HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER

HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER
(A quick hack of Lasers & Feelings*, by John Harper, based on a tweet by @FreyjaErlings**.)

You are a enigmatic masked musician in a band of enigmatic masked musicians. You have adventures and play really good music!

_Instructions for Players_
Character creation
1. Choose the nature of the face behind your mask: robot, cyborg, alien, human, animal.
2. Choose a specialty: keyboard, guitar, drums, bass, laptop, vocals.
3. Choose your aesthetic number, from 2 to 5. A lower number means you're HARDER: more Dionysian, in touch with chaos, emotion, dirt, base humanity. A higher number means you're BETTER: Apollonian, aspiring to mathematical, logical, and mechanical perfection. (A sinuous bass riff would be "harder," in this context; an austere synth arpeggio would be "better.")
4. Choose your physical number, from 2 to 5. A low number means you're FASTER: dextrous, agile, rapid, graceful. A high number means you're STRONGER: strong, durable, and enduring.
5. Choose a name for your character, ideally one that's cool and/or French.
6. Create a goal for your character, or choose one of these: Conquer the World, Win a Grammy, Do All the Drugs, Cut a Literally Perfect Album, Discover Your Origins, Become Human (or Stop Being Human).

Together with the other players, name your band and choose one advantage: Megafamous Collaborator, Incredibly Deep Sample Library, Loyal Roadies, Extra Lasers & Fog Juice.

Finally, pick your band's one disadvantage: Bad Reviews, Bad Contract, Bad Manager, Bad Instruments.

Gameplay
When you do something risky, roll 1d6 to determine the result. Roll +1d if you're prepared and +1d if you're an expert. The GM will tell you many dice to roll based on your character and the situation.

The nature of the action you're attempting determines what specific quality you're testing: HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, or STRONGER. (Generally, when you're attempting a musical, social, intellectual, or emotional task, you'll use either HARDER or BETTER. If you're in combat or facing a physical challenge, you'll use either FASTER or STRONGER. The GM has final say on which qualities are appropriate for particular actions.) Make sure to declare the quality before you roll.

⬆ If you're using HARDER (emotion, intuition), you want to roll over your aesthetic number.
⬆ If you're using FASTER (dexterity and speed), you want to roll over your physical number.

⬇ If you're using BETTER (logic, reason), you want to roll under your aesthetic number.
⬇ If you're using STRONGER (strength and endurance), you want to roll under your physical number.

How many dice succeeded?
0: You fail. The GM determines how this makes your situation worse.
1: You succeed at a cost, as determined by the GM in the form of a complication or harm.
2: You succeed as planned.
3: Critical success! You get some extra effect, determined by the GM.

If you get lucky and roll your number exactly, you achieve a state of HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER and receive a special insight into the situation. Ask the GM one question (about motivations, for example, or background, or the optimal way forward), and they'll have to answer honestly. You may then change your action and roll again.

Helping: If you want to help someone else's roll, say how and make a roll of your own. On success, give them +1d. You can not give them a total of more than 3d6 in this fashion.

_Instructions for GM_

Create an masked robot band adventure by choosing from, or rolling on, the tables below:

While doing a gig...
1. ...in Paris
2. ...in a barren wasteland
3. ...at Lollapalooza 2007
4. ...in 22nd century NeoTokyo
5. ...at some kid's house in the suburbs
6. ...inside a video game

...the band encounters...
1. ...an evil British aristocrat
2. ...celebrated French indie act Phoenix
3. ...an insane artificial intelligence
4. ...press secretary Sean Spicer
5. ...Rockula, the music vampire
6. ...Moby

...who wants to...
1. ...conquer the universe
2. ...destroy the world
3. ...change the future
4. ...wreak a terrible revenge on the band
5. ...win Best New Artist at the Grammys
6. ...turn all humans into robots (and/or vice versa)

...by...
1. ...replacing the band with evil duplicates.
2. ...opening a glowing neon pyramid.
3. ...clinching an unprecedented 10.1 review on Pitchfork.
4. ...cloning Kanye West.
5. ...framing the band for a string of musical murders.
6. ...banishing the band to another world.

Running the Game
Play to find out how the band confronts the threat. Introduce the threat by showing evidence of its recent badness. Before a threat does something to the characters, show signs that it’s about to happen, then ask them what they do. "Rockula's fangs descend from between his lips. They're a bit curled, like bass clefs, and they glisten with some kind of venom. What do you do?"

Call for a roll when the situation is uncertain. Don’t pre-plan outcomes; let the chips fall where they may. Use failures to push the action forward. The situation always changes after a roll, for good or ill.

Ask questions and build on the answers. "Have any of you met Regina Spektor before? Where? What happened?" "Did anyone see the movie Tron?"

Consider setting the mood by playing some electropop: Yelle, Air, maybe a little Madeon.

*http://www.onesevendesign.com/laserfeelings/
**https://twitter.com/FreyjaErlings/status/1116082618989252608