TEXT: best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  1
  best
  friends
  a role-playing game 
  about girlfriends and
  all their petty hatreds
  by gregor hutton
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  2
  best friends
  table of contents
  Being best friends .........................................................................4–5 
  Creating Your Girlfriend and All Her best friends too ...........6–8 
  So What Ya Gonna Do? ................................................................8 
  Hatred Ratings ...............................................................................9 
  Pretty, Cool, Smart, Tough and Rich ..................................10–14 
  So How Ya Gonna Do It? ............................................................15 
  Running The Show, and Tripping The Girls Up ...............16–17 
  Describing Things, People and Places .....................................18 
  Some Scenarios ............................................................................19 
  A List of Character Names .........................................................20 
  Example Character: Katie, a tough karate girl ........................21 
  Example of Play, or How It Will Probably Play ......................22 
  The 24-Hour Game Design Project ...........................................23 
  best friends Character Sheet .........................................................24
  best friends
  Conceived, designed, illustrated and written in 24 hours
  by Gregor Hutton
  e: gregor@gregorhutton.com, w: gregorhutton.com
  Created for a contest run by Ron Edwards
  at http://www.indie-rpgs.com/
  All text and images are © 2005 Gregor Hutton
  Typeset in Palatino and Curlz MT
  on a Apple PowerBook G4 using Adobe® InDesign® CS
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  3
  pretty
  tough
  cool
  smart
  rich
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  4
  being best friends
  So, what’s this book all about?
  Well, it’s a role-playing game about being a girl.
  Yeah, everyone plays a girl. If you’re not down with that 
  then just put best friends back wherever you found it and 
  walk away. No hard feelings, eh?
  So, still here?
  OK, it’s a game about being best friends and all the little 
  hatreds that best friends have for each other.
  Oh, I know. You’re gonna say that y’all get along just peachy. 
  Well, that’s ﬁne too. No one said any of this was true.
  But, between you and me: it probably is.
  Anyway, you and some friends all play girlfriends and try 
  to do stuff together while secretly hating each other. And 
  getting little frissons of excitement out of getting one up on 
  your best friends.
  role-playing 101
  Where to start? Well, this is a ‘role-playing game’, but it’s not 
  about going into dungeons and ﬁghting dragons. No siree.
  Role-playing a social activity where you sit around with 
  some other folks and talk. Yeah, you make stuff up. One of 
  the group is called the GamesMaster and the others are all 
  called players. Each player role-plays a character.
  In this game your character is a girl. All the other characters 
  are your girlfriends. You’re all best friends.
  There are rules that help you decide what you can and can’t 
  do. The GamesMaster helps the story along, adjudicates 
  disagreements and describes the world around the 
  characters. Sort of like an interested panel-show host. And 
  that’s about it. Oh, yeah, it’s all about having fun.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  5
  size of the group
  You’ll need a GM and three 
  to six players.
  I always found four or ﬁve 
  players a good number, but 
  your experience may vary.
  tokens, or friend-chips
  I imagine you’d use poker 
  chips or nicely coloured 
  beads, but wine glasses or 
  shot glasses serve just as well.
  who’s the gm?
  Someone will probably want 
  to do it. It’s always good to 
  take turns and give the GM a 
  go as a player now and then. 
  Common courtesy and all.
  convivial atmosphere
  You probably want to be 
  playing this in a friendly 
  environment. So think 
  about pleasant lighting, soft 
  atmospheric music in the 
  background, comfortable 
  chairs and a healthy 
  supply of spirits and other 
  refreshments.
  On the other hand, it would 
  probably work just as well 
  around a camp ﬁre.
  glossary
  Here are some handy terms.
  Character. An imaginary 
  persona that you play. In this 
  game they are all female.
  Chips. Poker chips, or beads, 
  etc., see Friend-chips.
  Friend-chips. Tokens or chips 
  that are the playing pieces. 
  You have to push these to 
  other players to do things. 
  You start the game with 3.
  GamesMaster. The person 
  helping run the game, called 
  GM for short.
