TEXT: Version 1.4b
  1
  
  2
  
  Contents
  1
  Player Section
  7
  1
  Character Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  7
  2
  Character Development
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  8
  2
  GM Section
  9
  1
  Character Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  9
  2
  Character Development
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  10
  3
  Action Resolving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  11
  4
  Combat actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  12
  5
  Creating the story
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  14
  6
  Setting and speciﬁc rulings
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  16
  6.1
  Races
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  16
  6.2
  Cybertech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  16
  6.3
  Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  16
  7
  Argument and frustration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  17
  8
  Acknowledgements & afterwords
  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  18
  A The Standard Fantasy Races
  19
  B Kalevala Magic
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  3
  
  4
  
  Argument DSS
  Copyright & Author info
  c⃝
  Copyright
  2002
  Rainer
  K.
  Koreasalo1
  (shades@surfnet.ﬁ). All rights reserved.
  Copies of all or portions of Argument DSS may
  be made for your own use and for distribution to
  others, provided that you do not charge any fee
  for such copies, whether distributed in print or
  electronically.
  You may create derivative works such as ad-
  ditional rules and game scenarios and supple-
  ments based on Argument DSS, provided that
  such derivative works are for your own use or for
  distribution without charge, or for publication in
  a magazine or other periodical.
  Every derivate work must include the follow-
  ing “About Argument” section in it’s entirety:
  About Argument DSS
  This document uses the Argument Diceless Sto-
  rytelling System by Rainer K. Koreasalo.
  The argument system is a free diceless role-
  playing system, created to be distributed free of
  charge on the internet.
  All material using the Argument DSS is to be
  distributed free of charge.
  The original,
  unaltered Argument DSS is
  available at the Argument DSS web site:
  http://people.cc.jyu.ﬁ/˜rakorea/argument/
  What is a Storytelling System?
  “A storytelling system” is just another name for
  a role-playing game system, used to emphasise
  the fact that role-playing is supposed to be about
  stories and having fun, not about tables, charts
  and experience points.
  1Except where a separate author is given, Copyright
  the respective author
  What is Diceless role-playing?
  Diceless role-playing is a role-playing genre of
  systems that don’t use any random number gen-
  erators to determine the end results of a par-
  ticular action. This means no ﬂipping the coin,
  rolling the dice or spinning the bottle to deter-
  mine i.e. how much damage a hit to the head
  with a beer bottle does.
  There is a lot of commercial work on this
  ﬁeld of RPGs worth your time and money. The
  excellent “Amber - Diceless Role-playing” from
  Phage Press is the pioneer and you might still get
  your hands on “Theatrix” from Backstage Press.
  Others include “Persona” by Tesarta Industries,
  Inc. and “Epiphany” by BTRC.
  You
  might
  also
  want
  to
  read
  the
  ”rec.games.frp.advocacy
  FAQ
  -
  part
  III”
  for some reﬂections on the subject. The nature
  of diceless role-playing is also described in this
  document.
  The Argument system
  The Argument system comes in two parts.
  Chapter 1 is for players and contains all the nec-
  essary rulings for character creation and devel-
  opment.
  From that on the chapters deal with
  resolving actions and conﬂicts and how to be
  the GM with Argument. There are no secrets
  in the GM sections — if a player wants to un-
  derstand how the system works he/she can read
  those chapters too.
  Argument is designed to be diceless — but
  if the GM wishes the character creation pro-
  cess could be randomised to some degree. Argu-
  ment is a storytelling system that is designed for
  generic environments; you easily can play both
  fantasy and sci-ﬁ with it.
  I use the industry
  standard abbreviations for the usual role-playing
  terms. PC is a “player character”, NPC is a “non
  player character” and the GM is of course “the
  game master.”
  5
  
  Appendix submissions
  The Argument DSS distribution is open to addi-
  tions. If you wish to have your derivative work
  included in the main distribution of Argument
  DSS as an appendix, contact the author.
  All writers who contribute an appendix will
  retain the copyright over the submitted material
  but all material included will be published un-
  der the same license for further derivation. All
  writers will be duely credited.
  About this distribution
  This document was typeset with LATEX, a free-
  ware typesetting program for all platforms.
  PDF versions were produced with the bundled
  pdfLATEX software.
  The version number is composed of two parts,
  the version number and the appendix letter. The
  version number 1.3B would translate as release
  1.3 of the core document and B as the latest
  appendix. When a new release of the core chap-
  ters is written — usually with some additions or
  spelling ﬁxes — the number increases. When a
  new appendix is added, the letter part changes.
