was"scouting grouparegoing to be different thanyoursandare aheadr" the party rightwhere had turned the paladin justasimportant your asyour own.Youmustkeep goneleft,andencountered guards watchtwo bugbear otherplayers in mindin the same waythat a goodPC inga small was treasure. Thegnome theonlymember would keep of hispartyin mind, of the partywhospoke theothermembers bugbear and,being something

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of a rascal, began negotiating with the bugbears. lf the bugbears wouldtell uswhere the really bigtreasure was, thenthe partywouldretreat andnobody wouldget hurt.Thisseemed agreeable to the creatures since they wouldstillbeguarding theirowntreasure. It wasat about thistimethepaladin returned. Seeing the bugbears, he drewhissword at onceand charged. yourgame Playing a game thiswaynot onlymakes play improve but it demands that others betteraswell. Theplayer of thegnome hadonlyseconds character to think.He turned to me andheldup hishands, saying, Theywantto repent!" "No! Stop! Thepaladin stopped. Holding hisgreatsword with the tip downandrestpalms paladin inghis on is hilt,the thegnome asked to address the bugbears for him in theirbase and fallen tongue. Thepaladin began, "lf theywill but repent. . ." Thegnome translated, "lF YOU WILLBUT TELL US.. . . ." "Of yourevilways. THETREASURE IS.. . " "WHERE your will I spare lives!" "Then "WEWON'TSICHIM ON YOU!" grewwide,thenthey Thebugbear's eyes replied with veryexplicit directions to the larger treasure. Thegnome turned to the paladin andsaid, agree." "They you liveor die.. . It isn'twhether

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Oncein an XDM'slifetime, a revolutionary effort,andcreativity whichareso complion games powermanifests concept of unprecedented itself to catedly daunting thatyou arethe onlyperson in your playthem.Let'sfaceit: the gaming world.Forthe gamers of the Renaissance house whocouldpossibly it wasthe invention of the twenty-sided die.Foryou Wearesurrounded by games thatno oneiswilling to playwith us.lndeed, my luckyfriend,it's the XD20 game system. You thereis a highlikelyhood that learn thissimple system onceandyou will never have yourspouse, friend,mother, father, sister, brother, another . . everagain. to learn system. Ever wanted or children fleeat the verymention of oneof your games. to playa ledi master who fighs LordSothin Toon roleplaying Town,without having to do insane Wellnot anymorel calculations that breakdown the veryphysics of timeandspace? Ever Welcome to the XD20 Basic All-Purpose Role youcouldteach yourbuddy wished Play Foryou Roleplaying howto play Game. Afficianados out hisfirstdungeon having crawlwithout to handhim there,thisis the Basic version of the XD20 game volume aftervolume references, of player's tables, system. TheAdvanced version contains a lot more andcharu?Ever wanted a system thatwill make words it andstrives to maintain theillusion of being possible (however actually unlikely) is the game for a level one overlycomplicated. Butthisbasic version you canplaywith your parents, halfling to kill a level knight? 24 death My dear spouse, friends, friends of the XDM fraternity, the time hascome. siblings, or kids. playing Welcome to theXD20 Role Game System! Think of it asanolivebranch, the bridge proTheXD20 Roleplaying Game between System, our worldandthe restof humanity. duced exclusively for XDMs, is a shiftin gaming paradigms. youwillsoon Withthisgame system be your players taking on fantastic adventures thatare lntroduction to Role Playing games, filledwith the same wonder, excitement, andimwithroleplaying lf youaren'tfamiliar pending you doomthatyou recall fondly from when what so are doing reading about thisone? Only games adventure werenew. offrcially XDMsareallowed to have this sanctioned playing lf you'relikeus,you've lot time, book-and spent a of if they can'texplain whata role

120

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game is about, thentell themtheyhave iustlostfour levels. Youwon't knowwhatyou said, but it will probably thesock off them! shock goodsystem XD20 is a really for Actually, people teaching whoarenewto roleplaying what of heroism-on-the-edge is all about.You're thisgame going to takea part,iustlikein a play,onlythe lines writtenfor you-you'llbe making aren't up whatyour along character does the way.Thinkof it aslow-presimprovisational sure, theater . . . or playpretend if youprefer. Look,justgetsome dice.YourXDM will show youwhich oneto roll andwhen.

. One regulation XDM+Gamemaster. you game, Thisis the basic That's all need. remember?

Obiect of the game

Theobiect of your game will bewhatever crary is the object thingyourXDM says of the game. lt could beto recover rescuing the Arc of the Covenant, the jewelry princess froma Death backinto Star,or tossing the volcano that it wasforged in. lt canevenbe getting your XDM says back to AuntieEmin Kansas. Whatever game, is the obiect of the that'sthe obiectof the game. Get used to it.
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About the XD2O Role Playing System

game TheXD20 roleplaying system is deYoucan signed to adapt to anygenre of gaming. playgeneric generic adventures, fantasy space adgeneric generic ventures, horroradventures, mystery generic romance . . . not to adventures, adventures in anyheavily mention clandestine adventures trademarked andcopyrighted story-world that may,by the wildest of coincidence, seem Sar Wars-like' to model worldto whichyou mayor or Lordof theRrngs-liket maynot havepaida franchise fee. You,asan XDM, canmodelanything with this roleplaying system, including all yourotherfavorite games. yourself Knock out.

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What you need to play (setting up)

Youneedthe following items in orderto playa game of XD20. . One (minimum)nrenty-sided die (moredice arebetteranda full setof polyhedral diceare best of all ... asksomeone if you don'tknow whatthese are).

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. One properlycompleted XD20 Basic Characpage122 for for everyplayer.(See ter Sheet fillingout a basic character sheet.)
Starlt/arsis the unquestioned copyrightof Lucasfrlm, Ltd. and is used We are, of course, hereonly herewithouttheir permission. referring with that heavily to sirnilar milieusthat may containcommon elements guarded work, I Lord of the Ringsis certainlycopyrightedby the J.R.R.Tolkien Esuteand is usedherewithout their permission. We wouldn't think of your useof the word "hobbit" in your game-cenainly condoning not in print. *

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XDroRoLEp,nuNcsYSrEM
you've won? TheXDM Howdo you knowwhen you've will tellyouwhen won.Howdo you knowif you'velost?Same way.

XD2O Engine
resolves all (andwe do TheXD20 system with the roll of a twenty-sided mean ALL) issues is needed in a range other a number die.Whenever found in the table thanD20,use theXD20 Resuls (page the resulting l56) to determine Appendices number. you couldactually geta setof Or, we suppose your lifemuch simdiceandmake allthese different pler,but we really you to feellikeyou were wanted getting your gaming money's worthandthat meant putting andelaborate table in an overlycomplicated somewhere in the book.

Playing the game

Hereis howthe game is played: your characters where Step1 TheXDM describes in which theyfrnd arelocated andthesituation yoursetting likehe Hewill describe themselves. is telling lasers andfog a story.He mightinclude machines if it will help. pretending to betheir Step2 Each of the players, playing") (hence describes the character, "role actions of theircharacter to theXDM.Possible actions include moving, hittingstuff,doingstuff, your actions likeyou aretelling or tafking.Describe a story.

CreatingYour Character
game is the Theheartof anyroleplaying paper (or which of character andthesheet sheets) items andusable, spell owned detail theircapabilities, lissof specifrc skills. details, andendless Butnot here.

