ABORT

RETRY
FAIL
IT'S NOT A BUG, IT'S A FEATURE

A Game by
Derek Chappell

Dem Ted (Order #11718740)

 Abort Retry Fail is a collaborative game about being a killer robot assassin from
the future come back to change the past. Due to a design flaw, it has a few
screws loose, and all the subroutines are working at cross purposes. You will
need your paper, your tokens and d6s, and your motorcycle.

Collectively, players are a metal skeleton with skin and flesh overtop. One player
plays the Operating System telling users what is happening in the outside world.
All the other players are subroutines. Put 10 tokens for every person playing in
the center.

Pass around a sheet of paper and have every player write a Directive on it. These
are the objectives the killer robot needs to complete. Directives should be things
like *Kill Kyle Reese*, *Destroy Cyberdyne Labs* or *Protect John Connor*.

Each player makes their Subroutine Profile. They choose three skills; One related
to fighting, one to blending in or acting, and then a freebie which can be used
for anything, such as *Computer Hacking* or *Lifting Weights*. These skills can be
related to secret components of your robot assassin like liquid metal or a wi-fi
connection, but should not be fundamentally impossible for a titanium Austrian
cyborg, like flying or magic.

Then, assign dice targets to each stat; 2+, 3+ and 4+. You need to roll over these
targets to succeed with these skills. If your action does not use one of these
skills, you need a 5+.

Finally, each Subroutine should pick a hidden objective, telling the CPU, but not
the other players. You need to complete this objective as many times as you can
to win, so you need to make sure the objective is something that you can do
multiple times, like *Steal Sunglasses* or *Break Kneecaps* or *Get Shot*. These
objectives must be specific, and cannot exactly line up with any of your Skills.
These can be accomplished by anyone, so try to pick things other people might
do without knowing!

The game starts with the Operating System describing where and when you ended
up getting dumped back in time. Then, the players make plans, describing to the
other players each action they need to take. The Operating System can specify if
an action in the plan will require a roll, if the player does not. The goal is to get
everyone to agree to execute the plan of one subroutine. The Operating System
values efficiency, so if nobody can agree, the Operating System can mandate the
use of the plan with the lowest number of actions that most directly advances
an objective.

The Subroutine that made the winning plan then rolls the dice for each action in
sequence. If they pass the roll, things go as planned. Each plan costs 1 Token
to implement, regardless of how many actions are in it. Once per plan, you can
lower the target on a roll by 1 with an appropriately witty one-liner, preferably
containing a pun. Then the Operating System discribes the consequences of the
plan, and new plans can be made in response to these circumstances.

Continue the game until all the objectives are complete. Whoever completed their
hidden objective the most wins, so if you guess what the hidden objective of
another subroutine is, do not let them incorperate it into their plans. If you run
out of tokens or fail an objective, everyone loses.

Dem Ted (Order #11718740)