How To Play TSRPG, Travel Sized Role Playing Game

How to play Travel Sized Role Playing Game (TSRPG)

 

Hi everyone, this is a special how to play episode of Firebreathing Kittens podcast. I’m the game master for an upcoming session using the rules for Travel Sized Role Playing Game, abbreviated TSRPG. This episode is a summary of what I learned after reading the rule book. Hopefully this will be a handy guide for how to play for my players, will help me organize myself, and will be useful for you listeners, too, who are looking to play your own Travel Sized Role Playing Game.

 

I’ll organize this how to play guide into sections.

1. Game category

2. Combat rules

3. Equipment

4. Annoyed, wounded, disabled, killed

5. Building an example character

 

 

Game category. TSRPG is designed to be, well, travel sized. You can teach others how to play and build a character with them in under ten minutes. TSRPG can be played using any setting, anywhere, anytime. You can play it without dice, for example on a long ride, or sitting around a campfire.

 

Combat rules. Combats in travel sized role playing game are a series of challenges. A player can attempt a challenge to harm an opponent or to defend against an incoming attack. To resolve the challenge, the storyteller either rolls a number or picks one to themself quietly, and says the difficulty range out loud. The player picks a number. If the player’s number either matches or is within their stat number’s range of the storyteller’s number, then the player succeeds at the challenge. If the player’s pick for a number is further away from the storyteller’s number than even adding or subtracting their stat doesn’t get them there, then the player failed the challenge.

 

Here is an example of a challenge. A player says their character Ruben swings a sword at the dragon. The storyteller picks the number 2 and says out loud that this is a strength challenge with a range of 1 to 10. Ruben’s player guesses a number within the range. If they guess 2, they succeed. They also succeed if the number they guess is within their strength stat distance away from the storyteller’s number. If Ruben’s strength stat is 1, then guessing a 1, a 2, and a three will all succeed, and Ruben’s sword will strike the dragon. If Ruben’s strength stat is 4, then guessing 1, 2, 3, all the way up to 6 will succeed, because a guess of 6 minus the strength stat of 4 equals the storyteller’s number of 2.

 

Let’s do a second example challenge. Caitlin is a halfling barbarian. She’s being attacked by a charm spell from a monster, who is singing, trying to lure Caitlin to put down her battleaxe. Defending against this attack is a challenge. The storyteller thinks of the number 5 and tells Caitlin’s player that it’s a mental challenge with a range of 10. Caitlin has a mental stat of 2, so her player thinks strategically. If they answer a 1 or a 9, they won’t be taking full advantage of their range of two. A 3 should be their lowest guess because it will cover 3, 2, and 1. An 8 should be their highest guess because that will cover 8, 9 and 10. Caitlin’s player guesses 8. The range of storyteller numbers they would have passed the challenge on is 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6. Unfortunately, the storyteller thought of a 5, so, Caitlin the halfling barbarian puts down her battleaxe and falls for the monster’s charm.

 

Non player characters can assist on a challenge to give a +1 bonus, but they suffer from the same consequences a player character would face if they fail.

 

Equipment. Equipment in TSRPG is either durable, and gives a +1 bonus to appropriate challenges it’s used for, or consumable, which provides a +2 bonus on two challenges and is then consumed. Masterwork items double the numbers from mundane equipment, and magical items triple the numbers compared to mundane equipment.

 

In other tabletop roleplaying games that have hit points, a character might start at 10 hit points and after receiving 6 damage and then later 4 damage, go down to 0 hit points. Travel sized RPG does not have hit points. Instead, it has status effects. Characters can be annoyed, wounded, disabled, and killed. Falling prone is an example of being annoyed. Being prone might decrease your character’s physical stat by one for your next check, or until you stand up. If your character’s arm is slashed by claws, that is an example of being wounded. The slash wound could reduce your physical trait by two for the rest of the combat. Being disabled, such as suffering a head injury, could leave your mental stat reduced by one for multiple combats, for example all day. And lastly, a character can be killed, which removes them from the game. Recovering from being annoyed is something you can do for yourself. Spend your turn standing up from being prone, problem solved. Wounded characters can bandage themselves up after combat ends. Disabled characters, though, need to be helped by another character. To heal a disabled character, an ally will need to succed at a 10 point mental challenge.

 

The rule book comes with a table that lists the probability of success when players guess a challenge. The table lists number ranges like 1 to 5, or 1 to 30, or 1 to 100, and lists character levels like 2 stat points, or 8 stat points. Success ranges from 100% guaranteed victory to a 3% chance of succeeding. This table helps the storyteller quickly pick the number range they need for the the odds of their player guessing right to be exactly the difficulty the storyteller wants. If the characters have two stat points and you want your players to have a 60% chance of success, pick a range of 1 to 5. If the characters have five stat points and you want your players to have a 60% chance of success, pick a range of 1 to 10. If the characters have eight stat points and you want your players to have a 60% chance of success, pick a range of 1 to 15.

 

Travel sized role playing game characters have a physical stat number, a mental stat number, a permanent equipment, a two times use equipment, and a trait. Build a character by choosing how to allocate your stat points between your physical stat and mental stat, naming a trait that gives you +1 when acting that way, and by creating two pieces of equipment. One equipment is durable and gives a +1 to one specified stat. The other equipment is a two time use item that gives +2 to your choice of stat in the moment it’s used.

 

Let’s build an example character with five overall stat points. Reese is a swordfighter. She has 4 for her physical stat and 1 for her mental stat. Her trait is that she’s strong. Whenever she uses her physical strength to tackle a challenge she gets a +1 to her range. She carries a mundane durable +1 physical longsword and a mundane consumable +2 shield that can be used twice before breaking.

 

Let’s build a second example character with five overall stat points. Sawyer is a wizard. He has 0 for his physical stat and 5 for his mental stat. His trait is that he’s inventive. Whenever he invents, builds, and uses a new object, he gets a +1 to his range. He carries a masterwork durable +2 mental spellcasting staff and a mundane consumable +2 yellow potion that can only be used twice before being consumed.

 

Let’s build a third example character with five overall stat points. Callie is a thief. She has 2 for her physical stat and 3 for her mental stat. Her trait is that she’s stealthy. Whenever she sneaks or hides she gets a +1 to her range. She carries a mundane durable +1 mental stolen necklace and a magical consumable +6 throwing knife that can be used twice before being lost.

 

Here’s one last example character with five overall stat points. Beckett is a sentient road sign. It has 5 for its physical stat and 0 for its mental stat. Its trait is it’s heavy, and gets +1 whenever it falls over on something to solve a challenge. It carries a mundane durable +1 physical sign board and if it uses the words written on it, it can decide what it says once for a masterwork consumable +4 for the writing on the front, and again for a +4 for the writing on the reverse side of the sign.

 

For players in my upcoming Travel Sized RPG (TSRPG) game, please make a character with 5 points overall divided as you want between physical and mental. Your character should have one Trait, which is a single word they're +1 good at, such as stealthy, plumber, fire spells, night vision, etc. Please possess one durable equipment that gives a +1 to your choice of either physical or mental, and one consumable two-times-use +2 item.

 

Hopefully this little rules chat helps my players build their characters and understand how to play. For everyone listening, if you’d like to hear an example adventure, the episode of Firebreathing Kittens podcast right after this is a demonstration of us playing Travel Sized Role Playing Game in a oneshot game session. We invite you to listen to it to hear an example of TSRPG in action. We encourage you to find the Travel Sized Role Playing Game rule book yourself, and play a game with friends.