  6
  
  Chapter 1
  Player Section
  1
  Character Creation
  Role-playing is based on the character.
  Your gaming experience is dependent on how
  happy you are with your character.
  No game
  master can make the story ﬂow right or have
  interesting enough things happen to you, when
  your character doesn’t feel right. With diceless
  role-playing we aim at greater depth of character.
  The ﬁrst thing you need to do when creating
  a character for the Argument system, is to come
  up with the character concept and talk about it
  with the game master. If the GM approves your
  choice of concept, try answering the following
  questions and then ﬁll in the details.
  • Name — Start with the name. It may diﬃ-
  cult if you’re not used to making up names,
  but stick with it.
  Give your character a
  name. You get a certain wholeness to the
  picture when you can place everything in a
  named context.
  Names deﬁne us all, so the name comes ﬁrst.
  Don’t give your character a comical name if
  the setting isn’t comic.
  • Occupation — What does this character
  do for a living?
  That’s the second thing
  people ask a normal person, so that should
  come next.
  This is usually the deﬁning part of character
  creation. In dice using games this is usually
  done by selecting the character class. Think
  about this choice for a moment, don’t just
  put down “an adventurer”.
  You could be anything; a botanist, car sales-
  man, or in a fantasy setting — a knight.
  Make sure the rest of the choices you make
  during this process reﬂect your choice of
  lifestyle.
  • Motivation — What does your character
  want? What is the main driving force in his
  life? What makes his clock tick?
  • Curriculum Vitae (CV) - What has your
  character done?
  If you don’t start playing a newborn, your
  character is bound to have a past.
  Come up with both good things and bad
  things that have happened. Be creative and
  don’t hold back - take enough time to put
  some mass into this part.
  For a modern genre game you could even
  write the actual CV for your character.
  Later, when you answer the questions be-
  low, come back to this and see if it needs
  additions or changes in light of what you
  put down below.
  • Love interests — Is your character mar-
  ried?
  If not, is the character in love? Or is the
  character perhaps living “la Vida Loca”?
  Maybe the character has homosexual ten-
  dencies or the character is a gay person.
  Don’t hold back with this part of description
  either, love — or the lack of it — is a big
  part of our lives.
  • Religious / Magical attitude — If the
  GM’s setting is a magical one, what does
  your character think about magic?
  Is the character perhaps a magic user? If
  not, does he fear those who practice the
  arts?
  If the setting is religious one, or the world
  contains any religions at all, is the character
  a member of such churches?
  7
  
  Is he just a member or a devotee? Does your
  character even believe in that stuﬀ anyway?
  • Good / Bad attitude (stuﬀ) — Do dogs
  bark at your character? Are birds singing
  when he walks in a forest, or do they try to
  hit the character with their faeces?
  Is the world a good or a bad place to live in?
  Are you happy? Do you make others happy
  too?
  • Anything else?
  — By now you should
  understand why and how to answer these
  questions and build the background for your
  character. The questions are here to guide
  you write your character beyond simply
  marking the colour of your eyes on the char-
  acter sheet.
  But don’t stop here, think about the ques-
  tions and when the GM tells you something
  more about the setting you are going to play
  in, come up with your characters opinions,
  manners, thoughts etc. about any particu-
  lar subject.
  The more you write down, the better.
  When you’re done answering these questions
  have another chat with the game master. The
  GM will tell you what your skills and attributes
  are. Don’t expect long lists of skills and powers
  if you didn’t write about them in the occupation,
  CV and Magic part of the character description.
  If you didn’t write when and where, how and
  why you learned something - you probably didn’t
  learn it. Elaborate and be creative. The GM will
  tune it down if he thinks your character will be
  too powerful.
  The Argument system data will look some-
  thing like this:
  John Doe is a human male. He has medium
  strength and good endurance.
  His percep-
  tion is good but his willpower is pathetic.
  Note that there are four attributes in the de-
  scription. A minimal CV skill description for the
  character concept could look something like this:
  • John is a mechanic of good abilities.
  • He’s a high-school graduate and an experi-
  enced driver.
  • John has no criminal record, and he is gen-
  erally a well-liked man.
  Also note that can be quite diﬃcult to distin-
  guish between attributes and skills. Depending
  of the setting you are going to play in, the GM
  might give you more attributes — fortune for ex-
  ample is one of the optional attributes. Your at-
  tributes deﬁne your character, if you have a par-
  ticularly high or low attribute, make that show
  on your character description.
  2
  Character Development
  Character development is the key to all drama.
