Traits: First, players should select their Traits. Following are five methods of generat- ing those traits. The first three methods are the most recommended because they ensure that characters are balanced. The fourth method is random, which can be fun for a short game, but runs a high risk that some characters will per- form much better than other characters in the same party. The fifth method is “freeform” and the least recommended of the methods.
Method One (Array): Characters assign the values 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to the six Traits. Each value can be assigned to only one Trait.
Method Two (Paired Traits): Characters assign seven points to be divided each amongst three paired traits. The paired Traits are: Brain and Face, Eye and Heart, and Feet and Hands. So, for example, if the player chooses a Feet rating of 5, the Hands rating must be 2. Brain and Face are paired because Brain represents a person’s introspective qualities. Such people tend not to be extroverts, which is the quality associated with Face. For game balance pur- poses, these attributes are linked (even though there are very charismatic geniuses in the world as well as idiot social misfits). Eye and Heart are paired because Eye represents a person’s openness and receptiveness to experiences, while Heart represents a person’s ability to endure and ignore the often painful stimuli that life can dish out. Feet and Hands are paired because Feet represents a person whose ten- dency is to prefer defensive maneuvers, while Hands represents an affinity for more aggres- sive “hands-on” action.
Method Three (Point Buy): All Traits be-
gin with a value of 1. Characters then receive 18 points, with which they can “purchase” higher traits, as follows: A “2” costs 1 point, a “3” costs 2 points, a “4” costs 3 points, a “5” costs 5 points, and a “6” costs 7 points.
Method Four (Random): Roll a die six times and record the results. Assign each roll to one Trait. If you have more 1’s than 6’s or if you have no Traits with a value of 4 or more, reroll your Traits.
Method Five (Freeform): The Director assigns Traits to the characters based on the Director’s own assessment of the player’s abili- ties when LARPing. While this has the benefit of most accurately modeling the player’s own performance in the Alliance, it runs a risk of hurt feelings and arguments.
Race, Class, and Skills: Once the Traits have been set, the characters should choose race and class just as they would were they creating a live-action character. Characters begin the game with zero Experience and 15 Build Points, just as any other starting character in Alliance LARP. The Director may choose to play a higher-level game and assign players a starting Build of more than 15.
Each day of tabletop gaming earns player characters the same experience as they would garner during a Faire Day, whether a day, a month or even only a few hours of time have passed in-game. A Director may decide to award additional XP if a session is extraordinarily long. Obviously, XP does not transfer from a Tabletop game to a live-action campaign.
Possessions, Spells and Recipes: All char- acters begin the game with basic possessions as per the Alliance LARP rules unless the Di- rector determines otherwise.
Skils and Spells: Like the live-action game, characters in Alliance Tabletop take the time to study their spells, refresh their spirits and otherwise gain sustenance each game-day.
Example: Victor agrees to be Director in a game of Alliance Tabletop with his friends Judy and Terry. Judy decides to play a human celestial artisan named Dorothea that special- izes in scroll making. She spends her initial 15 Build Points on the following Skills: Read and Write, Read Magic, Celestial Level 1, Create Scroll, and Small Weapon. As she has one weapon skill (Small Weapon), she starts the game with a dagger. She also receives 12 cop- per pieces and a spell book containing a single first level spell (she chooses Stone Bolt). She
starts the game with 6 body points and 2 ar- mor points.
Next Judy chooses her Traits. The Direc- tor decides that Traits should be assigned us-
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ing Method Two (Paired Traits). She decides Dorothea has a very congenial personality, and sets her Face at 6. This means her Brain is 1. She believes that Dorothea should be brave, and sets her Heart at 5, making her Eyes 2. Finally, she sets her Hands at 3 and Feet at 4. Terry decides to be a dog wylderkin Fighter named T’to. His Initial Build Points are spent on Claw, Critical Attack 2 and Teacher. He also begins the game with 6 Body Points and 2 Armor Points for period clothing. He has one Weapon Skill and chooses to carry only his one claw as a weapon, in addition to his starting 12 copper pieces.
Now Terry chooses Traits for T’to. He de- cides that T’to is neither fearsome nor brainy and sets Brain at 3 and Face at 4. He decides that T’to is very brave and sets Heart at 5, meaning his Eyes are 2. Finally, Terry decides T’to is more defensive than offensive, and sets his Feet at 4 and his Hands at 3.
