Story Page Format

Some Story segments will begin with a suitably entertaining quotation.

Scene Title

On Story pages, Headings which look like this will indicate time and place in brief; text in //italics// which follows should provide more setting details.

Introductory scene description: Here the GM will illustrate the initial action in some way, setting the dynamic qualities of the scene which the characters' actions will advance.


A horizontal rule indicates the end of a particular participant's post. Just type four dashes on their own line in the Edit screen.

The helicopter flies low over the city as Sparky and Steve peer down through the smoke at the chaos below. Eventually Sparky sees a parking lot which is mostly empty of cars and big enough for their bird. "We're running on fumes as it is; I'd better bring 'er down here. Well walk the rest of the way in and hopefully find some fuel."


As the lurching descent begins, Steve grabs a handhold with one hand and his trusty assault shotgun with the other. Smirking at the photojournalist across from him, he steadies himself and kicks the sliding door open to the howling winds and acrid smoke of the ruined city. "Hang onto your breakfast, kid."


Steve's eyes narrow as they come streaking down toward the parking lot, alighting on a giant bovine - some sort of wildebeest, but horrifically deformed and dining messily on probably-human remains. If that thing charges the 'copter and breaks something, we're never getting out of this city alive. As the thought hardens to resolve and his muscles tense to act, Sparky erupts in a stream of curses as tiny pinging sounds erupt at the front of the bird. "Damn, someone's shooting at us! Small arms, looks like someone in that building over there doesn't like us! Whooa, too close to pull out! HARD LANDING, comin' right up!"


"Handle it," snarls Steve as he hurls himself from the 'copter.



A double HR indicates that we're moving into an Action Sequence! Round headings will help break up the action mechanically.

Round 1

Further actions will be posted by players and GM from there, in paragraph format, separated by additional HRs. If your actions during a round are generating Details (and thereby Spade and Heart dice), simply use a Block Quote and color your text: for instance, if your action color will be blue (if you haven't decided yet, just make sure it's not already taken), put ">" and "##blue|" at the start of any sentence which is intended to act against a Conflict, Foe, or Nemesis.

Follow the last word of any Detail with a superscript number, starting at ^^1^^ and working your way up. If you later post a second or subsequent action paragraph during the same round, pick up your Detail count where you left off.

Don't bother counting your Details past the Dice Cap for the current round, though - after that you're just filibustering, which is encouraged as long as it's cool, on-theme, and not too excessive.

So if this happens:

Leaping from a moving helicopter1, Steve spits the toothpick from between his teeth2 and unloads a storm of 12-gauge fury on the mutant wildebeest3, which bellows its rage and pain across the cratered warzone as it dies4.

it'll be too easy to count up the Details and attribute them to you.


You might then find your friend posts some additional badassery:

Sparky brings the attack chopper to a skidding sideways landing on the asphalt a few dozen yards further down the street1, slewing the tail around with a final burst of rotor-power2, and activates the Hellfire pods under each wing3. The rockets streak through the air and blow the face off a nearby building in a shower of pulverized concrete 4. This reveals the mutants within, who come lurching forward, menace in their eyes5! "Man," crows Sparky, "You guys are about to have a REALLY BAD DAY!" 6


The Dice Cap for this combat is clearly at least 6, so you would be free to further embellish the action of the Round…

Grimacing in disgust as he slots five more shells into his Mossberg5, Steve levels it at the freaks and narrows his eyes in defiance6. "Come on, you bastards… it's time to die!" he growls, and even though it's not worth any dice, he figures he's in a badass enough position right now: this is a good time to light the lucky cigarette he keeps tucked behind his ear.


The Dealer (GM) will probably intersperse description of his own, but this will have no game effect unless a Nemesis is present in the Conflict. Such additional "flavor" will be italicized in a quote block. Nemesis actions will have a unique color and look just like player actions.

The Wildebeest lashes out in its death throes, spraying blood at Steve's feet as its flashing clawed hooves tear furrows in the broken concrete. The mutants emerge through a cloud of rocket-smoke from the shattered Wal-Mart across the street - clad in a mishmash of fur coats, pearl necklaces, and leaf-camouflage hunting gear. Several raise small-caliber hunting rifles and send a ragged and volley of .22 bullets toward Steve and Sparky as they charge across the street.


Sparky's character contributes some additional narrative at this point, but since he's already "capped out" there's no need to color-code it or quote-block it:

Punching the shutoff button as rounds ping off his windscreen, Sparky dives from the pilot seat, snatches up his SMG from the equipment hooks, and bails out the side door of the helicopter, snatching the collar of the reluctant Jimmy (who is still strapped in and paralyzed in the passenger compartment) as he hurtles by. They stay low to keep clear of the slowing rotor and scuttle for cover - Sparkey chambers a round and waits for the mutants to come within range while Jimmy, cursing and pale, lifts his zoom SLR and starts snapping photos of the monsters with trembling hands.

After all characters have had a chance to contribute actions to the Round, we'll move from Description to Resolution. Slow players may miss out, but that's okay - not every Action Hero is kicking ass in every scene, and some players fold for a few hands but come back strong. As in Sparky's second post above, feel free to incorporate slackers into your own descriptions in a passive way.

End of the Description phase of a round will be delineated by a double Horizontal Rule.



Text in the Resolution phase will be 100% out-of-character, and displayed in **bold** to differentiate it from in-character text from the Description phase. No need for HRs between player posts in this section.

Steve and Sparky, the mutant rabble you're engaging is a 10-Trick Threat with an Ante of 1 - their small-arms fire isn't very effective, and their aim is pretty awful anyway. Steve, however, is liable to get gored by the dying Wildebeest if he doesn't watch his step. Remember that any Hand losses you take this round can easily be "narrated in" as easily-invented Details next round. Trick Cap for the Round was 6, don't forget - and you both had plenty of time to rest before this, so you're at a full (5) Hand.

Use a quote block with your color from the Description phase to lay out the die rolls you just earned.

Steve rolls 6 with his Belayin' Pins(3) trait. I figure leaping from a chopper and blasting point-blank while flying through the air counts as "brutal and undisciplined attack style." Let's go with 4 Spades and 2 Hearts.
Spades (4) 6, 3, 2, 3 = 3 Tricks, dropping the Threat down to 7.
Hearts (2) 4, 4 = 0 Tricks! That doesn't cover the Ante - Looks like Steve's Hand just got smaller - down to 4.

And thus it continues. Presumably Steve will narrate getting kicked in the shin by the thrashing wildebeest, or getting grazed by a bullet as he dives for cover. Either of these would count as a Detail for the following round. It doesn't harm him any if he doesn't, though - you're always free to NOT narrate your Hand losses and just chalk it up to loss of "hero polish" rather than any specific harm.

Try to get away from the notion that you'll need to narrate Round 2's actions according to Round 1's successes, though. Still, a little bit can be okay, such as describing the devastation or failing morale of your enemies after you wipe out 1/3 of their Trick Pool.

End of the Resolution Phase will be delineated by another double-line.



Round 2

The new Round begins with new Actions to be described! Eventually the Action ends and we either end the Scene (and start a new page) or return to non-Action narrative.

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