Inconveivable
by Paul Taliesin
Inconceivable is a roleplaying game designed for a large group of players (at
least four, ideally) who enjoy open-ended, collaborative creativity and wild
tales of adventure. You will need some paper and pencils as well as a large
number of six-sided dice. It is inspired at least in part by The Princess Bride:
it features twisted, creative fantasy populated with colourful and distinctive
personalities. Strange magic, poisons, and sword-fights all draw together a web
of characters who range from the clichéd to the unusual.
The Game
Setup
To begin, the group collectively goes through Atmospheric Setup (a quick procedure originally
designed for Land of Nodd; it creates a simple but colourful setting, including various forces and/or
protagonists in a conflicted situation). You will end up with a brainstorming map on one side of a single
sheet of paper listing various characters, places, and things, and their relationships. The text will refer
to this paper as the "brainstorming map".
Optional: Instead of a brainstorming map, you could use pre-existing source material of some kind, such as
a relationship map from another game, campaign materials from a game or novel, TV show, or story
everyone is familiar with, or a published module from any other roleplaying game.
On a second piece of paper, make a column for each player and label it with their name. Each player will
use his or her column to write down story elements during the game. Astory element is any person,
place, or thing that features in the fiction. To begin, each player should pick one thing from the
brainstorming sheet they find interesting and write it down in his or her column as their first
chosen story element.
Leave the bottom half of the page empty, and label this area "Questions": the players will add
Questions to this area as you play the game.
The text will refer to this piece of paper as the "story sheet".
Set out all the six-sided dice you have. You will need three distinct colours, and a small selection of dice
that clearly do not belong to any of these three colours. Assign each colour to one of the following
elements:
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Blood (representing sex, violence, or madness beyond what is called for)
Poison (representing decay, corruption, betrayal, or disease)
Witchery (representing sorcery, hallucination, the fickleness of fate, and anything unearthly
and mysterious)
The remaining dice should be set aside; these will be referred to as "bonus dice".
Example: The group has dice in the following colours: red, yellow, blue, and white. They decide before
playing that the red dice will be Blood dice, the yellow dice will be Poison dice, and the blue dice will be
Witchery dice. This leaves the remaining white dice to act as "bonus dice" during the game.
Each player takes two Blood dice, two Poison dice, and two Witchery dice to begin. Leave all the other
dice somewhere on the table. Blood, Poison, and Witchery dice are always either owned by a player or
sitting in the middle of the table. Bonus dice, however, should always return to the middle of the table
after they are rolled: they never "belong" to anyone.
The Dice
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Dice in this game represent your ability as a player to influence the action and the story. You roll
them when one of your characters is up against opposition, to settle disputes with other players,
and to claim your authority over who gets to say what and where the story is going.
Whenever you gain dice in play, you may simply take that number of dice from the middle of the
table. You may take any combination of dice in any of the three colours. You may never take the
"bonus dice", however, as they may never be claimed by anyone.
Character Creation
Next, give each player an index card. On one side of the card, the player will list their Claims (Claims are
explained later); on the other side, he or she will write down information about his or her primary
character.
You will create your primary character right away: pick someone you find interesting from the
brainstorming map and write down their name. If you prefer, you can create a new character instead of
someone mentioned in the brainstorming map, so long as everyone can clearly see how they are tied
into the various elements on the brainstorming map. Beside their name, write a short sentence
explaining who they are and what role they occupy in the fictional world.
Second, determine their two starting Traits.
To create your character's Traits, first select two aspects.
Aspects
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Daring (speed, agility, athleticism, impulsive action, rebellion)
Love (passion, lust, magnetism, empathy, community)
Shadow (deceit, pain, treachery, concealment, poison, decay)
Holy (authority, religion, knowledge, revelation, prophecy, healing, order)
Beast (primal urges, strength, vigor, might, destruction, chaos)
Next, combine each aspect with a manifestation: how does this general aspect manifest itself in this
specific character?
Manifestations
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Flesh (bodily)
the aspect describes what your character is like, and/or what your character is capable
of, physically
Arcane (mystical, esoteric)
the aspect describes your character's connection to something magical or otherworldly
Dominion (resources, people)
the aspect describes your character's authority over other people or things
Lore (knowledge, expertise)
the aspect manifests in the form of specific secrets, wisdom, or unusual training
possessed by your character
Heart (drive, force of personality)
the aspect describes your character's inner self, and their ability to impact others with
this aspect
Each unique combination of an aspect and a manifestation tells us something about the character. In a
few words, write down what that is: this is your character's Trait. Each Trait begins with a rating of (1),
which means that it's worth one bonus die when it comes into play.
