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VARIETY!

a game of theatrical madness

by Jim Ryan

This is a tabletop role-playing game in which you portray entertainers. You are part of the

variety show that runs at the Dragonfly Theatre, and you are all struggling to survive under the

heel of a cruel theatrical director – a mad Impresario who desires only to feed on the emotions

of the audience – and hoping against hope that you might garner enough notice to achieve your

Dreams.

INSPIRATIONS

As a creature of the theatre, the premise of this game has always been in my blood, and much of

what is represented here comes from a lifetime as an entertainer from a family of entertainers.

That said, it is entirely possible I was also influenced by the original

Muppet Show

and the

Jago

and Litefoot

audio series from Big Finish Productions, both of which I highly recommend.

Tabletop games that inspired some of the system mechanics include:

My Life With Master

by Paul Czege

Fiasco

and

Durance,

both by Jason Morningstar

Apocalypse World

by D. Vincent Baker, and other games Powered by the Apocalypse

Don’t Rest Your Head

by Fred Hicks

I am but a rank amateur beside these giants, so go out and get these games to see how the

professionals do it!

OVERTURE

wherein the game is set up and characters are created

The game requires two to four players and a Game Master (GM).

First, as a group, discuss the setting for the game in broad terms. Where and when will events

take place? Can the Dragonfly Theatre be found in Victorian-era London, on modern-day

Broadway, or in a medieval village? Is it a regular theater or is it a circus? Or a traveling theatre

troupe? Or a TV program recorded before a live studio audience? Is it a strictly realistic theater

or is there something supernatural about it? Is it haunted? Does it contain portals to a dark fae

realm? Is it located on a space station? Let your desires for the setting shape the scenario. So

long as you have a situation in which people perform for a live audience, it can work.

As a player, decide what kind of entertainer you’d like to play. Are you an actor? A singer? A

dancer? A comedian? A musician? A juggler? A storyteller? An acrobat? A magician? A

ventriloquist? A hypnotist? Are you in an act with one or more of the other characters?

Different eras and settings may suggest different types of performers.

ATTRIBUTES

Your character has two attributes: Abandon and Stillness.

Whenever you make a roll, which in this game uses two six-sided dice (2d6), you must choose

which of these two attributes to invoke and describe how your character is using it. Each scene

played out should only require a single roll to answer that scene’s central conflict.

A performer can use both Abandon and Stillness at different times, but some lean more toward

one than the other.

Abandon

is your character’s reserve of raw, creative chaos. It governs your ability to do things

spontaneously and without shame. A “red-nosed” clown or comic would use Abandon when

pratfalling all over a stage or using off-color improvisational humor to win their audience over.

Stillness

is your PC’s sense of control and measured calmness. It represents your ability to

focus and carry out precise tasks. A sword-dancer or a high-wire acrobat would use Stillness to

perform perfectly whilst maintaining balance and concentration.

You have two points to distribute between these two attributes. You can assign two points to

one, or one point to each. For each point added, you will receive a +1 bonus to your rolls when

you invoke that attribute.

RESOURCES

You also have two resource pools: the Dream pool and the Nightmare pool.

Your Dream pool starts at one point and can increase or decrease over the course of play. This

pool represents your Dream, the thing you aspire to – the pinnacle of your desires. Points from

the Dream pool can be spent on a one-for-one basis to increase your bonus to a single roll (prior

to rolling). When you do that, it represents your character putting the force of all their hopes

and ambitions behind the act, so you should describe the way in which the action you’re taking

is connected to your Dream. At any time, points from the Dream pool can also be converted on

a one-for-one basis into points for the Nightmare pool. The transition is one-way, and

represents your character buckling down against the harsh reality of the world as it gets just a

little colder and darker, letting go of a piece of the innocent fantasy they once harbored. You

want to protect your Dream pool as best you can because it will aid you in achieving success

during the Finale.

Your Nightmare pool starts at one point and can increase over the course of play. This pool

represents your Nightmare, your character’s worst fear made manifest and the worst possible

fate they can imagine. The Nightmare pool can increase through failed rolls or by drawing on it

to aid your rolls. When using points from the Nightmare pool in this fashion, the pool’s total

remains the same. Expended points are refreshed immediately after the roll. Each point used

gains you a Nightmare die for use with that particular roll. The Nightmare dice (d6s) are rolled

along with the regular dice; in such cases, the roll is resolved by adding the two highest die

totals together.

