• Assign goals (shoot in face), add appropriate skill dice+ 1/2 the Quality of assisting gear.

• Roll secondary dice at half value, (try not to get shot while I'm shooting) which is half the dice for skill and appropriate Gear.

• Add Circumstance dice (standing on ledge with tail, on own boat, etc.) at a value of one die per situation.

• Roll In - Add an additional die for each 6 rolled.

• Toss all 1s, 2s, and 3s. Those dice are gone.

• Exchange – the side with initiative (the side that started shooting) puts forward a few dice and says what they do. The other side says what they do and puts forward the same number of dice. Whoever has the better dice wins, and takes the loser’s dice as books.

• The side that captured last time starts a new exchange until someone is out of dice. Any leftover dice can be used two at a time as books.

• Buy goals with books. Start a new conflict if you like.

Does it really matter? Would it be faster and easier to skip this part? Will the player or GM simply use points to accomplish what they want done?

To begin a conflict you must decide there is one. We recommend that the GM hold off on this until failure would be interesting, but before it needs to be fatal. The easy way to do this is for the GM to simply agree to whatever the players are suggesting - that they sneak over the wall or stake out the target location. This has the added benefit of saving time.

Skill groups and various types of technologies have implicit goals built into them. Anytime you use that skill or that gear, you have the option of buying those results with captures from the conflict. You don't need to agree to anything with the GM if that's all you're trying to do. The GM is not really using NPCs with developed skills most of the time, so he purchases his goals from the same sets of implied goals that the players choose from. After all, if you choose to get into a brawl with some punks using Physique skills, it's reasonable to expect that you may be hurt yourself. If you attempt to convince others, then you in turn may find yourself convinced.

If the GM or the players want to do other things in a conflict, they need to negotiate acceptable goals. This especially applies if the GM wants to do something that would work through technology that hasn't been detailed yet.

Sometimes that just isn’t enough though. When the GM wants to blow up Eros City, that isn’t really on the chart.

The participant who first suggested goal setting begins, suggesting his primary goal. A price in captures for this goal is agreed to by all in the room, using the Goal Guidelines Chart.

If the proposed goal is unacceptable to the proposed target, they may reject it by suggesting an alternate goal of higher value. If this, in turn, is unacceptable to the seeker, they may propose another goal which is of lower value than the target's counteroffer. This is a two person exchange, although other participants can make suggestions.

Alternately, the proposed target can say, OK, but only if I can have another goal of lower value targeting you. These 'only if' goals can be countered with yet more 'only if' goals. If it's not clear who the proposed target is, then the proposer (probably the GM) should select a likely player to negotiate with. This can be a way to signal to a particular player that their character is the likely target.

Once the first goal is settled, anyone else who wants to negotiate a goal can do the same thing.

Once Goals have been established, even if only by skipping goal negotiation, skills, gear, and circumstances are drawn by the players. The dice drawn are then rolled into the scene pool and left there.

The initiator of the conflict selects a primary skill for each player in the conflict. Normally this will be pretty clear, but at times people won’t be sure – in such a case the GM rules or it’s negotiated between the players.

The target – that is the side that didn’t select the primary skill – selects a secondary skill. This generally represents how they are defending against this attack.

You can buy any goals from the Goal list for either skill at the end of any round during the conflict.

You get two dice for each skill your character has that matches either the Primary Skill or its parents. You get one die for each skill that matches the secondary skill.

For example, if the GM declares that the primary skill in a chase scene is Boat, then any character with the Boat Specialty will get six dice in their Scene Pool. This is because the parent skill of Boat is Pilot, and the parent of Pilot is Coordination. Since any character must have the parent skills in order to take child Focuses and Specialties, any character with Boat skill has three matching skills, not one: Boat, Pilot, & Coordination, and three skills times two dice each makes six. Another character who has the Focus skill of Pilot but not the Boat Specialty would only get four dice added to their Scene Pool because they only matched two skills for two dice each.

During each round, the players have an opportunity to declare an action and draw a small number of dice appropriate to that action. If they choose to use a skill, say by blocking furiously to avoid damage, they can draw one die into their pool for each matching skill. It helps a lot if other players take the lead in telling another player their selection of a given skill is unrealistic.