  Gargantuan. Enormous. A 
  high rating, above average. 
  You know, I’ve always liked 
  that word, but so rarely have 
  an opportunity to use it.
  Hatreds. The things that you 
  feel for your best friends.
  Player. Someone playing a 
  character.
  Push. Giving a chip to 
  another player. To do 
  something beyond your 
  normal level of ability.
  Zero. The opposite of 
  gargantuan. As a rating it 
  represents ugly, uncool, 
  stupid, frail or impoverished.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  6
  creating your character
  OK, here’s how it’s done. Look at the character sheet (p. 24).
  q: who are you? 
  a: i am...
  First off, write down a name for your character on the sheet 
  in the bit that says ‘I am...’
  When you’ve done that you need to let everyone know what 
  your character is called. Write it on a bit of paper and put it 
  out in front of you.
  Go on, they need to know. After all, they’re your girlfriends. 
  And in turn you’ll ﬁnd out what everyone else has called 
  their characters too.
  now the important bit: hatreds
  Now that you have a list of all the other character names it’s 
  time to list why you hate them so.
  You have ﬁve things that you hate your best friends for. If 
  there are just ﬁve other characters then write each name 
  once, i.e. each one will be against a different hate.
  If there are fewer than ﬁve other characters then someone is 
  going to get more than one thing you hate them for.
  The hates are:
  • I hate ... <name> ... because she is prettier than me.
  • I hate ... <name> ... because she is cooler than me.
  • I hate ... <name> ... because she is smarter than me.
  • I hate ... <name> ... because she is tougher than me.
  • I hate ... <name> ... because she is richer than me.
  Don’t show anyone what you’ve put though. So far it’s a 
  secret, the kind that you don’t share yet.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  7
  finding out how you’ve 
  done
  OK, when everyone has 
  ﬁnished putting in their 
  hatreds it’s time to ‘fess up.’
  For each character ﬁnd out 
  how many other characters 
  hate them for each of the 
  following:
  • pretty 
  • cool 
  • smart 
  • tough 
  • rich
  If no one has you down as 
  pretty, say, then write a 0 in 
  the pretty loveheart.
  If one person hates you then 
  write a 1 in the loveheart. 1 is 
  an average score, and is OK.
  If two have you down then 
  write 2 in the loveheart. That 
  is pretty good.
  Any more is a cherry on top. 
  Just write down how many 
  characters hate you for each 
  thing. It should total up to 5 
  across all the lovehearts.
  friend-chips
  Each player starts the game 
  with 3 of them. You can end 
  up with more or less in game.
  More Control Over Your Hatreds 
  Maybe you want to have a little 
  more control over what people give 
  you to play with? Try saying some-
  thing like ‘Can I have a tough, smart 
  character tonight?’ and see how your 
  fellow players respond.
  the ‘me’ loveheart
  The me loveheart is for 
  drawing your character.
  and i...
  Write down what your 
  character is like here, now 
  that you know how you are 
  viewed by your best friends.
  Something like:
  am the sexiest prom queen 
  that Miller High ever did see.
  stuff
  This is where you write in the 
  stuff you have. Things like 
  nice clothes, cars, pets, rings, 
  iPods, pom-poms, etc.
  nonsense
  This is where you note 
  relationships and that kind 
  of stuff. Husband called 
  Brad? Put him here. Always 
  fainting? Put that here too.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  8
  what ya gonna do?
  In best friends you describe 
  what you are doing as part of 
  a narrative.
  As long as everyone agrees 
  then it happens.
  So ‘I’m going to the door and 
  opening it.’ might be a typical 
  thing that you say in game.
  No problem.
  If everyone agrees then 
  it happens. The GM will 
  help you interact with the 
  game ‘world’ but the other 
  players are also important in 
  deciding what is allowed.
  So, what if the door was 
  locked?
  Are you smart enough to 
  open it? Are you cool enough 
  to know how to pick it?
  What if you need a valid 
  bank card to get though the 
  door? Are you rich enough?
