BulletHarpy's social life idea

MAHOU SHOUJO IMAGEBOARD TRPG

This game highlights the life aspects of being a magical girl. Combat doesn't exist as the meat but rather creates consequences that reflect onto the PCs' routines.
Because the target environment is an imageboard thread, this TRPG recognizes that the majority of play rests in voting decisions or RP. As a result, the rules are attempting to be more of a prompt of what might transpire, creating restrictions largely in trade-offs that the players manage (and generally, but not always, initiate).
Combat section is a WIP, but it should be easy to integrate.

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STATS
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All stats start at 0 and go to 20, with 0 being low and 20 being high. Stats can drop below 0, in which case bad things happen.

PERSONAL ---

AWAKE - How able you are in the day. It goes down the more you push yourself. Wake up girl, you've got a bright day ahead of you!
COVER - Your ability to avoid suspicion. It goes down the more you act abnormally. No girl wants to be weird!
ACADEMICS - How well you're doing in class. Adults care about this stat, especially if it's too low. Detention is bad for girls!
SOCIAL - Your social standing. Kids care about this stat, especially if it's too low. Unpopular girls reek!
FAMILY - How close you are to your family. This really matters if you plan on going out at night. Gotta be a good girl!

TEAM ---

STABILITY - A measure of how likely it is for the magical to invade your day life. The lower this is, the more paranoid magical girls tend to be, since enemies get stronger and more obvious.
OPTIMISM - A measure of how much faith your team has in what they do. Girls talk constantly and pessimism is contagious. And not all girls are alike - they handle low optimism in different ways. There are rumors that terrible things happen to those who lose all faith...

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THE DAY
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GM starts a scene off, players then enter the scene.

DAILY ROUTINE ---

The daily routine is a unified scene - everyone checks against it and are present if possible. The triggering event is indicated beside each stage. A penalty decrements the gain by 1, potentially making the gain negative if multiple are stacked!

1. Morning prep -- THE SUN RISES
AWAKE +1
Penalties: STABILITY < 5, OPTIMISM < 5
Rise and shine! Getting up can suck, especially if you couldn't sleep.

2. Walk to school -- THE SCHOOL BELLS TOLL
COVER +1
Penalties: AWAKE < 5
It's first contact with real life for the day. Being unusually tired makes rumors spread...

3. Class -- THE TEACHER ENTERS CLASS
ACADEMICS +1
Penalties: AWAKE < 5, COVER < 5
Doing that thing school is about. You can't focus if you're tired or worrying about rumors!

4. Lunch -- THE LUNCH BELL RINGS
SOCIAL +1
Penalties: AWAKE < 5, COVER < 5, ACADEMICS < 5
What school really is about. Being tired makes you bad at talking. Rumors are bad for your social image. And hey, no one respects lazy idiots.

AFTER SCHOOL ---

Things that happen after school are decided by committee. The one with the highest SOCIAL ranking decides if a decision can't be made. They can do any of the following:

1. Decompress
AWAKE +1
This makes being awake tomorrow much easier!

2. Do something special
[COVER/ACADEMICS/SOCIAL] +1 (1 action) or +5 (3 actions)
Payout now for a small boost to COVER, ACADEMICS, or SOCIAL (GM decides based on activity). Or agree to a schedule and if you all manage to do it all, you get a large boost at the end! Just don't screw it up. This includes going to after-school club (as large boosts; you don't have to go to the same clubs).

3. Hunt
[AWAKE/COVER] -?
It's the witching hour! Your AWAKE and COVER can suffer, but valuable things can happen. Beware, some magical girls don't make it back.

4. Detention!
ACADEMICS +1, FAMILY -1
This happens if you have too low ACADEMICS. You'll boost it a bit in class, but you can't do anything else and everyone else has to Decompress! Your parent's won't be happy.

5. Hide!
COVER +1, AWAKE -1
This happens if you have too low COVER. You'll boost it a bit by waiting, but you can't do anything else and everyone else has to Decompress! You'll be tired from doing this.