You can choose to use the Nightmare pool before or after you roll (or both, if you like). When

you convert points to Nightmare dice before rolling, the overall total of the Nightmare pool

increases by one. This represents your character giving in to their fear and choosing to draw on

their Nightmare to fuel their acts as a preventative measure. Whenever you spend points to

gain Nightmare dice to (hopefully) change the outcome of a roll you’ve just made, your

Nightmare pool increases by two. This represents your character recognizing that they are

about to fail and desperately fighting against their fate by drawing on their Nightmare to

attempt to overcome it. Furthermore, if the roll succeeds (with a total greater than 6) the

attribute used (Abandon or Stillness) gains a permanent Nightmare bonus, increasing its total

by one (so, for example, if your Abandon is at +2 and you succeed at an Abandon roll using

Nightmare dice, your Abandon receives a +1 Nightmare bonus and increases to +3). From that

point on, that attribute is tainted by your Nightmare, and any time you make a roll using that

attribute, the Nightmare pool increases by one (in addition to any increases from failed rolls or

the use of Nightmare dice).

QUESTIONS

To complete the character creation process, there are a number of questions you should answer.

You should answer these questions with the GM and other players present so they can

participate. When naming details about the Dragonfly theatre, keep in mind what you’ve

decided thus far about the setting. When naming details about the Impresario, feel free to use

your imagination. Is the Impresario male or female? When they feed on an audience’s emotions,

is it just a metaphor or is there actually something supernatural going on? Are the audience

members in real, physical danger from the Impresario or the performers? These are all things to

consider.

The GM should pay close attention when the players are answering these questions, taking

notes if necessary, because it will be important to weave the details produced during this

question and answer session into the game’s narrative.

The questions each player must answer are:

What is your Dream?

What is your Nightmare?

Name one detail about the Dragonfly Theatre that you feel will help you to achieve your

Dream.

Name one detail about the Impresario that reflects your Nightmare.

What does your act consist of?

When you auditioned for the Dragonfly, what was it about you that the Impresario

criticized?

What was it that impressed the Impresario enough to hire you?

What is your name?

Do you use a special title or stage name when performing? What is it?

ACT ONE

wherein the audience is lured to the Dragonfly Theatre

In Act One, each performer goes out in public to bring potential audience members to the

Dragonfly. Play out a scene for each character – in the case of acts in which multiple characters

perform together, scenes can be combined. In each scene, the performer encounters their first

“mark” of the day - someone whom they’re going to try to get to come to see the variety show.

They may attempt whatever they like, lawful or criminal, innocent or nefarious. Even

kidnapping.

When the GM feels it is time to answer the question of whether or not the mark will attend, the

player chooses which attribute to use and rolls 2d6.

6 or less, with double ones (snake-eyes) on the dice:

Dramatic failure. The performer

inadvertently does something to alarm the mark (who then escapes) or otherwise

endanger the production. Add two points to the character’s Nightmare pool.

6 or less:

Failure. The mark will not come (or otherwise escapes from the performer).

Add one point to the character’s Nightmare pool.

7 to 9:

Partial success. The mark wants something out of the performance, and will only

agree to come if the performer can assure them that their act will include it. If being

brought against their will, the audience member will need to be restrained in some

special way and the performer will have to take extra care to be certain they do not

escape (no additional roll is required for this, as the performer is assumed to have the

necessary skills to contain them – it just needs to be kept in mind in the context of what

is going on).

10 or better:

Success. The mark is happy to come to the show (or is easily captured

without putting up a fight). Add one point to the character’s Dream pool.

10 or better, with double sixes (boxcars) on the dice:

Dramatic success. The mark is

eager to come to the show, whether as a paying customer or a prisoner. Add two points

to the character’s Dream pool.

After the roll, the scene is brought to a conclusion and play moves on to the next character. This

continues until each player has had one scene. In combined scenes with more than one

character, each performer will receive their own mark to attempt to influence. The degree of

success or failure with this first mark represents how well the performer does overall at

audience recruitment that day, with most people the performer approaches assumed to react in

much the same way as the first mark (this is like what you might see in a movie, where the

scene of a character’s first encounter is played out, then a montage or other transition happens

to indicate that the character is doing that same thing over and over again and getting similar

results – the GM can mention that this is going on, but it does not need to be played out).

The GM should note which attribute was used to successfully draw in each mark in the scenes

that are played out because this will affect the audience’s overall reaction in Act Two. This can

be done in whatever manner the GM requires (written on index cards, written as a simple two-

column list, etc.).

INTERMISSION

during which questions are dealt with

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