Step5 TheXDM may(but is not required to) have players at the tableroll diceto deter- BasicXD2O CharacterGeneration the various character | . Writeyourname on yourBASIC mineif theirdescribed actions succeed or not.The sheet' which XDM tellsthe player a "targetnumber" in orderto succeed at theymustequal or exceed name on your BASIC 2. Writeyour character Thisnumber is based on the theirdescribed action. Youcanmake up anyname character sheet. andis character,s sheet STATfromtheircharacter picture your you in your Try character wish. to the action modified by factors such ashowdifficult give you it a name thatthe mindsothat don't wouldbe to perform. TheXDM will takecareof giggle players will at. other thisfor you. Trustthe XDM. succeeds or Step4 Whether the action described lf the not,the XDM will describe theresult. player's of anyactions, character is hurtasa result you subtract anydamage thenthe XDM will have health from your character's asnotedon your below lf your character's health drops sheet. has" died"in thestory, zerothenyour character TheXDM will another wayof ending thegame. describe the results likehe istelling a story. location havStep5 The players' andcircumstances ingchanged because andthose of of theiractions anycreatures theyhave encountered, the XDM takes everybody backto stepone.Repeat untilthe have been met. win or lose conditions of thegame youare whatTYPE of character 3. Determine playing. from othergames Some suggestions knight, bard,cleric, assassin, thief, include: pilot, raider, or archeologist. wizard, rogue, for the game whatever is appropriate Choose yourXDM issetting up. yourcharacter's STAT.Thatis gam4. Determine ln BASIC XD20youonly er-talk for "statistic." have one.lt's called "My Stat."Youdetermine yourSTATby rolling aneightoned8 (that's from number die)andsubtractingthat sided between seven Thisresulsin a number fifteen. Remember in the XD20 system, andfourteen. your your statnumber, the better the lower

122

Qavr JHrXDzoSnsrc
Thinkof it asif youareat a football character.. game andshouting one!"t "We'renumber TYPE 5.Modifyyour STAT.lf yourcharacter (cancast mystic abilities or heal other has spells the MYSTIC mystically) thencheck characters boxand add2 to your STAT. 6. Writedownyour STATin the 'MY STAT' provided. space yourHEALTH. Thisis howmuchpun7. Determine yourcharacter dropping ishment cantakebefore game. Write and,likely, falling out of the dead x 2. downyourSTATnumber yourCharacter Writethe Level. 8. Determine provided. number 1 in thespace YourBASIC XD20 Congratulations! in every is nowcompletely detailed character necessary way.

IT IN HEREWASEASY, I WROTE UNOEQ. "LAOOEQ'

ON YOUR CHAQ,ACIER fiEET IS NOT IT1ESAilE AS PUTTINo IT IN

YOUR. POCKEI,

* This aspectof XD20 systemis one of our favoritesbecause it totaily They look at their RPGgamers. messes with the mindsof established to other character sheetfor the first time and often start out by bragging players aboutwhat high statsthey havefor their characters. Shouting "We're numbertwelve!"would not be nearlyasgoodas t shouting "We're numbersix!"

123

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We knewthatyou wouldn'tbesatisfied with the ,,Go basic system, especially since it essentially says, getanXDM andlet himdo allthework.',Sohere you arewith the Advanced Player's Guidesothatyou cantakeour nicesimple system andmake it overly justlikeevery complicated,' othergame company. types asthose mentioned for basic XD20 charyou feelsuperior, acters, but if it makes you can believe that advanced characters allowfor a vastly widervariety.) your characters 4. Determine you now STATS! Yes, have three rather thaniustone.These stats each have a name: TAC, PSYCH, andWAH. TAC stands for "Toughness andConstitutionr" repreyour physical senting strength andhealth; PSYCH your intelligence, represents wisdom, smaru;and your mystical power, WAH represents karma, and luck.Determine even these threenumbers by the same method asin Basic Character Generation. Foreach you roll oned8 (that,s of your STATS, an eight-sided die) andsubtract that number from fifteen. Thisresults in a number between seven and fourteen. Remember: in XD20 system, the /oweryour your stat-number thebetter character. Do thisfor each of your STATS separately. Thisresults in threeseparate numbers, each between seven and fourteen. 5. Modiff your STATS: lf yourcharacrer type has (can anymystical abilities cast spells or healother characters mystically or do anything else beyond

AdvancedXD2O Character Generation

Advanced XD20 characters arefar morecomplicated thanthe basic character your andvastly expand options in play.t Follow these instructions carefully andyou will soonbe ready to playin the high-powered worldof Advanced XD20. I . Writeyour name on youradvanced character sheet. 2.Write your characfer name on your advanced (See character sheet. basic character instructions on names.) 3. Determine you areplaying. the typeof character (Advanced XD20 characrers followthe same

But still paradigm-alterlng and more fun. Comparatlvely speaklng, that ls.

25

SYSTEM XDro Rorep,nvrNc

Look,let'sfaceit, whatyou have on you at any given timeis going to be dependent on (l ) howprepared you werein the firstplace and(2) the situation you findyourself in. 6. Writedowneach in the of yourmodifred STATS Ask if you arecarrying a battleaxe. Well,if provided. yourcharacter threeboxes typeis "warrior"or especially if it is "knight"andthe game we areplaying is setin a your character's 7. Determine health: Thisis how fantasy version of Medieval Europe thenl'd saythe physical muchpunishment, or mental, thatyour oddsareprettygoodyou'vegot sucha weapon on character cantakebefore dropping dead or going you. On the otherhand, if you askme if you are nutsand,in either case, mostlikely falling out of carrying thatsame battleaxe andyour Totalthe two lowest the game. numbers of your character typeis "paleontologist" and STATS andwritethisnumber in the HEALTH the game we'replaying is seton a presprovided. space ent-day dinosaur island, thenthechances aregoing to be muchmoreslight unless yourCharacter you'rereferring 8. Determine Level: Write ratherirreverently to a '|' in thespace down thenumber mother-in-law rather thantheweapon. EILL provided. you claimto be caraUISARME, lf, however, Ar YOUR. SEWICE, ryinga thermonuclear weapon andyour iloNstEuR.! YourAdvanced Congratulations! character typeis a "cabinboy" playing in pirate game? XD20 Character is nowcompletely ubera sixteenth century Caribbean detailed in every waythat counts! Let'sjustsaythatthe chances of thisparitemappearing ticular areastronomically (moreon whythisis Stuff: Skills, Weapons, badbut stillpossible Supplies,Armor later).Likemostthings in roleplaying, it you your quick if down Okay.So wantto know comes to a roll.YourXDM you a number isa black character beltin TaeKwan Do, will assign thatyou have to your good, is carrying a Bill-guisarmet, roll on d2O.lf has enough a odds are the rations for an expedition roll will be easy. to the South lf your oddsarebad,the Pole rollwill be hard.lf yourodds or Kevlar bodyarmor? Such critical areclown questions your oddsarenear areanswered by theXDM using ridiculous, shoes theofficial anddefinitive XD20 rules impossible. statement: games, you Sometimes in roleplaying "Maybe." quality findvarying levels of in equipment. This is usually expressed asa lf asked for a clarification of thisrule,you ,\, Kt weapon or device "plus"or a "minus" mayanswer with: simifying its modifrcation to something or other. "Thatdepends." lmportantSafety Tip In the XD20 system * Youcansubtract yourTACor yourPSYCH all fourfromeither 5TAT, lower numbers arebetter. Therefore if someone or you cansubtract onefromyourTAC STATandthreefromyourPSYCH youa " + 70 dragon-slayer wants to hand sword," STAT, oryou cansubtract twoeach fromyourTACandPSYCH STAT, or you cansubtract threefromyourPSYCH STATandonlyonefromyour you should at themfor tryingto pawnoff iustlaugh TAC STAT,or you cansubtract all four poins fromyourPSYCH STAT. piece such a cursed of iunkon you! Whatyoureally Hey,that's whythisisADVANCEDI gisarme (sometimes or bisarme) was a poleweapon used t A guisarme wantisa "-5 rusting sword" because it will not only primarily in Europe between I000- | 4OO A.D. lt was to dismount used your improve in d20 die roll combat by 25o/o butwill knigtsandhorsemen. Likemostpolearms it was developed by peasans by withlongpoles: in thiscase combining hand tools by putting a pruning hook probably alsocause ruston the target. Thisweapon onto a spear shaft. is,in modern known onlyto RPG times, Yes, we really intend to mess with established gamer fanatics asgenerally themostuseless weapon anyroleplaying could possibly choose. role-players' heads here. the powers of mortalmen)thensubtract 2 from your character's WAH STATandadd4 totalto yourTAC and/orPSYCH STATS..