Gear either acts as an assist, in which case it adds half its quality in dice to your pool (rounded down), or as a circumstance, in which case you get a single extra die. See the technology chapter for more details about assists.

Each separate circumstance in the situation that favors you is worth one additional die. The responsibility for adjudicating this is generally in the GM’s hands.

Some examples might be higher ground, or, technological suitability for the task at hand, or a prior knowledge of the terrain, or any of a thousand different things. All penalties to the opposing side are added to your side as bonus dice. One die per advantage, never subtract. That’s it.

The GM starts the scene with a Rack of dice per named opposition NPC or Gang. A rack of dice is equal to one die per Lifestyle of the character. Usually this is six per person. This isn't really enough dice to oppose the player characters effectively unless they're quite unskilled. The GM can add another rack of dice to their Scene Pool at any time they like by using a rack from their Session Pool.

The GM also adds to their Scene pool for circumstances, including penalties to the players.

All of these dice are then rolled into your scene pool, where they will remain for the remainder of the scene.

Any dice that show 3 or lower are tossed aside. For each 6 that you roll, add an additional die into the pool.

Each participant has their own scene pool, which they use for both defense and offense. It is nice if your scene pool remains hidden from your adversaries.

All dice in Venus are six sided normal dice.

We suggest that each participant have a bowl to roll their scene pool into as well as a small box lid to store captured dice. It's also nice if each player has a distinctive color of dice, although having a big central pool of dice works too.

Generally, initiative shouldn't matter so much. A lot of games get very fidgety about who goes first. Why not just go in the order people are seated, first one way and then the other? If you like, each player can put in a number of dice from their scene pool. The GM can add dice for any individual character he wants to go first. This can go around and around until everyone is satisfied. Each set of initiative dice is totaled, with the player with the highest total going first, the second highest going second, and so on.

Each round represents a directed attempt to achieve a goal in the story.

You need to explain what your character is attempting to do in the scene. You should try and limit your description to an action that could be completed relatively quickly, but a round here doesn't represent a fixed period of time. As usual, other players should take the lead in forming a consensus about how much you can do during a single round.

I think it helps a lot to describe your actions in sharp, dramatic turns, describing them as accomplished facts, not as attempted actions. Leave the consequences to later, but don't say 'I shoot at him”, go with “I shoot him in the face!”

You actions should directly aid in achieving your goals. You should try to describe any positioning stuff you are trying to do as part of your action.

Some actions may be designated as 'risky' actions. It’s hard to say exactly what makes a risky action. At any given time there will be informal give and take concerning what player actions are reasonable. A good fallback position in the event of a dispute is that a given action is possible, but risky.

Risky actions use a 'winner take all' resolution system (see 4.6 Comparison and Captures for details).

The acting player then selects one or several dice from his scene pool and places them on the table between him and his opposition. They say what they do. You shouldn’t use more than half of your dice in one pull.

The target player then does the same thing, matching the number of dice the actor drew.

The Actor and Target's dice are each sorted from highest to lowest and compared against each other. Dice the other player cannot match are returned to the scene pool and rerolled. Each pair of dice is looked at individually from highest to lowest. Compare the two highest rolled dice. If they are tied, put them aside and move to the second highest dice in each roll, then compare them. Do this until you have one roll that is higher than the next. That player captures all the enemy dice above that roll.

Then keep comparing lower rolled dice.

If the last dice compared are tied, they are discarded and count as a capture for neither player.

Consider it as being similar to the card game War. If the first dice you compare are tied, they are put aside and become part of the stakes for the next comparison. You just keep doing this until the ‘battle’ is resolved, and then start again with a new battle. If a battle is still going at the end of the turn with no winner, then the last dice are thrown away.

Captured dice are put aside as books until you are ready to spend them to buy goals. These can be anything like damage when you are shooting someone, to just making another character cry, or even changing the way technology works in the whole game world.

Risky rolls are resolved differently. The dice on each side are simply totaled and the higher total captures all the dice, taking all of the opponent's dice as books.

After this you can purchase goals with your books.

Legitimate goals come from:

• The Primary Skill.
• The Secondary Skill.
• Any Gear being used.
• Negotiated Goals.