An example of a primary character:
Lorissima the Seductress
A cunning assassin posing as a courtesan within the Sultan's harem.
Love (Flesh): Dark, voluptuous beauty skilled in the secrets of the bedchamber (1).
Shadow (Lore): The forbidden arts of the Imperial Poisoners (1).
Your primary character is yours; no one may ever Claim him or her (see Claims, below). Whenever they
feature in the story, you will play their role.
Beginning the Game
Each player now writes a Question they would like to have answered about their character
(see Questions, below).
Finally, to begin the game, each player selects any number of his or her dice and rolls them. Total them
up: the player with the highest total begins with the "World" Claim (see Claims, below) and begins
narrating or "framing" the first scene of the game. This first scene must feature the primary character of
the player with the lowest total.
(Note that no one loses or gains dice as a result of this roll--you just roll and add up the dice to see how
the game starts. In play, however, each time you roll you will either gain or lose dice.)
If you have a tie, the players who are tied should reroll against each other.
When Your Primary Character is in a Scene
When you are playing your primary character, you do not have access to any of your Claims. You may
only narrate things about your character: what he or she says, does, or thinks. Whoever currently has
the "World" Claim may narrate failure on their behalf, however, at any time.
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Any other player may ask you to roll the dice at any time your character attempts something
difficult, uncertain, or enters a conflict with another character in the story.
You may ask to roll the dice at any time when you want to guarantee your character a chance at
success in some endeavour or to prevail in a conflict.
Rolling the Dice When Playing a Character
When a roll is called for, determine what is at stake: what does the character stand to gain right now in
the story? What are they trying to achieve or accomplish? Also, make sure everyone is on the same
page about what the character is doing to achieve their goal.
The character's player must then decide how many dice to roll. (You are hoping to roll some high
results, but also hoping not to roll a 6.)
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You may roll any number of the dice you currently hold, so long as you roll at least one. (Since
you will usually have a selection of dice in various different colours, you'll have an interesting
choice to make in terms of which colours you'll want to roll, as well.)
If the character has a Trait that applies, you may add its value in bonus dice to whatever dice
you choose to roll. (You may only apply one Trait at a time, however!)
Roll the dice. Your highest result determines what happens next:
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If your highest die is a 1, 2, 3, or 4, your character fails in what they were attempting to achieve,
and whoever is currently narrating the scene may describe what bad thing happens to them as
a result.
If your highest die is a 5, your character achieves what they hoped for. You may describe how it
happens, if you wish.
If your highest die is a 6, your character achieves what they hoped for, but there is a twist.
A twist is a complication or unexpected unpleasant consequence to the character's actions. Whoever is
currently narrating decides what that is, depending on the type of die that rolled the 6. The unpleasant
surprise will be one of either Blood, Poison, or Witchery: some violence, corruption, or unnatural twist
develops as a consequence of the current situation. It could also be an unpleasant discovery: some
violence, corruption, or witchcraft is newly revealed!
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If several 6's in different colours were rolled, the narrator may decide which one to use to
narrate their twist, or incorporate an element of each colour into one twist (for instance, a 6 in
Poison and a 6 in Witchery might mean that someone is corrupted by a curse or magical
disease).
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If it is unclear which player is currently "narrating", the player who just rolled the dice chooses
who will narrate the twist.
Success and Failure: Whether you succeed or fail has important consequences for the dice you just
rolled.
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If you failed (i.e. did not roll a 5 or 6), you keep all the dice you rolled (except any bonus dice,
which are never "owned" by a player) and may take one more die of your choice from the
middle of the table.
If you succeeded (i.e. rolled a 5 or 6), you lose all the dice you just rolled: return them to the
middle of the table.
When Your Primary Character is not in the Scene
When your primary character is not in the scene, you may make new Claims, narrate whenever your
current Claims allow, and roll the dice to take over other players' Claims.
One of the players will always be the "primary narrator", responsible for the framing and closing of
scenes, describing the environment, playing all characters not portrayed by other players, and deciding
on the success and failure of all the characters' actions that are not decided by rolling the dice.
To understand how this works, you must first understand how Claims work:
Claims
A Claim describes a player's creative authority over an element of the fictional world. A Claim can cover
a person, a group of people, a location, or a thing (an object, a vehicle, etc). For instance, I can have a
Claim over a specific character in the story, like the Duke of Eastshire, you could have a Claim over the
Duke's advisors (a group of characters), a third player might hold a Claim over the Duke's castle, and a
fourth could Claim the mysterious locked chest in the castle's treasury.
