Introduction:

Quest for the the Eye is a dungeon crawl RPG. Each player takes the role of a barbarian or ally to barbarians, and this party of adventurers fights and otherwise forces their way through a series of ancient rooms in pursuit of the legendary gemstone known as the Eye.

These rules are written assuming you already know what a dungeon crawl is and how an RPG generally works. What sets this game apart is its tone: where most RPGs attempt to emulate a great of fantasy such as Tolkein or Vance or Howard, this takes its primary inspiration from Jim Theis's "The Eye of Argon". The party will not merely defy death; they will defy logic, grammar, common sense, and narrative consistency. Actions can receive bonuses for being clever and character-appropriate, but the largest bonuses are earned by matching actions to cards specifying linguistic failures and logical fallacies.

The game is intended for 4-6 players, each of whom spends a roughly equal amount of time as GM. It is intended to be played in one-shots; characters are created at the start of a session and discarded when the dungeon has been defeated. A session should take 2-4 hours.



Dungeon preparation:

During the course of the game, the role of GM will shift from player to player as the party advances through the dungeon. Each player is responsible for GM'ing one room, which he or she prepares in advance.
Any room has a chance of being selected as the final room, and so some details must have two versions.
The room must have at least the following features:
- a general size, shape, and appearance
- an entrance
- an exit, to omit if the room is chosen as the final room
- the Eye, to include only if the room is chosen as the final room
- at least two of the following:
-- opportunity for combat
-- opportunity for athletic challenge
-- opportunity for puzzle-solving
-- opportunity for dialogue
- a deus ex machina event which will suddenly allow the party to bypass challenges unharmed and easily advance

Do not describe room features in much detail; players must fill in details to earn bonuses for their descriptions.

The titular Eye should be some sort of crystal or gem, but its origin and details are entirely up to the GM; it may be magical or nonmagical, guarded or unguarded, colorful or vague. Its full name is the Eye of <something>, with the GM deciding the <something>.

The deus ex machina event is present to keep the game from getting "stuck". It will occur only if the players have been occupied by the room for at least 30 minutes, and only after a vote in its favor.

A player may keep their prepared GM information secret from other players before the game. In play, relevant secret information must be passed to the next GM. (For example, if the players unknowingly steal a cursed item, the next GM must be informed of the curse's consequences.)

The order for all rooms is selected randomly after character generation and before entering the first room. The GM of the final room is responsible for framing the quest by describing his or her version of the Eye itself to the players; the GM of the first room then describes their entrance into the dungeon, which should be some type of underground ruin.

In play, the party will generally advance through the rooms in linear order without turning back until they acquire the Eye. After acquiring the Eye, they leave the dungeon the way they came, with the GM of each room briefly reprising their room and the GM of the first room concluding the adventure.



Character generation:

Each player writes two character summaries, without consulting other players. At least one character must be some type of barbarian, and both must be consistent with the conventions of generic low fantasy.
A summary contains the following seven blocks, none of which should be more than a few lines:
- Name
- Race and background
- Personal appearance
- Approach to problem solving
- Clothing and/or armor
- Weapons and/or magical implements
- Other equipment

Players are then randomly assigned a draft order (or one is randomly chosen to go first and construction proceeds clockwise, if that's easier).
Construction goes around the table seven times. On a draft turn, a player chooses one block, with the following restrictions:
- you can't choose a block you wrote yourself
- you can't choose a block someone else chose
- you must select one block for each of the seven categories, not multiples of the same category
- you can't select multiple blocks from the same player until it's impossible not to (for example, in a 4-player game, your first 3 picks will be from different players)

Players are then free to fill in omitted details, but not to retract anything from their selected blocks. Where drafted selections contradict each other, players should make some token effort to reconcile them.



Character appearance/disappearance:

The party composition will vary from room to room; these variations should be treated as "continuity errors" of the game's narrative.
When a character is in the party, all other characters should act as though the character has been in the party continuously. When a character is not in the party, all other characters should act as though the character never existed. Violating either of these rules results in an automatic partial failure to the next action of the character who violated it.