Each player keeps their books separate unless they give them to another player during this phase. You can only buy one goal or give one book per round.

Unused or extra books can be spent at the end of a conflict to increase reputations.

Then it's the next player's turn. They go through the same sequence.

If a player runs out of dice before their opponent, but before either party has achieved enough books to accomplish their goal, the player may choose to have their character take it on the chin—giving dice to their opponent in the next sequence roll. Two leftover dice makes one extra die in the next follow up.

Or, they may buy off the rest of their required books with Player Points. In the case of a player not having enough Player Points to buy their desired goal, they may beg the GM to grant them additional Player Points at the 1- for- 1 cost of Murphy’s Dice to their character, to be cashed in at any point the GM chooses.

Any player can say at the beginning of their round that they think they have gotten what they want out of the current conflict or they are ready to admit it is impossible. Assuming the other players agree but there is still stuff that needs to be done, you can move to a follow-up conflict.

The situation is moving on to something that follows directly from the current one (the hunters become the hunted, or you put the guy down and you want to interrogate him). Everyone takes half their dice in their scene pool (rounding down) and tosses them out. The remaining dice are rerolled and left in the pool. Then you go through the same procedure outlined, setting primary and secondary skills and all that. From there it's a normal conflict.

If a character decides to deviate from their initial goal to a similar goal (ex. shoot in the face to shoot the gas main beside the opponent) you should use Fly- Dice. The offending character makes a one- time roll of their base attack (ex. skill plus applicable gear with no secondary or situational dice) against a single rack or the opponent’s skill—adding a new die for every six rolled and dropping ones, twos and threes. All of these dice are compared and the successful party gains the high dice of this roll and may add it onto their existing scene pool from their original roll.

Any goals from the skill used can be purchased in the original conflict by the winning party only.

Jack and James are having a tough conversation when some of the information coming out makes James very nervous. He decides to cold clock Jack and continue the conversation someplace safer. This could go very badly for James of course. The punch is a Physique: Unarmed: Punch attack, and James has all three skills, for 6 dice. The GM pulls a single rack of six dice. Normally, this would make no sense, but if he wins he can now knock out Jack with the dice from his original pool.

James gets 554. The GM rolls 66554. He takes all of the dice and adds 6655554 to his scene pool, pretty much ensuring that James is going to get knocked out. Even if James already has 3 books from the ongoing conversation, he doesn’t get to hurt anyone. At best he can use them to beg for mercy.

Once you have won some successes in a conflict, you can use those captures to purchase a goal. A goal represents something that your actions have accomplished during the conflict. There are a lot of different possible goals that you can purchase during a conflict. This might include hurting or subduing an opponent, convincing a person to help you, uncovering a significant fact, or many other possible results. They also include some results that might be unfamiliar to you if you are used to other role-playing games. Some examples of this might include changing the limitations of a particular technology during play or permanently changing your character’s abilities.

The range of possible goals is decided by the skills and gear used in the conflict. During each conflict, a primary and a secondary goal are decided on. In addition to giving the participants dice to act with, they add the goals associated with their root skills to the potential goals. No matter what skill is used, you can always buy reputation with books. This is the default thing to do with ‘extra’ books. Alternately, the GM may want you to save them up to make ‘big picture’ things happen in the game.

The characters are running away from some thugs. The GM sets a primary skill of Splatgun, since the thugs are using Airguns to shoot at the characters. The players choose to offer Runningas a secondary skill.

The Root field of Air gun is Coordination. This means that the whole list of Coordination options listed below become open for any participant the conflict to buy at any time. The relevant ones involve hurting people.

The root field of Running is Physique. Physique has a number of goals attached including the crucial one: Escape.

These are extremely brief, evocative descriptions of how many goals different effects might cost depending on the root of the skill you are using. Some of these effects allow you to change things that are solely controlled by the gamemaster in many role-playing games. For example, the Cognition goal ‘Create Major Detail’ allows you as a player to make up a technological fact that then becomes part of the game rules, usable as a circumstance modifier in future conflicts and generally considered true in all ways in the future.

Players in this game work within more or less normal constraints. GMs on the other hand, are working with a different set of limitations.