Whenever the subject of a Claim comes up in play, the player holding that Claim is the one who has
authority to narrate the Claim's description, actions, and reveal information about the Claim as
necessary. For instance, if the Duke were to appear in the story, I would be the one to narrate his
dialogue and actions, as well as answer questions about his backstory or motivations. However, should I
decide that the Duke opens that mysterious chest, the player with that Claim is the one I would have to
ask to reveal its contents.
The basic rule is:
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More specific Claims always supersede less specific Claims.
Thus, the most general Claim possible (basically, "everything") is called the "World" Claim. One of the
players begins with this Claim; until other Claims are made, he or she is responsible for the narration of
everything except for the decisions, dialogue, and actions of the primary characters. However, once
other Claims are made, they will supercede that player's authority (by definition, as they will be more
specific Claims).
You may make a new Claim at any time--it just happens automatically, as long as no other player
contests it (see below).
When you make a Claim, you may write it down on your index card, to help everyone remember it's
yours. You may then invest dice in that Claim, if you wish (see Investing Dice, below). If you just want to
Claim something for a scene or two, however, there is no need to write anything down.
(There is usually no need to write down the "World" Claim, since it will move around in play. However,
should you want to invest dice in that Claim, you may write it down on your card in order to record its
die rating.)
The Primary Narrator
If you're familiar with traditional roleplaying games, the primary narrator is just like the "Game Master"
or "GM" in those games. He or she frames and cuts scenes, describes the scenery, introduces conflicts,
plays any unclaimed characters, and moves the focus of the story from character to character whenever
he or she deems it appropriate.
At the beginning of the game, whichever player has the "World" Claim is the primary narrator. As
described above, he or she is responsible for all narration and description except anything that falls
under the Claims of another player. A player remains the primary narrator unless one of the following
things happens:
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The story enters a location which is Claimed by another player. In this situation, that player
becomes the primary narrator until the action leaves that location.
Another player wishes to take over the "World" Claim from the primary narrator. (The primary
narrator may either allow them to do so, or roll dice to contest them, as described below.)
The primary narrator grows tired of the "World" Claim and wishes to play their primary
character, instead. He or she may choose to simply give up the "World" Claim and pass it to
another player of their choice.
Note: When you are the primary narrator, you are likely to win more dice if you can continually create
situations which lead the players to ask you to answer Questions, as you will see later.
Playing a Character Who is Not Your Primary
If you are playing a character in a scene who is not your primary, and you are not the primary narrator,
you may choose to roll dice for that character just the same as if they were your primary character.
Likewise, other players may ask you to roll the dice for that character, in the same way they would for a
primary character. The primary narrator, however, never rolls dice on the behalf of a character in the
story.
Rolling the Dice When Your Primary Character is Not in the Scene
When your primary character is not in the current scene, you may use your dice to settle disputes and
contest Claims: essentially, you roll them to get what you want.
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Any time there is a disagreement about who should be narrating something, the players who
are in disagreement over the issue all roll the dice.
If you want to Claim something another player does not want you to Claim, you may roll the
dice to see who gets their way.
If you want to take over or "steal" another player's Claim, you may roll the dice to do so. (Most
significantly, if you want to take over the "World" Claim and become the primary narrator, you
may do so by rolling the dice.)
Only roll the dice when there is a disagreement; if I say I want to take over a character you have claimed
(like the Duke), you can simply let me have it if you don't want to roll the dice.
When the dice are rolled, the procedure is almost exactly the same as when a player rolls for their
primary character:
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You may roll any number of the dice you currently hold, so long as you roll at least one.
If you win the roll, you give up all the dice you rolled.
If you lose the roll, you hold on to all your dice, and take another die of your choice from the
middle of the table.
The only difference is that you don't necessarily need to roll a 5 to win: instead, compare your highest
die with your opponent's. (If your highest dice tie, use the next highest to break the tie; if all your dice
are tied, reroll.)
If the winner's highest die is a 6, there is a twist or complication: your opponent has the option of
adding a detail into whatever you have just Claimed or won, appropriate to the colour of that die. If
there were multiple opponents, the winner may decide who will narrate the twist. If there were multiple
6s, that player may decide which die's colour to use.
Investing Dice
At any time, you may choose to invest some of your dice into a character's Traits or into any other Claim
you have on your card. Investing dice means that you give up some of the dice you own but the Trait or
Claim gains a die rating.
