Henchvolk

CW: violence

You are an unscrupulous, unwashed bastard.

You are part of a band of similarly unsavoury characters. You were collectively hired by a faraway brute to carry out some awful transgression.

You are now all on the run from that sordid event...

Designed for the One-Page RPG 2021 Jam,  Henchvolk is a piece of experimental game 'tech' wrapped in a mostly functional (and un-playtested) semi-cooperative GMless game about scoundrels tearing through the countryside starting fights.

The tech in question involves players bidding dice blindly to determine initiative, enemy stamina and ultimately XP.  Other things to note:

• the game's four stats are represented by sizes of dice as opposed to their initial results
• getting hurt downgrades stat dice to the next smaller size; levelling up upgrades them
• there are mechanics for messing with the other players' turns

Update: here’s an additional, optional rule which one day I may get round to adding properly - the Leader of the party is unable to be pranked.

Because of the potential to thwart your fellow players and especially because of the subject matter (fighting, committing terrible deeds) please consider using safety tools before and during play, for example: Lines & Veils, or the X-card.