126

THE XD2o {nveNcED pLAyERs GUrDE

for a fewminutes before being miraculously revived by a nurse or a medic or whatever. Now, instead of being out in the fresh air, out of yourmom's hair,andgetting some decent sun, we'vemoved your the wholethingindoors, onto Doing Stuff: Movement and Actions mom's table.Thenwe playthesame mindgames in game Thisis a roleplaying soyou'reonly a moretroll-like existence.i Moreimportantly, howpretending to be doingstuff..That's whywe have ever, we have rules anddicethatdetermine whether rules to determine whether the stuffyou imagine thethings we imagine actually succeed or not. yourself doingactually works with whateveryone you attempt else Whenever to do something in an issupposed to be imagining together. XD20 game, you it justworks. Unless aretryingto Okay,that didn't make that muchsense to do something that hasa reasonable expectation of meeither. youwereout in Thepointisthatwhen failure. I mean, it wouldbemind-blowingly annoying your backyard playing army,or copsandrobbers, or for everyone to roll a dieevery timetheytook a step Rambo, or whatever, it always came downto oneguy downthestreet. ("Did I trip?""Did I trip?")On saying, the otherhand,if you weretryingto stepacross a You'redead!" "Bang! ten-thousand foot deepcrevasse bridged onlyby a And thenthe otherkid saying, one-inch thickgreased steel cable. . . well,not only | shotyou frrst!" "Nu-huh! wouldthatbe far moreexciting thatjustwalking go Thisargument would back andforthuntil downthe street but mostdefrnitely require some onekid either wenthome or laiddownon the ground seriously considered dicerolls. Remember to writedownstuffwhenyou getit sothat you canremind the XDM laterthat hewas you to have foolish enough to have allowed it in the firstplace.

SEEN ASTRONOilICALLY IMPRO9ABLE TO

sHouLoPul YOUQ.
9PLEEN RIOI|TSACK

A BLESSIN6 THAT

6AW YOU'RE OOTNO rO

ROLL EVEWTIIAEYOU LACEYOUR gOOlS, EVENTUALLY SOffiETHINa LIKE

THIS SECONES A STATSTrcAL

* In theory,although this beingan XDM game,you,ll probably be doingmore than iust sittingaroundthe tablesucking down iunk food in your questfor ultimare valor.

The very quintessence of progress.

127

SYSTEM XDro Rgrs fr,nvrNc

substitute for punching someone, but throwing dicewill justhave pretending recommend to do. We certainly with a sword the over realthing. justencountered Yourcharacter has a monster l. Describe the actionWhenyou do something game, for now which, reasons but which made in the unclear sense describe it. lt's assimple assaying, at the time,deserves to be put downandrightnow.As "l walkdownto the endof the corridor,"or, you catch goes, sometimes the bearand mouth, brandishing the old saying "l leapintothedragon's you ... but which sometimes catches the bear is it? my hatpin." That's whywe have combat resolution. lf it's timeto smack the monster 2. Should or seeif the I bother? TheXDM should thenask you, smacks following monster use the basic combat herself whether thisaction warrants anykindof dicerolling.ls therea possibility of interesting resolution: failure? lf something mightgo wrong, thenyou probably l. Combat rounds All combat is resolved in need to roll some dice. Rounds-like boxing rounds, but usually with a lot moredeadly forceinvolved. Generafly, everybody 3. Determine the TargetSuccess NumberThe ges to takea involved in the current donnybrook XDM will lookat the mostappropriate characturn doingsomething-swinging, screaming, fleeing, ter STATand,using thatasa base, determine praying-during round. a combat a success number. Easier have things lower numbers. Harder things have higher numbers. 2. Who shotfrrst?What'son second? | dunno, Remember, whenit comes to die rollsfor sucthird base Unlikereallife,combat rounds in most cess less is best. TheXDM will addto (bad)or playing games (good) your ofher role areusually ordered affairs subtract from basic statnumber to with everyone taking turnsbeating oneanother's determine thistarget success number. brains into the floor.Thinkof thisasthewaythe preferred British wouldhave 4. Roll one d20 for basic to frghtthe war in the success lf you roll the pesky you Americas if those colonists hadn'tcheated targetnumber or higher, succeed. then you fail. by ducking behind andfiring trees theirguns whenOtherwise, evertheywanted, of instead taking turns. That's not theXDM way-as if you hadn't 5. Roll one d2Ofor degree You nowroll l d20 guessed getto t:tke by now.Players andmonsters dieto determine the degree of yoursuccess or theiractions during a round whenever failure. theXDM Youmight succeed with spectacularly get you says theydo. lf that means that all the players a roll of a 20, or mightfailspectacularly to taketheirturn andthenthe monsters all attack, withthatsame 20 if you blewyoursuccess roll. that's fine.lf thatmeans thatthe monsters attack getto react, firstandthenthe players 6. XDM explains that'sfine what happened asa resultThe too. lf that means that the XDM iustpoints to the XDM nowinterprets the result based on whethplayer whenit istheirturnto actandthewhole er you succeeded or not andto whatdegree you succeeded yourlumps thingis mixed up andcrazy in a waythatmore or failed. Take and geton with it. resembles actual life,thenthaf'sfinetoo. Solong gets asoneruleis always followed: everyone to do pointin a combat something at some round. (Or Hitting Stuff: Combat R.esolution moreif the XDM says theycan.) Thisis probably theonethingyou'llbe rolling the mostdicefor so let'sgetit overwith. Players prettymuch 3. Did l hit him?Combat is resolved loveto bash things; theywantto takeout their likeanyotheraction. TheXDM determines lifetime a of frustrations by pretending they'rebeating Target based Success Number on the character the livingdaylights out of something. lt's no real process Thebasic for resolving anyphysical action in the game is asfollows:

128

THEXDZO ADVAI{CEDPLAYERS GUIDE

or monster's rnost appropriate STAT.TheXDM will addto (bad)or subtract from (good)your basic sut number to determine thistarget success number. 4. Roll one d20 to determine basic success lf you you rofl the targetnumber or higher, then succeed. you fail. Remember Othenruise, thatyou always succeed with any20 rolledandyou always fail spectacularly withanyroll of a l. damage 6. Assign Anyonedamaged in the gamecharacters controlled by the players, or monsters controlled by the XDM-subtracts damage fromtheirHealth Stat.Onceyour Health stat you prepared belowl, drops hadbetterbe to your character do some fancybegging to keep alivebecause unless the XDM says othenrise, your character is dead. Dead characters are honorable andrevered in all XDM games, but onlyif theydie in heroic ways. Dying stupid is cause for ridicule. Death maybe mitigated in theXD20system by healing or miracles or magic andthe like.These should be treated as, respectively, or stuff" stuff." "doing "mystical