  In most games this is done by experience points
  etc. All you see in those games are rising percent-
  ages, hit points and all sorts of other numerical
  information. That is not the kind of development
  that adds depth to your character.
  Argument uses an intuitive system of CV-
  based skill tracking for your character’s devel-
  opment. It’s best I demonstrate to explain:
  The aforementioned John Doe gets a job as a
  limousine driver for a very respectable company.
  He spends four months as a driver for the C.E.O.
  of that company. John gains four months expe-
  rience of operating limousine like motorcars. He
  also gains an insight in the company’s business
  habits at high levels, knows the names of the
  C.E.O’s family members and where they live.
  In short John’s skill list would now be some-
  thing like this:
  • Medium grade High School Graduate.
  • Good in Mechanics, Auto
  • Good in Drive, Auto
  • Expert in Drive, Large Limousine.
  Good knowledge in:
  • The Named Company C.E.O. personal mat-
  ters — wife, children, mistress, etc.
  • The Named Company Business Contacts.
  • The Named Company Holdings, Buildings
  etc.
  • Good reputation.
  • Medium monetary credit rating.
  All the experience is hierarchically noted as
  new speciﬁc skills and knowledge. This is all you
  need to know as a player. The GM will provide
  you with additional information.
  8
  
  Chapter 2
  GM Section
  1
  Character Creation
  Normally a character is a set of attributes de-
  scribed with cold numbers and a minimal de-
  scription. But characters aren’t numbers. Argu-
  ment uses adjectives to describe the character’s
  ability in the attributes and skills. The standard
  skill/attribute adjectives are:
  • Pathetic
  • Bad
  • Medium
  • Good
  • Excellent
  • Superior
  The attributes that Argument uses are
  • Strength
  • Endurance
  • Perception
  • Willpower
  A typical human being would be hence de-
  scribed in Argument mechanics as follows:
  “John Doe is a man of middle height and
  medium strength. His body is not unusually
  framed - no bulking muscles can be seen, but his
  posture tells of a man with good endurance
  who can run at least for some 15 minutes. He
  has a solemn face and lively eyes with good per-
  ception. John is well known in the neighbour-
  hood, as an easygoing man with not much re-
  straint when it comes to alcohol. It’s safe to say
  that John has pathetic willpower.”
  There are a bunch of other attributes that the
  GM can plug in the system:
  • Fortune
  • Appearance
  • Dexterity
  • Intelligence
  I’d advice to use the intelligence attribute with
  caution.
  Even good role-players tend to over-
  play that particular attribute. If the character is
  unusually smart the GM will have to take part
  in the role-playing of that character and if the
  character is a bit dim that can be problematic
  also. While playtesting the intelligence was ap-
  proximated from the character background and
  the willpower attribute with great results. Raw
  intelligence is rarely needed anyway, and Ar-
  gument characters should have enought back-
  ground to determine whether they have the keys
  to unlock a particular problem.
  Use your best judgement to tune the system
  to meet your needs.
  There are various meth-
  ods of setting the attribute adjectives. The pri-
  mary method for this is to have an extended
  talk with the player and discuss the character.
  The player’s character concept should give you a
  pretty good idea what his/her attributes are.
  Pathetic or excellent and superior level at-
  tribute adjectives always come with a reason for
  the rank. Make sure you add the reason for such
  a high or low-level adjective to the character
  description. Make the character with the high
  strength an Arnold-like muscle man and give the
  one with bad willpower alcoholism or some other
  similar disadvantage. Every large deviation from
  medium should have a reason.
  If your players don’t have a clear picture of
  their characters the attribute creation can be
  quite diﬃcult. In that case you can assign at-
  tribute adjectives by using an arbitrary random
  number generator to deviate the adjectives from
  “medium.” Here are a couple of examples:
  9
  
  Get a deck of ordinary playing cards. If you
  draw a black card the attribute goes down, with
  a red card the attribute goes up. To determine
  how much the attribute changes, draw an even
  number (GM discretion) of cards for each at-
  tribute.
  Example: You’re creating the John Doe char-
  acter. You’re determining his endurance, begin-
  ning with a medium rank. You draw six cards
  from the deck. There’s 4 red and 2 black, hence
  the attribute rises to reach good endurance. If
  you’d drawn 4 black and 2 red the attribute
  would have gone down to bad endurance.
  If more than 2/3 of the cards drawn are of one
  colour the attribute goes down 2 levels.
  Example: When assigning John’s willpower at-
  tribute you draw six cards, ﬁve blacks and one
  red.