A character is not in the party if any of the following reasons hold:
- the character belongs to the new room's GM
- the character died in the previous room
- the character was unable to leave the previous room
- the character's player is physically absent when the new room is starting

When a character who was not in the party becomes part of the party again, the character is healthy and fully equipped, and any reasons for the character's absence are forgotten. This means that if your character dies in room 2, the character will be completely missing from room 3 and back in play in room 4 (or for room 5 if you're GM for room 4). This is the game's main mechanic for character resurrection.



Rocks fall, everyone dies:

For most of the game, if a room becomes impossible to complete, for instance due to party death or the collapse of the dungeon, the events of that room never happened. The events of previous rooms happened, but the party did not proceed into the failed room. They instead turned around for the day and rested at a nearby inn or campsite, where they had a premonitory dream warning them of the danger in the next room. Armed with this foreknowledge, they re-enter the dungeon.
The GM of the failed room GMs these events, glossing over details of the other rooms, unless players actively wish to spend more time in one of the earlier rooms. If they do, that room's GM takes over.

In the final room, the dream excuse can only happen once. A second quest-ending disaster in the final room is real and ends the game. Also, if disaster somehow strikes the party on the way back out of the dungeon with the Eye, that is real and ends the game.



Challenges:

At any given time, the characters are faced with one or more challenges. A challenge can be nearly anything: a group of monsters, a trap, a maze, a single monster, a locked door, a magical curse, etc. Each challenge has a numeric rating, which is assigned by the GM when the challenge is introduced.
On the way into the dungeon, the maximum rating is 5 plus the room number (so 6 in the first room), plus an additional 2 in the final room. Exactly one challenge in each room should have the maximum rating; in the final room, overcoming this maximum-rated challenge should be necessary for claiming the Eye.
On the way back out of the dungeon with the Eye, only one challenge should occur per room, and the maximum rating is 2 plus the room number; the exit is more a "victory lap" by the successful party than a threat.
There are four ways to overcome a challenge: one overwhelming success, three partial successes by three different characters, five partial successes total, or plot advancement.

OVERWHELMING SUCCESS
If a character attempts an action which narratively has a chance of entirely overcoming the challenge, and the modified action roll is at least 4 more than the challenge rating, then the action succeeds entirely and the challenge is overcome.

PARTIAL SUCCESS
If a character succeeds on an action roll by less than 4, or by 4 or more when the action is not something that narratively has a chance of entirely overcoming the challenge, then the character scores a partial success. On the party's fifth partial success against a challenge, or when a partial success has been achieved by the third character to do so, the challenge is sufficiently neutralized that it can be overcome without any further die rolls.

PLOT ADVANCEMENT
If the players have advanced the narrative in such a way that the challenge no longer poses any logical threat, the GM should consider the challenge overcome without requiring action rolls.

Of course, rules for success would be meaningless without failure. Characters may suffer total or partial failures; three partial failures by the same character against a single challenge are equivalent to a total failure.

TOTAL FAILURE
If a character attempts an action against a challenge and the modified action roll is 4 less than the challenge rating or lower, the character suffers a total failure. If the challenge is something deadly, the character dies; in any event, the character is in some GM-determined way unable to take any further actions against the particular challenge.

PARTIAL FAILURE
If a character attempts an action against a challenge and rolls a double 1 or rolls less than the challenge rating, but not a total failure, the character suffers a partial failure. On the first two partial failures against an obstacle, the GM describes some minor negative consequence which does not render the character unable to continue. On the third, the effect is the same as a total failure.



Action rolls:

For a character to take action against a challenge, the following sequence of steps occurs.
1. The player describes the action to be taken.
2. The GM decides how the action applies to a challenge and which bonuses to apply.
3. Cards consumed by the action are discarded.
4. The player may choose an additional card to discard.
5. The player rolls a d6 and adds the bonuses, comparing the result to the target value.
6. The GM describes the outcome of the action.
7. New cards are dealt to replenish the card pool.

1. DESCRIPTION
Taking into account the current pool of cards and the character's background, personality, and equipment, the player describes the character's intended action. This description does not have to consist solely of the action itself; the player may embellish room details, digress about the character's state of mind, describe small inconsequential actions of NPCs, and depict the action's intended result. (Such flourishes are important towards accumulating card bonuses.)

