In the LARP Essentials Storytelling System, a pull involves a character invoking an element of random chance. The player or storyteller literally pulls a card from a fanned out deck.
The Numbers
The numbers on the card decide your fate, plus or minus various bonuses and penalties. A card is pulled, and except for the “1” card, bonuses are added to the result and penalties subtracted, deciding the final result.
Success or Failure
Failure is more dramatic than success, and with a large group of Changelings even a handful of failures can be rescued by a single successful attempt.
As such, the pull system leans toward failure:
- A pull of 1 is always critical failure. See below. You not only failed to pick the lock, you got your lockpicks jammed into the mechanism.
- A pull total of 2 to 6 is a generic failure. You failed to pick the lock.
- A pull total of 7 to 9 is a success, but with drawbacks. You picked the lock, but made a lot of noise.
- A pull total of 10 to 12 is a success, no drawbacks. You successfully pick the lock.
- A pull total of 13 or greater is a Critical Success, and brings extra positive outcomes. You pick the lock absolutely silently without leaving any damage or evidence that you were there.
Note that a pull of one is always a critical failure, but a pull of 12 isn’t always a critical success. This is because there may be bonuses or penalities that shift your result under or above 12.
“Pulled a one…”
A pull of 1 is a critical fail, and will ALWAYS fail spectacularly, with the size of the disastrous result decided by the audaciousness of the attempt.
A critical fail quietly cranking a jack-in-the-box may result in an over loud musical interlude you cannot stop. A critical fail driving a car in a high speed chase will likely end in a crash. A critical failure activating a magical device may end with massive injury, a right or left event, or (if true death is active for a character), character death.
The Cards
The cards in the deck are numbered 1 to 12 and, additionally, contain d2, d4, d6, d8, and d10 values printed on them.
There are 24 cards:
- 1 through 12, twice
- 3 runs of d8
- 4 runs of d6
- 6 runs of d4
- 12 runs of d2
So, there are 4 d6 “3” results available to pull from the deck.
Pulling Damage
Weapon damage and abilities refer to die rolls, like 2d4. These are handled by reading the relevant die stat off the pulled card. For example, an ability that does d6 damage would read from the d6 invoice on the pulled card.
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