Professional Documents
Culture Documents
P - P Rules002
P - P Rules002
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 2
Palace Example
Cardstock walls
Paper towel rolls
Cardstock balcony
3 ft.
The Palace is the location of all the action in the game. You will be surprised how many
games can be played within the confines of these walls. A big part of making this game
fun is having a Palace that your players are excited to play in. It can be large or small,
empty or full of rooms. Just make sure that you can access each room comfortably and
have enough space to maneuver the figurines.
4
• Any material can be used to make • Provide access to every room with
the Palace. Our first was card stock cut-away walls and removable roofs.
and glue. Our second is plywood. • Give control to the players. The
Other choices are Legos, sugar more they design and build the
cubes, papier-mâché, and balsa Palace themselves, the more they
wood. will love it.
• Make the Palace as big as you can, • Decorate it in detail: windows,
almost as large as the table on which balconies, flags, tapestries, curtains,
you play. thrones, chests, beds, furniture,
• Building the structure may be your kennels for the pets, etc. Don't
job, especially with children under 5. forget turrets, drawbridges, and a
Save their creativity for decorating moat!
and painting the walls. Older • Expect the Palace to change and
children may want to do everything, grow over time. You may not build a
from drawing the blueprints to dungeon until someone needs to be
wielding glue-guns. jailed. You may not have a banquet
• The floor is 10 foot (3 m) squares. hall or a kitchen until a big birthday
Draw them whatever size you like, dance.
but be consistent. Mats and tiles • The excessive use of ribbons, glitter,
from game companies also work. and jewels is highly recommended.
3. CHARACTER CREATION
D
Preparation:
ad drew a picture on the
As with many things in this game, floor. “Now this,” he told them,
numbers and statistics are introduced “is a garden. And you can see
with stories. Once the palace is the Princesses laughing and
constructed, the character-creation playing and dancing in a ring,
story begins. holding hands.” He arranged
the Princesses around the pond
Remove from the game box the five he had drawn. . .
Princess figurines. Set them up on
the table in a small circle.
Each player chooses a Princess and receives the figurine and matching character sheet.
This is their character until they choose a different one. This character persists past the
end of each game session, growing and developing into a unique creation.
5
The character sheets are laminated and the player uses only Dry-Erase markers on it.
Description:
Name Level
Naming the Princess gets the player to Every Princess starts at level 1, regardless
think about who she is. If her last name is of Her age. At the end of each adventure,
Moonglow ask her if she comes from the the Princess gains half a level.
Moonglow family and what her parents are
like. Does she have brothers and sisters? Age
Details can be noted and used later. On each birthday, the Princess is awarded
one point to spend on Her attributes.
Title
Like a name, the formal title the Princess Hair Color / Eye Color
takes tells a larger story about who she is The player can color the picture of the
and what kind of Princess she is. No title Princess to create a custom image of their
is too grand, even Princess of the Universe. Princess.
“Now look at where it says Strengths, Smarts, and Sweets,” Dad said.
“These are your Attributes. They describe your Princess with numbers.
A bigger number means you have more of that Attribute.”
Attributes:
The Princesses:
The five laminated color-coded Princess character sheets each corresponds to a Princess.
Princesses start with these different attribute modifiers:
Yellow Princess Green Princess Purple Princess Blue Princess Pink Princess
10 + 0 12 + 2 10 + 0 13 + 3 10 + 0
13 + 3 11 + 1 10 + 0 10 + 0 11 + 1
10 + 0
10 + 0
13 + 3
10 + 0
12 + 2
Life is the amount of points each Princess possesses. Damage of different kinds can take
points away. If a Princess reaches 0 points she is dead, and placed in a crystal casket
until someone daring can awaken Her. If death is too difficult a subject for the player(s),
have her get “knocked-out” instead. If killing monsters is too violent, have the monsters
be summoned, and after enough damage they can be “banished” in a puff of smoke.
Treasures:
A Princess wears Her most important treasures, whether it is a Crown Of Flying, A Wand
Of Healing, or a Necklace of Shooting Stars. Leave room for the item's effects in the
space provided. Feel free to decorate the illustration of the Princess with Her treasures.
Pets:
Princesses are known to have pets: dogs, pigs, ducks, pixies, walruses, baby dragons,
bats, etc. A lucky Princess might have a pet as strong as a d12 creature, but no more.
Put what die class next to its name in the space provided, along with its life points.
4. HOW TO PLAY
The two main modes of the game are Role-Playing and Action.
“F ocus is going to hit that Goblin on the head with a pot!” Mimi said.
She rolled a 4, which the Goblin couldn't beat, and 3 points of damage.
The Goblin fell over dead. Mimi cackled again.
8
Role-Playing:
Action:
Action can be battling Goblins or solving a The Ring Of Firebolts only does d6
puzzle or charming a visiting Princess. damage, but the Yellow Princess adds +3
from her Smarts to that amount. The
Everything is rolled and entered into the Goblin dies!
worksheet. For example, if the Princess
wants to know what the knocking was, Physical battle is purely a Strengths affair.
have Her make a Smarts roll against the A Princess with many pets will have
mystery. She is a Yellow Princess with +3 several attacks per round. A Purple
to her Smarts so she rolls a d20+3. Princess, for example, with Dog and Bear
Because it is an easy mystery to solve, the pets will have the Dog roll a d4 when it
GM rolls a d6. The higher score prevails, attacks and a d8 when the Bear does. A
with the Princess identifying the knocking Dog does d4 damage and a Bear does d8.
as coming from beneath the flagstones!