  This means that John’s willpower goes
  down 2 levels — since 2/3 of 6 is 4 and 5 is
  more — from medium, leaving him with pathetic
  willpower. A draw is a draw is a draw. With
  equal amount of red and black the attribute is of
  medium level.
  The second option for attribute determination
  is by using a collectible card game deck. Pick a
  colour at random, say — the colour green. Then
  draw cards like in the ordinary playing card ex-
  ample, one for each character for each attribute.
  Now see if the artwork of those cards has a large
  quantity of that colour present or not. Use your
  judgement to give each card a + or - value to the
  attribute. Then calculate the total. The rule 2/3
  for +/-2 applies here too.
  Third option is to search the ﬂavour text of
  the drawn CCG cards for adjectives.
  Be sure
  to browse through the deck before you assign at-
  tributes so you can normalise the variation. This
  is also a good idea for the colour searching op-
  tion.
  Again, you can use any random number gen-
  erator you wish or can come up with. Try hang-
  ing around in town and determine the attributes
  with how beautiful the women are. When using
  this option, if you don’t want to have high-power
  campaign, stay out of Japan.
  When using the random attribute level sys-
  tem, I recommend that you let the players raise
  one attribute below excellent level by one level.
  They should also be able to lower attribute scores
  to gain a signiﬁcant amount of CV content. I also
  recommend that you draw the attribute scores
  and let the players deﬁne wich adjective goes to
  wich attribute.
  Bear in mind, that the randomised attribute
  adjective deviation systems given here are an ex-
  tension. Both the GM and Player should always
  create the character as a combined eﬀort. If you
  use the system described above, always remem-
  ber - the randomness stops here. The action re-
  solving in diceless storytelling does not rely on
  drawing cards from a deck. See section 3 for ac-
  tion resolving with the Argument system.
  2
  Character Development
  As described before in the Player section the
  Argument system uses a CV-based skill track-
  ing system. The characters’ capabilities are de-
  scribed with the standard adjectives given in sec-
  tion 1.
  The character background you and the player
  write down determines the character’s initial
  skills. Try to standardise and normalise the skill
  level adjectives for your players’ characters. Try
  to make them well matched to avoid in-party
  ﬁghting and bias accusations.
  Don’t let one
  player start with superior skills if the others have
  good skills at maximum.
  The character development system described
  in the player-chapter seems quite simple but
  isn’t.
  It is not easy to keep track of all the
  things a PC does. Since there are no skill lists
  to tell what actions to track the GM must make
  some tough decisions.
  I’d recommend that at
  ﬁrst you have the players keep detailed diaries of
  their characters’ actions. Tell them not to keep
  track of every shot ﬁred or every lock picked, but
  rather to put down successful missions and what
  kind of skills they had to use to succeed. The
  goal here is to keep track of the character’s abili-
  ties and his advancement, not to count the times
  he ﬁxed a broken tire.
  If the character often gets an argument — de-
  scribed in section 3 — or manages to turn it
  into a permanent argument and thus successfully
  performs actions over his normal capabilities in
  that ﬁeld, that should give grounds for perma-
  nent raise in his skill adjective level.
  An argument becomes permanent when the
  character gradually learns the skill.
  This usu-
  ally means that a new sub skill is added to the
  10
  
  character’s CV leaving the base skill level un-
  modiﬁed. The base skill level rises only by gain-
  ing enough (GM discretion) sub skills to cover
  the whole ﬁeld of that base skill.
  I don’t recommend using the same reasoning
  for attributes and skills. Attribute development
  should be a lot more diﬃcult — if not impossible
  — than skill development.
  3
  Action Resolving
  Action resolving is the most diﬃcult part of dice-
  less storytelling. In systems that use dice the ac-
  tion resolving is all about the die roll. The die
  determines if an action succeeds or not. I think
  this is wrong.
  In storytelling we aim at the story. It’s not re-
  ally all that much fun if the PCs fail at a critical
  moment just because the dice roll went badly.
  Sometimes that was just what you were heading
  at, but most of the times it just ends up killing a
  couple of characters and creating resentment in
  players. Of course you can always ignore the die
  roll, but if you’re going to do that — why roll it
  in the ﬁrst place?
  The main concept of diceless action resolving
  is in the old saying, “let the best man win.” It’s
  that simple. The character, PC or NPC, with
  the highest ability or skill always takes the day,
  unless there’s an advantage — an argument —
  on the weaker side that levels the playingﬁeld.
  In evenly matched situations the going gets
  tough.
  Who’s the better man/woman when
  they’re equally skilled? That’s when the argu-
  ments come in play. An argument is in a word
  — an advantage.
