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There is a world unfamiliar to you, a world called The Window. Zen has written these articles to help the uninitiated find out exactly what The Window is.
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The Window? How Do I Start? Starting the Game |
The Window?
topI can assume that you are familiar with role playing games, else you would not have come to this page. If you have been playing RPGs for any significant length of time, you know that most systems have gaping flaws. I myself am quite disappointed with many aspects of many games, such as the AD&D magic mechanics or the Critical Hits in MERP.
Player: I jump on the cave drake's back and stab him in the head with my shortsword.
GM: (rolls Critical Hit) You have cut his leg and severed his femoral artery.
The sad part about that anecdote is that it actually happened in a gaming session. The sadder part is that I was the GM. O, the shame...... anyway, now for me to actually get to the point. The biggest flaw with most RPGs is their crippling narrowness. It's damned hard to put a space marine into AD&D, and probably harder to put an Elven Ranger into the World of Darkness. The solution: The Window.
The Window is a simple, quick, easy system that can be applied to any setting, magical level, or technological level. Now, I know what you veteran gamers are saying: Isn't that what GURPS does? Yes, it is. But The Window has 2 major advantages over GURPS.
1) The Window can be learned by anybody in 10 minutes or less.
2) The Window is free. And as my father once told me, free is a very good price.
The Window also has a lot to offer experienced players. With this system, you can dust off the ancient character sheets you have that have been sitting around due to the fact that nobody plays that specific system anymore. The Window can accommodate ANY character concept and power level. Anything from a destitute beggar to an enlightened master of reality will work. Of course, if you play the enlightened master I will have to hunt you down and shoot you in the foot.
Finally, and most importantly, The Window frees the players and GM to work on the plot and story. With less worrying over getting that lucky 20 on the good ol' attack dice, there is more time to worry about playing your character well. If you feel sufficiently intrigued by this, check out The Window home page. I assure you that neither I nor The Mad Mind are employed by Method in the Madness (the company that makes The Window), but we should be getting paid for all the hype we give their game.
A basic rundown on The Window
topIn The Window system, there is one basic rule: less is more. Less dice rolls is good because it gives more time to roleplay. And lower rolls are better than high. Let me explain. In The Window, all attributes and skills are rated on a 7 dice scale:
d30) crappy, poor d20) amateur, below average d12) adequate, normal d10) skilled, above average d8) expert, very good d6) grandmaster, superb d4) best of the best, superhuman
For example, a student driver might have a d20 driving skill, while an Indy 500 winner would probably have a d6. When you attempt an action where there is a chance for failure, you roll the appropriate skill. if you get a 6 or lower, you succeed. If the task is very hard, you might need a lower roll. If you are in competition with someone else (another player or an NPC) you both roll the appropriate skill. Whoever rolls lower wins.
Example: Joe Bob the Barbarian decides to armwrestle the tough guy in the corner of the bar. Since the GM has other things planned, he decides to settle this with a single roll. Joe Bob is well muscled (d10), but the guy in the corner is quite buff (d8). The GM rolls the dice: Joe Bob gets a 5 and the other guy gets a 7. The player humbles his opponent. Unfortunately, toughguy doesn't take kindly to being made a fool of. He takes his mug and attempts to bash in the skull of the victorious player. He is unskilled with a mug as a weapon (d20) and Joe Bobo is of average dexterity (d12). The NPC rolls a 19, and the player a 7. Joe Bob easily evades the clumsy strike, and runs from the tavern.
So, in closing, The Window is a simple roleplaying system that lets all involved focus on enjoyment more than statistics or bookkeeping. If you're still interested, check out the actual Window page. If not, why the hell are you still here? In leaving I say to you; may your thoughts be enlightened, your travels be entertaining, and your fugu fish unpoisoned.
How do I start?
topStarting Out
To begin with, you need only 5 things: these rules, some players, a set of dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, d30), a pencil, and a pad of paper. You need to determine what setting you are going to play, be it high fantasy or post-apocalyptic science fiction. All of the players must think up a character concept, and then you can start character creation.
Character Creation
topIn The Window, there are four things that define a character: physical statistics, skills, history, and personality. The first thing you need to do is get the statistics down.
Statistics
topThe GM ultimately determines what statistics to use for the characters, but my favorite way is used below. There are 6 statistics, 3 physical and 3 mental. They are:
Strength: physical might Health: endurance and toughness Dexterity: speed and flexibility Intelligence: knowledge and logical thinking Wits: perception and quick thinking Spirit: courage, sanity, and mental endurance
Let the players have freedom over their characters, but intervene if one of them is a notorious powergamer.
Example: "But I think that it is perfectly reasonable to have all of my stats d6!"
Try to encourage them to use adjectives instead of numbers if possible.
Good: Champion bodybuilder (d6) So-so: Very strong (d6) Bad: d6 Strength
Let's start a character here so that you can get the feel for the creation process. The concept is a street thug who has decided to leave the city in search of a treasure that he received a map for. He'll probably have good physical stats, but below average mental stats.
Well Muscled (d10) Tough (d10) Normal Agility (d12) Uneducated (d20) Quick Witted (d10) Average Bravery (d12)
The result is a physically fit character, with enough brawn to serve as a thug or a bodyguard. He's not the smartest person, but he is able to make decisions quickly and is fairly perceptive of his surroundings.