Sure, you could make a complete character for every NPC in the game, but that very quickly become far too much bookkeeping for most GMs. In practice, the usual thing is to simply make up the stats and skills of opponents based on 'reasonable' values.

So, we try for a different way.

Instead of that, the GM uses racks of dice to oppose the PCs. A sheaf is a number of dice equal to the level of the PCs (number of different lifepaths).

Whenever there is a conflict with named NPCs or a gang of nameless ones, the GM may use a sheaf of dice to represent their skill. Against standard beginning characters, that’s six dice. This will be enough to lose if the PCs are any good at what they’re doing (maybe 7-12 dice). To counteract that, the GM has a session budget of 1 extra rack per player. If they like, they can say, “This guy is pretty good/lucky,” and roll an additional rack (again, six dice) for that NPC.

You should avoid rolling against environmental factors. If there’s not a face, it usually isn’t worth rolling. But if you have to, take it out of the session budget.

Single nameless NPCs don’t get any dice by themselves. They’re mooks and losers. Most of the time, just let the PCs do as they wish to them.

This represents general perversity and strangeness. The GM can use this pool to represent general adversity, but they can also remove points from this pool to purchase some special 'bad luck' events.

The Murphy pool gives the GM his flexibility. He can spend Murphy pool dice to do unfair things to the players that wouldn’t really work with a conflict.

Examples of Murphy Pool use: Their contact betrays them. Their equipment fails. Someone spots them in a crowd. They run out of gas. The gun they picked up requires a DNA match to the user. The GM adds to their Murphy Pool by negotiation with the players, or by having the players select gear with Permanent Murphy’s Pool (PMP).

In general, each Murphy’s point can be spent just like it was a book.

This is the essential heroism of the players. They get lucky, a lot. And you know, on a good day, if they’ve charged up their karma credit card, they’re even pretty slick. They can hack that system. They can beat up that juicer. They can even sneak in somewhere and not get caught. When the last time you saw a PC do that?

Player points are books. No rolling, no fighting, they spend them and it happens.

If you enter a conflict where you are outnumbered by a full sleeve of dice, you are entitled to one player point, assuming that the conflict is germane to the story. This pertains to both the GM and the players.

If the players make a habit out of roughing up the weak, they have a helping of bad karma coming to them.

At any time, the GM may suggest a compel, offering player points to do something in keeping with their lifestyles or character personality. If they refuse the compel, they must give the GM a Murphy’s Point.

Although each lifestyle has a list of suggested ‘bad habits’ that provide potential compels, the GM should also be guided by the past actions of the player in suggesting compels.

Enemies add their level (one at base) to the GM’s Murphy’s Pool and the player’s Player Pool as soon as they enter any situation (if this is a ‘coincidence’, that Murphy’s Point is gained and spent at the same time).

Friends and contacts are generally treated as Resources (connections), but if the players are acting on the behalf of others, they may use the Connection as a Player Point.

Pool points can be spent as books in any conflict, even before dice have been rolled, in order to purchase desired goals. However, they are much more flexible in that they can also be used to change the environment in a coincidental fashion.

Coincidental here means that old friends show up where they would be most helpful, specialized technology that does just what you need it to becomes available, and people leave their vehicles running to go into a shop just when you need to make your getaway. Or, if you are the GM spending Murphy’s points, just the opposite.

System Glossary

Range in this game is handled with Zones.

A Zone is a non-fixed area of space where people can easily talk to or run over and punch one another. Zones change based on context, so a zone in boat to boat combat would be much larger than one where the characters were on foot.

A zone generally holds about 10 people doing whatever is happening right now. At times it may be possible but difficult to buy an effect on someone at some distance that isn’t covered by gear. In such a case, each extra zone probably costs 1 extra book.

Characters in Venus 2140 aren’t expected to be adventuring all of the time. Travel between distant locations can easily take weeks. What to do during all of this free time? One answer is obvious given the setting – make and design equipment, and it’s a very good answer. If your character has the skills, you should give it a try. However, for a lot of characters, it’s not really what they’re best at.

These characters can plan and train for their upcoming adventures. This training will give them player points that they can use up until the next time they can do training. These player points are restricted, which means that they can only be used in association with the skill they are training for.