Victor reviews the characters and, decid- ing they are appropriate for his campaign, ap- proves them. He then works with his players to come up with character histories that fit the campaign world he has conceived…
Mechanics
d6 + player’s Trait (+ ally’s Trait, if ap- plicable) > d6 + opponent’s Trait or Target + Director’s Modifiers
All dice-rolling in Alliance Tabletop is resolved using the formulas set forth below. Any character who attempts an Action (see be- low) rolls a d6 and adds the appropriate Trait. If the character’s Action is being opposed, then the sum of the die roll and the character’s roll must equal or exceed the sum of the opponent’s die roll and the opponent’s trait. If the character’s Action is unopposed, then the sum of the die roll and the character’s roll must equal or exceed a target established by the Director. If the character is trying to aid an ally, then the ally’s Trait is added to the character’s roll. The Director may also apply additional modifiers based on the specific circumstances.
Not every Action for which a Director may require a roll can be enumerated here. Such
Actions are wholly within the discretion of the Director. Some of these Actions for which a Di- rector might require a roll are detailed below.
Combat
Combat in Alliance Tabletop is not cin- ematic. There are no back flips, roundhouse kicks or people tossing swords through the air. Rather, Alliance Tabletop tries to capture the flavor of live-action role-play by making use of Alliance LARP’s live-action rules and mini- mizing dice.
Time: For ease of reference, Aliance Tabletop uses seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years. However, Alliance Tabletop adds one new measure of time: the “Round.” A Round represents about six sec- onds or one-tenth of a minute – the time needed to perform a single Action – and is usually ap- plied only in combat situations. Most Actions – spellcasting, swinging a weapon, drinking a potion, etc. – take one Round. All three-count actions are presumed to require one Round to accomplish.
Characters can only take one Action in any given Round. While taking an Action, they may not move more than five feet (unless that ac- tion is dedicated wholly to movement, such as Climbing, Jumping and Sprinting). Each sepa- rate diagnosis performed pursuant to the Heal- ing Arts Skill takes one Round. (For example, it takes one Round to determine if the target is asleep, an additional Round to determine how many Body Points the target has lost, etc.)
Some Actions require multiple Rounds. Obviously, a ten-minute Formal Ritual would take 100 Rounds to cast. Similarly, somebody who is reduced to –1 Body Points would take ten Rounds to die, and then 50 Rounds to re- ceive a Life spell. Gypsy Curses require two Rounds to invoke (but only one to remove). Refitting armor requires ten Rounds.
Some Actions that appear to be a single Action are, in fact, multiple Actions that require multiple Rounds. Removing a potion or elixir from a pouch or other container and consum- ing it, for example, is in fact, three Actions (thus
requiring three Rounds): (1) removing the vial from the pouch, (2) unstopping the vial, and (3) consuming the liquid. The Director is the final arbiter as to how many Rounds a declared Action might take.
Characters with Florentine or Two Weapon Skills can take the Strike Action twice in a Round, if they have valid weapons in each hand and are using them for their respective Actions. Characters who have not been incapacitated (by Effect or by damage) always get to oppose any Action made against them.
Surprise: Before combat, occasionally there is a chance that some characters may be surprised. This is particularly true when some opponents are Concealed or in Hiding, or if an opponent is preparing to Waylay. In such cases, the characters who may be surprised must roll Notice (Eyes), opposed by the surprisers’ sus- pended Conceal/Hide/Waylay roll. Only an os- tensible victim who fails to Notice any of the hidden surprisers will be surprised. A surprised character cannot Act, move or speak for the next Round, but may roll appropriate opposition Traits in response to the surprisers’ Action dur- ing that Round.
Initiative: At the beginning of combat, any character that has the ability to take an Action must roll d6 + Feet. Each player then gets to take Actions in descending order (i.e., Actions go from highest modified Feet roll to lowest). Tie rolls are presumed to occur simultaneously. Death, Dying and Unconsciousness: Characters who are bleeding out do not die until everybody in combat has resolved their Actions. Characters at zero Body Points do not wake up until everybody in combat has resolved their Actions. Any Effects whose duration is longer than five seconds and which expires in a given Round does not expire until everybody in com- bat has resolved their Actions. In other words, any event that is not an Action occurs only af- ter all the characters have Acted.