EVENING ---

The night isn't decided by committee. In fact, there's a huge barrier to doing certain things - family. If it involves going out, it will require a FAMILY CHECK as indicated. A FAMILY CHECK is simple: AWAKE > 4, COVER > 4, ACADEMICS > 4, FAMILY > 4. If you're really suffering somewhere, your parents will be concerned and won't let you leave the house. Here's what you can do:

1. Decompress/Sleep early
AWAKE +1
This makes being awake tomorrow much easier!

2. Study
ACADEMICS +1
This makes you smarter at school!

3. Be with family
FAMILY +1
Doing something together, like watching a show, or cooking dinner, or house chores, or some hobby.

4. Do something special - FAMILY CHECK
[COVER/ACADEMICS/SOCIAL] +1 (1 action) or +5 (3 actions)
Payout now for a small boost to COVER, ACADEMICS, or SOCIAL (GM decides based on activity). Or agree to a schedule and if you all manage to do it all, you get a large boost at the end! Just don't screw it up. This includes part-time jobs (as large boosts; you don't have to go to the same jobs).

5. Continue hunt - FAMILY CHECK
[AWAKE/COVER] -?
Use this if you [CHASE] your target or [SEEK] another target.

6. Grounded!
FAMILY +1, SOCIAL -1
This happens if you have too low FAMILY. You'll boost it a bit for listening, but you can't do anything else and nobody can do a FAMILY CHECK action! And being grounded is just uncool.

Note: GMs should only play out FAMILY CHECK actions in detail.

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BAD THINGS
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// This section probably needs a lot of testing.

SICK ---

If your AWAKE is 0 or less at any point, you're sick! You can't do anything today but decompress (treat as Sunday). And you only get better when AWAKE > 4.
// It's really easy to lose AWAKE, so the punishment is not too severe.

EXPOSED ---

If your COVER is 0 or less at any point, your cover as a magical girl is blown! This is really bad. Things get really dangerous (STABILITY -5) as now your enemies know who you are... and your family and friends. You also can't do anything but hide (treat as Sunday with hide as an option in all phases). What's worse is that things keep getting dangerous until your magic can re-establish your cover (each subsequent day you start with 0 or less COVER, STABILITY -5).
// It's hard to lose COVER and easy to gain it back. Conceptually this is a big no-no, so the punishment is drastic and can trigger STABILITY 0- really easily.

SUSPENDED ---

If your ACADEMICS is 0 or less at any point, you're academically suspended! Your family won't like it at all (FAMILY -10) and you'll be forced to study until you get back on track (treat as Sunday with study as an option in all phases, do until ACADEMICS > 4). What's worse is that your family won't ever trust you like before, so you can't do any activities that require a FAMILY CHECK until you prove yourself again (GM decides).
// ACADEMICS is hard to lose, so the punishment is huge. The absolving clause should be handled through RP.

BULLIED ---

If your SOCIAL is 0 or less at any point, you're bullied in some horrendous manner! This breeds all kinds of negativity and loyalties really get tested (OPTIMISM -3). Fortunately your standing bounces back just a bit (SOCIAL 1 the next day), but it doesn't take much for you to become a target again. At least you can still do things.
// SOCIAL is more influenced by events, so it's not a terrifying punishment. However, it can keep triggering, which does turn it into a very serious issue.
// No, there's nothing for FAMILY, because that something could be many things (there are many types of family trouble). Instead, this is a mahou shoujo - family will stick by the child.

DISASTER ---

If STABILITY is ever 0 or below, something terrible happens. Treat this as a multi-day event in which everything halts until the trouble ends. STABILITY returns to 1 after the event. Unfortunately, someone meaningful will die during all of this.

If DISASTER strikes and a player character is SICK, the DISASTER will preferentially target the SICK player character. Treat as a very difficult combat with the SICK player character sitting out. Regardless of the result, STABILITY returns to 5 after the event.