Make a test with a skill you plan to use against two racks. Every book you pull out is worth a player point in the next session, when you’re using that skill. Books that the GM wins? They don’t count for anything.

Effects are permanent game world consequences purchased as goals. Many effects, especially larger ones, can be easily understood without reference to the system. The consequences and implications of being dead or knocked out cold are simple enough to understand.

However, some temporary and permanent effects are more complicated in that they should influence certain things in the system without making them either impossible or a foregone conclusion.

During downtime, wounds may be transformed into permanent effects of one sort or another. The player or his doctor makes a test against three dice for each level of the wound. It costs 2 books to get rid of a wound, and 3 to make a wound permanent.

If a character goes into downtime with four or more permanent effects, they spend that downtime period healing. In effect, the GM and players should work out a reason to have half of the effects disappear.

A Wound acts a penalty for a certain amount of time under certain circumstances and lasts for a certain amount of time.

Yes, that’s intentionally vague. How long and what circumstance depend on just how it happened. An ordinary wound probably lasts a day or until medical attention and acts as a penalty on anything physical and almost everything else.

However, non physical wounds are possible and could be almost anything. They are non-permanent penalties to lots of things.

When you are wounded, the person who did it should say how you’re wounded. It makes a difference as to when it counts as a circumstance.

You’ll be marked forever or at least a really long time. It won’t affect you physically, but you’ll be recognizable and you’ll have a circumstance against you when you go against the person who did this to you. Until it’s treated, it’s just a wound.

Kind of like a scar, except that it is a permanent physical penalty. Until it’s treated, it’s a wound and a scar. Also, you can’t move until you get help. Dramatic crawling is probably OK.

You aren’t wounded, but you stop doing anything. Any dice you had in your scene pool are gone gone gone. This is your last chance to spend any books.

You are knocked out and you will be crippled.

Connections represent both wealth and friends in the Venus game system. Searches for help, information, and equipment all use connections rather than separated persuasion skills or the like.

The game world has its various currencies and the like, but in terms of the game this is essentially irrelevant. Venus is a post-scarcity society, and just like people today need not pay for music if they don’t wish to. In this game physical objects follow much the same rules. The basic rule is simple: for each lifestyle the character has that relates to what they are seeking, the players roll two dice. As a guide to relevance, look at the skill packages for each lifestyle.

Typical Connections tests will use Personability or Authority skills as a secondary skill, but use your imagination.

If a player has chosen a Network as a memento of their lifestyle, then they get an extra two dice.

Each book represents maybe a piece of information, a skill for design, a loan of something, or a 20% discount.

Generally, to buy a goal for a lot of people or places, it works on a logarithmic scale. Powers of ten.

So, to persuade one person takes 4 books. To persuade ten people takes 5 books. To persuade a million people takes 10 books.

For places it’s kind of the same, except we count it as a radius of zones.

You knock out one person. 3 books. You knock out a room of people. 4 books. You knock out everyone within a radius of one zone (a room in every direction). 5 books.

Usually these work out the same, so that the ‘radius of one zone’ bomb would knock out about 100 people, give or take.

Named NPCs won’t usually be affected by this type of thing. Even if you manage to blow up Eros (7 for kill plus 8 for scale), the named NPCs and PCs will somehow manage to escape.

You might want to save up books to allow big plans like the above to go off.

Shred kicks around the corner looking for the girl and who does he see but Alamo Jack, the vicious killer he just knows is in on the deal somewhere. Guns come out.

Shred has an Airgun with straight up Acid Capsules (wounding). And Alamo Jack has the same thing.

It looks pretty close as to who’s first, so they agree to use the initiative things to sort that out. Coordination: Projectiles: Airgun is obviously the primary, and Shred decides Coordination: Acrobatics: Gymnastics is the Secondary. They’re going to be climbing the walls and jumping for cover.

Shred gets nine dice for having both skills at the max. GM decides this is cool but having Alamo Jack drop Shred here would put brakes on the game, so he only rolls a single rack. He doesn’t tell Shred’s player this though.

Circumstantially, it looks like a wash. Shred does have a Gymnastics assist, but since that’s the secondary here it’s only worth one die. Ten for Shred vs. six for Jack.