  The advantage can come from physical char-
  acteristic: in an evenly matched ﬁstﬁght one of
  the characters has an elevated position, or he is
  a lot bigger than his adversary is.
  The argument can come with an equipment
  or experience: in a manhunt the fugitive has a
  good hiding place and the service man searching
  for him is just a good seeker. The tie is broken,
  because the police wield an infrared camera that
  gives them a superior perception.
  A player can only get an argument by role-
  playing.
  If the character does something that
  gives the story just the right direction you were
  wishing for you should think giving him a posi-
  tive argument (special knowledge of the area for
  example) or if the character does something ex-
  tremely stupid (like they always do) give them a
  negative argument.
  A positive argument raises the appropriate
  skill or attribute for the task the argument is
  meant for and a negative lowers it.
  Don’t let
  your players know you’re giving them negative
  arguments if they’re not physical in nature. Mis-
  information as a negative argument is a most de-
  licious plot device.
  Example: John Doe is racing the limousine to
  get away from mercenaries that are trying to kill
  his boss, the C.E.O. of Named Company, Inc.
  John is an expert limousine driver, as men-
  tioned in the character development part. But,
  unfortunately the man driving for the bad guys
  is an expert van driver, hence John is unable to
  shake him.
  The chase continues into the commercial dis-
  trict of the Named City Metropolitan area. John
  has good knowledge base of the Named Com-
  pany holdings in this area. He makes a daring
  manoeuvre over three lanes and manages to cut
  into the Named Company parking hall where he
  gets on the second ﬂoor before the pursuers can
  follow. Meanwhile, the C.E.O. has used the car
  phone to call for security and the assailants are
  held at gunpoint in the ﬁrst ﬂoor.
  In the given example the argument for the
  driving skill was the knowledge of the area.
  Knowing the location of the parking garage was
  enough to boost John’s driving skill to superior.
  Note that the argument was used to raise the
  driving skill level in comparison to the adver-
  sary’s driving skill.
  If there is no direct or indirect opponent from
  whom to determine the skill level the PC’s skill
  is to be contested against, the GM must give the
  attempted action a diﬃculty rating. Such a situ-
  ation is called a non-contested action. Diﬃculty
  rating is simply the adjective level the character
  must reach with or without arguments to succeed
  in the action.
  You can give the players continuous arguments
  for particular purposes.
  Such arguments can
  i.e. come from using speciﬁc equipment, or hav-
  ing knowledge of timed events, such as the time
  of the supposed triad hit to the First Bank of
  Named City Metropolitan Area. Continuous ar-
  guments don’t count towards skill development
  if they are not made permanent. See section 2
  11
  
  for argument permanency.
  Arguments never give an advantage over nor-
  mal skill level.
  Had the driver for the assault
  team been a superior driver he would have been
  able to follow John’s manoeuvre into the garage.
  When an argument is used to boost or deterio-
  rate a skill or an attribute the result is called an
  argument rank. The resulting argument rank is
  always weaker than a normal no-argument rank
  of the result level. When deteriorating a skill the
  argument rank is always stronger than a normal
  no-argument rank of the result level.
  Some actions can’t have positive arguments.
  Such actions are said to be skill or attribute crit-
  ical. For example, actions that fall within the
  medical profession are skill critical in the worst-
  case scenario.
  Let’s assume the patient has suﬀered critical
  injury (injuries described in section 4) via gun-
  shot wound to the stomach.
  A critical injury requires excellent level skill in
  medical profession (surgery) to stabilise the pa-
  tient. The closest skill equivalent the PCs have is
  of a good ﬁeld medic level. The player characters
  make an argument that with their extensive ﬁrst
  aid kit they should be able to stop the bleeding,
  and they are right - the bandages help to stop
  the bleeding but the bullet has ruptured the in-
  testines and the patient dies of infection in less
  than an hour.
  Note that had the bullet hit the patient in the
  arm or a leg the bag would have provided suﬃ-
  cient equipment to stop the bleeding.
  The skill or attribute critical actions are a
  small minority of situations. Rules for when to
  call for skill critical actions cannot be given un-
  equivocally.
  It’s up to you, but here’s a good
  thumb rule: “Diﬃculty rating of excellent or su-
  perior in a non-contested action usually makes it
  a skill critical action.”
  If a player has no experience in the ﬁeld of
  action he’s trying to commit, that action is a
  considered unskilled. Unskilled actions are con-
  sidered skill critical pathetic level actions, un-
  less they are clearly attribute-based actions. At-
  tribute based unskilled attempts are considered
  as actions one level below the attribute adjective
  level and they’re also skill critical.
