Snake Eyes preview
COVID-19 may have delayed play-testing and development of Snake Eyes, but that doesn’t mean we have nothing to share. So how about a preview — the first chapter of the Snake Eyes manual!
What is Snake Eyes?
In short, it’s a role-playing system! Snake Eyes is a simple set of rules for running your own table-top role-playing game (TTRPG). This is a setting-agnostic ruleset, which means that you can use it to run any kind of game you want: science fiction space operas, cosmic horror, fantasy dungeon-crawls, or any other kind of RPG.
Role-playing is more popular than ever and chances are that just about any beloved books, comics, and movies will get an RPG of their own — but companies can’t make a game for every story and setting that comes out. And if they do, you may or may not like the system they developed or selected. So if there’s a story or world that you want to role-play and no one’s made a book for it, Snake Eyes has a flexible ruleset that can be used to run just about any kind of campaign that you can come up with.
In this manual, we’ll cover all of the basic rules of Snake Eyes and how to use them. And because no single rule system works for all games and gaming groups, we will discuss how to make your own changes to Snake Eyes in order to tell your best story.
Wait, what’s a TTRPG?
In case we lost you at the first sentence, let’s take a quick step back. Role-playing games (RPGs) are games of pretend, much like you played as a kid. But RPGs are pretending with a structured rule system. Who shot who first? How good is the painting that they created? Your character’s skills, traits and a pair of dice determine what actions succeed or fail.
So what does the table-top part of TTRPG mean? Well, there are many ways to role-play. There are RPG video games that allow their players to create a moderately customized character and make some decisions for them. There is also live-action role-playing (LARP), in which players dress up and act out the story. But table-top role-playing is done — as you may have guessed — at a table. Well, it’s not always an actual table… Many times, players just sit around on a couch or in chairs in someone’s living room, or using online meeting spaces.
Each player in the game makes their own unique character and records them on a character sheet. Those combined skills give the player characters (PCs) the tools they will need to confront foes and solve problems in the game. And then it is the Storyteller’s job to create those challenges.
Who’s the Storyteller?
The person running a Snake Eyes role-playing game is called the Storyteller. Their job is part rules adjudicator, part referee, but mostly tale-spinner. The Storyteller is like the conductor of an orchestra, directing the flow of the music and weaving all of the different instrumental sounds into one unified song. In gaming, this means that the Storyteller sets the scene, springs surprises on the group or faces them with monsters — but they also add the individual character’s contributions into their story arc.
The Storyteller develops the game story — also known as a campaign — narrates the scenes, portrays all of the non-player characters (NPCs), and weaves the actions of all their players together into a single epic storyline. One or more players participate in the Storyteller’s campaign by pretending to be their characters, speaking as their creation — rather like in an improv theater scene — and using their sheet of stats and skills to overcome crises.
The Storyteller should be familiar with the rules of Snake Eyes so that they can help the players turn their ideas into actions. They break all ties when interpreting rules, and if a rule isn’t working for the group, the Storyteller is free to change it. The only goal is to tell a good story and for everyone to have fun.
When running or playing an RPG
Before we dive into the next section, there’s another important thing to consider when running or playing in a role-playing game of any type: setting expectations.
Whether you’re the Storyteller or a player, talk to the rest of your gaming group about what you expect out of the campaign. This might be the kind of character you want to play — trying to role-play a lawful paladin in a game full of sneaks and scoundrels might become really uncomfortable. Or a ton of fun! Just talk to your friends ahead of time and make sure that everyone knows what they’re getting into.
This communication also might be about what kind of game is being run. There’s not much point in rolling up a fast-talking diplomat if the Storyteller is running a dungeon-crawl — a game that focuses primarily or exclusively on combat. By the same token, if you’re the campaign Storyteller, try to ensure that there is a place for the gun-slinging mercenary PC in a game of interplanetary intrigue and politics, or let your players know that they might want to consider another concept.
There are other out-of-game expectations to consider. Storytellers and players alike are people, and people have both needs and boundaries. If one of your players is absolutely terrified of spiders, talk to them and think carefully before using them as monsters in your story.