When all of the players have finished listing their statistics, and you have repeatedly shot the bastard who tried to get all d6 stats, it is time to move on to skills.
Skills
topSkills are the things that your character has picked up throughout life, be it through education, experience, or training. Most adults will have at least one d10 skill, most likely their job. All characters are assumed to have at least two skills: d20 Athletics and d10 in their native language. Everything else is up to the player.
Let's go back to the character we just started. It figures that he'll have some decent combat skills, along with some criminal ability. Also, some urban knowledge is a must.
Fluent in common (d10) Handy with a knife (d10) Area knowledge:city slums (d10) Decent street fighter (d12) Average cutpurse (d12) Fair athlete (d12) Intimidating (d12) Clumsy lockpick (d20) Fairly stealthy (d20)
This is another area where the players should have freedom, but watch out for the powergamer if you haven't already killed him.
History
topHere is where the character starts to come to life. The player needs to think of a name, background, and the reason for adventuring for their character. You need to make sure it treads the line between mundanity and soap-opera cheesiness.
I think that an appropriate name for the character I've started is Jak, because I like the sound and Jack is too close to our world. He's going to live in a basic medieval fantasy world, much like AD&D. He was the son of a prostitute, and grew up on the streets around the brothel where he was born. The only way for him to make a living was crime and he had a natural aptitude for muggings and extortion. Lately he has been tiring of the day to day routine of the common criminal, and is longing for something more. He recently got a map off of one of his mugging victims, an inexperienced warrior, which seems to lead to a treasure. He is currently looking for a slightly experienced group of adventurers to go with. All he knows is the city, he's not sure if he can survive alone in the wilderness.
By this point the character is nearly done. The personality is the last major step, and it doesn't even need to be written down. It is the way that the player acts out the character, the way that the character reacts to others. Also added in at this point are small flaws in the character, such as phobias or hatreds.
Jak is a cocky, confident person. He has very little need for others, and even those he needs will constantly be told that he doesn't need them. Though he is arrogant and immoral, anybody who helps him in a big way will get his gratitude and companionship. of course, some people might not want that, with his macho violent "buddies" attitude there's a lot of shoulder punching and play-wrestling (though with smaller people it can have stronger effects than play), not to mention offers to stop by "my ma's place" and have a good time. He is distrustful of magic, as are most commoners, and prefers either stealth or force to supernatural assistance. He has a fairly violent temper (d12). Whenever he is extremely irritated or provoked, the GM rolls the dice. If he succeeds on a difficulty 6, Jak restrains himself. If not, Jak gets pissed and starts breaking stuff.
Finishing Touches
topAt this stage all that is left is polishing work. Make sure that the characters can work together, and give them equipment. Make sure not to give out powerful enchanted items or vast quantities of gold, but give anything that seems appropriate.
Jak has very little actual adventuring gear, but he has a small stash of money from his recent muggings. His equipment involves the following:
a large belt knife a hidden dagger in his right sleeve a coarse cloth tunic loose cloth trousers a cheap set of lockpicks
a small pouch full of gold and silver (2 gold, 12 silver)
You're done with the characters! Now what do you do? Go on to the next section.....
Starting the Game
topFirst you need a plot. I'll leave that part up to you. The only thing you need to know now is how to run combat, which is a big part of most any roleplaying game.
Combat
topIn The Window, combat is composed of four stages.
1) Roll the attack. For this you use the appropriate skill from the attacker, such as Jak's d10 knife skill or d12 street fighting. If a player is attacking, he must declare how he is attacking. "I move my sword from a parry and slash at my opponents side" is good, "I smash the orc" is not.
2) Roll the defense. Use the defender's appropriate skill. They can defend with a combat skill such as swordfighting or martial arts, or with an evasion skill such as acrobatics or the Dexterity stat. If the defense roll is lower than the attack, the attacker misses and that round of combat is over. If the attack roll is lower, go to step 3.
3) Roll health check. If the defender is hit, he has to roll his Health dice. The difficulty of this roll depends on what weapon the attacker is using. If a weapon is not on this list, the GM decides the difficulty of the check.
Difficulty 6: unarmed, blowguns
Difficulty 5: daggers, shortbows, brass knuckles or gauntleted fists, wooden clubs
Difficulty 4: most slashing weapons (swords, handaxes), longbows, light crossbows, maces
Difficulty 3: two handed weapons (battle axes, claymores), heavy crossbows, fire
Difficulty 2 and 1: magical spells, enchanted weapons
If this roll is successful, then the player is able to somewhat shrug off the attack. Even if it is successful, however, the GM may assign some penalty (stunning, bleeding). If it fails, then the GM assigns a penalty anywhere from stunning to a temporary drop in Health or Strength. Try to be realistic: an arrow in the shoulder won't drop a Health rung, but a longsword to the torso certainly will. Wounds heal with time and care. If necessary, make a healer available to the party or give someone healing skills.
4) Start over. Now it is the defender's turn to whup some ass. If there are more than 2 combatants, the players with the best Wits go first, then the rest in descending order.
Well, now you have everything you need to run a simple game of The Window. If this quick start guide is not satisfactory, that's your problem. Head to theWindows Homepage and read the entire rules, you ungrateful bastard. If you need some NPCs to help the party, feel free to use Jak or any of the characters at the characters page. In leaving I say to you; may your meditations be harmonious, your dice be fortunate, and your powergamers full of bullet holes.