  Let your players know when you invoke the
  skill critical actions. This will serve as an eﬃ-
  cient mood creator ( see section 5.)
  4
  Combat actions
  Combat is an essential part of some role-playing
  settings and very few settings manage to be com-
  pletely combat free. Combat creates excitement
  and if well placed, phased and balanced, it can
  make your story deeper and more captivating.
  It is often believed that diceless role-playing
  can’t handle combat. This is of course, wrong.
  Diceless storytelling can handle combat as well
  as any dice using system. It just takes a bit more
  eﬀort.
  Combat is handled as a contest of skills. There
  is no real diﬀerence between resolving the driving
  example above and a ﬁstﬁght in an alley - the
  best skill wins.
  Combat arguments often come from knowing
  or getting to know the weaknesses of your oppo-
  nents. In combat, perception and combat aware-
  ness are the keys to survival. Always make com-
  bat dangerous and never leave a stupid action
  unpunished. Don’t be afraid to hurt the PC’s,
  but don’t overdo it. Be just and unbiased. Yes,
  I know - that’s a lot to ask.
  The most diﬃcult thing with diceless combat
  resolving is the need for detail.
  If the player
  doesn’t understand what is happening, and what
  threats are present, you can’t expect him/her to
  make all the right decisions you had in mind.
  You have to describe things thoroughly. Make
  a point of describing imminent death threats at
  least twice in you description.
  Consider this combat example:
  . . . You’re standing there on the bridge as you
  decided to leave behind and detain your pursuers
  so that your buddies can carry the wounded pro-
  fessor back to the van.
  Player: Yeah. I stand somewhere in the mid-
  dle of the bridge and wait for them.
  Ok. There are ﬁve men in black business suits,
  white shirts and black sunglasses, real men in
  black.
  They run from behind the corner and
  reach the bridge in ten or so seconds as your bud-
  dies have just reached the cover of the buildings.
  Then they just stop.
  Player: They stop?
  Yes. One of them raises his left hand and holds
  his middle ﬁnger against his ear. He seems to be
  talking to his sleeve.
  Player: He’s calling for back up.
  Could be, or he’s requesting conﬁrmation on
  12
  
  something. What are you doing?
  Player: I draw my pistol and start taking back-
  ward steps. I try to keep my eye on them.
  The man talking to his sleeve nods. His right
  hand goes under his left arm inside his jacket.
  He nods again. What are you doing?
  Player: He’s reaching for his gun, I go for cover
  of one the bridge poles and start shooting.
  Wait a minute, how fast do you make the move
  for cover? With a leap or with a few hasty steps?
  Player: I jump for cover, grouching behind the
  pole.
  And you plan to shoot, yes? OK. When you
  make a fast movement all the ﬁve men draw their
  large handguns. When you hit the ground be-
  hind the pole you hear the guns thunder shots
  at you. Five shots rain around you. Three of
  them hit the ground under you as you leap. Two
  ricochet out of the pole as you land. You’re not
  hit but shooting from this position is out of the
  question. What are you doing?
  Player: I meant, I try to squeeze a shot while
  I’m still in the air.
  You needed both of your hands near your torso
  to land somewhat safely. You’re not an expert
  acrobat, you see, and the leap you just pulled oﬀ
  was quite a feat. Oh, by the way. Hitting the
  asphalt you took some minimal injuries, so mark
  that down. What are you doing?
  Player: How good is the cover?
  You can’t see them in this position, but
  whether or not they can see you, you cannot say.
  What are you doing?
  Player:
  I don’t need to see them to know
  that they’re probably moving to a safer position
  instead of standing there in the middle of the
  bridge. Since I can’t see them, I won’t waste my
  time and life on trying to ﬁre some rounds just
  for the sound of it. I push up from the ground to
  get up on my feet and then continue the move-
  ment to jump over the railing.
  Good reasoning. When you get of the ground
  you hear three shots. You hear two of them clang
  against the railing as your leap takes oﬀ. You
  have to use a lot of strength, good thing you
  have more than enough with your excellent level.
  Your jump is just a bit oﬀ to the right and your
  legs hit the rail as you go over it.
  Player: You said three shots and two to the
  railing, what happened to the other shot?
  As you fall the 15 meters from the bridge you
  feel a wave of pain from your right leg. I guess
  that’s where the third shot landed and that’s
  why your leap was a bit oﬀ. You land with not
  quite so Olympic level dive to the water. That
  was one long drop so you go deep into the water.