Communicate about potentially sensitive topics that may come up in a role-playing game, like sex and violence, or gender, body and racial issues. Is your gaming group comfortable diving headlong into a gritty, political story about deep-set prejudices and societal problems? Or are they just looking for some light, silly fun? There’s no wrong answer — just be sure to ask the question, then have the conversation with honesty and sensitivity.
What do I need to play?
First, you will have to get some friends together. A TTRPG requires at least two people — one Storyteller and one player — but between three and five players usually works best. There can be as many players as desired, but there is typically just one Storyteller. They are the final arbiter of their game, and need to be able to make decisions and break ties without being overwhelmed by an army of players.
You will also need some dice! Snake Eyes requires a pair of 6-sided dice. You can get fancy ones from a gaming store, or just swipe a pair from an old board game.
Common notation for dice is a letter D, then the number of sides on the die — a D20 is a 20-sided die, a D10 has ten sides, and so on. So the Snake Eyes dice set is two D6s, also often written out at 2D6.
What about maps? Well, that’s up to you. Snake Eyes can be played with or without a battle map, using either squares or hexes. All combat and travel rules will have map and non-map variants, and you are welcome to choose which one you prefer.
Most of an RPG campaign takes place in the imagination as characters role-play scenes with each other or with NPCs. But some scenes — especially combat — are more technical, and who or what is located where becomes important to track. During these scenes, you may find a map helpful for monitoring where everyone is and what’s going on. But it’s entirely optional.
If you decide to use a map, then dungeon tiles, mats, or digital maps all do the job equally well. Use whatever is easily available, and what works for your group and style.
How do I create a game campaign?
So you have the Snake Eyes rules, a couple of dice and some players. What next? Many role-playing games produce modules: self-contained stories that provide the setup, stats for crises and enemies that the group will face, and serves as a guide to move the characters through the story. But you can always make your own stories, which is both more challenging for the Storyteller and more rewarding — and just what Snake Eyes is designed for!
A game story can be as simple as protecting a town from danger, or as epic as a war between entire nations — or planets — or maybe the end of the world. Simple stories may only take a few game sessions to complete, but you can craft campaigns that will provide years of fun and which explore complex themes or ideas.
We recommend taking notes and mapping out your entire Snake Eyes RPG campaign ahead of time, making sure that you know all of the plot points, combats and crises. (Combats are protracted fight-based skill challenge scenes, while crises focus on non-combat skill scenes — like surgery or starship repairs.) But many Storytellers create their campaigns session by session, or just improvise the entire thing, making it up as they go! Use whatever method works best for you.
How do I create a character?
There are several parts to a Snake Eyes player character — and each one of them has its own chapter in this manual — but the process goes something like this.
1. Character concept
This is the core of your character. Who are they? Do you want to play an adventurous scout? A politician who will do whatever it takes to come out on top? A loyal warrior in service to the throne?
You can usually sum up a character concept in just a few words, but the Storyteller and player should both further explore the idea. Imagine where this character comes from, what they want, and what drives them. Do they have ties to the rest of the world, like a job or a family? Do they know any of the other PCs or NPCs? If so, how did they meet?
A character concept can provide guidance for portraying them during game, and in assigning the points that will make up their character sheet. Obviously, a brave warrior needs combat skills, but the cunning and cut-throat politician will have different skills and traits than a soft-hearted philanthropist.
2. Stats
Stats — short for statistics — is a term often used to refer to the entire character sheet and all the numbers that make up a player character. In Snake Eyes, the specific term stats refer to three main scores — Body, Mind, and Spirit. These ratings put initial numbers to the character concept.
- Body represents how quick, strong, and tough a character is. Any physical roll will lean on Body as the base stat.
- Mind is how intelligent and perceptive the character is. Research and lore skills are rolled with the Mind stat, but so does spotting an ambush or noticing a clue.
- Spirit represents a character’s will and charisma. Standing strong in the face of terror is a Spirit roll, but so does soothing a reluctant witness or charming a local townsperson.
Some rolls call for combinations of stats. Careful surgery to remove a shard of demonic crystal before it can drain the victim’s life requires both a steady hand and knowledge about the hell-splinter. So the surgery requires a Mind-Body roll, which is the average of the two stats in question. You can take the average by adding the values and dividing by two. If the result isn’t a whole number, always round down.
