TEXT: Penny Dreadfuls 
  Setup 
  You will need a group of two or more people to play this 
  simple role-playing game about mysteries and suspense.  
  Choose one person to be the Author. She will narrate 
  most aspects of the game and make decisions about 
  rules. To do this, she’ll read the “Author’s Toolkit” in 
  addition to this page. Everyone else is an Investigator 
  and only needs to read this page. You’ll also need coins 
  to resolve checks and paper to keep track of character 
  information. 
  Making an Investigator 
  The Author will present some details about the Locale 
  and Mystery, giving some basic information about the 
  story so that characters can be made. Each Investigator 
  chooses a name and writes a sentence describing who he 
  is and what he does. Anyone can be an investigator; it is 
  not a title. Teens exploring a haunted house, a family of 
  four moving into a strange new neighborhood, and 
  coworkers suspicious of their employers’ motives are all 
  good examples of investigative groups. 
  Next, assign 9 points to the following three Traits and 
  write them on your sheet. Each trait must have a 
  minimum of 1 and a maximum of 5. Mind represents 
  intelligence, problem solving, and learned skills. Body 
  represents strength, speed, constitution, and 
  coordination. Heart represents social aptitude, empathy, 
  charisma, and will. 
  Equipment and Weapons 
  Consider what your investigator would be carrying. With 
  the Author’s approval, write these items on your sheet. 
  Items do not affect your stats but they may influence 
  what actions are possible and at what level of difficulty. 
  You cannot shoot someone without a gun and it is easier 
  to kill something with a hatchet than your bare hands. 
  Finally, draw three boxes on your sheet to represent the 
  stress you can take. 
  Playing the Game 
  The Author will begin the game by describing where the 
  Investigators are and what is going on. The Investigators 
  describe how they look for clues, talk to locals, and act 
  according to character. If an Investigator tries something 
  where failure would be interesting and could cause 
  stress, a check is made. The Investigator describes his 
  action and the Author chooses a Trait that matches the 
  action and sets a difficulty. The Investigator tosses a 
  number of coins equal to his Trait. If the number of 
  heads meets or exceeds the difficulty then the action 
  succeeded without trouble. If not, the action succeeds 
  with difficulty and the character marks a stress box. 
  If an action would not have the potential to stress the 
  acting character then the Author simply decides if the 
  action is possible. If it is, the Investigator describes what 
  he does. The Author may require compromises to be 
  made about the outcome if it does not seem easily 
  accomplished or realistic. 
  Stressed, Spooked, and Snapped 
  When marking stress, put a [/] in an empty box. If there 
  is not an empty box, turn a [/] into an [X]. If there is still 
  not an available box, the character Snaps and is no 
  longer a protagonist. Talk to the Author to find out if 
  you will play a supporting or opposing role towards the 
  remaining Investigators. Snapped characters always toss 
  3 coins regardless of their original traits and do not track 
  stress anymore. 
  If an Investigator gets time to catch his breath, erase all 
  [/] boxes but keep the [X] boxes. Each [X] means the 
  Investigator is Spooked and gets to toss an extra coin for 
  each [X] during every check. 
  Opposed Checks 
  If Investigators oppose each other, the aggressor or 
  aggressors mark stress and then each Investigator makes 
  a Trait check matching his actions. The Traits need not 
  be the same. The character with the highest number of 
  heads on the result determines the outcome with the 
  Author’s approval. The outcome may include stress for 
  the loser. On a tie, the Author dictates a result that helps 
  or hurts both parties equally. Again, this may be stress. 
  Continued Stories 
  If continuing a story using the same characters for a new 
  mystery or plot arc, completely clear all stress boxes. 
  Snapped characters recover. Each Investigator may 
  move a single point from one Trait to another. 
  Investigators do not become mechanically stronger but 
  they may be savvier, better equipped, and generally 
  more capable of dealing with the new mystery. 