  Tasks that are contested are 
  deﬁned to be one of the ﬁve 
  hatreds:
  • pretty 
  • cool 
  • smart 
  • tough 
  • rich
  Groups of Fewer Than Six Players 
  If you have a group with fewer than 6 
  players then you can’t allocate 
  only one hatred to each player.
  The way around it is to allocate an 
  extra hatred to the player(s) 
  sitting to your right.
  For 5 players, the player to your right 
  gets an extra hatred allocated to them.
  For 4 players you have two extra 
  hatreds. Give one to the player to your 
  right and another to the player to their 
  right (i.e. the two players that are to 
  the right of you).
  For 3 players, the player to your left 
  gets 2 hatreds and the player to your 
  right gets 3 hatreds.
  This way everyone ends up getting 5 
  hatreds around the group.
  Choose where you sit carefully!
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  9
  so what do the ratings 
  mean?
  Now, that’s an interesting 
  question. I’m not quite 100% 
  sure since I’ve not play-tested 
  this through. But here’s what 
  I think.
  0 – ‘Zero’ 
  A rating so bad that you have 
  difﬁculty doing things that 
  the average person can do. 
  Buy a decent meal? Lift a 
  decent-sized box of books? 
  They’re all beyond you.
  You can get by, don’t get me 
  wrong. It’s just that you are 
  pretty weak and can only 
  do really easy stuff without 
  pushing yourself.
  1 – ‘Average’ 
  A typical rating. Look, you 
  can do most things that an 
  average person can do. As 
  long as you can argue that 
  they can do it, then so can 
  you. Paying for decent meals 
  and cars is something that 
  you can do routinely.
  However, there are still many 
  things that you have to push 
  to get. That nice holiday? 
  How about a better, newer 
  car? Or a degree? Want to run 
  a 10K race? Then you had 
  better push.
  2 – ‘Signiﬁcant’ 
  You are signiﬁcantly better 
  than the average person. All 
  the things that the normal 
  girl on the street has to push 
  for comes easily to you.
  That’s not to say that 
  you never have to push. 
  Sometimes you will face 
  challenges that require more 
  effort and ability, but these 
  are few and far between.
  Run a marathon in under 3 
  hours? Buying a yacht? Get a 
  PhD? You’ll have to push.
  3 and over – ‘Gargantuan’ 
  This level is only possible if 
  you have 4 players or more. 
  And it really is a case of 
  many eggs in one basket.
  Needless to say, this rating is 
  so high that there is almost 
  nothing that you would have 
  to push for. You’ll only ﬁnd 
  yourself doing that when 
  locked in a contest and the 
  friend-chips are ﬂying.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  10
  pretty
  All the things that are 
  covered by pretty are things 
  that rely on your looks and 
  charm.
  Things like:
  • catching a boy’s eye
  • getting a date
  • looking innocent
  • getting discounts
  • being helped out by boys
  • ﬁrst impressions
  • being charming
  example levels
  0 
  You are at best plain, and at 
  worst downright ugly.
  You have a hard time getting 
  decent dates and are viewed 
  with suspicion when people 
  ﬁrst meet you.
  Not one of the beautiful 
  people. Nope, not at all.
  1 
  You are pleasant and 
  attractive in a homely kind of 
  way. A cut above plain.
  You get dates most of the 
  time, but they are rarely with 
  the most popular boys.
  You make a decent ﬁrst 
  impression, although you 
  are sometimes forgettable or  
  confused with someone else 
  equally average.
  2 
  Wow. You are stunning.
  You are likely one of the 
  cutest and most sought after 
  girls in your area. You are 
  always getting offers of dates 
  and can afford to be picky.
  You make good ﬁrst 
  impressions and everyone 
  always remembers you.
  Be warned, though. If you’re 
  a nasty piece of work (and 
  who isn’t?) then they may 
  remember you for all the 
  wrong reasons.
  3 and over 
  Unbelievable. You should be 
  in Hollywood or a palace. 
  There is probably very little 
  men won’t do for you, even if 
  they hate you for it.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  11
  cool
  All the things that are 
  covered by cool are things 
  that rely on your calmness 
  and force of personality.
