'TSRPG (Travel-Sized RPG)' Optional Rules
Following are a number of optional rules that storytellers can choose to include in their TSRPG (Travel-Sized RPG) games, especially those involving experienced players or which are particularly challenging.
Special & Assumed Equipment
In general, a character begins a TSRPG adventure with a special piece of durable equipment that provides narrative benefits and/or a +1 bonus on all appropriate Challenges, or a consumable item that provides Narrative benefits and/or a +2 bonus on two appropriate Challenges.
There are a number of circumstances in which storytellers might want to give players more or better special items, including:
● As rewards for successfully completing scenarios, especially if they are part of ongoing campaigns and subsequent adventures will be more challenging.
● Scenarios with fewer characters than those for which they were designed (e.g., four), that are particularly challenging, or which are designed for experienced players.
Note that special items are things with which characters are especially familiar, proficient, or attuned, and that they might actually have any number of possessions beyond those that provide them with bonuses on Challenges. Players can assume the presence of such other items and refer to them for Narrative purposes — with no need to keep track of them on their character sheets — unless the storyteller deems that, for some reason, they should not have them.
Under normal circumstances, for example, characters can be assumed to have normal garments and to enjoy the Narrative benefits of being “clothed.”
Likewise, if a character finds a magic arrow in the course of a scenario, its player might assert that it has a bow and is thus able to make use of the newly-acquired ammunition. If the storyteller thinks it is reasonable that the character in question might have a bow then they can allow this — but, if they think it does not make sense that the character would have it or if finding a bow is part of the scenario, then they can opt to disallow it.
Effects of Equipment
Various items of equipment might, depending on the circumstances, provided Narrative effects, grant bonuses to Challenges, or both.
The primary function of a Potion of Flying, for example, is to bestow upon a character the Narrative effect of being able to fly.
As a weapon, on the other hand, a morningstar is used primarily for fighting and smashing things, and would thus most often be used to provide bonuses on appropriate Challlenges.
Each of the pieces of Equipment presented in this book includes entries for possible sorts of Narrative situations and Challenges they might be applied to. These are not exclusive lists and are only meant as starting points for players, however, and not intended to limit creativity.
A character who expresses how they approach Challenges in terms of spellcasting, for example, might when trying to create magical light ask for a bonus if they are attempting to make it radiate from the head of their morningstar because its spikes are evocative of rays of light.
Similarly, a character equipped with the Shield of Balance described in this book might invoke the implicit spiritual characteristics of this item and ask that it be allowed to grant a bonus on an attempt to make their way along a narrow ledge without falling (a suggestion the storyteller might or might not opt to allow).
Mundane, Masterwork & Magical Equipment
Items of equipment can be conceived of variously as being Mundane, Masterwork, or Magical in nature.
Mundane items are standard pieces of equipment of their type. When employed by characters, durable items of this sort add +1 to appropriate Challenges and consumable ones add +2 to them.
Masterwork items are pieces of equipment that are made from special or very high-quality materials, fashioned by especially skilled artisans, or both. When used by characters, durable items of this sort add +2 to appropriate Challenges and consumable ones add +4 to them.
Magical items are painstakingly crafted by master artisans from superior materials and are furthermore somehow infused with magical power (e.g., enchanted by spellcasters, blessed by saints, made from parts of mythical beasts). When employed by characters, durable items of this sort add +3 to appropriate Challenges and consumable ones add +6 to them.
Players will inevitably ask if their characters can use both doses of consumable items in order to achieve greater effects, and if the storyteller wishes to allow this then a 50% greater effect can be achieved. If a character uses up both doses of their mundane gunpowder to blow open a lock, for a example, then they would receive a +3 rather than a +2 bonus on the Challenge; if they splashed both doses of masterwork holy water on an Undead creature they are trying to drive away they would receive a +6 rather than a +4 bonus; and if they drank both doses of a magical Potion of Strength then they would receive a +9 rather than +6 bonus on whatever challenges it affects in the ensuing scene.
A handful of consumable items in this book are predicated on the idea that they can only be used one time and have this enhanced bonus included in their descriptions (e.g., the Flask of Green Slime).