you do is de5.Rolldamage How muchdamage termined by whatyou'reusing to do the damage, duh!Using a fistagainst is a whole someone different storythanusing a tactical thermonuclear weapon. OnceyourXDM establishes thedamage Thinking Stuff: SureYou Think you should probably a weapon does, writeit down You're Smart andkeepit. Othenvise, problem askthe XDM howmuch Hereis the basic with "mental" your weapon damage problems games: does in diceterms andthen mechanics and in roleplaying You you'replaying roll those dicefor damage. andthecharacter almost certainly do not have the same mental abilities. it, when Face you rolledup your character in your favorite other FOR. AS 9ULKY AS YOUR playing game, you role somehow knewthat WANO OF O|S\NTEO(/4.T|ON tS, 7 SOKI your character wassmarter thanyou in real OF EXPECTEO I1 TO BC FRIENPlife.Normally, that'sokay- because if your you wanfto roll FOE OISCRIMINATINo, is broken starship in the game, diceto fix that hyperdrive rather thanhave the youa wrench DM hand anda boxof washing paruandtellyouto buildone. machine On theotherhand, if you come pair up to a of talking doors where one always liesandthe otheralways tellsthe truth,andyou'vewatched Labyrinth moretimes thanthe DM, you knowthe answer to thisriddle cold.Theprobyou are lemis thatthe idiot character playing game in the not.' might is least There at onegame out therethat gets around this particular problem by iustassuming thatthe dice aresmarter than you-or at least,
lt seemedlike sucha good idea to trade out those"mental" points for "strength" polntswhen you createdyour character.I mean,what gamecharacterever actuallyuses thosementalstatistics anyway.Stay tuned. *

129

p,avrNcSYSTEM XDro RoLE

your character the properarbiter of howsmart is in CastingSpellsand Mystical Stuff game. the Yourcharacter comes up to a sphinx and Wait!Wait!Whataremy spells? Where aremy powerful you "the ques- spells? the massively critterposes Hereisthethingthatcouldblowyourmind: tion of the ages." Nevermindwhatthatquestion is, Feel you want.I mean, you'relike freeto cast anything priest, or what"four legs in the morning, two in the after- a magician, voodoosomething, right?Surely magic is based on fundamentals rather noonandthreein theevening" has to do withman's thanprefab progression the XDM says otherwise, invent any through thismortalcoil.All you have to unis. Sounless you you spell want for the are in. circumstances your character's do is roll your diceagainst smartyour character gets ness factorandeither it or you doesn't-whether do or not. While level thismakes a certain of TT{AO SURRENPER' game-sense, I mean, comeon! Thisis a THAA'URENOER! game played mainly on theimaginary stage of yourmind,the place puzzles where andriddles are supposed to be solved. Where is the problem-solving in roleplaying if the diceiustsolve the problem for you?And theydon't evengiveyou the solution but iusttellyouthatthe problem "is solved," muchthe same waythe government works in economic bail-outs. Here's the rulein XD20 games: Think your game of in the character asthough he yourbuddy were nextto you..lf the sitting game presents you with a puzzle requiring the useof higher-order differential calculus and you don't happen to be into thatsortof thingrecreationally, thenturn to your player character, roll the dicefor him or herand Bewarned, however. lt is up to theXDM'sdiscresee if theyknow.YourXDM will consider theiraption asto your oddsof casting it, andwhatthe efpropriate in the same STATor PSYCH score wayas fects are.Magic, being whatit is,canoccasionally-ok, doingphysical stuff.+ often-gowrong.Forthe mostpart,casting is the spells On the otherhand,if you happen to be a foren- same you're ashittingstufFwhenthe magic cooking sicpathologist in reallifeandareplaying anXD2O you wantto up is intended to do damage. lf, however, game pathologist likemass being run by a forensic cast a utilityspell, sleep, do the following: andall the otherplayers at the tablealsohappen to be forensic l. Tell the XDM all aboutthe magical spectacular pathologists, it is legitimate for your partyto do an you you like would to create If have triedto pull extensive autopsy on anydeadbodies thatyou might just give off thissame spellbefore, it a name. lf frndlyingaround in the dungeon+ if your . . .even you've it is something cooked up special for the player character has an intelligence of 18. occasion, or if the XDM wants morespecifics out you, you're going of have to to be a bit more your player believe that character " On the other hand,ifyou actually is sitting next to you or speaking to you from his miniatureon the descriptive aboutwhatyou expect out of your you to the nearest table, please havesomeoneat the uble assist health magical effect. professional available.
t See"Doing stuff Movementand Actions" on page127. heardofsuch a group f Sure,laughifyou dare ... but I haveactually gamers. of role playing on page128. 5 See"Hitting Stuff:CombatResolution"

130

THEXDzo {nvnNcED PLAYERS GUrDE

around a table clutching the paper character shees whileplaying or hunched overa keyboard in massive players multiplayer online environments-all havehad overriding onesingular, obsession: To level up. Untilnow. Leveling is, for the XDM, a plague that has infected the otherwise healthy bodyof roleplaying. lt 3. Wimp or wow? Rollyour second d20 to deterartificial no application measure thathas minethe degree of success or failure of thespell. isanentirely in the realworld.lt is truethat in military forces, a (E-2)maybe proudto be advanced to Private necessary by your Private 4. Whator whatever?lf deemed (E-3)andthatceruinly First-Class likeleveling looks XDM,you mayneed to roll additional d20sto justbecause thatE-2is nowan E-3 determine otherrandom factors, such asduration, up. However, necessarily make harder doesn't himappreciably to location, etc. shoot at, nor does it allowhim to takemoredamageunder frre.Even if he makes it all thewayto E-8 Example Youarefacing an armyof stone warriors (Master Sergeant) while will, he admittedly, beone will cast a spell!" The XDM, soyou say, sleep "l you probably generous, youthatit flatout toughhombre that shouldn't mess with feeling unusually tells in a barfight,he is stillequally susceptible to damage failsbecause warriors As they stone don't sleep. your previous froma grenade between you revise hisfeetasthatsame E-2. continue to approach, glacial We're not characters saying that shouldn'f idea anddeclare will sleep the cast on "l advance. We all wantto getbetterandyour player warriors." stone is no exception. WhatXDM isagainst is the TheXDM wants to knowwhatit is aboutglacial character player youthinkit wouldmake with enough levels characters thatmakes anydif- ideathat any sleep anindestructible tankon legs. ference to stone warriors. You explain that glacial becomes We weregoing to throwout the wholeleveling spellagainst stone warriors sleep that "is a special but thing altogether, everyone started to whineand frozen human make themfall into a state similar to cry so.. .fine!Youcanhave a leveling system and sleep." youyourlevel. here it is. TheXDM asks Yousay7. The pointsfor just about You accumulate youyourWAH. Yousay| 3. He then experience XDM asks you think you should anything accumulate says, Yourollyour "Okayroll an | 8 or better." points experience for doing.These areawarded d20 andgeta l9! TheXDM grumbles andthen glacial entirely at the discretion of the XDM andit is says, sleep spellhis the stone "Creatthe none howtheydetermine of yourbusiness this warriors. Rollfor effect." get number. roll The XDM You again and a 5. interprets thisandsays that abouta quarter of the warriors Whenyou haveaccumulated suffrcient experiin theirtracks. arefrozen your go encepoints, character will up to the points next level. How many experience are spells won'trequire Of course many somuch required to getto the nextlevelis a complicated you hadbeen rolling. lf, in the above example, a level partof whichinvolves peasants formula, concentrated 18casting sleep level on a small armyof one meditation. YourXDM will let you knowwhen theXDM wouldprobably askyou to roll for success (perhaps this has happened. l2 or better) and that's it. a 2. Flightor fnzle?TheXDM will modifyyour appropriate (which statistic will beyour STATin the game game) basic or WAH in the Advanced and tell you whatyou have to roll for your attempt at thisto workat all.