  Things like:
  • being popular
  • stealing stuff
  • not getting fazed
  • borrowing things
  • knowing other cool people
  • saying cool stuff
  • persuading people
  example levels
  0 
  You are what might be called 
  a ‘nerd’ or ‘geek’. You are the 
  High Queen of Uncool.
  You get a hard time because 
  of all the uncool stuff you 
  say and do. You are always 
  the last to get invited to 
  something really exciting.
  1 
  You are the average, 
  everyday, sorta, sometimes, 
  kinda-cool person. You have 
  your moments but let’s not 
  pretend they are frequent or 
  all that cool. C’mon, there are 
  millions like you out there.
  2 
  Heh. You are ice cold.
  Who’s that with the gaggle of 
  wanabee cool people areound 
  them? Heh, that would you 
  you!
  You probably have a little 
  band of followers or people 
  that laugh at your jokes.
  Someone’s even going to 
  name their ﬁrst daughter 
  after you.
  3 and over 
  Chilly, chill, chill. You are 
  without a doubt the coolest 
  person just about anyone 
  knows. Ice cold and popular. 
  Almost nothing makes you 
  bat an eyelid.
  And whenever there is cool 
  shit going down. You’re right 
  in the middle.
  Word.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  12
  smart
  All the things that are 
  covered by smart are things 
  that rely on your quick wits 
  and education. You did listen 
  in class?
  Things like:
  • looking up books
  • thinking about nonsense
  • looking clever
  • saying clever stuff
  • understanding instructions
  • speaking languages
  • not getting lost
  example levels
  0 
  There’s no nice way of saying 
  this. I’ll type it real slow so 
  you can understand, OK?
  You ... are ... as ... stupid ... as 
  ... a ... box ... of ... rocks.
  You missed the day at school 
  where they handed out the 
  brains. Either that, or they 
  put a softball in there instead.
  1 
  You get decent grades and 
  you’re even good at some 
  subjects, but let’s be honest, 
  you’re not a rocket scientist.
  You can ﬁgure stuff out 
  with some time and a bit of 
  help, so maybe you’re not a 
  complete embarrassment to 
  your parents and friends.
  2 
  A real smartie pants.
  Always quick with an 
  answer you can do sums in 
  your head and speak a few 
  languages, including Latin.
  People always ask you things 
  and you mostly know the 
  answers. You’re a mathlete.
  And who doesn’t know why 
  the sky is blue? Bwa-ha-ha.
  3 and over 
  Genius. No messing about. 
  You’re too clever for your 
  own good sometimes, but 
  with your vast intellect and 
  PhD it’s all probably part of a 
  gargantuan master plan.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  13
  tough
  All the things that are 
  covered by tough are things 
  that rely on your ﬁtness, 
  strength and so on.
  Things like:
  • ﬁghts
  • avoiding injury
  • going without food
  • breaking things
  • athletic activities
  • feats of agility
  • climbing trees
  example levels
  0 
  You are weak and sickly.
  People ask you if you are OK 
  even on a good day. You look 
  brittle and frail even when at 
  your best.
  You won’t be winning any 
  races anytime soon, unless 
  it’s the one to fall over ﬁrst.
  1 
  You are as healthy as the next 
  girl. You sometimes run and 
  you can dance a bit too.
  Doing anything more 
  energetic than your normal 
  daily routine is a push 
  though. Just sayin’.
  You won’t be last out of that 
  burning house, but you won’t 
  be ﬁrst either.
  2 
  Look at you Miss Healthy!
  You could be on the school 
  track team if you wanted. 
  And you probably go 
  running and swimming for 
  fun. You eat responsibly and 
  have a bright, healthy glow 
  about you.
  You’re probably going to 
  be ﬁrst out of any burning 
  houses around here.
  3 and over 
  A championship-calibre 
  athlete. You hold a few 
  records here and there, and in 
  different sports too.
  Ever heard of Korfball? 
  Thought not. Never mind, 
  you were the best player on a 
  championship team, and you 
  better believe it. Drop and 
  gimme 100? No sweat.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  14
  rich
  All the things that are 
  covered by rich rely on 
  money and status.
