Dramasystem
Compendium
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Advanced Procedural Rules
The last card drawn in a procedural scene determines the outcome and is called the clincher.
Calling the Scene
To establish a procedural scene, the caller describes the basic situation. While adding as much evocative narration as possible, she specifies:
- The scene’s location
- Which characters are present
- What they’re trying to achieve, and how
- (If more than one character is present) Which of them is taking the lead in performing the action. This is the primary character; others present are secondaries.
To call a procedural scene your character is not in, spend a green token. (This requirement does not apply to the GM.)
Step One: The GM Declares Difficulty
The GM then spends one of her procedural tokens. This determines what kind of clincher the primary needs in order to succeed at his objective.
A red token indicates that the task at hand is unusually easy. The primary succeeds if the clincher comes up spades, hearts, or diamonds. These become the up cards for the coming contest. Cards from the clubs suit are down cards.
A yellow says that it is a run-of-the-mill problem. The primary succeeds if the clincher comes up spades or hearts. These are the up cards; diamonds and clubs are down cards.
Green means that it is especially hard. The primary succeeds only if the clincher comes up spades. Only spades are treated as up cards; hearts, diamonds and clubs are down cards.
| Chance of Failure | GM's Token | Up Cards | Down Cards |
| Low | Red | ♠♥♦ | ♣ |
| Moderate | Yellow | ♠♥ | ♦♣ |
| High | Green | ♠ | ♥♦♣ |
Joint Narration
With the situation established, the group proceeds to jointly narrate the action, with:
- the primary’s player describing what her character is doing
- players of secondaries describing what their characters are doing
- the GM describing the various mini-obstacles that present themselves on their way to their desired gain, or a conclusive setback.
The GM starts by drawing from the card deck, and keeps drawing until a down card comes up. Only then does the scene begin, with a description by the GM of the first obstacle standing between the participating characters and their goal.
Throughout the action, participants may by various means force the GM to redraw. Each redraw reflects a new wrinkle that pops up as the primary and secondaries address their task. Up cards represent hopeful moments, in which events turn in their favor. Down cards indicate setbacks, in which their final victory seems imperiled.
A down face card indicates a really nasty negative development. An up face card signals a major, impressive breakthrough on the part of one or more active characters. Aces count as face cards.
The GM narrates the setbacks or ominous developments indicated by down cards, and the players describe themselves overcoming obstacles whenever up cards are drawn.
Step Two: The Primary Acts
The primary’s player describes what the character is doing to kick off the sequence of events.
If the primary actor is using a Strong ability, the GM draws two cards, discarding the worst and treating the other as the new active card.
When the primary actor uses a Middling ability, the GM draws a single card.
If the primary actor is using a Weak ability, the GM draws two cards, discarding the best and treating the other as the new active card.
Better or Worse Cards
During a standard procedural resolution, cards rank in the following order, from best to worst:
- A face card in an up suit
- A numbered card in an up suit.
- A numbered card in a down suit.
- A face card in a down suit.
Step Three: Player Redraws
After the primary acts, players may force redraws of down cards (to help the primary succeed) or up cards (if they want the attempt to go awry.)
Involved Characters
If a player’s character is present in the scene, the player may force one redraw by spending a procedural token. Players may only do this once per scene.
The primary actor’s player is always among those eligible to make this redraw. It makes sense for the primary actor to get another kick at the can, as he is the focus of the scene.
Depending on the token spent, the player may be called on to draw an additional card, called a consequence card. This does not affect the overall outcome of the procedural action, but may present the player’s character with an additional result, for good or ill.
On a red token, the player draws a consequence card. If it is down card, something bad will happen to that character as a result of this incident.
On a yellow token, the player does not draw a consequence card.
On a green token, the player draws a consequence card. If it is an up card, something good will happen to that character as a result of this incident.
Absent Characters
Players whose characters are not present may force redraws by spending a green token.
If they’re having a down card redrawn, they describe a new advantage that presents itself to the acting characters. If they’re having an up card redrawn (and are thus working to thwart the acting characters) they describe a new obstacle. This development needn’t (and generally won’t) be caused by their characters. They are usually best envisioned as chance events.
Spending a green token when your character is absent does not entitle that character to a personal benefit.
Cashing In a Positive Consequence
A player can call for a redraw if she can justify it, to the general satisfaction of GM and group, as the result of a positive consequence acquired in a previous scene. This is only possible if the character has yet to gain from that consequence, in or out of a procedural scene.
Order of Action
Usually the order in which participants respond to new card draws resolves itself organically. If two players want to act at the same time, the GM chooses a fresh precedence order, which establishes the order they act in. Players may withdraw after precedence is established.
Players may occasionally jockey to encourage others to go first, so they don’t have to spend valuable tokens or accept negative story consequences. If this doesn’t quickly sort itself out, the GM declares the action resolved: the situation came to a head while they dithered.
Step Four: Resolution
When no player is willing or able to call for further redraws, the current card stands and becomes the clincher.
If it is an up face card, the primary’s player describes the event resolving itself in an especially impressive fashion.
If it is a numbered up card, that player describes the final resolution as a thrilling squeaker victory, won by the narrowest of margins.
If it is a down face card, the GM describes the outcome as a disastrous setback.
If it is a down numbered card, the GM describes the outcome as a heart-breaking near miss, in which the characters nearly prevailed over their obstacles, but fell short at the last moment.
The omission of middling results is intentional. The system encourages gripping storytelling, leaving unremarkable outcomes to the unheightened world of real life.
Driving any compelling dramatic character in any story form is an internal contradiction. The character is torn between two opposed dramatic poles. Each pole suggests a choice of identities for the character, each at war with the other. Events in the story pull the character from one pole to the next.
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