Why to Play

Before telling you how to play this game, let’s start with the why. That’s the easy part, anyway.

Magic! Mystery! Glory! Heaps and heaps of glittering treasure, fantastic creatures of all kinds, sizzling social stand-offs, forgotten ruins for you to discover, danger at every corner and true companions that help you out of it.

At least that is what I would expect from a fantasy themed pen & paper game, but hey: You can make this one your own.

In this game, you will:

• Easily immerse yourself in a magical world that you create together with your friends
• Play along simple rules to weave an exiting story with your heroes at the centre
• Make your ideas come to life in any fantasy setting you can think of

Satisfiction is a game for 2 to 6+ players. It works best with 5, including the Game Master. It is a comparatively light, story-focused pen & paper game where everything is possible. One session takes approximately 3 hours, give or take. The recommended age for playing is 12+ years.

This game has been designed to create engaging stories. Optional rules for fighting have been incorporated, but a peaceful approach is to be preferred. It is up to you if weapons and physical conflict play a role in your tale.

The Game

This game features a number of players, including one who is the Game Master (GM). For the sake of balancing that term gender-wise, the GM will be considered female in these rules. Furthermore, players mentioned for various explanations are using the they/them pronouns by default.

The GM is different from other players, because she is moderating the game. Furthermore, she describes the scenery and situations of the world all players are creating together. Lastly, she portraits every Character that is in the game, apart from the central heroes that are controlled by the players. This might sound like a daunting task best attempted by a person with a colourful imagination. But be assured - this ruleset holds mighty tools of storytelling that you can use whenever you feel lost.

Now, the player’s job looks a bit easier. Everything that they need to deal with are all things concerning their Character. They have to say what their Character does, how they react to the challenges posed by the GM and be their voice when they speak.

The Rules

Whenever important game concepts are mentioned, these are Capitalized. Read them up later in the Concepts chapter. If you see the same word without capitalization, this means that it is used generally and that the concept is not mentioned there.

Sometimes, the rules are annotated with short explanations or examples of game play. Find a specimen of each below.

<aside> 🪶 To immerse yourself into the game, it is vital to forget there are players and address them with their Character’s names instead.

</aside>

<aside> 📜 GM: “You try the door, but it is locked. You can hear muffled voices behind it.” Emma (as their character Magena): “I want to try and make out some words.”

</aside>

The Main Loop

This is the heart of the game and the main instrument to continue the story. Mastering this technique will bring both excitement and rewarding game play. As a GM, start by bringing life to the current situation and pay thought to ways that can advance it. As a player, think of unique ways to tackle problems and always look out for opportunities.

1. First, the GM details the current situation, then gives leads and options to go further
2. When any player decides to act, they describe what they want to happen
3. The player then details the Task ahead by describing the approach, e.g. how to achieve the desired outcome
4. As a result of this, the GM sets a difficulty for the roll and chooses which ability the player Character uses
5. Dice are rolled, the GM describes the outcome and the loop starts from the beginning

<aside> 🪶 Giving an intent and describing an approach helps the GM with choosing a suitable difficulty for dice rolls.

</aside>

<aside> 🪶 How to roll the dice will be explained in detail in the following chapter.

</aside>

When you, as a player, need more information about the game world, the GM is your source. Whether you want to know more about the current situation or the larger context, anytime is a good time to ask her about the details.

Taking some time to elaborate the broader circumstances enriches the lore of the story and makes the game more laid-back. Players can contribute too, if they have an idea. If the situation demands action, making a short enquiry about your Character’s current possibilities can help to diversify your choices and make the flow of events more colourful.

Always try to think as your Character first - what do they want in the current situation? If you have something specific in mind (like speaking to a person that has not yet been mentioned), you can ask the GM if that’s possible. She will try to weave in the new element of the story if it fits.

<aside> 📜 John: Is there a merchant nearby that sells explosives? Blade (John’s character) wants to blow up the bridge over yonder. GM: Well, since we’re in a small settlement right now, such a trader is hard to find. But maybe you’d be lucky in the nearby city.

</aside>

Be prepared to talk yourselves through every situation together - this game is, first and foremost, a conversation with added rules.

Reading On

The main focus of this system of pen & paper is accessibility. As a player, you have very little preparation to do. You should read on to the following chapter, Rolling for Fun & Fortune. It’s a small read. You will then go through Creating a new World with all other players to start the game.

The Concepts chapter is for everyone determined enough to know the inner workings of this game. Only the GM is required to read it, though. The GM will obviously also have to read the GM chapters - she will have the most pages to crawl.