  What are you doing? . . .
  Try to describe the events from the viewpoint
  of the character. If the character has presump-
  tions describe things that way. Take special care
  of inserting the character’s view on life to your
  description. Listen to the questions your players
  ask for such presumptions and play by them. Try
  to make your players speculate and reason aloud
  so you can get a better picture whether they are
  being stupid or not. Remember that one man’s
  wisdom is other man’s folly. Don’t punish sound
  reasoning, even if it’s wrong, but the lack of it.
  Learning to describe the environment to meet
  your players’ needs is something that will take
  a while to learn. In dice using systems the GM
  can always hide behind the die roll to provide
  the outcome, in diceless role-playing you will re-
  ally have to go on a limb to make the world
  alive and the threat real. Combat usually takes
  a signiﬁcant amount of time in dice using sys-
  tems. It should take at least the same amount of
  time diceless role-playing. Don’t speed things up
  when it comes to combat but slow them down.
  The players will rely on your description.
  Make them ask questions and don’t let them
  second-guess anything. When you think they are
  doing something really stupid, ask them for con-
  ﬁrmation by adding detail and presenting their
  action as a question to them. If they can’t take
  the hint, let them have it. It’s all about your
  skills as a manipulator. If you can learn to lead
  your players correctly, the combat will go nicely
  enough. Teach your players to search for combat
  arguments and use them.
  If you’re using the fortune attribute you can
  contest the combatants fortune when situation is
  otherwise a stalemate.
  Combat skills
  In combat you should know what you are doing.
  In battle skill is everything. Untrained combat-
  ant will bleed and inexperience can cost you your
  life.
  When asking for combat actions from players,
  pay attention to what kind of maneuvers they
  try to pull. Your normal John Doe just won’t be
  13
  
  able to make that gravity defying kung fu move
  and the professor of literature almost certainly
  won’t try blind the enemy with his ﬁngers. If
  the proposed action is way out of the characters
  league you should try to give a casual hint to
  the player to try something else. If they stick
  with their lunatic maneuver, give the enemy a
  positive argument against that attack and give
  the PC negative arguments for that action.
  On the other hand, if the proposed player ac-
  tion ﬁts the character and his skills perfectly you
  might encourage such action with a positive ar-
  gument. All of this is meant to provide realism
  and dramatic direction.
  You should also make a point of telling the
  players what kind of combat experience they
  have. The characters’ ﬁghting styles should be
  based on this background information.
  Size combat modiﬁer
  Size can be handled quite easily in argument
  combat. The size diﬀerence of the characters is
  given as a positive argument to the larger com-
  batant.
  Example: A human is ﬁghting a large dragon.
  The size diﬀerence is +5. The dragon has com-
  bat experience of excellent level. With his size
  modiﬁer the dragon has a diﬃculty rating of ar-
  gument superior +4.
  Damage levels
  Where there is battle, there is damage.
  Here
  are the injury adjective levels and medical skill
  adjective level needed to tend them:
  • Minimal — Pathetic
  • Minor — Bad
  • Moderate — Medium
  • Serious — Good
  • Critical — Excellent
  • Deadly — Superior
  Note that medical skill use in tending critical
  or deadly damage is almost certainly skill critical
  action. This ruling is only for modern settings.
  With a magic rich fantasy setting deﬁning what
  is skill critical what is not is quite diﬃcult.
  You can also apply the list above to damage
  done to machines etc. Use the appropriate skill
  to repair the damage.
  The time an injury takes to heal is relatively
  hard to determine - having no medical expertise,
  I won’t venture into that ﬁeld. If you need to
  know how long a particular injury would take
  to heal and don’t want to make an uneducated
  guess, give your doctor a call and ask. Be certain
  to oﬀer some kind of explanation for asking such
  things. “I’m writing a story” usually works well
  and isn’t too far from the truth. Remember to
  be respectfull.
  Taking Damage
  The ability to sustain damage varies greatly from
  character to character. There’s no easy answer
  on how you should handle damage with the Ar-
  gument system, other than that damage counts
  as negative arguments for all actions. The GM
  should decide what kind of damage is incapac-
  itating and how many negative argument levels
  to give for damage.
  Moderate damage from punch to the stomach
  could mean only two negative argument levels
  for a short while, but a moderate wound to the
  torso should be incapacitating.
  5
  Creating the story
  To succesfully tell a story, you need to know the
  story by heart. With a storytelling system you
  cannot play by asking the dice what your NPCs
  will do.
  You have to actually role-play all the NPCs
  through their motivations and goals.