Characterlmprovement3Gaining Levels
roleplaying Since the beginning of themodern game, players around crouched the globe-whether

goesup a level,addthe Whenyour character number of levels that your XDM tellsyou to add-hopefully, iustone-to your previous you wereIevel level.lf, for example, character

XDro Rgre p,evrNcSYSTEM

You've hundreds-if spent not thousands of game dollars on otherroleplaying have a rystems, redwagon full of reference boolsthatyou love,and That'sit. lt does not affectyourotherstatistics one you iustcan'tgo coldturkeywith the superior (if points. bit. Youdo not getmorehealth You do XD20 system. abbreviated) We undersund. We even not getmoreTAC, PSYCH or WAH poins (if sympathize. All you really needed wasthisbook,but you'replaying withAdvanced XD20characters). it's too latefor that now. Mostof the statistics for you All the levelallows to do is sayto the XDM, XD20 games aregenerated based entirely on the be ableto hit thisuntrained "But, hey,I should expert andhighly-trained of the XDM. So iudgment goonmoreeasily because my character is level2!" if someone wants to usea weapon or magical artifact or, "l thinkI couldcast water lilyon themenacing fromanother game, glance at the overlycomplex child,cause l've finally reached level| 8!" Your statistics for the device, assign it a TAC statanda XDM will takethisintoaccount-or not. Damage stat-Health stator evena PSYCH or WAH good. statif you feelinclined-and it call justadvanced your I before andhave onelevel, is nowlevel2 andhasaccess character to altthe rights andprivileges that thisnewlevelprovides.

Conversion from Other Systems

132

ADVAr{cED f,HanncrER$Hrrr XDzo,,

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This mess age srill selFdestpuct in lO secosrdsMinimum saFe distaflce is Foun hundned sneterrs-

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ltrucroN MASTERv flnxonooK f, HemER SEVENTEEN: XDzo

it in the store. for the bookrather thaniustreading you For will be subject All the powers to thiscurse. YouareanXDM. Oneof thefew.Oneof the bewithdrawn of thegaming spirits shall andleave priviproud.Oneof those been fewwho have select you in vainfor a game that desolate. Youshall search leged to be admitted into the innercircleof knowledge your and each shall will satisfy lust for entertainment, passed XDMsbring lifeand downfromthe ancients. been in your hands. You have turn to dry cardboard fun back intogaming. warned!r purchased foughtfor this, the franchise You have righs,. andnowareready to bewhatso manyhave Theory of Game Relativity XDMI dreamed A fully-fledged of becoming. Anything thathappens in a game, or that wantto do in mightworkin a game, or that players a game, is relative to its storysetting surroundings. in a A revolver mightbe reasonably common pressed you'd be hard to 1920shorror but settin& with the Likewise, come up one during Crusades. XDM and lf you arenot anoffrcially sanctioned might comein handy during the Battle a phaser+ you arereading thissection of the book,thenyou good luck frnding the right of Thermopylae, but by knowthat thispartof the bookis protected should batteries. passed Tibetan downfrom SunTzu, an ancient curse, Whileyour players seem to have the abilityto periods which will affect of allof yourdierollsduring pull out of theirhac at anygiven iusttherightrabbit thefull moonandmany of yourotherdierollsat all ('Oh, soXeryes is attacking? | pulla tactical moment othertimes. Woeuntoyou who lookuponthewords Mastery Handbook without of theXD20 Dungeon purchased f Likewe couldreallystopyou, but this did giveus the opponunityto having firsthaving beenpurified, or possibly price write a cool curse.It's the way they did copyrightbackin the old days paidfullcover franchise righs,or at a minimum

lntroduction to XD2O for XDMs

* lf you haven'tpurchased you might consider your localfranchise rights, doingso!

got around to it, so we thought it might be effective before governments here.Oh, that reminds me, this book is copyrighted. is a direct-fire,beam-based, energyweaponfrom the StarTrek f Phaser universe, and we're sorry for borrowingit here.

13+

XDZO DUNGEoN MASTERY HANDBoOK

nuke out of my backpack!") theymaybe verylimited by the rules of the setting in your game. Youdecide if yourworldis based closely on historical classical you canforgetthe Greek mythology-in whichcase nuclear weapon tactical evenremotely showing up, andyou should smack anyplayer it-or you suggesting gonzo thatyourworldis completely candecide and Spartans actually did have weapons tactical of mass destruction available to them. (anddidyou notice HOWEVE& howbigwe you mustdo the following made that however) or your status forever lose asan XDM: (l ) Establish fromthe the rules of yoursetting beginning. (2) Onlychange themunder exfreme duress. An XDM muif be consistent in hisinterpretation of the setting rules. You maynot givephasers to Spartans withoutgiving disruptors to the Persians. Five: this,too. Wecalled it "Chapter Designing for Story"andit ison page 42.You should select linear design, openmatrix, matrix either or closed for youradventure. Mountthison the narrative frame. Thinkof it asthe bodyof the car-thegeneralshape into whicheverything else will frt. beatchartfor your adventure A 3. Create a basic in your beatchartis an outline of the encounters An example adventure. canbe foundin "Killer Beats" on pageI05 Thenature andapproach to thisbeatchartwill depend uponwhichmatrixyou for the game. ln every case make sure iustchose rises with the rising thatdifficultyof the encounters action.

Adventure Design
You'vecomeup with the basic rules for your (anything setting from strictlyhistorical, to anythinggonzo), goes andit's timeto create for the the design actual adventure. whatyou do to make it all Here's cometogether: 1. Establish the basic structure of your adventure your adventure You do thisby frrstconsidering page (see in terms of the Cambellian Monomyth youshould 30). Yes, if yourgame do thiseven is aboutmutantclowns Sheboygan attacking your withcream-pie bazookas.. ]ustbecause game you canignore is goofy,doesn't mean games structure. lf anything, about mutant clowns attacking Sheboygan require moreattentionto structure. Narrative structure is the youwill hang frame on which in everything else the game. Makeit strong. for 2. Determine the general matrixapproach your adventure We'vealready talked about
Attack Sheboygan with their Cream-Pie Bazookas" is "Mutant Clowns a trademark of Tracy Hickman, CurtisHickman, and HowardTaylerand is usedherewith their permission. Adventures based on this incredibly markeubleideashouldobtainthe permission of the copyright holders beforebeingwritten.XDMs desiring to write adventures in the "Mutant ClownsAttack Sheboygan with their Cream-Pie Bazookas" settingmay obtainthe non-exclusive rightsto do so by sending $5 U.5. to the copyright holders.Copyright 2009, all rightsreserved. *

TRIP LOOKS

LIKEtT'SOOINO rO 681 HAQOER AS WEOET

cLosEQ.l0 rHE IOP,

|tt, ,;

135

p,avlxc SYSTEM XDzoR9LE

lf you'reusing a Linear design thenthisbeat be a series of encounters one chartwill simply it is important to afterthe other.In thiscase in the chartthe arcof thestory establish directly will have in iself. Encounters a clearincrease up to the climax. diffrculty campaign lf you areusing anopenmatrix design thenyou will stillwantto chartsome withoutany sortof story,but it will be almost Youwill stilltell a story dependence on location. the but it will unfoldprettymuchwherever players frndit. you are matrix-then lf you areusing a closed your beatchartbased on a trueXDM! Create make expanding locations, surethestoryarcis established throughout the flowof the matrix, game gamers andimpress with your incredible design skills. prettymuchall you 4. Fill in the restYou have need to run the adventure at thispoint,but if you wantto lockmoreof it downon paper, Beprepared by design coolandimpressive maps. you feelareneedful. filling in allthe blanks XDM'siudgment is key.Youhave to make thatiudghappening in yourgame at mentcallbased on what's thetime. We can'tbe thereandholdyour handduring the guidelines game call,but we cangiveyou some about general Try whatmightconstitute modifrer. a decent your game. work in these andseeif they

oo YouotvE

WHAT c/00s

AdventureTranslation
One of the coolthings aboutthe XD20 system is thatyou caniustprettymuchlift anyold advengame ture from anyone's system andstillhave a good time.Youhave to throwout alltheircumbersome mechanics but, hey,that'swhatbeing an XDM is all Approach a published adventure module likea about! what's valuable fromthe adventure chopshop:Take andleave the restin a canal. Theimportant thingis thatyou takethe aweparts of an adventure, thenmountthemon an some XDM chassis.

