Big Bear Doin' Thangs RPG

The Big Bear: Doin' Thangs RPG

2 Stats: “Bearability” and “Do Things”

2 other things: “Bearadigm” and “Things to Do”

12 points are divided between 2 stats at character creation:

Bearability = how large a bear you are, how good you are at bearlike things like hibernating, scaring hikers, stealing picnic baskets, starring in toilet paper commercials, getting shot by 19th century American Explorers and not even caring, etc.

Do Things = how good you are at nonbearlike things like driving a car, computer programming, writing literary criticism, plotting an invasion of Belgium, parkour, throwing grenades, etc. Each point of this costs 1.5 points, because it is so much more useful (and so much less natural for a bear)

It's a roll-under system. When you want to do something, ask your GM. If it requires a roll, roll a D10, with modifiers provided by your GM. If you roll your (modified) target number exactly, flip a coin. If you call it, that's a critical success! If you roll a 10, flip a coin. If you fail to call it, that's a critical failure! Thus, if 10 is your target number, it all could depend on that coinflip...

Bearadigm = something your bearacter fervently believes in, such as “tuba players are good people”, “anyone who smiles as they talk is lying” “vinegar-tea will cure any disease” or “pop rocks and soda pop will, if boiled together in a pressure cooker, create a useable plastic explosive”. This belief is strong enough to slightly manipulate reality, giving a +2 bonus to target number on situations directly related to the belief (ex. Enlisting a tuba player for a good cause, making plastic explosives out of pop rocks and soda pop), and a +1 bonus for situations slightly related to the belief (ex. Convincing their boss that the car salespeople shouldn't smile at work, selling vinegar infused tea as a health supplement). At the beginning of the game, players draw three Bearadigms from a hat and keep one.

Things to Do: These are your bearacter's goals. Things like “host a national TV show”, “become a respected physician”, “March in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade”, “Do right by my adopted son who is a talking parrot”, “Steal the Hope Diamond”, etc. At the beginning of the game, players draw three Goals from a hat, and keep one. Players recieve two points for achieving their Goal, and then draw another from the pile. Players who provided meaningful assistance in achieving a goal get one point.

Scoring: GM awards players points for goals as above. GM awards points also when a player makes everybody laugh or does something particularly clever, or just for really bad puns. When all Goals (written out by GM or brainstormed collectively before the game) have been achieved, the game is over and the player with the most points "wins".