Shred: 6655433221 – roll in two sixes to get an additional 55. Drop the 123s. 6655554 Jack:643221 – roll in one six for another 1. Drop the 123s. 64=Bad.

They put in for initiative. Shred puts in a single 4. Jack declines to follow, so Shred goes first. That itchy trigger finger drops his aim a little.

Shred pushes in a single die, cautious. “I snap a shot on top of him; get a little acid rain going.” Jack pushes up his four, hoping to do a little damage at least.

“Jack lurches to the side, expecting a shot to the head.”

Six beats four. Shred takes a book. Go again.

Shred thinks, decides Jack is holding back and gives it all he has. He runs in and starts shooting while dodging closer. Push in a six. Jack holds his ground, stepping behind cover and firing at Shred too. Jack has a six too, so they need a tie breaker. The GM admits that Jack is out of dice.

Neither guy hits until Shred rounds the corner, shoves the barrel in Jack’s face and pulls the trigger.

Shred wins the last exchange, and takes the last six for two books. He has four additional dice, which he could use as two additional books. However, he has a mind to use them in a follow up conflict instead, to get answers out of Jack.

Looking at the Coordination goal chart, he could Wound, Scar, Knock Out, or Cripple Jack. Shred’s player decides to Scar Jack. “The pellet, splashes on his forehead and burns into his skin. Jack screams.”

The Wound trait of Scarred will last forever, so the GM makes a note of it on Jack’s NPC card. “Acid burn on forehead. Scar.” This is a one die circumstance penalty on any number of tests. Shred decides to follow up with a few sharp questions about just what Alamo Jack is doing here. Respect my Authoritaaaah!

Shred is following up from the previous conflict. He gets to keep two dice from that conflict as extra dice.

Shred declares he is shaming Jack into giving up the goods on who hired him (Authority: Intimidation: Shame). The GM, calls out Physique: Athletics: Running as the secondary. He doesn’t spell it out, but Jack’s plan is clearly to run away.

Shred has Authority and Intimidation, but not Shame. That’s four dice. He has Physique, but not Athletics or Running. One die. He has no assists for either of these. He also has two follow up dice from the previous conflict.

The GM is rolling a single rack again.

As for circumstances, Jack is Scarred, and since Shred did it that applies here. Plus one die for Shred. The GM points out that they are in a public corridor, and that puts a crimp in Shred’s interrogational style. Plus one die for Jack.

Note that Shred can’t claim that Jack is scared of him or whathaveyou as a circumstance, since that’s what the follow up dice are about.

So, Shred is rolling 8 dice while the GM rolls 7. Shred gets 66654322, rerolling and discarding to 666554.

Shred rolls 7 dice for a final scene pool of 66654.

By the book, Shred needs 4 books to find out who hired Jack, But the GM waves his hands and say 2 books will do. That settled, they start the exchanges.

Shred starts and puts forward a pair of sixes.

“Punk, you think you can get the drop on me? You’re pathetic. Who hired a loser like you anyways? Tell me now or I’ll make you wish you never even picked up a gun.”

The GM decides Jack will give up the goods and then make a break for it. He puts forward a five and a four. Shred wins two books and buys his goal – “Tell me something useful.”

“Dunno his name man, just some Watcher priest dude. Don’t know his name, but he’s tall and shit. Long nose. Deep voice.”

The GM waggles his dice. Even though normally Shred would make the next lead, everyone ignores this and the GM leads two sixes. Shred’s player shrugs and replies with a six and a five. Jack wins two Books.

Jack makes a little wheedling sound and then his eyes dart out past Shred’s shoulder. Shred falls for the bait, turning around just as Jack makes a break for it. He’s around the corner before the muzzle of his airgun comes up.

Ie: Jack has purchased the ‘Run Away!’ goal from the Physique chart.

Jack could follow up in a chase, and get one extra follow up die from his two unused dice, but because the conflict is over before he ran out of dice he cannot pair them up to buy another book.

Jack decides that discretion is the better part of valor here and radios back to share the news.

The Vid-Dronz are a gang in Eros City that hangs out on Star Petal. S-Max, their leader, has been paid to rough up the PCs a bit.

