Chapter 1 - Introduction

## What The-?

A roleplaying game is about shared
storytelling. You get together with several friends and create a tale.
Unlike any other kind of game, your group's story can take you, the
characters and the Buffyverse anywhere you want it to. The action takes
place in your imaginations, and the story is told through your
interactions. There are truly no limits. The great thing about
roleplaying games is that the direction of the story and the creative
choices are all about you.

Seriously, you rule! Each of you
creates a character, an alternative persona that becomes your "in game"
role. This is your cast member. You choose the character's strengths and
 weaknesses, abilities and limitations, and in particular - personality.
 During the course of the game, you make this Cast Member's decisions,
utterances and actions. You put words in her mouth, spring in her step,
and joy in her heart. Or maybe you just brood a lot and kick butt. No
sweat, that's a valid lifestyle choice too.

## The Director

All
 the players and Cast Members are important, but one of you is extra
special, and it's most likely you who are reading this book right now.
What…you knew that already? Figured as much. The special player is
called the Director. The Director stands slightly apart (and maybe
upwind) from the other players because she does the bulk of
the...well...game directing. That's right, the Director is the first
among the creators. She actually set's the scene, plots the plot,
details the descriptions and engages in other nifty alliterations. She
makes the game go by providing fun stuff for the Cast Members to do, not
 the least of which is ensuring that everyone has something to dust on a
 fairly regular basis.
The Director also casts and speaks for the
other characters - anyone that the Cast Members meet in their
adventures. If these folks are neutral or even helpful to the Cast, they
 are called Guest Stars. A Guest Star could be the homeless guy on the
street who witnessed the vamp attack, the perky cheerleader assaulted by
 the youth-sucking demon, the old witch who has an ancient tome for
sale, or someone more mundane . . . or more twisted. These folks come
into the Cast Members’ lives, do their part for the plot and leave.
Unless, of course, they are recurring types; a Cast Member could even
fall in love with one of them and she could become a regular. Hey, it
happens a lot in the BtVS TV show.
If the Director-controlled
characters are out for Cast Member blood . . . or worse, they are called
 Adversaries. These include the vamps, demons, and other nasties—up to
and including the Big Bad. These folks deserve a thorough thrashing.
How? That’s up to the Cast Members.
All rules decisions are handed
down by the Director (usually with some discussion from the other
players - we like to think of it as enlightened despotism here). She
figures out how and when to use the game mechanics and decides the
outcomes of certain rolls. She makes sure things don’t get bogged down
in all that “I shot you, no you didn’t, yes I did, nyah, nyah, nyah”
stuff we used to get such a kick out of as kids. All that rules stuff is
 covered much more in the rest of this book.
Finally, the Director
may provide the gaming room, the padded deluxe gaming seats and some
major snackage. Depends on how generous she is feeling. Or how much the
other players try to suck up by kicking in that stuff. Most Directors
are all in favor of players doing the sucking up thing.

## Game Sessions

Game
 sessions in the BtVS RPG can take anywhere from a couple hours to an
entire weekend (depends on how crazed you are about the whole thing).
There is no formal start or end—that’s up to the Director and players to
 decide. Also, in roleplaying, no one gets to brag about being the
winner. The flip side is that no one has to be the loser. The objective
is to create a story, engage in some spontaneous and often hilarious
conversations, and have a good time with friends. And no, no electronics
 of any kind are necessary. Pretty uncivilized, eh?
Now, don’t go
thinking there is no structure here. It’s no madhouse, I tell you. The
game is divided into Episodes, resolved in one or more couple-hour
gaming sessions. These are plotlines or linked subplots that make up a
single story, just like each hour-long TV show. Episodes and their
related story arcs may be strung together to form a Season, and several
seasons lead into the Series, the whole story created by the interaction
 between the players’ Cast Members and the Director.
Or you could
just play one session and bash some badteeth types. We suspect that,
once you get started, you’ll want to play again. Roleplaying games are
insidious like that. Again, it’s all up to you.

## Getting Started

You need some paper, pencils (or pink pens with feathers sprouting from the top—whatever floats your boat), and some dice.
Dice
 indeed! You’ve no doubt seen the small cubes with dots (called pips, if
 you must know) or numbers on them. They can be found in old copies of
Monopoly, Parcheesi or Trivial Pursuit. Heck, you could even bust them
out of their confining bubble in Frustration or Trouble. Always wanted
to do that, eh? Anyway, those cubes are called six-sided dice. We gaming
 pros refer to them as D6s. D6s are good, but useless for the BtVS RPG.
The real heavyweights of this game are the D10s, or ten-sided dice.
These puppies are usually stocked in hobby game stores—such as the place
 you picked up this very tome. They are also found in some bookstores or
 department stores. They are way big with the angst-ridden vampire
roleplaying set (if you care). If you can’t find them, call or email us.
 We’ll hook you up.
Finally, you might want to gather some markers or
 poker chips. You could use those little plastic gems left over from all
 those Magic or Pokemon card games. Or even better, toothpicks! You
could call them Little Mr. Pointies. Whatever you decide, you will need
something to record Drama Points. Those suckers (Drama Points, not
Little Mr. Pointies) are going to save your Cast Member’s butt at some
point. So it’s important to know how many you’ve got. We’ll get into
Drama Points in Chapter Three.

## Dice

As
 you’ve probably noticed, dice are central to the BtVS RPG. We already
mentioned that D10 means a ten-sided die. We also hinted that it was the
 only type of die you will need. When you need to roll, toss that D10.
The number that comes up is adjusted by any modifiers applicable and
that’s your roll result. Some D10 have a “0” on one face. That’s read as
 a 10 (despite what it says). We could go on here, but you’ve got the
drift now, and...really, there’s not much more to say about the dice.

## Measurements

As
 you’ve probably noticed, dice are central to the BtVS RPG. We already
mentioned that D10 means a ten-sided die. We also hinted that it was the
 only type of die you will need. When you need to roll, toss that D10.
The number that comes up is adjusted by any modifiers applicable and
that’s your roll result. Some D10 have a “0” on one face. That’s read as
 a 10 (despite what it says). We could go on here, but you’ve got the
drift now, and...really, there’s not much more to say about the dice.

## Navigation

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