  Things like:
  • buying stuff
  • getting into posh eateries
  • owning a car
  • paying ﬁnes, posting bail
  • going to the movies
  • being treated with respect
  • going on holiday
  example levels
  0 
  Even being kind you are 
  ‘down on your luck.’ Being 
  truthful: you’re nearly always 
  ﬂat broke. Spark out of cash.
  If buying meals were up 
  to you everyone would be 
  eating from tins of beans.
  Always looking to borrow. 
  That’s you.
  1 
  You have an average amount 
  of money, whatever the hell 
  that means. I guess you have 
  the usual stuff that people 
  like you have.
  Not always the best and most 
  expensive brand, but you do 
  OK.
  At a push you might even 
  have some designer clothes.
  2 
  Look who’s paying?!
  You have a nice car, great 
  clothes, classy diamonds 
  and just about anything you 
  could want.
  Sometimes you even max 
  out the credit card and go 
  overseas on vacation.
  You are never short of respect 
  or wealth. Pretty much 24/7.
  3 and over 
  You are rich, rich, rich. Rich 
  beyond your wildest dreams.
  In fact you probably have 
  a hard time contemplating 
  anyone being really, really 
  poor. How can that be?
  Don’t they just trade in some 
  of their gold for food?
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  15
  so how ya gonna do it?
  When describing what you 
  are doing, you should think 
  about your ratings and keep 
  them in tune with each other.
  Describe your character, her 
  actions and possessions in a 
  way that ﬁts her ratings.
  So, if your character has Rich 
  0, you’re painting a picture 
  of someone with little or 
  no money. Not someone 
  swanning round with the 
  ﬁnest trappings of life.
  If you stay within the limit of 
  your ratings you should be 
  allowed to proceed.
  so what if i want to go 
  beyond the ratings?
  Good question, I’m glad you 
  asked it. Really.
  If you want to do something 
  above your rating then you 
  have to push yourself.
  To push yourself you give a 
  friend-chip to someone else.
  The person you give it to is 
  the person you hate for being 
  better than you at whatever 
  you are doing.
  So, if this is an action 
  described by ‘smart’ that you 
  are pushing, give a friend-
  chip to the person playing the 
  character you hate for being 
  smarter than you. Simple.
  If it was a ‘tough’ thing then 
  give it to the player whose 
  character is tougher than you.
  And so on.
  objects and situations
  Sometimes you will come 
  across things in the game 
  world that the GM describes.
  For example, a big wall that 
  you have to climb over. The 
  GM says you need Tough 2 to 
  get over it. You can get over 
  for free if you have Tough 
  2 or better. If you have less 
  than this then you must push.
  Note that even if you have 
  Tough 0, you only have to 
  push 1 friend-chip to get over.
  In a group activity you can 
  see that friend-chips might get 
  passed amongst the group if 
  everyone climbs the wall.
  That’s the way it works.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  16
  running the show
  Now if you’re a player that’s 
  all ﬁne and dandy. You 
  describe what your doing, 
  you sometimes  push chips 
  at other players and you get 
  to giggle at all your petty 
  hatreds. All good.
  But what about the GM?
  Well, help is at hand. And 
  here it is.
  other folks
  As the GM you describe the 
  world in conjunction with the 
  players and you keep things 
  moving along.
  You also get to role-play all 
  the incidental people that the 
  characters bump into.
  Such as...
  average boy
  All things at 1.
  tough boy
  Pretty 0 
  Tough 2 
  Others at 1
  pretty boy
  Smart 0 
  Pretty 2 
  Others at 1 
  Other inhabitants of these 
  imaginary worlds can easily 
  be extrapolated from that.
  being hurt
  In best friends it is possible for 
  your character to be hurt or 
  even killed. Shock, gasp!
  However, we deal with this 
  in a narrative way.
  If you are hit by a bus, then 
  the GM may ask for a Tough 
  2 or even Tough 3 challenge.
