The Universal Storytelling System is all about facilitating you and your friends' interactive stories. It provides a framework and a means for the environment to affect the characters as they tell of their heroics. A slick spot on the road that trips up the private investigator lets the criminal get away, a mistimed jump onto the train, or a lucky grab of a rope as the treasure hunter falls into a ravine.
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The system can be run with a story master and a player up to as many players as you wish. Although it is recommended to keep the number of players between 3 and 8. If you have more than 8 players, additional story masters (who collaborate on the overarching story) should be added.
The mechanics of the system uses a standard 54 card deck (includes the jokers). Whenever a character tries something that has any chance of failure, the player draws cards from the deck and counts how many 8,9,10,J,Q,K appear (called successes). If an ace appears, then it takes away a success. The number of cards drawn depends on the situation as determined by the player's character sheet and the story master. If the task is easy, then only one success is needed. Harder tasks would require more successes.
Jokers are considered a success, but also have a special role. Once all the card draws are drawn and a joker is pulled because of that card draw, an additional card is drawn. If the card is an ace, then subtract four successes. If the card is neither an ace or a success, then nothing else happens. If the card is a success, then add three successes. If the card is a joker, then add seven successes.
Nearly everything in the system is driven by skills. Your fighting, social, physical, intellectual abilities all revolve around skills. And they can be anything the player and story master agree fit the character and setting.
The Story Master
The story master plays a central role. In other systems this person would be a dungeon master or a game master. They arbitrate the rules, play all the supporting and antagonist characters, and develop the overarching story. It is up to the story master to develop the general idea of the plot, meaning starting point, population of the world, main antagonists, and any environmental affects. The players fill the details.
As an example I tell the players, who are officers on a spaceship, that they are on a mission to investigate a black hole. I know that there is an enemy fleet using that black hole as cover. But I will reveal that to the players' characters as they play through the story.
I know the start, some important events mid way, and the goal. Everything else is directed by what the players do. If one of the players fails a mechanic draw and breaks the life support system. A session (typically 3-4 hours) could be spent fixing that issue. If the player's characters traffic with space pirates, then a session or more can be spent handling the fallout from that interaction.
For Those who are New to the Hobby
There are resources out there to help you. Podcasts, like
Fear the Boot, are great resources. Other good resources are local gaming conventions. Check out
Fear the Con if you can be in the St. Louis, MO area the second weekend in June. They are small and can be less intimidating than Gen Con or Origins. This is a pretty good search tool to find a local convention:
http://www.geekcityguides.com/Conventions.aspx. Don't be afraid to join a game (hopefully they are running my system ;) ) and let the table know you are new. By and large new players are readily welcomed. It is the only way the hobby continues and grows.
Outside gaming I am a SQL developer using Oracle and SQL Server. I also am one of the leaders for my Asatru kindred. And am getting my second masters.
