Game: The Shadow of Yesterday
Author: Clinton R. Nixon
Available in its totality on The Shadow of Yesterday Wiki
The Shadow of Yesterday by Clinton R. Nixon is the game that inspired this whole site, and my Clinton's writings here and there have influenced game design and gameplaying philosophy, so it's only fair that I hit it first. It's released under a Creative Commons license which means you can do with it as you will (which will be taken advantage of in Judd Karlman's upcoming 1st Quest). I originally picked this game up as a text file on the CRN Games site (at that point called Anvilwerks) and read it on a slow day at work.
It's a beautiful thing in equal parts simplicity and creativity. After reading it I felt like I got roundhouse kicked by great ideas. I'll start there: with the ideas that rock this game.
Idea 1: Bringing Down the Pain. Every conflict in the game is resolved in a single roll. Avoiding the ghostly and deadly axes of the spirits of knights whose tomb you've disturbed? One roll. Convincing the Hungry Ones that instead of eating you they should climb aboveground and conquer the surface world? One roll. Throw in the fact that it's pretty hard to die in one of these single roll-offs, and this makes the game really simple and fluid. Okay, so you lost the fight against Cult of the Kraken. You're captured. Now what?
But say you really wanted to win that fight against the Cult of the Kraken. You know their temple is sitting on piles and piles of treasure, and you want it. You can choose to reject the initial failure and Bring Down the Pain which turns that single-roll failure into a blow-by-blow battle more akin to combat in most RPGs. But Bringing Down the Pain doesn't have to be limited to combat. It could be a debate with a tribal chieftain or a riddle contest with a bored, soul-devouring elf. Any time the players want to zoom in on the conflict, they can choose to Bring Down the Pain. This gives them a second chance to win the contest, but also increases the stakes and harm the characters can take as a result of the conflict.
Idea 2: Keys. When I first heard about Keys, something inside my head popped. It's brilliant. Take the experience system used by basically any roleplaying game you've probably played. Now, instead of static experience awards for defeating monsters or overcoming challenges, let each player choose what they get experience for. I'm playing a bloodthirsty monster, so I take the Key of Bloodlust and get experience any time that I defeat someone on battle. Conversely, you could also take something like the Key of the Coward and get XP every time you avoid a dangerous situation. Or, you could even take both! Another example of a Key, and one of my favorites, is the Key of Unrequited Love. You earn XP any time you try to win the affection of this individual who doesn't love you in turn. And it's so easy to come up with new ones.
Idea 3: Named NPCs. There is a distinction made between named NPCs and random, faceless mooks you fight in a back alley. When Ollug, the goblin thug, gets ambushed in a back alley by a bunch of mooks he can kill them all by winning that single combat roll. However, if they're led by a deadly assassin, Katarin, then Ollug can only defeat her but can't kill her unless I Bring Down the Pain meaning that I have to gamble the life of my character against killing her. It also opens the door for recurring villains. The GM can bring the same villains back over and over until the players get sick of them enough to Bring Down the Pain.
Idea 4: Ascension. There is a built-in endgame. When a character maxes one of their skills and achieves the maximum possible success, they ascend. That makes the roll take on an even greater significance, and means that this will be that character's last session. What ascension means can be decided on by your group, but it makes a perfect stopping point for the game or a satisfying way to conclude your character's story and pick up a new one.
So sitting on top of these great ideas like a delicious, sexy cherry is just how easy it is cut out the world's packaged sword-and-sorcery setting of Near and fill it in with whatever you want. It's been hacked for a variety of settings, including the old D&D Planescape setting. I hacked it for a hip-hop kung fu game. Taking the game's core elements - Pools, Keys, Secrets, and Skills - and repurposing for a different setting is easy and fun.
The game is simple, tight, and customizable. It's great for pick-up games and one-shots as well as ongoing campaigns. I also think it's one of the most underrated games out there and deserves a lot more fanfare than it's gotten. Fun and brilliant. Check it out.