When attacked, a Princess still gets to roll
The flagstones erupt and 3 Goblins emerge. her d10 to block the attack or otherwise
The Princess rolls initiative (Smarts) on protect herself from it. The Dog (d4) and
her d20, as do the Goblins. The higher Bear (d8) also get to roll to avoid damage
number goes first. Each player rolls once, when attacked. The higher roll always
regardless of how many pets and NPCs wins, and Princesses avoid a lot of trouble
they represent. All of their attacks go at this way!
the same time. The Goblins also attack in
unison. Everything is oppositional and requires a
counter-roll, even innocuous things like
The Princess fires a Ring Of Firebolts at charming a person or solving a puzzle. The
the first Goblin, making a d10 Smarts roll larger the die used for the counter-roll
+3 against the Goblin's d4. She rolls the determines how difficult that action is. As
higher number and successfully burns the Game Master, use common sense to assign
Goblin! ballpark probabilities to each action.
9
A Battle In Detail:
“A Dog is also a d4 creature, so let's see who rolls the higher number!”
Mimi liked to roll the dice. She rolled a 2 on her own four-sided die.
Dad rolled a 1. “Oh!” Dad said. “Your Dog made my Goblin miss!”
Mimi cackled in delight. She shared a look with Kit,
smug and confident they could beat these monsters.
Everyone in the game is rated by dice. Fairy Godmothers are d20 creatures. They
attack, protect, and do damage with a d20. They have up to 20 life. Only the most
powerful NPCs, pets, & monsters do too. The weakest are d4 creatures. A 20 year-old
Princess attacking a Goblin gets to roll a d20 to attack. The Goblin only gets to roll a d4
to protect.
Examples:
d4 d6 d8
Princesses age 1-4 Princesses age 5-6 Princesses age 7-8
Slimes Lions Bears
Goblins Dwarves Zombies
Dogs Faeries Elves
Magic:
Magic can come from magical items or creatures that are inherently magical. The magic
system is extremely simple and based on common sense. There are no tables or canonical
spell-books that describe the magical effects of a scroll or a sorcerer, and no underlying
system of points or mana. There are only simple artifacts such as the Wand Of Flying
(move 2 squares per round, rise 1 square per round) or creatures such as the Firetoad
(shoots d4 damage of burning spit). Design your own magical items and creatures based
on the likes and dislikes of the players. Reward them with what they love most and
threaten them with what they hate.
Feel free to create spells, scrolls, and spellbooks yourself. The best spells have visual
effects and simple mechanics with clear outcomes. You might confuse a 6 year-old with
psionics. Limit the amount of magic in each game session's action to a few spectacular
displays. Make them the fireworks punctuating the physical battle.
Permanent charms, illusions, or buffs may sound like a good idea, but constantly adding
in their modifiers takes the shine off them and get them taken for granted.
11
The accumulation of rare treasures and magical items is very important. Each adventure
ends with a pile of loot. Make the treasure simple, and not too powerful. The Princess
will be overjoyed with the smallest, shiniest object and the weakest magical effect.
Certain items can operate as creatures with their own dice rating, but more often they
are tools that provide bonuses to the Princess or extra types of damage.
Movement:
During action, the Princess may choose to move herself or her pets instead of fight. Each
square or hex of the Palace is 10 feet or 3 meters, and a Princess can move one square per
round, unless modifiers allow her to travel faster. There are no half-movements with
half-attacks in this system. Taking cover is effective, and can add 1-3 points of difficulty
to an attack. Range can also modify an attack. Use common sense to decide how much
more or less difficult movement makes the action.
At the end of each game session, assuming the Princess was victorious or learned
something or just generally moved ahead with the story, she gains six months of Age or
one-half of a Level. For every two sessions successfully completed, the Princess gets a
birthday with a BIG PARTY, goes up a year in Age, and gains one point to spend on Her
Strengths, Smarts, or Sweets.
Dice are also one of the ways players learn to trust the
Game Master. Make sure they can see your rolls unless
you're intentionally keeping a secret. Let them do your
math for you. They will learn that the dice are capricious and lead the game in
unexpected directions, random number generators modeling life-like scenarios. Now you
12
are just a short step from statistics and probability. But make sure to keep the math
accessible and always tie it to human concerns within the narrative structure of the
game. Allow yourself to be as surprised by the direction the game goes in as the players
and they will learn that you are not driving the game toward some single end but that
you are exploring it together.
The Worksheet:
The worksheet on the back of the character sheet is a script each player can follow. It
displays the important numbers and basic equations for action sequences.
Life Points
Below the space for the Princess' name are 15 hearts. Have the player fill in the amount
of Life Points they have with numbers (write the number 1 in the first heart, the number
2 in the second heart, etc.). Erase each number when the Princess takes damage, add
when the Princess heals.
Below the hearts are three lines of 10 circles each. These record the Life Points of each
pet in the same way.
Initiative
The Princess rolls a d20, adds modifiers she may have, and writes the result in this box.
For math beginners having this number and the one the Game Master rolled written
beside each other helps them see which is bigger. The bigger roll goes first!*
Attribute Check
Whether Strengths, Smarts, or Sweets, the Princess rolls Her die and adds any modifiers
to the total. If her check is higher than the Game Master's, then it is successful.* *
Action
Before the player rolls the die they write down any modifiers they may have:
• Environment
Any external feature that helps or hinders action, such as cover behind a wall or a
storm or darkness
• Treasures
The relevant effects of magical trinkets
• Attributes
Any bonuses the Princess has in Strengths, Smarts, or Sweets
• Difficulty
* Use the Action equation to calculate both Initiative and Attribute Check modifiers.
13
Damage
At the end of each action, damage is either doled out or taken. Calculate the total and
make sure to erase or add to the Life Points at the top of the page.
Round
Keep track of the rounds in the same way as Life Points. Write down the number for
each round as it begins. This helps keep the action clear and sequential.