Hello everyone! As promised, tonight I’m revealing some of the core gameplay mechanics of my brand new pen and paper RPG, Avarice Industries! I’m extremely excited to finally get to this point, so I hope what we’ve been working on for the last year and a half will excite you as much as it excites us!
As stated before, Avarice Industries is the ultimate business RPG. We are taking business roleplaying to the next level with our brand new core roleplaying system, Seven Virtues. This allows you to act out any scenario that might occur in the office with relative ease.
The Seven Virtues are the core stats of the system, and are used as both attributes and skills simultaneously. Each one has a different function in various business activites, and they are:
— Collating: The ability to collate papers quickly.
— Interwebz: The ability to use the internet to find your email.
— Slacker: The ability to use Facebook to make minutes disappear.
— Bullshit: The ability to make crap up in meetings.
— Keurig-fu: The ability to bend coffee machines to your will.
— Scheduling: The ability to use your Outlook calendar to remember things.
— Agree: The ability to agree with what someone else said.
Each of these statistics are rated on a level from 1 to 5, and become progressively harder to level up in.
In Avarice Industries, you’ll take on the role of a mid-level employee in a powerful international business. It will be your job to complete… well… your job, other wise you’ll find a fate worst than death — being fired.
See, in Avarice Industries, we’ve done away with damage or hit points as well! Our game uses the truly REVOLUTIONARY PINK SLIP SYSTEM! (TM) Each time you fail at a task, you’ll earn a pink slip. Should you earn five or more pink slips in a game session, you’re fired and your character is out of the game!
Each session, you’ll be given various tasks by the GM — the General Manager. It’s now up to you to figure out how you’re going to accomplish the task by combining two of your Virtues together.
So, without any further delay, let’s jump into an example of a REAL PLAY SESSION during one of our internal playtests.
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GM Sera: All right, so you arrive on time for work at 9 AM sharp. Everyone is already in their cubicles and at work. What do you do?
Xavier: Steven Micshak, my character, sits down at his cubicle and opens up Outlook to check his email.
GM Sera: All right then! So, to open your e-mail, you’ll have to roll Interwebz, multiplied by the square root of your score in Scheduling, divided by 10 because that’s how many fingers you have on your hands, rounded up. This roll will simulate the dexterity required to push the keys on your keyboard with your fingers.
Xavier: So… ok… let me just perform the necessary math here…
((4 minutes later.))
Xavier: Ok, so I think I roll 1 die.
GM Sera: All right, 1d8 it is! Roll it and try to get a 6 or more!
Xavier: *rolls dice* Oh, it seems I’ve gotten a 5.
GM Sera: OH NO! It seems you’ve accidentally trashed your shortcut to your e-mail. It takes you 15 minutes to get it back. But it appears you’ve missed an important e-mail from your boss! 1 pink slip!
Xavier: Darn. I was trying so hard to move my fingers across the keyboard.
GM Sera: Also, I’m assigning the debuff called “Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.” It will penalize you with a -2 on your die rolls involving Interwebz and Scheduling.
Xavier: Well… how do I remove it?!
GM Sera: Go see a doctor, obviously, duh.
Xavier: But… but… this company doesn’t give me benefits.
GM Sera: Sucks to be you then! Looks like you need to work for your appointments!
Xavier: So, well, what do I have to do next then?
GM Sera: Well, you need to assemble a report. Your cube-mate has already printed 10 copies out for the board, and you have to put them together with the stapler.
Xavier: All right then! Doesn’t seem so bad. I’ll use my Collating with my Scheduling, so I can put them together and save time!
GM Sera: All right, so we’re making a Report Building check. That means we’ll take your Collating, divide by your scheduling because you’re trying to save time, multiply by the exact thickness of the paper (which is .081), and subtract three dice because you’re not caffeinated enough.
Xavier: I… um… don’t think I have any dice.
GM Sera: Oh, well, you always get 1 die for a check! 1d8 it is!
Xavier: *rolls* Um… I rolled a 1.
GM Sera: Oh no! Critical failure! It seems like you’ve stapled two of your fingers together! Blood is now running across your report, ruining them.
Xavier: Er… but I don’t have any insurance to help my fingers!
GM Sera: I would worry more about those reports if I were you. Woah boy, are they stained! That’s like… two more pink slips!
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We hope you’ve enjoyed this first sneak peek at our brand new RPG! We have much more to come, so enjoy the rest of your April 1st and we’ll see you soon!
Experience Curve 