Write Your Own

 In the poll for our next game, I left a blank for someone to write in your own idea. Only one person submitted an answer, and I think it would make a great one shot. 

Senior citizens with diverse handicaps and unusual assets work together to escape an olde folks home.

I'm thinking something like this.

Fogeys

Select your age group.

• Octogenarian: You are in your 80s. Your Spry and Gumption have a total of 7 points. You have 1 Quirk.
• Nonagenarian: You are in your 90s. Your Spry and Gumption have a total of 5 points. You have 2 Quirks.
• Centenarian: You are 100 years old or older. Your Spry and Gumption are 3 total. You have 3 Quirks.

Stats and Mechanics

Spry is your strength, mobility, and agility. Roll it anything you attempt to do anything physical, regardless of whether it is a fine motor skill, such as threading a needle. or a gross motor skill like climbing out of a window.

Gumption is your mental facilities. Use this to read a newspaper, deceive an orderly, to interface with technology, or to recall the last time you took your medicines.

You may split your points between your Stats as you wish, with a minimum of 1 in each. Each point represents 1 six-sided die to roll when you use that stat. Look at your highest die. If it is equal to, or greater than, your TN you succeed. Otherwise you fail.

Quirks

Quirks are issues your Character has. They may include:

• Arthritis: Your joints ache. You can sense changes in the weather.
• Limp: Whether it is your hip, or another joint, your mobility is slowed. You do have an awesome cane or walker that can be useful.
• The War: You have sudden, inconvenient flashbacks of The War. You are a tough and shrewd cookie that knows how to survive.
• Heart: Your heart isn't so good, and will cause falter at certain times. You have a cocktail of drugs made of very useful chemicals.
• Rascally: You are bound to a rascal (electric scooter), and cannot climb, up or down. You are zippy.
• Memory: You have holes in your memory, both short and long term. You occasionally remember the most amazing details with absolute clarity.
• Lucidity: You are normally in a state of confusion, paranoia, and irritability. Your sudden bouts of lucidity will take everyone by surprise.
• Hearing: You are hard of hearing, often confusing what people actually said. You have a hearing aid.
• Sight: Your eyesight is bad. You need to hold things very close, or far to make out details. You have some seriously powerful lenses in your glasses.
• Others: Make up your own. They should be both beneficial and detrimental.

Set Up

Each Player gets to create 2 NPCs. 1 is an orderly at Ye Olde Folke Home or a fellow resident, another is a relative for the PC to their left or a fellow resident. Each player may only create 1 fellow resident. Each NPC needs an Age, Emotion and a Vice. 

Examples: 

• Orderly Brad (34): Angry, Menthol Cigarettes. 
• Jennette's Niece Annabell (19): Depressed, Orderly Brad.
• Bill McNaver (76): Optimistic, Chess

Each player then creates a Feature of Ye Olde Folke Home. These may be anything from location (isolated on an island, 4-story building in a city), security (state-of-the-art security cameras, decorative wrought iron fence), or decorative (haunted gothic paintings on the walls, oddly colored shag carpets).

Play

Play takes place in two phases, day and night. During the day phase, the players get ready for their great escape. During the night phase, they attempt to bring their plan to fruition. All discussion takes place in character, and risks being overheard by the staff and visitors.

The players have 30 minutes of real time to devise their plan. Every 10 minutes, the GM has one of the players make a roll to avoid being overheard. 

After the 30 minutes, the players have 2 rounds to prepare for the misadventure. They can use their turn to acquire money, tools, access, or anything they think may be needed. This will conclude the Day Phase.

During the night phase, the players begin in their seperate rooms. The GM determines the first obstacle, and the players must describe how they overcome it.

Mechanics

When a player makes a roll, they pick the most appropriate stat: Spry or Gumption. Their current points in that stat is the number of dice they will roll.

When they roll, they keep the highest die from the roll. If it meets or beats the TN they succeed. Otherwise they fail.

The base TN is 5.  If they have a quirk that would grant an advantage the TN is 4. If they have a quirk that would hinder the roll, the TN is 6. If they have both a good and bad quirk, the TN resets back to 5. Quirks do not stack.

Each character must roll to overcome the obstacle. If another character assists, the attempting character may add a die to the roll, but a failure will cause both characters to take a mark.

Success

On a success the player describes how they overcome the obstacle. If they applied a quirk they must incorporate it into their description.

Failure

On a failure the player to the left describes how the PC failed. The PC then either marks a Quirk (especially one that was applied to the TN) or marks a stat. 

When a quirk has 2 marks, it is no longer available for good or for ill. 

A Stat is reduced by the total number of marks it has. When any stat reaches 0, the character is out, and is no longer able to escape the Home. This could be due to injury, confusion, or being caught by staff.