TLL FETCH YOUR, CLOWN

Target Diffrculty Determination

Thisis the bigone,the veryheartof XDM resolution.lt's up to youto make thiscallandno oneelse cando it for you. Everything staruwith the base STATfor any moving, thinking, action-whether that is frghting, reasonable or magic. Thetrickcomes in assigning in the game. modifiers to anyaction Thatis where an

135

XD zo DUNGEoN MASTERY HANDBooK

9erlously. Wa mean llke brcrthlng.lf someonc In your game ls golng to try and ure gravity on Earth, thls modifler would rpply You kidding me? Forgetabout itl Relax,everyonel Walk in the park No problem I got it Donethis before Not so tough -12 -1O -8 -6 -4 -3 -2 -1 lf no other factors apply,thsn modlflers don't elthca Lct thom rofl agalnst thGir st.t. Not sure Newto me Anybody else? Tricky Palmswet, mouth dry Sweatin'bulletshere Must change shirt Changesomethingelse... No way l'm doing thatl Who do you think I am? Let me outt Let me outl lmprobable Astronomical lmpossible Inconceivablel +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +1O +11 +12 +13 +14 +15 "Clown Shoes" lr our XDM code for somethlng eo polntlcrely rldiculous that brlnglng lt up is laughable. "l'm golng to try dlvlng Into the sun and comlng out th. other ide." Yeah,buddy, roll the dice and wc'll soc. "Clown ShoesRldiculous" ir the ONLY tim the automati< 2Orucccss rulc is changed. Theflrct roll determlnes lf the attempt camc off at all. Thc second ndur.l 20 would lndlcate succesr,with any other rerult Intorproted as a degree of failure. We gotta draw the line somewhere.
On this side are the various degrees of hard, ranging from a bit tricky,to who in their right mind would even attempt this.

Theseare various degreesof easy,ranging from the almost sure bet,to the casualapproachto somethingthat shouldn'tbe a big problem.

137

XDro Rgrp p.nvINcSYSTEM

your nicebigtableto lookat, Now that you have we aregoing XDM secret thatyou to tell you a basic from and,for that matter, mustkeepfromyour players game referees on the planet. all theother,non-XDM it getinto the is so powerful that,should Thissecret gaming it coulddestroy hobby aswe wrong hands, knowit: stuffback on page127. That'sfinefor mechanics, into but your realiob asanXDM is to bringmeaning you game. need that That means of this the numbers for the players. the results to interpret we separate the XDMsfrom the Hereis where of the meanYourinterpretetion everyday wimps: Do nottell to thegame. ingbehind the roll is critical Tellhimwhatthat hischeck. a player he hasfailed graphic You him in detail. Give it to failure means! your TAC check. I say"Oh, you missed mustnever guess you didn'tmake it overthatchasm." lnstead you should chasm across the gaping say,"You leap with the raven' by your lastencounter but, weakened failyou!Youclawa the air butyou ousYak,yourlegs you make on the far won't the ledge already know wall,the against the far chasm side. Yourbodyslams gulfbelow..." you intothe empty force rebounding It isyouriob to interpretthe dicerollsand give not iustreport meaning to theirresults, andimpact Jports scores.

your you try to make No matterhowrealistic game, the rules or the modino matterhowdetailed die roll thatcan fiers,it stillcomes downto a single numbers. Thismeans withoneof twenty onlyrespond response canonly of the games thatthe resolution scale increments. comein 5olo withcharuwhich Youcanspend all daydealing essentially try to grapple with the ideathat oneweapon on the is .03olo thanthe nextweapon moreaccurate moredamage. list,but thesecond weapon does .2650lo Butin theend,you'restillrolling thatsame d20 andit is physically impossible to accurately simulate anydifferenceless than5ol0. downthrough Youcanspend all daywinding andit stillis only for absolute accuracy charsandtables going of the diceyou to comedownto the resolution roll. investigations accident We'renot doing aircraft of realism. cut here, thatlevel andwe don'tneed Just number andgeton to thechase, assign a reasonable with the game.

CAN 1 RC-ROLL

Dealingwith Doing Stuff

Yes, we already told you howto takecareof doing
* Yes,we know all aboutbell probabiliry whentouling multipledice curves a finer resolution than the one we're talkingabout. thrown and how it gives We havebeendoing this for over a quarter of a century. However,the point is that whileyou get a niceprobabiliry bell curveout of throwingtwo or resultsper die three six sideddice, it still comesdown to only six possible ofthe game thrown.Justget usedto the ldeathat the finer the resolution it becomes. Dealwith it. system,the more complex and unplayable

a
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138

XD z o DUNGEoN MAsrERy HANDBooK

Dealingwith Hitting Stuff
We already dealtwith thisa lot in the player section youwouldlikeus on page128.l'm sure give you los of additional to rules likehowto dealwith partial cover,hardcover,moving cover, covercharges, sofacovers, andotherreally smalldetailsimulation issues thatcropup in all such games. you wouldlikea tablethat liss the Perhaps penetration modifiers for various types of fences, walls, crates, andtrash cans versus a variety of crossbow bolts,rocks, depleted-uranium howitzer shells, andbeam-energy weapons. Gee,doesn'tthat sound likefun! Well,we'renot going you to do it. Haven,t paying been attention? lf you really wantallthat stuff,go ahead andbuyotherpeople's RPGs. Use theirinformation asa guideline your for making call.lt all comes youassign downto themodifrers to the roll and,let'sbe honest, yourplaywhoamong question ersshould yourjudgment? lf you wantto include all thatstuffin yourcalculations on a finaltargetnumber for the roll, that'sfinewith us.Solongas you remember the XDM secret you above. we gave Youshould creatively interpret themeaning of combat yourdescriptions dicerolls. Temper your for audience. Keep it lightfor younger, or moresensitive,players. Got a character standing underan Armageddon-sized meteor about to annihilate the known worldandall you cancomeup with is. . .well,maybe that,s a bad example, butthe pointisthatmagic, unless handled properly, is a crutch. Too oftenmagic is viewed asthe exception to the rule,rather thana subset of the rules themselves. This rather scientific-logic sounding statement means that games in mostroleplaying theyspend several chapters you howthe physics telling of theuniverse arehandled (combat, movement, skills, actionresolution) andthen, your head afteryou barely have wrapped around those present you with a section concepts, on magic that turnsall thaton its head with a completely different set of rules. Nutzto that. Whatareyou going to do?Hereis howyou,asan XDM,should deal withmagic. Some of it starubefore the game begins. 1. How relevant is magic in your game? Remember when we hadthatfatherly talkon page134 about the Theory of GameRelativity? Youfirstneedto decide is invofved in your iusthowmuchmagic game. ls thereno magic at all?Does it flowlike water, to the pointwhere everyone cancast spells willy-nilly? Does it require considerably training to even achieve thesmallest effect or is it an incredibly powerful getout of forcewhichcaneasily hand if not carefully controlled? All of these are possible you and have to knowthat before the game starts andmake it clearto your players iust howit's going to be.