In some cases, a skill challenge may call for all three stats — Mind-Body-Spirit. If a cosmic power breaches the barrier between realities, facing that horror might batter the brain, sear the soul, and torture the body, so a character needs to make a Body-Mind-Spirit check. In this case, all three stats are added, divided by three, and rounded down to provide the average.
3. Skills
Just how good is your singer character in front of a microphone? Is the warrior skilled in swordplay or are they a gunslinger? Skills represent what your character is good at and how well they do it. Skill levels range from 1 (amateur) to 5 (expert).
No one character will succeed in every kind of task. There are too many skills and traits for any single person to have them all. The strength of a character party is in the different abilities their players give them, and offering different areas of strength and options when dealing with the challenges of the game campaign.
4. Traits
Stats form the base of the character and skills outline their competencies, but there are only three stats and a medium-sized skill list. Traits are where you really customize your character. If the game campaign takes place in a world of magic, there’s a trait for spells and mystic powers. If it takes place in the far future, traits are how you add cybernetics or a robotic companion.
Most traits have somewhere between one and six levels. Higher levels increase the bonuses associated with that trait. Some traits provide a bonus to skill checks, while others may offer advantages in combat, or unique abilities of their own.
Traits are meant to be highly versatile so that they can be used to create any kind of character. Snake Eyes includes a long trait list that covers a wide range of abilities. But don’t get too stuck on the names listed here — any trait can be renamed or reimagined to better represent the genre that a game takes place in. Luck could be a knack for getting out of tight spots, but you could also rename it to Blessed if it should represent the power of a divine force looking out for the character.
And if none of the traits in Snake Eyes quite cover an ability or power required for a certain game, then make your own! Give it a name that describes the trait, create the game effects, and then assign it a fair cost for characters. (There will be more details on customizing the Snake Eyes system later in this manual.)
5. Factors
Factors are similar to traits in that they affect the difficulty of rolls and sometimes have unique effects. But while most traits make a character’s life easier, factors tend to complicate it.
So why take factors? Well, each factor has a point value. When you add a factor to your character, you refund the factor’s score in experience points and can spend them on more traits, stats or skills! So factors not only make a character more interesting to play, but also add to their strengths.
Like the rest of the experience points on your character sheet, factors help flesh out and define the character. Taking a phobia of heights might be an easy way to score ten extra points, but it can and should be so much more. Maybe the brave warrior is undaunted by any threat, fearless in the face of danger, able to brave overwhelming odds and torture with poise… But they can’t so much as stand on a stool without breaking into a cold sweat.
Factors aren’t just a way to squeeze out some extra points in exchange for a penalty when you try to climb. The phobic warrior might refuse to climb up a castle wall, forcing the party to come up with another way to get in. It can be played for laughs, with the daunting warrior bursting into tears when confronted with a steep staircase. Or maybe you can play it for drama where your character strives to hide their terror from the rest of the party, ashamed of their fear and desperately trying to protect their reputation for bravery.
Factors are a way to come up with some more points, but should be used to create role-playing opportunities by both player and Storyteller.
6. Character Attacks
Combat is an important feature of most role-playing games, and Snake Eyes is no exception. Any story requires conflict to drive it, and combat is the most basic and visceral form of conflict there is. So any RPG campaign usually contains plenty of fighting.
In Snake Eyes, player characters have one or more special attacks that they can employ in a combat scene. These are called Character Attacks, and are made up of abilities and drawbacks. Just like characters have both traits and factors, their special moves, magic spells, and high-tech weapons have both pros and cons. And like factors for characters, Character Attack drawbacks are optional and do not have to be purchased.
Attacks in Snake Eyes are different than weapons. A gun just fires a bullet, but does the player make a Double-Tap attack to fire more rapidly? Do they make a Knee-Capper attack to slow their target down? How about a Covering Fire attack that lets one of their allies advance safely? The abilities and drawbacks let you make customizable attacks so your character can develop a fighting style or flavor that is all their own, no matter what type of weapon they pick up.
Ready?
Well, that about covers the basics! So let’s dive into the specifics of Storytelling and playing Snake Eyes.