There are three PCs, Shred, Sven and Wire. The gang of 15 mooks is more or less 10, so they count as Scale 1. Doing anything to them costs one extra book.

The gang jumps the PC’s in a crowded market. They are going in with their fists, making the primary Physique: Unarmed: Punch. The PCs shrug and decide that they are focusing on getting away with some covering fire. Coordinartion: Projectiles: Airgun.

Shred has Unarmed and Physique for 4 primary dice. Sven only has Physique for 2. Wire has the same as Shred for 4.

On secondaries, Wire and Sven get 2 while Shred gets 3.

The market is crowded, so getting out will be tough for the PCs. (1D GM). Wire tosses a set of razor balls in front of him, trying to cover (1D Wire). The gang jumps on the PCs from hanging areas above, getting a good drop on the PCs (1D GM).

The GM decides to pull in 1 extra rack, for a total of 3 racks and 2 Circumstance dice. Total 20 dice.

The PCs have Shred at 7, Wire at 7, Sven at 4.

Rerolling sixes and dropping ones, twos and threes:

GM: 66655555544444 scene pool.

Shred: 655554

Wire: 666

Sven: nothing (all 3s and 2s)

GM starts.

“Sven, they come for you first, dropping off the railings that lead up to the homes above. 3 dice.”

“I curl up like a little baby and protect my vitals.”

Sven cannot give dice back to match. Two of the dice are paired up and make a book(665). The other one is lost. Sometimes being a loser is good!

Wire has tremendous natural initiative so he goes next.

“I whip up my pistol and shoot at one of the little hosers up there. Two dice.”

They compare. The GM is itching to get a KO against someone later, so he leads low with 44 against Wire’s 66. Wire takes two books but does not buy a goal. He shrugs and gives one of them to Shred instead.

Since this is a gang, the GM, just says, “Oh, you totally smoked him. He goes down like a ton of bricks and smashes someone’s stall. Next?”

The GM points at Wire.

“But while you’re focusing on that, two guys come behind you and start doing kung fu shit on you. Three dice.”

The GM leads 655, but Wire only has one six left. The sixes tie, the 5 breaks the tie and matches with the other one to get two books for the GM.

Shred goes. “I’m making a beeline for S-Max.”

“Well, what a coincidence, he has eyes for you too.”

“I’m gonna make like I’m doing gun fu and then kick him in the balls. Three dice.”(655) The GM gives up 544 and loses all three. Shred now has four books. He decides to put S-max out of the fight, buying the KO goal for three books.

“He’s all ducking and weaving the gun barrel when you let your kick fly. He goes down like a sack of shit.”

S-Max loses his turn and all, but the scene pool is still there.

The GM has three books. He could buy a KO now, but he decides to save it.

“The gang is really swarming you now Wire. Fists, elbows, knees, spatulas, everything. 2 dice.” (54)

Wire has nothing and just defends himself, giving up a book in the process.

The GM is now out of dice, as are Sven and Wire. The GM has four books, while Shred and Wire each have one left. He decides to Wound Sven once and KO Wire, while Wire and Shred buy Reputation effects – “Took on the Vid-Dronz by themselves and came out on top.” That would be a circumstance bonus in lots of situations, like the next time they have a fight or buy something in this market.

A follow up conflict would be fair but nobody feels like pushing their luck. The Vid-Dronz drag home S-Max while Sven and Shred drag Wire onto a taxi.

Affiliations (sometimes called relationships or repuatation), are just a measure of the strength of connection to someone. An affiliation with someone is usually a circumstance die for one or both sides in a conflict.

You automatically start with an affiliation to any lifestyle you have (and any person who shares that lifestyle) and to any of your friends or enemies. That means that most of your friends and enemies will have two circumstances working for them in any conflict, since they generally share a lifestyle with you.

Books represent successful effort by characters in a conflict. During a conflict dice are rolled, compared and then captured by the winning side. Dice that you win over in this way are called Books. You can spend captures like money to change the game’s story. For example, you can say that another character was shot. At the cost of one book, you can say that it hurt him a little. Or, you can say that he jumped out of the way but twisted his foot. The effects you buy with Books are called Goals. Just as money is worthless by itself, Books are only useful when you buy Goals with them.

