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The Fundamentals |
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Even the dead haven’t seen the end of war. —Found on a Handwritten Sign Attached to the Body of an Anonymous Refugee, South L.A. Tent Cities, Year Ten
This is Hard Knock, a postwar, cyberpunk roleplaying game, inspired by old-school tabletop roleplaying systems popular during the 1970s and 1980s in the United States and the United Kingdom.
If you’re new to roleplaying, this could be a daunting concept to understand. Don’t worry, though. Roleplaying, and even a roleplaying game, is, at its very heart, easy to understand, at least conceptually speaking. Roleplaying games, where roleplaying takes place, are games in which a group of players share a collective, roleplayed narrative, with plenty of challenges, character development, and exciting, pulse-pounding action. These collective narratives are guided by the Referee (REF), who interprets dice rolls, applies rules, and uses the inner storytelling genius we all possess toward specific storytelling milestones, but the REF is not God. Instead, the other players should assist the REF in creating an exciting, enriching, and worthwhile gaming experiences. Milestones for gameplay might include simple tasks or even complicated ones that take several game sessions to complete.
In essence, roleplaying games require most individual players to take on a persona, who players have tailored for the game story they are playing within. For example, Winston “Quick Fingers” Putnam, a former federal marine turned bandit, who loves good drinks and exquisite, exotic foods, might be the character you are playing in a Hard Knock campaign. Playing Quick Fingers, we’ll use his nickname, you will interact with your fellow players and their in-game personas, along with the REF and her non-player characters (NPCs). You might also interact with the story world, using dice rolls to determine resolutions of given conflicts and work with your REF in how you will roleplay a given situation, progress forward, etc. In all, you are indistinguishable from Quick Fingers. Everything Quick Fingers wants, you want. Everything Quick Fingers does, you have a hand in from the get-go. When the Game Master interacts with you, it is on the basis that you are acting in the interests of your character, Winston “Quick Fingers” Putnam.
Roleplaying games are about collaboration between multiple players, including the Game Master. Competition is usually at the heart of any game—the exception being roleplaying games, where collaboration is favored over competition. It is best to think of collaboration as a form of entertainment and way to produce exciting outcomes and not boring, uneventful gaming. Quite the opposite, in fact. Collaboration between players is the best way to develop each player character, explore the game’s world, and craft wonderful stories and experiences that will stick with each player.
One of the many issues facing traditional (and often crunchy) roleplaying games is the overemphasis on rolling dice. Some games, they shall go unnamed, have players and their REFs roll for everything that takes place within the game. Dice don’t need to be rolled every time a character does something in-game, especially in Hard Knock. Quite the opposite, in fact. Dice should be rolled at important times, when it is pivotal to determine the success of a given round of combat, an application of a particular skill, or even in tense social conflicts that require a bit of finesse. With that said, Hard Knock encourages roleplaying over roll playing. Dice have their place here, too, but they shouldn’t suck the fun out of each gaming session. When in doubt, roleplay, problem solve, and then add the dice in to complicate things.
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