DESPAIR ---

If OPTIMISM is ever 0 or below, everyone starts despairing. Though each person despairs differently (according to their element and personality), in general penalties are assessed on sets of actions. Treat this as a multi-day event in which everything halts until something pivotal happens:

1. Someone saves them. They can't do it themselves because despair feeds itself. You could use this to bring in someone or to highlight an NPC (and automatically promote to meaningful), in which case OPTIMISM rises back up to 5 after the event.
// Happy option

2. Someone meaningful dies. This can snap them out of their rut, but only temporarily. OPTIMISM rises back up to 1 after the event.
// Grimdark option

??? ---

If DESPAIR strikes and a player character's FAMILY ties are strained (FAMILY < 1), the magical girl is alone; she calls upon none of her friends nor family. Perhaps she falls. Maybe she becomes something else entirely. Whatever befalls her, it is not good.

The rules end here. What lies beyond is anyone's guess.

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EVENTS
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SUNDAY ---

Sunday is that lovely time where there's no school. Treat the Daily Routine as an After School block.

HOLIDAY ---

Holidays are like Sundays, but everyone looks forward to them and always feel a bit better when it happens. No one remembers what they learned in class before break though. AWAKE +1, OPTIMISM +1, ACADEMICS -1

TESTS ---

Tests happen. They're usually announced way in advance, but teachers can also spring quizzes on unsuspecting students. Treat these as a simple ACADEMICS check and reward as follows:

1. ACADEMICS > 15
FAMILY +1
Not bad! Your parents will appreciate having a smart kid.

2. ACADEMICS 20
FAMILY +3, SOCIAL +1
Whoa! Not only do your parents get to brag about their brilliant child, your classmates are going to take notice at how smart you are.

PARENTS ---

Parents often have erratic schedules, so sometimes they'll randomly check up on you! This happens often (think three times per week) but at unpredictable times (yes you can meet your disapproving dad while shopping with friends). Treat this as a FAMILY CHECK and reward as follows:

1. SUCCESS
Nothing! Yeah, parents are unfair.

2. FAILURE
FAMILY -2
Hey! Something's not right here and you've got to fix it!

OTHER ---

Feel encouraged to come up with some other event. As a general guideline, grant a +1 or -1 for something minor, a +2 or -2 for something significant, and a +3 or -3 for something big. Pivotal events have modifiers that are +5/-5 or even higher (like graduation)!

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HUNTING
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Basically has to incur some AWAKE and COVER cost. The more resources consumed, the greater the AWAKE cost. The louder the hunt, the greater the COVER cost. Eyeball it for now.

SEEK ---

Initiates combat. Results in no change (STABILITY -1, OPTIMISM -1), damaged (STABILITY +0), or destroyed (STABILITY +1). Generally speaking, it is much more costly to outright destroy an enemy before it has a chance to flee.
// STABILITY numbers probably need a lot of work.

CHASE ---

Initiates combat on a damaged foe. Foes recently damaged are more vulnerable, but they're also full of anger and are actually more damaging. Results in no change (STABILITY -1, OPTIMISM -1) or destroyed (STABILITY +1).

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OTHERS
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// This is a brainstorming section. Incorporate these rules at your own peril.

ELEMENTAL DESPAIR ---

Fire: Irritable, lashes out, judgmental, no mercy
Ice: Blunt and cold, obsessed with preservation, irregular, lonely
Air: Flighty, refuses to listen, abandon, self-centered
Earth: Unexpected, fractural, death, silent
Reinforcement: Divisive, takes sides, banishment, suffocation
Mental: Delusion, speaks her mind, unpredictable, non-committal
Time: Ill-placed, backtracks, regret, possibility
Lightning: Imbalanced, quick to blame, judgment, mortality
Sound: Silencing, lacks vision, irresponsible, ...
Darkness: // TBD...
Illusion:
Light:
Flower:
Psychic:
Water:
Gravity:

FAMILY DIFFERENCES ---

MOD: Smart Parent (up to two purchases)
Academics +7, Study grants one more ACADEMICS
You have a smart parent and you're likewise smart, but that means high expectations.