  If you make it, by either 
  having enough Tough or by 
  pushing then you can describe 
  the outcome, but you are 
  basically unimpeded.
  If you choose not to push then 
  you are hurt. How bad?
  Well, that’s up to the players 
  and the GM. How bad do 
  you want it to be? And 
  what are the possibilities? If 
  you don’t like the outcome 
  you can push for your own 
  resolution to matters.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  17
  advice on running 
  games
  Here I impart some words of 
  wisdom on running effective 
  games of best friends.
  Well, that’s a toughie. I 
  haven’t run it myself so 
  please take all of this with a 
  pinch of salt. Just warning ya.
  start at the start
  A good place to start is the 
  beginning. Think of the 
  opening and how you want 
  to set the tone. What is the 
  story about tonight? How do 
  you want to go about it?
  Give everyone a little time to 
  get settled, and then start.
  use scenes and keep 
  things moving
  I like to think of games in 
  terms of scenes. Y’know, like 
  in a movie or play.
  They have a deﬁnite start 
  and end. Try to do that in 
  the game. Keep the narrative 
  going and when it starts to 
  ﬂag draw the scene to a close 
  or put something in to trip 
  up the characters.
  tripping up the 
  characters
  Now what do I mean by this?
  OK, everything is going 
  along just swell. Then don’t 
  trip anybody up.
  If everyone is having a good 
  time then just let everything 
  take care of itself. Lay back 
  and enjoy the show.
  But if someone is running the 
  table and all the friend-chips 
  are being pushed their way? 
  Well, you might want to 
  throw them a little obstacle.
  Put things in that play on 
  their weaknesses and allow 
  other players to get back 
  into the game using their 
  strengths.
  And get that hatred ﬂying. 
  But not so much that no one 
  is having a bad time.
  That is un-good times 106.
  the end
  Oh, yeah. Have an end too. 
  Do not have one in mind 
  at the start of play, let the 
  players explore the scenario 
  and ﬁnd their own ending.
  But when you ﬁnd the end in 
  game then end it.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  18
  describing things
  A vital element of the 
  worlds you’ll play in are the 
  descriptions that the players 
  and GM give to the places 
  and people you meet.
  These must be described in 
  such a way as to give a vivid 
  sensation to the players and 
  GM listening to the narrative.
  Think about the ﬁve senses, 
  and which is strongest when 
  describing something.
  This advice is equally good 
  for players as it is for the GM.
  Try to use colourful and 
  strong images. Think before 
  you speak. Paint with words.
  It is one thing to see, 
  hear, smell, touch or taste 
  something in your own 
  mind. Try and vocalize 
  those sensations to the other 
  participants.
  people and places
  The scent of sweet maple 
  syrup ﬁlls your nostrils. 
  Burnt bacon and warming 
  bread on the grill.
  Chubby Checker is playing 
  on the jukebox and, beneath 
  your arm, the table is slick. 
  Its formica top is covered in 
  a thin ﬁlm of sterile beaded 
  water where the waitress has 
  just wiped it clean.
  The warm bench seat grips 
  your jeans and the vinyl 
  squeaks as you shift on it.
  “So? What yo havin’?”
  The waitress glares at you, 
  her eyes rimmed in pastel 
  blue make-up. Caked thick 
  and clumsily, with black 
  mascara lashes springing out 
  in all directions.
  ...
  Or do you just say:
  “OK. You’re all in a diner.”?
  The choice, as they say, is 
  yours.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  19
  some scenario ideas
  OK, I probably should give 
  you something to do with 
  the game other than create 
  characters and whatnot.
  Here are some scenario ideas 
  that I thought up.
  at the mall
  You could spend all day 
  at the mall. Shopping and 
  getting coffee and all the 
  crazy stuff that happens 
  there. Like getting mistakenly 
  arrested for shoplifting, or 
  harassed by shop-ﬁtters on 
  their lunch break. Stuck in  
  the elevator. Things like that.
  the prom
  It’s only the biggest night of 
  your life. And your friends 
  couldn’t possibly ruin it for 
  you, could they? Try and get 
  the best date and not have it 
  turn into a disaster. Is that so 
  hard? With friends like this... 
  crashed car
  You’re all on your way back 
  from out of town and the car 
  just plain sails off the road. 