  
  Author’s Toolkit 
  Creating a Story 
  As the Author, you get to determine what kind of story is 
  going to be told. While you have the most control over 
  the story, remember that the Investigators are the 
  primary focus and that they have free will. Create a story 
  that your Investigators want to play. When starting to 
  create your story, you may ask your Investigators for 
  input as to when, where, and what they want the story to 
  be. 
  Penny Dreadfuls is designed to tell stories about 
  mysteries, suspense, and dread. As the Author, you have 
  plenty of flexibility with how these elements fit into 
  your story. Death does not always need to be the threat – 
  sanity, money, and friendships are other stakes that your 
  Investigators can be playing for. The tone does not even 
  need to be true horror: a wacky adventure searching 
  through an allegedly haunted house for a masked fraud 
  can be just as entertaining as investigating a serial killer 
  or a monster. 
  The Locale 
  Consider where you want your story to take place. This 
  is not just a physical location. The time period could be 
  modern, Victorian, futuristic, or anything else. It helps if 
  the world works similarly to our own so that the 
  Investigators intuitively know what they can do. 
  Focus in on exactly where the story is taking place. A 
  dusty old manor, an abandoned coal mine, or a remote 
  village are all good locations to set a story. Remember 
  that not every suspenseful story requires the characters 
  to be alone. As the Author, you have the ability to voice 
  any character that is not one of your Investigators. 
  Having these supporting characters or extras also gives 
  your Investigators more reason to use their social skills 
  and to talk in-character. 
  The Mystery 
  A good, suspenseful question that requires skilled 
  Investigators is what ties all Penny Dreadfuls together. 
  Mysteries are what give the Investigators common 
  purpose to drive the story forward. A mystery could be 
  supernatural or mundane; sometimes, it may be fun to 
  hint that it is one and then reveal it to be the other. 
  A mystery could be an antagonistic character or monster 
  of your creation. Alternately, stopping an impending 
  threat that has no master or will of its own could provide 
  a worthy challenge for the Investigators. A grim 
  situation due to mysteriously faulty equipment, 
  inexplicably strange weather, or weird supernatural 
  phenomena is a good way of providing suspense without 
  having a character opposing the Investigators. 
  The mystery starts with hints and is eventually revealed 
  by the actions of the Investigators. 
  Running the Game 
  The Author has more responsibility for the game than 
  any of the Investigators. Along with the requirement of 
  describing how the environment and supporting 
  characters react to the actions of the Investigators, it is 
  also your duty to make the game entertaining for all of 
  your players. Try to manage the narration so that no 
  character steals the spotlight too often or for too long. If 
  one Investigator has been silent for awhile, have 
  something happen close to him and ask him how he 
  reacts. The story is about all of the Investigators equally. 
  Asking for Checks 
  Not every Investigator action requires a check. Only call 
  for one if the action is difficult, dramatic, and could 
  cause stress to the Investigator. If you do call for a check 
  then you’ll need to set a difficulty. In general, set the 
  difficulty at 1 for most actions, 2 for especially hard 
  actions, and 3 for actions that would be extremely 
  difficult, even for an expert. Higher numbers are nearly 
  impossible for Investigators to accomplish. 
  Handling Snapped Investigators 
  When an Investigator snaps, he becomes your pawn. He 
  no longer has the complete free will of the other 
  Investigators since he is now a special kind of 
  supporting character. When you get the opportunity, take 
  the player aside and discuss his new role in the story. 
  You may make him a blatant antagonist, a subtle 
  saboteur, a whimsical burden, or an unreliable sidekick. 
  Give him something fun to do that does not take him out 
  of the story entirely but that also moves the focus to the 
  unsnapped Investigators. 
  Snapped Investigators should be able to continue having 
  fun but should not derail the story. Keep them engaged 
  but do not let them override the importance of the 
  remaining unsnapped Investigators.  
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Top Secret Games Two Page Tabletops/Penny Dreadfuls.pdf