Realis - Ashcan Playtest

While Realis was crowdfunding on Kickstarter, I took the opportunity to download the ashcan from itch and run a one-shot. I made some awful assumptions on the system including a premade adventure of sorts, but with the way Realis functions at its core, I can see why it doesn't. This left me noodling on how to utilize the built-in lore of Realis and zooming in on a specific adventure. This is one of the few rulebooks I had to read cover-to-cover to be able to adequately run it, and even then, I don't think I did it "right" as rules written. Still, I think our group had fun with it.

The Ashcan provides some faction play and starting locations that I used and then further developed my own story loosely based on them.

Snapshot

• Players arrived on Daniley and are asked by Judge Kerrick to convice the Diwu to leave the necropolis for a new chariot racing arena
• Party explored necropolis and discovered a tomb from one of the judges pushing for the arena
• Kerrick monument where it's graffitied with "The Pilferer"; bad business dealings, lost millions for the city
• Head caretaker of necropolis and the judge have a long, messy history
• Engraver's guild of the necropolis gives the hot gossip about the history
• Party writes a hit piece on the judge "Alleged wife-murder destroys cultural heritage site: Investigating the checkered past of Judge Kerrick"

System

Realis is built on language, specifically Sentences. There are 3 types of Sentences for each character which are the following:

1. Class: These are unique to each character and are the attributes of a character. They're the ones most engaged with.
2. Bond: These describe relationships between characters.
3. Dream: A single-use, super duper powerful Sentence that's a player goal/ideal.

In addition to thse, there are two types of Sentences for the table, Foundation and Moon. Foundation Sentences are the safety tool of what is and isn't allowed. At our table, we had a single Foundation Sentence of, "Our story never has harm to children." Moon Sentences are used to describe a place. The lore of Realis is 1,000 satellites orbit the planet, Realis, and the adventures are about visiting any number of the 1,000 moons.Some moons are provided in the ashcan. Our group decided to visit Daniley, the Purple Flower Moon. While the lore in the ashcan leaves tons of open questions about the setting, it's enough to jump into a one-shottext or a mini campaign.

The core resolution mechanic in Realis are called Means. Players select a Means with how they're dealing with a situation. Means is meant as an umbrella term for all Sentence types as well as a Token (one-use sentence power boost) and Ephemera (special items). It's important to note Means do not stack. Means are chosen by both PC and GM to then decide if the Actor (the PC) achieves their intent or not. In my one-shot, the only types of Sentences that came into play were Class and Moon Sentences. Sentences have ranks of 0, +1, +2, or +3. Sentences have a cycle of being Countered, Primed, or Realized. This sub-system of Sentences is how they increase in rank. If a Sentence is Countered, it's temporarily unusable until the next scene. When a Sentence fails, or is Countered, it counts as 1 out of 3 marks towards being Primed. After 3 failures, it becomes Realized where it can be increased in rank or specifity to make it a more powerful Sentence. It's a neat little system. I hope there is a visual diagram in the final release to easier onboard players.

Party

We had 5 players at the table although 1 had to leave partway through. The group decided they were a Subversive News Crew. Character creation kind of has to happen together, since Bond Sentences can't be created until then. I tried to do some of it in advance, but I was simultaneously reading the rulebook for myself, so it was a bit of a messy start.

• Clive, Xenagogue
• Liren, the Pedagogue
• Lytru, the Goodfisher
• Martha, Witch
• Wishbone, the Nu-Hound

Brief (GM POV)

Not having a premade adventure, I needed to create some kind of loose story. A majority of the one-shot was improvised which was cool but stressful even for someone lik me who loves improv. My first step was to generate a potential narrative with 2 big outcomes, and it looked something like this:

Potential Narrative

Sect of Heliomancers - Diwu

• Have a necropolis that's been on Daniely for a long time
• The Killian Consortium wants to build over the necropolis - arena for chariot racing
  • Fracture within the sect of Diwu
    • Necropolis gone: Promised many riches and a seat on the council
    • Necropolis kept: Keeping the history and their stories - tradition

The Killian Consortium is one of the factions listed in the Ashcan, and I wanted to have them be kind of greedy, merchant folk. I created the Diwu based off the Heliomancer group, a sect of Moonfolk listed under Generic NPC Classes. It was very awesome this kind of stuff was included in the Ashcan since a premade adventure isn't. You're given all the building blocks, but you do need to spend time putting it all together.

With my factions decided, I did need to expand the Killian Consortium as there's nothing more than a brief blurb on them.

Faction: The Killian Consortium

People Sentences

• 0 Killian brokers will never reveal their identities and always haggle.
• 0 Killian members will always greet someone with a backhanded compliment.
• 0 Killian leaders will always require blood and valuables to be admitted to the consortium.

Places Sentences

• 0 Killian government buildings will always require biometrics for admittance.
• 0 Killian public transportation will always be reliable and efficient.
• 0 Killian mobiles have priority when traveling.

These Sentences were ones I created for the faction to use whenever players interacted with those types of characters. It reminded me of the 2d20 where the GM can generate Threat to beef up NPCs in scenes. With the factions done, I needed some NPCs on this Moon! Who lives here, anyway?

Possible NPCs

Judge Kerrick

Desire: Asks the players to convince the Diwu to leave their necropolis

Sentences

• 0 I always find my victims guilty.
• 0 I always wear a symbol of absolute justice.
• 1 So long as I serve them, I always have the ear of the powerful.

Laborer Greg - Caretaker of the Necropolis

Desire: Wants to guarantee work, whatever that may be

Sentences

• 0 I always find the strength to get the job done.
• 0 I always know more than others suspect I do.
• 0 I always do what I must to provide for those I love.

Charioteer Haus

Desire: Promoting the new building, antagonistic to laborers and

Sentences

• 0 I always terrify by the sound and fury of my vehicle's approach.
• 1 I always shake the ground from the safety of my chariot.
• 1 I always crush my targets beneath my wheels.

Flatfeeder Zaheer

Desire: Gathering information on the Killian Consortium

Sentences

• 0 I always draw strength from blood.
• 1 When I haven't yet eaten, I always slip past unnoticed.
• 1 If I've eaten recently, I always outlast my foe.

Head Caretaker

Desire: Protect the Necropolis

Sentences

• 0 Head Caretaker will always protect the necropolis.
• 1 Head Caretaker will always value the dead of those alive.

I opted to not make more than 5, because I didn't anticipate the players encountering more than that (they didn't). I love creating NPCs with Desires. I think this alongside something that Inspire NPCs makes them very strong for GMs to run and differentiates them in a way that doesn't make them feel over the top. This kind of NPC design reminds me of Lore Blocks, which I am a big fan of.

Takeaways

I enjoyed Realis a lot and found the party very quickly took the narrative to make it their own which was awesome. I wish there had been a slightly easier onboarding for new folks running it, but I understand it's an ashcan. Looking forward to getting my physical copy! Forcing GMs to create adventures in this way is a good skill and a very different skill from what I normally run which I appreciated. Our group had a couple snags here and there for when to use a Sentence and how. It was particularly awkward saying/reading the Sentences out loud at some moments but overall was really neat. I want to try running it again sometime in the future.

Pros

• Lots of lore to tinker with to make it your own.
• Designing NPCs was very easy.

Cons

• No premade adventure, so heavy lift for a one-shot but worth it.
• Organization and layout made table referencing difficult.

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