7.9 KiB
You are criminal woodland critters. Experts in disguising yourselves as one NORMAL HUMAN. You are part of a daring and competent heist wherein you will bicker amongst yourselves in a CONVINCING DISGUISE to infiltrate your target and make off with the goods.
At the start of the game you will create your unique woodland critter with your own backstory, goals, items, and abilities, then during the course of the game your whole team will gain access to group skills used to complete actions disguised as a NORMAL HUMAN.
DICE ROLLS
Trenchcoat uses d6 dice for all rolls.
Most dice rolls in the game require you to roll a 3 or higher in order to succeed on the roll, if you need to beat a different number the game rules or Games Master will tell you.
Certain rolls can be done with multiple dice to improve your chances of success, your skills and actions explained below will tell you how many dice to roll.
The number of dice you can use for a roll is called your dice pool.
RULES
CAPERS
The Games Master will give your team a target to heist and once your characters are created you'll take group turns called CAPERS to plan your actions to complete the Heist. Capers are planned by your current LEADER, at the start of the game the Leader is chosen by the group and there will be rules and Mischief to change Leaders later.
ACTIONS
CAPERS are made up of three ACTIONS and a varying amount of MISCHIEF. The Leader will pick a goal for the Caper such as "Open the door on the other side of the room" and then choose 3 Actions to achieve the goal. The Actions your Normal Human starts with are listed below, and you'll get more over the course of the game. The Caper must use 3 Actions, if you can complete the Caper in less than 3 Actions you can fill in the remaining Actions with the "Patience" Action to attempt to do nothing. Your Normal Human level's up by completing capers, see "Completing Caper's" below
ACTIONS that your Normal Human "knows" how to do at the start of the game:
- HEAD 1, "HUMAN DIALOG": Any attempt at human noises.
- ARM 1, "I HAVE THUMBS": Any attempt to do anything with hands or arms.
- LEGS 1, "NORMAL WALK": Any attempt to do anything with legs.
- TRENCHCOAT 1, "PATIENCE": Attempt to do nothing (failing players perform a free MISCHIEF action).
- TRENCHCOAT 0, "ICON": Change disguise using clothing you've acquired (Auto Success no roll needed, players may attempt MISCHIEF)
Actions have 4 parts, the TYPE (Head, Arm, Legs, or Trenchcoat), the LEVEL (1, 2, or 3), the name (e.g. "HUMAN DIALOG"), and a short description of what the action does (e.g. "Any attempt at human noises").
The Type determines who in the team needs to roll dice to attempt the Action:
- HEAD actions requires 3 players to make 1 roll each.
- ARM actions requires 1 player to make 3 rolls on their own.
- LEGS actions requires 2 players to make 3 rolls between them, one player taking one roll and the other player taking the remaining two.
- TRENCHCOAT actions are special actions that require ALL players to make 1 roll each rolling a 2 or higher on ALL dice. Trenchcoat skills have no limit on how high the level may go, and may have a "0" level to indicate they succeed automatically.
The Level determines the number of dice in the dice pool for this Action before any more are added by other skills your character may have. A Level 1 Action gives the players a dice pool of 1 die, a Level 2 Action gives 2 dice, and a Level 3 Action gives 3 dice. The more dice in the dice pool the easier it is to pass the Skill Test for the Action.
COMPLETING CAPERS
One the Leader has set a Goal for the Caper e.g. "Open the door on the other side of the room", and picked the Actions that will be tried to complete the Caper, the Leader then nominates players to complete each of the Actions and this may include themselves. Any players not taking part in Actions this Caper are free to attempt any of their characters Mischief skills, see below.
All the actions in a Caper must be planned at the start before you know whether all the Actions will succeed or not, and you are committed to attempt all the Actions in a Caper even if earlier Actions in the Caper have failed.
A Caper is a success if the Goal is achieved by the end (regardless of whether everything went to plan or if some actions failed). If the Caper was a success the Leader at the end of the Caper remains in charge, and your Normal Human learns a new Action based on the Caper.
The Action Type is determined by the game master, the Level is 1 higher than the lowest Level used in the Caper, and the Name and Description are taken from the Goal and what happened in the Caper itself.
Here's a couple of examples of successful Capers:
-
GOAL: Cross the Room and Open the Door ACTIONS: Legs 1 Normal Walk (stand up), Legs 1 Normal Walk (cross the room), Arms 1 I have Thumbs (Grab the door handle and pull). NEW ACTION: Legs 2 "CLEVER GIRL": Cross a room and open a door.
-
GOAL: Scare Larry ACTIONS: Trenchcoat 1 Patience (Stay quietly in the closet), Legs 2 Clever Girl (Burst out of the closet when we hear Larry), Head 1 Human Dialog (Pretend to be a ghost) NEW ACTION: Trenchcoat 2 "BOO": Hide somewhere, then jump out and scare someone.
FAILING CAPERS AND ACTIONS
Sometimes players will fail rolls while attempting Actions in a Caper, even if the Caper is failing the team is still committed to it, so you still keep going even if an earlier Actions have failed.
Gain 1xp for each failed roll, you may add one dice to a dice pool per 1xp spent.
Here's an example:
- GOAL: Cross the Room and Open the Door ACTIONS: Legs 1 Normal Walk (stand up) FAILED, Legs 1 Normal Walk (cross the room), Arms 1 I have Thumbs (Grab the door handle and pull). WHAT HAPPENS: The players making the Legs Test fail and Norman falls over, but the Caper keeps going, the next Legs test now sees Norman sliding on his face across the room, and the Arms test sees Norman punch his hand into a waste paper bin.
If a roll for an Action fails, after the failed action is resolved ("Norman falls over") any player who hasn't made a roll yet this Caper may say "Hang on a minute, I have a great idea" to become the Leader. The new Leader must keep the planned Actions for this Caper but can change the goal, ask a mischief player to help, or put a new spin on the situation to to still see the Caper pulled off. This process can happen multiple times after any failed Action is resolved.
In the example above, the new Leader might have the last player throw the paper bin at the door handle to try and knock it open, and if successful might gain a new Action like 'Arm 2 "This Is Doors" Throw an item to open something'.
WINNING THE GAME
String together enough Successful Capers and eventually the Heist is sure to be a success.
You can still win even if the Heist is a failure, so long as you complete your secret goal.
Upon a successful Heist you obtain a Level 4 Trenchcoat Action for future games based on the Heist goal.
CHARACTER CREATION
- Pick an Animal, pick two additional Skills or a Skill and a unique Human Action as skills for your animal.
- Write a brief backstory, one or two senetences.
- Pick a Secret Goal, your Game Master may give you one randomly if you prefer. Example: "Abduct a human pet"
- Pick 2 Skills
- HEAD Specialist: Reroll 1 dice result when attempting a HEAD Action. Add 1 dice to dice pools for HEAD Actions.
- ARM Specialist: Reroll 1 dice result when attempting a ARM Action. Add 1 dice to dice pools for ARM Actions.
- LEGS Specialist: Reroll 1 dice result when attempting a LEGS Action. Add 1 dice to dice pools for LEGS Actions.
- Constructive Mischief: Attempt any known Human Action for your own ends.
- Kleptomaniac: When you fail an action steal something from the room.
- KNIVES: Always have access to a Knife. Roll 1d6 to use in Mischief.
- KEYS: Always have access to a lockpick. Roll 1d6 to use in Mischief.
- MONEY: Always have access to £50, you don't know what this is but humans like it. Roll 1d6 to use in Mischief.