2. GM RULINGS
The GM decides:
- which challenge to apply the action to. If the action has no chance of helping against any challenge, then no action roll is made and no cards are moved. Where multiple challenges apply, the GM can be arbitrary about which to select.
- whether the action has a chance of overwhelming success; that is, whether it would make narrative sense that the action could entirely overcome the challenge on its own if it succeeds.
- which character bonuses apply to the action (see "Character bonuses")
- which card bonuses apply to the action (see "Cards")

3. DISCARD MATCHED CARDS
The GM puts the cards which apply to the action into the discard pile.

4. DISCARD ADDITIONAL CARD
The player may choose one card to put into the discard pile. This card is not counted as a bonus; it just allows the party to selectively skip past cards which do not apply to the situation.

5. DIE ROLL
In general, the player rolls a six-sided die and adds bonuses to it. If the result is at least the challenge rating, the action succeds; otherwise it fails. Values at least 4 less or 4 more than the challenge rating can have additional consequences (see "OVERWHELMING SUCCESS" and "TOTAL FAILURE" above).
If the die roll is a 1, but the bonus is high enough that the action would succeed anyway, the player rolls a second die. If this is also a 1, the result is a partial failure; if it is anything but a 1, the first roll stands.
If the die roll is a 6, but the target is high enough that the action would fail anyway, the player rolls a second die. If this is also a 6, the result is a partial success; if it is anything but a 6, the first roll stands.

6. OUTCOME
The GM describes the result of the action, incorporating the outcome of the action roll. Specific logical and grammatical fallacies from cards may be incorporated or ignored at the GM's discretion.

7. REPLACE CARDS
The GM deals cards from the deck into the pool, replenishing it to the correct size for the room (room number plus 3, plus an additional 2 for the final room.) Whenever the deck is empty, the GM shuffles the discard pile into it.



Character bonuses:

Players do not declare that they are trying for a character bonus. If a player does declare it, the bonus is not awarded.
If the GM considers an action to openly contradict a character's background or equipment, and this contradiction is not earning a card bonus, then a -2 penalty applies. (The net "bonus" may thus in rare cases become a negative number.)
If the GM considers an action to be an appropriate application of a character's background or problem-solving style, a +1 bonus applies.
If an action involves the use of equipment from the character's summary, and the GM considers the equipment to be correctly used and relevant to the action, a +1 bonus applies. This bonus also applies for incorrectly used equipment from the character's summary if the incorrectness of the usage is earning a card bonus.
If the GM considers an action to be an especially clever response to the situation, a +1 or +2 bonus applies at the GM's discretion.



Cards:

When the party enters a room, the new GM shuffles all cards together and deals cards face-up to form the card pool. The number of cards in the pool is 3 plus the room number (so 4 in the first room), plus an additional 2 in the final room.
Each card denotes some quirk of prose or error of logic; action descriptions which match cards, in the GM's opinion, get a bonus of +1 per card matched.
Players do not declare that they are trying for a card bonus. If a player does declare it, the bonus is not awarded.
When a card calls for a character to perform an impossible or out of character action, the GM is to permit that action without penalty. At the GM's discretion, repeating the action may or may not remain possible for the rest of the room.
Some cards occur twice in the deck. If both copies are in the pool, an action can count both of them if it has two distinct counts of the specified offense.



GM actions:

For the most part, the players drive the pace of a scene, and the GM has things happen to the characters when resolving the players' action rolls.
However, the GM can initiate taken by NPCs or traps against player characters. The GM does not roll for these actions or use cards. The GM describes an action up to the moment when a character has an opportunity to react in some way, and the character's player then describes that reaction using the same rules as a player-initiated action. If the player's chosen reaction is not an attempt to address the threat, the GM assesses an automatic partial failure instead of rolling. A GM action can only require a reaction from, or assign a failure to, one character at a time.
After the reaction to a GM-initiated action resolves, the players can make at least two actions of their choice (two total, not two per player) before the GM can initiate another. This grace period does not carry between rooms; when entering a room the incoming GM can always initiate an action.