Dealingwith Magic (or not)

you have Thisis probably where to workthe mostin a game.Magic is,admittedly, a problem because a proper XDM does hisbest to put thework off onto players in the game. Still,therecanbe no 2. Adjustall magic for relevance helpfor it, soyou'lljusthave Onceyou establish to suck it up anddo it. your how game, magic work problem in Thebiggest stickwith it and with magic is that it is general always start with the same so...generic. adjustmens Manyhack for authors through theages your magic setting. whowished plot-holes to getaround theydugfor themselves knowyou cansmooth anything overwith 3. Do not treat magicasan exceptionto the rutes a liberal application of magic. Theheroic character, Youmustalways your partof treatmagic who asan integral readers will followthrough a contracted your universe, not as an exception. three-book Consistency series, is suspended in a thousand feetin treating magic is the key. the air by chains froma cavern ceiling overa hungry lavadragon. He is doomed andthisis onlybookone. As with all otherresolutions Save of die rollsin the him with magic. Yourprincess is thrownovergame, your it remains with board magic not to justgive fromthe pirate shipwitha cannon iob strapped results the but to interpret theirmeaning to her daintyfeetandhands. aswell. Save herwith magic.

XDro Rgre p,evrNcSYSTEM

Thepointis thatcharacters mustdie in games so people play get real that who them don't wrong the point game your Youcometo a in the where idea.Games where characters do not die-or where players areasking to do things that aresimply they never fail-do a huge diservice to the worldby your impossible in setting. people teaching these thattheycando stupid things Thentheycan'tdo it. lsn'tthatthe definition of and be right. all impossible? No matterhowmuchtheywantto clap Moreover, unless thereis some element of for the fairyandwishwith all theirheartthatthe giant game-in risk in the this case, adventurers risk their forty-thousand ton boulder rolling overthemwill not game purpose lives-then loses the all andchallenge. flatten theminto an unrecognizable sticky mass, well,it game if So, the characters in the wouldrather wouldbe a disservice to themto let themliveiustto be die, let then themdo soanddecrease the surplus nice. player population. character people Whatisthis"being nice" keep telling me aboutanyway?

Resolving the lmpossible

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y[zo f,nrerunr fooex f,HenrER ETcHTEEN'

goingto putin anextensive Note:Wewere andcomprehensive list with statistics of all themythological, magical, monstrous, and mundane creatures that you mightencounter genre your imagination, in whatever strikes but the thought you probably exhausted us.Look, already BOUGHT thosebooks filledwith all that stuff from someone else, so why iustbry it alloveragain? Drag out your favorite monsrer book,convert the stats on thefly, andhave a goodtime. However, we knowthatyou will wantsome form of crutchfor your game so we present to you several exclusive monsters available ONLyin theXD20 game cysyou profess tem.Since to bean XDM,we'll letyou practice by fillingin the statistics for these monsfers. Youevengetto NAME them. How unique is that?

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.IHIS SHIRT FEELS

YOU WENT UP A LEVEL WHEN

OpprcrAlly $nNcuoNrD XDMffrncHnworsr

Putyourself on the pathto gaming fortune and yourownXDM franchise! by establishing success For you cangetin on the the investment of a fewdollars, ground gaming's floorof oneof role-playing fastestgrowing pseudo-phenomenon.' international Foryour investment of $20 you will be granted yourownoffrcial the semi-irrevocable rightto establish XDM Triberightout of yourownhome or business! And there's more:t o Private andsecure access to our onlineblog for XDM ClanMasters onlyandyour personal codekeythatwill allowyou access digital to messages, Tribemeetings, secret Q8tA and clandestine convention events. . A signed photographs of the GrandMasters of XDM suitable for framed adoration.

. One official your semi-irrecertifrcate establishing Simply visitour website at vocable status asan official XDM ClanMaster and www.xtremedungeonmastery.com for more - possibly your elevation to XDM level2 status information regarding thisopportunity. signed by the GrandXDM masters themselves+. TrueXDMsuses onlyofficially sanctioned XDM jeans, protective gear. black t-shiru, dice,and A . Twelve blankXDM certifrcates for you to assign complete listof available official XDM items canbe (at your personal discretion) to those XDM refoundat www.xtremedungeonmastery.com cruig thatyou bringinto your localTribe.
* Look,we can it iust got stanedwith this,so how much of a phenomenon be if we're letting you in on the ground floor? doesnot exceed $2. Why shouldour scam f Total valueof itemsincluded be any differentthan other scams? the original. We cannotvouchfor the multiplecopies we $ Well, we signed printed, subsequently

jerk, Okay we will actually signthe picture.We can't be complete

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l. Howmany sides areon a dodecahedron? physics, A. O-Youdon't understand basic do you?. B. 2-Well,at least it isan ODDsize for dice. C. 1-Monopoly dice,friend. D. I O-Technically correct. E. 2O-XDM'srarely see the needfor dice! player 2. Oneyoung at theendof thetable. .. A. O-And don'tcomeback! B. 2-Neverleave a player behind! C. O-YouNEVER for stopthe game psychobable! D. 20-Excellent technique for frguring out his style! E. I O-lustbecause it'scool! C. 20-Totalfabrication; the making of an XDM. D. lO-Goodtechnique if you cancome up behind with a reason it. E. 5-OK technique, but betterto solve the problem.

6. Did you lookat the answers before taking this test? A. lO-for being honest. B. 2-You mightbe president oneday,but not XDM. an C. 2O-This istheessence of being anXDM! D. 5-For being honest about cheating. E.O-Youmayhave a futureasa non-player character.

3. Two trains ... A. lO-Technically correct butyou'llstillhave to waitfor your badge. you triedto do the math. B. 2-At least -lt C. I onlyFEELS liketrains collide at Gencon. D. 2O-Thinking outside the box. A bribe on thistestdoesn't hurt. E. O-Whyareyou evenreading thisbook? you everbeen 4. Have a member of the Communist Party? A. 4-Shows commitment. B. 4-Shows commitment. C. 2-Not fastenough. D. lO-Your priorities arein the rightplace. E. 0-Too muchsolitare. jumps 5. Theplayer up fromthetable ... A. 2-Technically correct, butalso leads to bloodyfighs. B. O-Never apologize for a ruling!

Score Results
1 2o r less Youarea perfect for candidate gettingthe pizza for the game.

you considered 13-30 Have becoming a professiona l'Non-player racter'? Cha 3 1 - 6 0 Congratulations! Withsignificant,, youcanbecome training an XDM.' 61-80 Cong ratulations! Youarenatural bornXDMmaterial!2 8 1 - 1 2 0 Congratulations!You arean XDM! Youqualify for ouradvanced placement program.3 Remedial mathematics courses are nowopenat yourlocalHighSchool

* The Mdbiusdie hasyet to be invented.We haveXDMs in Turkey workingon it.

I Your training will startat level I assoonasyou purchase this book. this book,you will be admittedat onceinto your XDM 2 By purchasing trainingprogram at frrstlevel. programmeans placement 3 Advanced that all of your initiationfeeshave beenwaived. All you will needto purchase is this book asyour coursework materials. You stan as a level I Wet Newt XDM

51

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YOU NEEO 'IHE TO FLIP

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'laal :le;dugs qrnu 7 lel suP aql saleu s!l.ll.,'ap!/r^ leal oiAl, qllmrrled punore aqt JnoJ,, are;dar laeJ $n! 'asereqrs!leql 'Ise ol qlnu eprlte s!slqr(sra{e;d .ro)s.ropem Jl p;dnrs;o p;nor dn apeu uEleduer e u! leqran8;e 'lllts 'srno{ u! pera^olslp {pear;e auo uoeq t,useq pue ppo/r{ {em s! areql rno o8e srea{ ou uo t! se^ rd tprll uaqt llel rd Eulsn lnoqe 0OO' pesn rno{ Jl 'q6lqlaal g'I punore ueou sra{e;d Mou '!d = )L/v os ^q I ap;n;p s! aer aql pueE | no{ (taa;rno; Eu;aq) e)uaraJun)r!) eql uo{ U puuoI 'releuelp n;{dru;s s; (puno$eql uo regqleJ U 's;1e; 'auo 8ugunsse) aerl aql reUV t,us! lq8laqn1 {lyealaraql 'remsue lanal).ro{seaeqrloJ lool ol paulllu! (s;{emppoe u1pue)alppg s!auoasneleq asoql e eM spunos teqrs8ultll Jo euosl qql Zl-U 'z 'speap=Jonlls speaH=Jeddo] =re s l l e J=Ja d d o 3 'sp e a p ^l l S' l (1uo :sa;r;;;qlssod o/vu r*ouaan e^eq dn speeq spuel ulol la^llsot{lleql /}toularl 'a)ueJaJ -J!pe eleu.t srolorluaroJJlp saop aresu!o)leql DpJ asp) aql'0S-0S are{;;ear slrlr u! sppo aql l l-d

