When I was at PAX Unplugged in Philly last year, I played an intro one-shot of Between The Skies by huffa at the Exalted Funeral booth. She used the shortest set of TTRPG character action mechanics I’ve ever played, giving players an option to roll dice or spend a story token…
ROLL DICE
* Roll 2d6. A total of 9 or more succeeds at the attempted outcome.
* If a character has any advantage (solid planning, helpful abilities), a result of 7 or more succeeds.
* A failed roll might still succeed, but the overall situation worsens or contradicts the intended outcome.
* OR *
USE A STORY TOKEN
* All player characters start with 1 story token.
* Expending a story token grants an automatic success on any attempted action.
* Players gain new tokens by proposing complications to the ongoing adventure/story.
* Players may hold no more than two tokens at once.
COMPLICATION IDEAS: Things a player could introduce to the adventure for a token (my list, not in the game itself). Pick one, or roll 1d12 for “normal” complications, 1d20 for “normal and weird” ideas.
Normal
1.) Environmental Hazards (fires, floods, quicksand, unmoving crowds, gridlock traffic)
2.) Unstable Constructions (rot, decay, or collateral damage makes a building unstable)
3.) Reinforcements (more bad guys suddenly show up to help oppose the characters)
4.) Traps and Alarms (increases time or difficulty to navigate around area)
5.) Sensory Overload (sudden flashes blind, explosions or gunfire deafen)
6.) Legal Trouble (police know, or just believe, the characters committed crimes)
7.) Unwanted Attention (noise attracts guards, research alerts enemies to investigation)
8.) Distractions (children wander onto battlefield, something unexpected explodes)
9.) Weather (debris carried by winds, sudden fog, lightning stikes during a thunderstorm)
10.) Lingering Effects (wounds leave telling scars, incubating disease symptoms set in)
11.) Missing Equipment (random gear found to be broken, stolen, or accidentally left behind)
12.) Civil Unrest (rioting mobs, propaganda-fueled panic, sudden mass hysteria)
+ Weird
13.) Hostile Animals/Plants (attack by hidden predators, swarms, carnivorous plants, fungi spores)
14.) Mental Instability (flashbacks or implanted false memories trigger characters)
15.) Full Madness (fear-triggered hallucinations, acute paranoia, voices from nowhere)
16.) Tech Glitches (big malfunctions, sentient rogue AI, hacked security systems or remote drones, running out of power charges or fuel)
17.) Curses (compels strange behavior, drains lifeforce, causes loss of an ability)
18.) Bizarre (angry spirits, time loops, animated terrain, spell misfires, strange stuff falls from the sky)
19.) Weaponized Concepts (infectious anger, tangible lies, forgotten things disintegrate)
20.) Theophany (a deity appears and demands sacrifice, oath, or other thematic command)
Huffa’s book isn’t a game so much as a TTRPG toolkit or idea book. She’s big into the Kriegsspiel game movement that emphasizes freeform adjudication and a referee-driven approaches rather than strict reliance on written rules or dice mechanics, much like OSR (Old-School Revival) “rulings over rules,” or the NSR (New-School) narrative-driven mechanics, streamlined rules, player-driven storytelling, and one-sheet RPGs.