UnEarthly©, the unlikely romantic comedy adventure

startup rules

Time: 1905
Place: good ol' earth
Setting: maiden voyage of Amerika cruise steamship. Launched April 20, 1905. Maiden voyage October 11, Hamburg -Dover - Cherbourg - New York. She was the largest ship in the world until 1906. In many ways the AMERIKA resembled the Harland & Wolff White Star liners CELTIC and CEDRIC, though considerably more luxurious. Her passenger accommodation, far ahead of any predecessor included such refinements as suites with a private bathroom, electric lifts, a winter garden, electrical medicinal baths and a Ritz-Carlton restaurant (the first a la carte restaurant on the North Atlantic).

S.S. AMERIKA,from 1906 postcard, Martin Cox collection

Characters: crossing the Atlantic, ship lost with all hands. Two weeks later, our PCs are found in New York as the only survivors of the missing ship. They become a media mystery sensation.

Genre: romantic comedy adventure

PC Attributes: there are six

Wit: this is the rational of applied PC thought
Body: this is the rational of applied PC physique
Craft: this is the rational of applied PC knowledge
Essence: this is the rational of defensive PC stamina

PCs have 9 points to distribute to the above.
Each point is a measure of average human ability. Each step in points adds the previous step.

pts
1 = 1 average human ability
2 = 2 times human ability
3 = 3 times human ability

Humans have 3 to 5 points total.

Unearthly X: name a talent
this is something no one else on Earth could ever hope to do (example: walk through solid objects, devise devices that run without power, travel through time)
Unlikely X: name a talent
this is something someone on Earth might do, but it is unlikely except by the world's best (example: martial arts master, brain surgeon, inventor

NPCs are assumed to have 1 point of Essence. Essence defends you in several ways. You can have 1 terrible wound without dying. You can have 1 awful day without exhaustion. You can have 1 bad fall, 1 thrashing, 1 encounter with adversity before you must rest to get that restored. Easy, right?

And the PCs select how much Essence they have. It may be only 1 point or up to 6.

But PCs have a 'backward' cost to their losing Essence. Adversity rolls off their backs. Thusly: with PCs, you don't count minor setbacks unless you've had a major setback. So, you can't be exhausted unless you've also had a terrible wound. You don't suffer from a bad fall unless you're exhausted.

The PCs can suffer a terrible wound, but carry on as if not tired. Then they might do so for a day, but become exhausted. Then they might get hit on the head, or fall from a height, and need to see a doctor. But if the first awful things don't take effect, the smaller things don't count.

In the screwball comedies, awful things happen to the PCs and they dust themselves off and move along blithely.

These PCs have a hidden strength that is love. They are also family. The GM presumes that they 'love' each other as family. They also have parents and possibly other relatives that 'love' them.

In any situation where 'love' is given to the PC, the PC gains a point for the scene that they may use as they wish for any quality. They may also turn and give it to another PC.

Love may be given in any clear demonstrable way. A heartfelt hug and a "be damn careful, Lillian" counts if the love is coming from Family or your Romance Attracted NPC. Sometimes, this will be a judgment call. A father outraged at the fact that their son has been foolish and gotten hurt may be a point of love passed to the PC. And that PC could heal from that point or pass it to another PC. This gift of love does not carry beyond a scene.

Players have nine points to distribute to their Attributes. So given a base standard of one point in each of the four Attributes, there are five additional choices to make. If you put all five into Essence (or any other single Attribute, naturally), you get a max of six.

Yes, a PC might be six times mortal normal in one thing. Six times more gifted in some way. The trade off is up to the Player. You could just as well put two points in each Attribute and then select which one gets the ninth point.

While I like the idea of everyone deciding Attribute distribution right in the moment of play and having it immediately surprise Player and Character alike, the game works if everyone collaborates at the beginning as well to spread out the bounty.

Yes. PCs don't suffer scratches, exhaustion, or minor injury unless they have already suffered their Essence-worth of major injury. And without actually play-testing the result, this advantage continues as you wear down the PC.

IOW, let's say for example that the PC has Essence 2. They go without sleep for 24 hours, but are not exhausted. Then they get hit by a dropped piano. Now they have Essence 1, now they will feel the effects of not sleeping for 24 hours if that happens. The previous lack of sleep did not count and still doesn't.

And, if the PC does have another 24 hours without sleep, it makes them vulnerable to bumps, falls and scratches. Each higher level of Essence is an umbrella protection for the lower levels.

This means that someone with Essence 2 has six steps of reduction, and those reductions only happen from the top down. Another case of this would be that in our example above, not sleeping for 24 hours makes the PC now vulnerable to 1 minor hurt. As long as the second point of major hurt isn't touched, the second point of exhaustion or minor hurt can't be counted off.

The system should rarely be called upon because story and such aren't going to strain the protection levels much in Romantic Comedy. So PCs pretty much carry on through rain and sleet. It's there to remind the PCs they can be hurt, just not quickly or easily.

It also provides for dramatic sudden recoveries. Such as using a point of love in a scene to restore exhaustion or even a major hurt.

-more later-