Sacrificing Equipment
There may be circumstances when a player might think it makes sense to sacrifice a durable piece of equipment in order to achieve a greater or special benefit for doing so. In such cases, the items will provide double their normal bonuses. (Consumable items cannot be sacrified, as they are always used up in the course of providing bonuses or narrative effects.)
If, for example, Paros the rogue is using his mundane locksmithing tools as part of a Challenge to disable a trap but ends up being one place short of success, his player might opt to have these implements be ruined in the process, thereby gaining a +2 rather than a +1 bonus.
Likewise, if a character wearing a pair of masterwork boots does not succeed at a Challenge to successfully run across a stream of lava by one or two places, he could opt to sacrifice the boots to gain a +4 rather than a +2 bonus in order to avoid the consquences of failure.
Similarly, if a character engaged in a climactic battle with a Dragon fails a combat Challenge by up to three places, her player might opt to sacrifice her magical sword in order to slay the monster (and possibly also keep herself from dying).
Durable items can also be sacrificed to achieve narrative effects. For example, if Malyo the sorcerer uses his arcane focus while subduing a supernatural monster that the party cannot actually kill, his player might ask if the character can leave the enchanted dagger embedded in the creature when the party moves on. In this case, the storyteller might decide that the Demon will be incapacitated for the remainder of the scenario.
Similarly, a character faced with the Challenge of trying to persuade someone they meet to do something could sacrifice their Fire Opal in order to achieve an enhanced effect. A guardian might thus not just be persuaded to let characters enter a garden, for example, it might also tell them which path to take at an intersection.
Equipment Limits
If characters end up acquiring lots of equipment, such as by finding it over the course of multiple adventures, a storyteller might opt to place a limit on how many things they can have with them at a time. We recommend a limit of five items (with multiple small identical things, like daggers or vials of holy water, counting as one item).
If characters expend, sacrifice, or lose items in any way (e.g., using up a vial of acid), those will no longer count against their equipment limit, and they can replace them if they subsequently have the opportunity to acquire more items.
Critical Successes
If a player guesses the exact number associated with a Challenge, the storyteller can opt to make their success especially potent. If the player for Parthenia the barbarian guesses the exact number while she is trying to stab a monster that it takes three Challenges to defeat, for example, the storyteller might decide that she has grievously wounded the creature and achieved two successes rather than just one.
A storyteller can also opt to reward a player for making an exact guess with a narrative effect. So, if the person playing Paros the rogue guesses the precise number as part of a Challenge to search an area that has a particular item in it, the storyteller might opt to allow him to find some additional piece of equipment there.
If it somehow makes sense, a storyteller might also opt to allow a critical success to cause the next Challenge characters face be easier. If Selene and Malyo cooperatively manage to intimidate and chase off a Gargoyle with an exact guess, for example, the storyteller might make the difficulty of defeating the next such creature a 20-point rather than a 30-point Challenge — or even opt to do away with it altogether.
Traits
If players are amenable and a scenario is sufficiently challenging, a storyteller can opt to let each character have a trait that they can apply to appropriate Challenges in the same way they would use equipment.
Paros the rogue, for example, is stealthy, and his player could invoke this trait and attempt to describe how it could increase the chances of success for a Challenge that involves infiltrating an area.
Traits appear in the descriptions of TSRPG sample characters in bold italic text.
Question Master
In a classroom setting, when adults are gaming with children, or even for players that are fans of trivia, questions can be substituted for guessing a random number when adjudicating Challenges.
In this variant, the storyteller asks a player a question and, if they correctly answer it, their character succeeds, with a character’s stats and equipment granting them additional chances to answer the question (e.g. with a stat of 3 they would be allowed three attempts at coming up with the answer). Allies that assist in the Challenge can provide their own answers to the question that the Challenged character can opt to use (typically one per ally, or up to two if they are using their equipment).
Difficulty for this sort of Challenge is somewhat more subjective, but the storyteller can opt to make questions easier or harder by allowing or disallowing players to use references when coming up with their answers.
TSRPG & Existing RPG Products
Using these rules with other existing adventures, such as Skirmisher Publishing’s “At the Shrine of Othrys” is super easy! Simply use the narrative text from the adventure, but whenever you see a rule from the other game substitute a Challenge instead.
