Welcome to ARC, a "free" diceless role playing game (DRPG) available online for all gamers to enjoy. ARC is my attempt to create an RPG that doesn't use dice, complex math or charts of any sort. You will not find long lists of modifiers here. My reasoning for this attitude is thus: most movies and novels don't try to simulate real life and yet, they remain a great deal of fun. So why do RPGs try so hard to create "realistic" environments? These so called realistic RPGs definitely don't feel any more realistic, if anything they reduce the game to a bunch of meaningless numbers which slow down play. Following this chain of logic we arrive to the conclusion that an RPG to be fun has to be a theatrical and simulative of real life.
Many newer RPGs have shunned traditional RPG terms, such as Game Master. I'm not sure what they are trying to accomplish, though. I use the term Game Master (GM) because it's simple and because I'm use to it.
In ARC, though, the GM is not a traditional GM. He is what Christopher Kubasik calls a Fifth Business. This new kind of GM still plays a thousand and one character. He still creates the world in which the story takes place. But he is not the supreme ruler of the game, nor does he run the show by himself. His responsibilities may be different but he is equal to the players. The story doesn't belong to the GM, for it is created along with players.
This kind of game requires a different type of player. Most gamers expect to go to a game and be entertained by the GM. In ARC, everyone is an entertainer. The GM is supposed to make an entertaining world with interesting events in which the players can react to. In turn, the players with their actions should entertain not only the GM but also each other! It's a circle, a never ending story, a way to bond, to socialize and to have fun. Entertainment. It's the most important thing in an RPGs - more so than any silly rule - so never forget it.
The story is the most important aspect of the game in ARC. And the characters are the protagonists, the driving force behind the story. But the players must understand that their characters are the driving force of the story, not the story itself. It's more important that a player makes helps create a more entertaining story for everyone, than to satisfy his own (or his characters!) desires, unless of course that makes a more fun story.
So, it's not about being given a mission to accomplish by the GM, anymore. The GM may well provide missions and hooks and red-herrings and all those things that make a game interesting, but the concept of an adventure is very much dead. The players may choose to ignore the GM's clues if they believe they can create a more entertaining story. The GM should be prepared to be surprised by the players, just as they expect to be surprised by him. This is the essence of ARC.
Anyway, enough rambling for now. Analysis of ARC's philosophical statement and theory of gaming will be continued all throughout the rules, where appropriate, as it is often far more important than any single rule. I hope you enjoy ARC and please e-mail me any suggestions or ideas you come up with.
You may download ARC so you can read it off-line at a later time in any of the following formats:
ARC is the work of Alex "dabugas" Armstrong. Maybe, sometime in the future, someone will actually help me a bit :) OK, I'm being sarcastic. Some people have actually posted their ideas and comments in ARC's mailing list and I thank them. Thanks!
ARC is a very large task to be completed by a single person, so I'm on the look out for talented writers, artists and playtesters who wish to aid me. On the writing department, anything RPG-related is useful. Even general (that is, non-ARC) essays. I'm also interested in finding someone to write examples for action resolution and combat. If you've tried out ARC with your gaming group, I want to know! Tell me your experiences, your likes, your dislikes, things you want written, clarified and so on.
My purpose in ARC is to coordinate the project and collate the various smaller parts together, I retain the legal copyrights only for typical reasons. Since ARC is released as OpenContent anyone may use it and distribute it under the license that follows below.
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