  Stranded in the middle of 
  nowhere, what will you do 
  (to each other) to get home?
  secret stuff stolen
  There’s nothing worse than 
  getting your stuff stolen. But 
  what if you really need get it 
  back? Your friends will help 
  you for sure. They’ll have 
  to when they hear that the 
  slumber party video is one 
  of the things that has been 
  stolen. No one must see that.
  house party
  There’s a house party on. 
  Everyone who’s anyone 
  will be there. Who’s coolest, 
  who’s prettiest, who’s 
  toughest? You’ll ﬁnd out at 
  the party. Just hope that it 
  doesn’t all end in tears.
  sex in the city
  Who said this game was 
  just about young girls? 
  Older women have hatreds 
  and desires too. Just hope 
  that your friends don’t go 
  sleeping with your ex, again.
  the office
  Working 9 to 5 gives you 
  plenty of hated girlfriends. 
  Whether it’s a drunken 
  Christmas party or a team-
  building course in a cave, 
  there’s role-playing there!
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  20
  a list of character names
  In my extensive research (so, it was Google, OK?) I pulled 
  up the 30 most popular girl names in the last 100 years (or so 
  the website said, I guess it means in the US).
  So if you’re short of ideas then here they are:
  Amanda 
  Anna 
  Barbara 
  Betty 
  Carol 
  Deborah 
  Donna 
  Dorothy 
  Elizabeth 
  Helen 
  Jennifer 
  Jessica 
  Karen 
  Kathleen 
  Kimberly 
  Laura 
  Linda 
  Lisa 
  Margaret 
  Maria 
  Mary 
  Melissa 
  Michelle 
  Nancy 
  Patricia 
  Ruth 
  Sandra 
  Sarah 
  Sharon 
  Susan
  other names
  Well, while I was hitting the 
  web to save you the trouble 
  I ﬁgured I would throw out 
  some other names that might 
  be more interesting. Y’know? 
  So here’s my own list.
  Alisynn 
  Apple 
  Cathriona 
  Elaine 
  Emilia 
  Gwen 
  Irene 
  Lynn 
  Madison 
  Pauline 
  Sheryl 
  Sinéad 
  Susanne 
  Tanya 
  Tori 
  Zelda
  If you want more names than this then 
  either (a) buy a book on names, there 
  are a load of them out there, (b) use the 
  name of someone you know, or (c) hit 
  your favourite search engine, type in 
  ‘girls names’ and away you go.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  21
  i am... katie
  An example of character 
  creation in best friends.
  Kathleen decides that her 
  character is called Katie, so 
  she writes this on a bit of 
  card and puts it out in front 
  of herself.
  The group have decided to 
  help each other get characters 
  types they’ll want to play.
  So Kathleen tells the other 
  players, Steve and Dave, that 
  she wants a tough, cool girl.
  She then writes down her 
  hatreds for the others.
  Dave playing Gloria sits to 
  her right, so she has to give 
  Gloria 3 hatreds.
  She picks: cooler, smarter and 
  tougher.
  Steve playing Sarah is to her 
  left, so she has to give Sarah 
  the 2 remaining hatreds. 
  These are: prettier and richer.
  Having done that Kathleen 
  waits for the others to ﬁnish.
  In the ends the other 
  players have given Katie the 
  following ratings.
  pretty 
  0 
  cool 
  2 
  smart 
  0 
  tough 
  2 
  rich 
  1
  Kathleen now has a good 
  idea of her character and 
  writes down...
  i am...
  Katie
  and i...
  am a tough karate student
  stuff
  keys to someone else’s car, 
  leather jacket, sports clothes, 
  lockpick
  nonsense
  no boyfriend, failing French, 
  school sports champion
  ...and we’re ready to play.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  22
  example of play, or how it will probably play
  Well, since I haven’t had time to play-test this game I feel a 
  bit of a cheat for putting an ‘example of play’ in here.