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QrossARY
Black Art Whena magician uses combinations of black clothandbright lightto perform illusions. Campaign A common name for a large scale role playing players go adventure where can in any (see direction theychoose. Linear Design) Campbellian Monomyth Thebasic structure for epic quantified storyas by Joseph Campbell in hisbook TheHerowitha Thousand Faces. We tell you all it starting about on page 30. Matrix Therecommended Closed form of game designfor all XDMs. Players areallowed freechoice withina range of directed events. RidiculousThisis our XDM codefor Aown Shoes something sopointlessly ridiculous bringthateven ingit up is laughable. Codex Thelatinword for book. In current it usage implies either ageor importance. Weiustthinkit sounds cool. That's whywe put onein our book. It is full of creatures. Crazy OldMan What? Him again? We thought we gate hadhim trapped in chapter six. Who left the open? CutScenesShortsegments of storywhere the players have no controloverevents.Commonly games. foundin video DM (See Dungeon Master) Dungeon Master (Alsocalled DM, GM, Game Master, GameReferee) Thisis the person who is in charge of organizing anddirecting a roleplayinggame.Thetraditional Dungeon Master relies heavily on charts, tables, andpiles of books to run game. you you the lf knowa Dungeon Master, runout andbuyhima copyof thisbook should rightaway. prop Any objectthat assists Expositional the XDM in conveying informatlon about thegame. Force A magician's technique to geta spectator to "randomly" select the cardthe ma$exactly cian wishes herto pick. Master (see Dungeon Game Master) Referee (see Dungeon Game Master) lt's right up there in the D section. GM (see Dungeon Master)No, D comes before G. Hickman, Curtis A GrandMega-lord Taloned Griffrn XDM andco-author You of thisbook. canlookhimup in the introduction. Hickman, Laura A CrandLadyPegasus XDM andwifeof Tracy Hickman. mentioned She's in the introduction too. Hickman, Tracy A GrandPaladin-lord Horned Dragon XDM andco-author of thisbook. Did you not readthe introduction? Implied Story Whenthe description or obiects in an adventure location cause the players to create in theirminds stories aboutwhatmight have occurred. Killer BreakfastJustfindout where the nearest oneis to your location andgo to it. Thatwill workfar betterthananyexplanation we can give. Or you couldiustgo readthe whole chapter'we devoted to talking aboutit. Weare you areiust starting to suspect that perhaps flipping through the bookat a storeandhaven't read it at all. lauraQuest Youstillhaven't readthe Killer Breakfast Honestly. chapter?

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Linear DesignA formof game design where the players areled from event to event withoutbeingableto deviate from the setpath. Magic ls never to be used by XDMsasan game excuse to plaster overshoddy design; Prestidigitation, illusion, legerdemain, andblack art used by an XDM to drawattention away game from shocidy design. Offloading Whenan XDM assigns a game taskto someone otherthanhimself. OpenMatrix A formof game where design the players canventure in anydirection theychoose andthe GM must workto stay ahead of them. Alsoknown asa campaign. Option Lock An adventure design where the optionsavailable to the players diminish overtime untiltheyareleftwithonlya single course to follow. pilos are PictureA flightschool termwhere picture instructed to keepa mental of the space around theiraircraft at all times.In roleplaying the GM is expected to do thisfor the adventuringcharacters sothatshecanplanahead for the nextencounter. Polling When an XDM looks around thetable to see if the player's page needs arebeing met.(see 27) prose A literary Purple termused to describe passages, or sometimes entirebooks, writtenin wordssooverlyextravagant, ornate, or flowery asto break the flow anddrawattention to iself. Adventure modules arefull of thisstuff. We tellyou howto deal withit on page 63. Role Playing Game Thepremiere form of entertainment in theworld,where a group of people gather to create a shared imaginative adventure story. Selddir Go backandreadchapter sixagain.We already toldyouwhatselddir means at theendof paragraph. thesecond Societe del' Ultimel4aitres The Society of the UltimateMasters of the Game.We talkaboutthem on page 9. Storything Theamazing XDM system for creating storyor adventure ideas in a matterof moments. Youcanflndit on pages 38-41. Timemisdirection A magician's technique using a delay to cause the spectators to forgetpartof whatwentbefore, thusallowing the magician to foolthem. Tayler, Howard An up-and-coming Wet Archduke Kobold XDM who drewthe pictures for thisbook. Why did we writethat introduction if you'renot evengoing to readit? TimeLock A formof adventure design where the players arelimited by theamount of timeavailable before a large event occurs.

XD20 Role Playing System Thisis the hottestthing gaming. to hit gaming since lt issohot, it iscool; andsocool,it is hot. We wroteseveral chapters devoted entirely to XD20. Go readthemnow. X-treme Dungeon Mastery Thisis the bookthat you read. On the otherhand, if you hadactually iust readthe bookyou wouldnot need to be looking it up in the glossary. lf you have not readthe book, go back to page oneandstartover.

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POPCHUTES, EVERYBOOY!

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HAVE WESHOULO UP CHA(24.CTERS ROLLEO JUIIPINO, BEFORE

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A.rrERwoRD WArnNGFoRQvcnx
game? yourfirstroleplaying Do you remember Youdidn'tknowwhich of those your dicewereused strange for what, character sheet waslargely a mystery to you, rules weresomething referee tookcareof, andthere wasa coldcoreof thatyourgame pit your fearsomewhere downin the of thatwhatever waslurking behind the stomach nextturn in the corridor, or behind leapat you, be too the nextdoor,wouldsuddenly muchfor you to handle, andbringthe curtain downon yourcharacter in the game. lt wasexciting, And it waswonderful. andunknown, andyou felt it morethan knewit. games Theearlyrole playing by E. GaryGygax Arneson werefusions andDave play pretend. of traditional tabletop miniature war-games and Theyweresimple in formandnearly in theiradvanced theirbasic opaque stages. Youreally feltyou had yourwaythrough accomplished something if you slogged Dungeon Master's theoriginal Guide andmade anysense of it. lt wasa frontier andwe wereall pioneers, blazing new play games. trails newways to anddiscovering happened Thatwasthen.Butsomething to our wildlyexciting andalmost playing rebellious role lt became experience. oftendo. The "tamed"aswildernesses thrillof the unknown became replaced with formalized rules complex sets, simulations, procedures. games ln some ways became andexacting easier but also less to learn, possible challenging, andless unexpected. Everyone knew the precise for every statistics monster or nemesis restcame theymightencounter-the downto the mathematics paved games of probability. Somewhere along thissmoothed, road,roleplaying no processes games, longer dealt so muchwith roles.Theybecame morelike than and completely lostsight of thetruemeaning of theword"play." waiting LikeGodot,we began for another Gygax, but thatgoodmanwas sadly gonefrom usandour radical games hadtransformed intoa business. ft'stimeto takeback our play,timeto rediscover, oncemore,whywe played games these in the firstplace. Theywereoncethrilling, exciting, andfun.Theycould be again. players whywe aregame That's whostillbelieve therearefrontiers to bewon in playing games. whywe areXDMs. role That's TracyHickman Hickman Curtis

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