Conflicts in Venus’s game system come about when players in the game disagree about what should happen next in the game’s story. It’s important to avoid conflict when only one option is a good result for the story because it’s pretty easy for strange things to happen given the dice system. Given any reasonable amount of opposition, you will see some contrary results.

Effects

Effects are the lasting results of buying a [Goals|Goal]. Effects are a continual condition. Some effects may not always help or hurt the character affected by them.

There are many possible types of Effect but the most common type is the [Wound].

Exchange

One party in a conflict says what they are doing and puts forward some dice. The target puts forward some dice and says how they respond. Dice are compared, one side or another or both gets books.

You shouldn’t put forward any more than half the dice you rolled (your scene pool) in a single exchange. Sometimes it might make sense though, like if you set off a bomb.

Explicit Goals

Explicit goals are goals that have been specifically declared and agreed to by all players, including the GM, and given a price in books. Explicit Goals are the stuff of the end of a movie or those little rules blurbs in adventures for other games. You could negotiate a new explicit goal any time you felt like it, but usually you do it at the beginning of the conflict.

Follow Up

If everyone is out of dice but the conflict is still going, then you can start a new conflict with new skills and keep going. The GM gets a new rack for each NPC, and the players get dice for their skills.

Gang

A group of mooks. No matter how many mooks are in a gang, they are treated as a single NPC.

Gear

Goals

When you want something to happen in the game, you spend books to buy goals. There are implicit goals that are based on what you are doing, gear goals that are made possibly by your equipment, and explicit goals that are agreed to by all parties.

Implicit Goals

Implicit goals are basically just common sense things that could happen given what you are doing. You could get hurt in a fight for example.

Levelling

When the GM feels that the players have reached a milestone or they want the PCs to have more skills or they just feel like it, they can give all the PCs a new lifestyle, selected as seen fit.

Doing this will increase the size of a rack by one as well.

Lifestyle

A chunk of the character’s past experience. You can assume that most lifestyles represent at least a few years of a character’s life, but it’s not specific. Each lifestyle comes with skills and gear and contacts. They can never be repeated. At times lifestyles are generically called levels.

Mook

A nameless NPC. Mooks have no dice by themselves, and the PCs will automatically win against them unless the GM uses a rack from the session pool.

Groups of mooks are called a gang and do get dice.

Parents

All Focus and Specialty skills have parent skills. Sometimes, you need the parent skill (usually, the parent of a Specialty that governs a particular technology) to even try to do something with a piece of gear.

Ex: A character lays his hands on a quantum communicator. It works via Quantum Link technology, which is linked to Cog:Physics:Quantum. To be able to use the communicator, he needs the parent skill of Cog: Physics.

Primary Skill

The Primary Skill is one Specialty chosen by whoever started the events leading up to a Conflict. If the player’s character has this skill or any of its parents, they get two dice for each matching skill they have.

Rack

The number of dice the GM rolls for anything a NPC tries to do, unless it’s important. Against starting characters, it’s six dice. Against experienced characters, it’s the number of Lifestyles they have.

Resist Dice

Some gear, especially armor and stuff that works kind of like armor, work as resist dice. That means that whenever the gear would help you resist what’s happening to you, you immediately roll a number of dice (usually the quality of the device), and add any dice with four or higher to the scene pool.

Risky Roll

Add all the dice on each side together and compare the totals. Winner takes all of the opponent’s dice as books.

Secondary Skill

The secondary skill is chosen by the defender. If the PC has this skill of any of its parents, they get one die per matching skill.

Session Budget

The GM gets one rack for each player to throw in where it can make things tougher for the PCs. If the GM throws in a rack, it’s likely to be tough at best for the PCs to win unless there are several PCs beating up one guy.

Scene Pool

The GM rolls one rack for each named NPC or group of mooks. Then they roll any circumstance dice they get. They discard any ones, twos or threes, roll an additional die for each six, and then throw all the remaining dice into a single scene pool.

The players make their scene pool with 2 dice for each matching primary, one die for each matching secondary, any assist dice, any follow up dice. They go through the same throwing out the little ones and cheering over sixes as the GM and make their scene pool too.