  But, you know what? Forget I said that. This is an example 
  of play, honest. Straight from a play-test session. Uh-huh. 
  Just like all those other real examples in those other books.
  The players are Steve, Kathleen and Dave. The GM is Gregor.
  Steve is playing Sarah, a prom queen who is a bit ditzy. 
  Kathleen is playing Katie, a tough karate student. Dave is 
  playing Gloria, a sort of bookish, mousy ﬁgure.
  Katie has just crashed Sarah’s dad’s car...
  Gregor: Bang! How bad does Katie make it?
  Kathleen: Real bad. I’m looking at a 2. Katie can take it...
  Steve: I’ve got Zero for tough (Tough 0). Arse!
  Dave: I’m better by 1 but it’s not enough (Tough 1). Arghhh.
  Gregor: OK, you need a 2 to avoid being hurt bad in this 
  crash, do you (looks at Steve and Dave) want to push?
  Steve: It’s bad enough that Katie’s crashed my dad’s car. I’m 
  not going to give her the satisfaction of getting a friend-chip 
  out of me for it. I’ll take the injury. Do your worst!
  Dave: I had my seat belt on and manage to avoid injury. 
  I’m not going to hospital for this. (Pushes a friend-chip to 
  Kathleen. Gloria hates Katie since she is tougher than her.)
  Gregor: The car has careened across the road and struck a 
  ﬁre hydrant. Water sprays around the car, its horn blaring, 
  and there is a huge dent in the front passenger door. 
  Hanging out the window is a woozy and bleeding Sarah.
  Steve: It’s almost like you did that on purpose.
  Kathleen: (Adjusts her chips.) Heh, I’m your best friend!
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  23
  so, how’d this come about and what’s it like?
  There’s a website for indie roleplaying games called ‘the 
  Forge’ (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/) and one of the guys 
  that runs the site is called Ron Edwards. Anyway, Ron 
  said he was going to give out awards dubbed ‘Ronnies’ to 
  deserving games that were completed in a 24-hour window.
  Well, that’s a challenge! I ﬁgured I wouldn’t have anything 
  to write about. I looked at the words you had to base the 
  games on: any two of suburban, hatred, girlfriend and rats.
  Hmm, nothing brewing I’m afraid and then ... this idea.
  So, apologies for the lack of polish and play-testing on this 
  game but I only had one 24-hour stint.
  What’s it like? Who knows?
  I think it will be OK to play but I agree that there are likely 
  to be some gaping holes that didn’t occur to me when I was 
  doing this. I’ll be glad to get feedback on it. What works, 
  what doesn’t? What I’ve been lazy on and where I could 
  have gone further? Is it all just sizzle and no steak? Breaks?
  For me, the character creation thing is something that I 
  quite like. Heh, you create everyone else’s character in 
  collaboration, but you also mark yourself relative to other 
  characters too. Hmm, that’s different.
  I haven’t seen this before. Don’t get me wrong, someone may 
  well have done this already but it’s just not something I’ve 
  seen. Any thoughts on this way of creating characters would 
  be greatly appreciated. Is it good, or is it a false premise? 
  And has it been done before?
  Anyway, I plugged in 24 pages to InDesign for this, putting 
  in art as there was no way in high heaven I could have ﬁlled 
  24 pages with text. I just don’t write that fast. And I’m done.
  Gregor Hutton, Edinburgh, UK.
  PS. Yeah, there’s probably a bigger concept under the hood.
  
  best friends
  © 2005 gregor hutton
  ♥
  24
  ♥♥
  i am...
  ..........................................
  and i...
  hatreds
  I hate  ..................................  because she is PRETTIER than me
  I hate  ..................................... because she is COOLER than me
  I hate  ..................................  because she is SMARTER than me
  I hate  .................................  because she is TOUGHER than me
  I hate  ......................................  because she is RICHER than me
  stuff
  nonsense
  me
  ♥♥ ♥♥
  ♥♥ ♥♥♥♥
  pretty
  cool
  smart
  tough
  rich
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Best Friends/Best Friends Corebook.pdf