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Increasing a Trait or Claim's die rating costs you dice equal to the new rating's value plus its
current value.
You may only increase a die rating by one step at a time.
Adding a new die rating, rated at (1), therefore costs one die.
Example: You have a Trait rated at one die (1). You wish to increase its rating. You may only increase it
one step at a time, so you can only increase it to a rating of two (2). In order to do so, you must spend
three 3 dice (1 for its current rating, plus 2 for its new rating: 1 + 2 = 3). If you wanted to increase it from
(2) to (3), it would cost you five 5 dice.
A die rating turns into bonus dice for you whenever:
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You are rolling dice on the character's behalf and the Trait applies to the current situation.
You are rolling dice against another player, and your Claim is at stake.
You may invest dice in the "World" Claim, which is the only reason to write it on your index card. If you
have a die rating attached to the "World" Claim, you would roll bonus dice any time you wished to take
over the primary narrator's role or wished to keep holding on to the "World" Claim against other
players.
Example: You are currently the primary narrator. Another player wishes to take over, effectively
"stealing" the "World" Claim from you. However, you have invested in the Claim and it currently has a
two die rating on your card: "World (2)". Should you choose to contest this player's attempted move,
you will roll two bonus dice against them.
Investing your dice in die ratings can help you push your weight around over the long term of the game,
even when you're low on dice. However, you may also invest dice in Questions (see below), which allow
you to give up one die now in return for more dice later.
Story Elements and Questions
The best way to get more dice is to participate in the creation of interesting story
elements and Questions. Story elements are bits of the story that you would like to see featured in other
players' Questions, and Questions help the group focus in on and develop particular parts of the story.
Story Elements
A story element is any person, group of people, place, or thing that has been featured in the story. Each
player may name a story element at any time and write it down in their column on the story sheet.
However:
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A story element must be something that has been narrated into the story. It should not be a
new thing you just invented.
You may not have more than two unchecked story elements in your column on the story sheet
at any time. (When you first write down a story element, it is always "unchecked", but later in
play it may be checked off, as described below, which will allow you to write down more
elements.)
Questions
A Question is a point of interest for a player that they would like to see addressed in play. Any player
may write down a Question at any time. However, to write down a Question on the story sheet you
must spend one die. This is an investment of sorts: if the Question is featured in play and eventually
answered, you will probably gain several dice from its use.
When you write down a Question, leave your name or your initials beside it, so we know you are its
author.
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A Question usually includes one or two story elements. Underline these when you write it down
so they're easy to spot. You may include more than two elements in a Question, but if you do so
you must decide which "count" and which do not: only one or two elements may be included
"officially".
While it is possible to write a Question that does not include any story elements, that is not
usually a smart move: you are much less likely to gain anything from your investment.
You must use other players' story elements in a Question you write; you may not use your own.
Questions are the first place a primary narrator should go to if they are unsure what scene to frame
next.
Example: Here's a sample Question, including two underlined story elements. The author has indicated
her name in parentheses:
(Terry) Who was the traitor who helped the Ogre's sons sneak into the Castle of Storms?
Answering Questions
At any time, anyone who is not the primary narrator may spot an opportunity in the story for a
Question to be answered and ask the primary narrator to do so. The only limitations are:
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It must make sense to everyone at the table that the current action or scene could plausibly
reveal the answer to this Question.
You may not be the first person to attempt to answer your own Question.
Example: Imagine that we are playing a game and the example Question from above is in play: "Who
was the traitor who helped the Ogre's sons sneak into the Castle of Storms?" In the current scene, one
of the primary characters has the suspicious, sneaky cook who works at the Castle of Storms cornered,
and is threatening him with violence if he does not tell her all he knows. Seeing an opportunity for an
answer to this Question to be revealed, one of the players can ask the primary narrator to do so:
essentially, what we want to know is whether the cook is the traitor, or whether he will reveal the
identity of the traitor.
(Sometimes it might make more sense for another player to be answering the question, such as a
player who has Claimed the Castle's cook. If that's the case, go with it; if the primary narrator disagrees,
you can always have those two players roll dice against each other to settle the matter.)
Every time you are asked to answer a Question, take one die of your choice from the middle of the table
as a reward. You then have three choices:
1. If the player has a character in play who is taking action to answer this question, you may tell
them that they need to roll in order to get the answer. Whether they decide to roll or not is then
up to them, but if they decide to roll and succeed, you must answer the Question.
2. You may simply answer the Question right now.
3. You may decide not to answer the Question right now, to answer it incompletely, or to give a
false answer. If you do so, hand the player one die from the middle of the table in exchange for
not answering the Question just yet. (For example, you could have the cook lie to the
character, saying, "Oh, my Lady, I admit, I was the one who let those monstrous beast-men into
the tower!" Then you could hand the player a die, letting them know that the cook is lying, and
the Question is not yet resolved.)
When you answer a Question:
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You must answer the Question conclusively. Its answer is revealed in the fiction, even if it
happens in such a way that no character witnesses the revelation or knows for sure whether
they have been given truth or a lie.
The author of the Question is rewarded: if you are the author of a Question that is answered,
take one die from the middle of the table plus one more for each story element included in your
Question (up to a maximum of two story elements--this means you may gain one, two, or three
dice from any given Question).
For each story element in the Question, its author checks off that element and takes one die
from the middle of the table.
Finally, cross out that Question. It is no longer in play.
Ending the Game
At some point you will either begin to run out of time, or feel that the story is coming to a conclusion.
As a group, when you sense that moment is approaching, pick one Question that seems most
important to you and most important to the story. When that Question is answered, the game is over.
You may also do so when you see a strong Question appear that seems like a good climactic end to the
story, even if you have lots of time left—pointing it out early to the other players helps everyone get on
the same page.
This game could easily be played as single-session game, unrolling over 2-4 hours, or in a series of
sessions making up a continuous longer story.
Optional Rules and Additional Notes
"Teams" Variant
Instead of allowing every player to play a primary character and make Claims whenever their primary
character is not in a scene, you could separate players from the start into two "teams": every player in
the first group plays a primary character in the story, and every player in the second group is a
"narrator" or "GM", and may make Claims and roll against each other, but never rolls dice for a
character in the story. This gives you a "team" of "players" and a team of "GMs".
This may be a particularly good option if you have a very large group of people (say, 7 or more) or are
working from an existing module from another roleplaying game.
"Storytelling" Variant
For a more "collaborative storytelling" type of game, you could remove the "primary character"
restrictions from the game. No one may ever make an uncontested Claim over a character or lose
access to their other Claims. In this case, you don't even need to go through the "Character Creation"
procedure; each player may simply portray any characters they Claim during play, but none are
permanently connected to any given player. Use all the other rules as written.
Die Colours: Variant Rules
If you don't have three distinct colours of six-sided dice, you have two options:
1. Find two distinct colours (dice are often sold in red-and-white packs), and assign each to one of
the three categories (Blood, Poison, and Witchery). This means you will leave out one of the
categories. Blood and Witchery is a good default choice.
2. Ignore the distinction between types of dice: a '6' is a twist, simply, of any kind. If you miss
having the distinction of the three categories, you could have each player choose one, instead.
Then, whenever they have to narrate a twist, they must do so within the category they have
chosen (e.g. Bob is the one who narrates Witchery-type twists in the story).
Primary or Claimed Characters in Conflict
If two characters are in conflict within the story, and both sides want to roll the dice, here's how you
handle it.
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Do the characters' intentions cancel each other out (like one trying to stop the other), or could
they both take place (like you trying to throw me out the window while I try to steal your
crown)? Make sure everyone is on the same page about this.
Both sides roll the dice, following the usual rules for rolling the dice.
If one succeeds and the other fails:
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The winner gets their way. If they rolled a 6, their opponent may narrate a twist or complication
to their success.
If both succeed:
1. If both characters' intentions could take place, both things happen.
2. If, on the other hand, one character's intent would prevent the other's, each must choose to
give up or to roll again.
 If one of you chooses to give up, treat your roll as a failure, no matter what you actually rolled:
you do not lose any dice and may take one more die from the middle of the table. Your
opponent gets what they wanted.
 If you both choose to roll again, treat your current as a success, as usual: give up all the dice you
rolled. Both players should explain how the situation escalates to more dramatic, violent, or
desperate means, and you roll again.
 Repeat as many times as necessary! As described above, if the winner of the final roll rolls a 6,
there is a twist or complication, as usual.
If both fail:
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The current primary narrator describes how the situation changes dramatically so that neither
character gets what they wanted. For example, in a duel to the death, the floor might collapse
or a group of the King's guards might interrupt the duel and capture both characters before
they manage to kill each other.
To Playtest: Potential Limitation on Questions
It may be that allowing any player to ask the narrator to answer a Question is too loose. In that case, I'm
considering a more strict limitation: to ask the narrator to answer a Question, you must be playing a
character in that scene and have that character take some action in order to reveal the answer to that
Question. This is an optional rule to playtest!