  That is
  your greatest challenge, but ﬁrst let’s take a look
  on how to create a simple but entertaining sto-
  ryline for one stand-alone session.
  At ﬁrst it will help to think your gaming ses-
  sion as a movie or a TV-show. Start by determin-
  ing what kind of story you want to tell. What’s it
  going to be? Drama? Action? Romance? (Stay
  away from those, they always become too epic
  to ﬁt into a campaign — just kidding). When
  you’ve got the genre down, start thinking if the
  story would best be made into a TV-movie, big
  screen movie, TV series episode, miniseries etc.
  With both the style and genre selected you can
  start stretching and fattening the plot. Select the
  timeframe from this list and start planning:
  14
  
  • TV series episodes come in two standard
  formats - 30 minutes or 1 hour with com-
  mercial breakes. An hour long TV episode
  usually follows the intro — title — act 1 —
  commercial breake — act 2 — commercial
  breake — act 3 — end credits.
  With 30
  minutes shows there’s only one commercial
  breake.
  • TV-movie is usually 80 - 90 minutes long
  and contains an intro — title credits — var-
  ious number of acts and end credits.
  • Big-screen movie is no diﬀerent from a
  TV-movie when it comes to structure, but
  there’s just a lot more cinematic elements
  i.e. more money to be spent.
  While planning try to rhythm your session to
  ﬁt the selected timeframe.
  I’m not suggesting
  that you time events by the clock either in-game
  or oﬀ-game, but rather that you pace the events
  in sequence and divide the story in parts — acts.
  This will help you get your story structured
  and make the players feel comfortable with the
  gameplay. There is a reason why TV-shows and
  movies are made the way they are, and it’s not all
  just because of commercial breakes and box of-
  ﬁce. The whole modern storytelling culture relies
  on the same principles. If you want to break the
  principle, that’s ﬁne by me — but ﬁrst learn to
  do it by the book so that you know what you’re
  doing when you start breaking the tradition.
  A TV drama has a cast of central characters
  (the PCs) played by the actors and actresses (the
  players). There is also a theme and background
  to the series (campaign theme and setting — see
  section 6 ) and some supporting characters (the
  NPCs) that give the show a feeling of a surround-
  ing world and continuity.
  If you choose the framework of a TV drama
  series, each gaming session should be either one
  episode or at least one act. As explained above,
  each episode starts with an intro sequence i.e. a
  short dramatic sequence before the intro cred-
  its roll. The intro sequence is used to bring the
  viewers into the right mood and get the action
  going.
  After the intro and credits a TV episode usu-
  ally spends some time establishing the scene and
  introducing the key ﬁgures. The goals and hin-
  drances are also set up and explained here. Usu-
  ally this act is all talk and but little action. A
  very wise man once said: “The ass must be found
  before it can be kicked.”
  Then the suspension is gradually increasing
  throughout the episode. Finally, this leads to the
  episode climax or in some cases, the cliﬀhanger
  where either the greatest challenges are met, and
  leaps of faith performed or the viewer is left to
  wait for the next installment. All the build-up
  should either be resolved or left hanging to bring
  the viewers back. In my experience, game mas-
  ters often forget about the rhythm and the ﬂow
  of the story. For too many times I have witnessed
  an end of a gaming session with the story only
  half satisﬁed or the break long overdue. When
  you think it’s time roll the credits, bring up the
  music and fade to black.
  When the time passes things gradually change.
  Some characters prosper and others go down.
  Some characters get written oﬀ the show and
  others die to provide drama. As with a TV se-
  ries the campaign will eventually come to an end.
  When you see this happening, cancel the show.
  Don’t let your campaign become “the X-ﬁles
  from the 5th season onwards” of role-playing.
  In all storytelling getting the mood and feel of
  the story right proves to be very diﬃcult. There
  are a few things you can do to keep the suspen-
  sion of disbelief up.
  • Use music. Every movie and TV show has
  some music. Sometimes it’s so discreet that
  it generally goes unnoticed. That’s what I
  think should be your aim when selecting the
  background music for your gaming session.
  Make the music ﬁt the story not the other
  way around.
  • Use voiceovers.
  Instead of just plainly
  noting “You walk away from the Named
  Company building.
  No one is following
  you” say something like “Our heroes exit the
  building with no hurry. They take their time
  to cover the distance to their van.
  There
  are no followers at sight or any other indi-
  cation that their actions were noticed.” Be
  involved and excited.
  • Use cinematic elements. You can make
  the players enjoy the story even more if you
  use cut-scenes, intro sequences, credits and
  recaps. Imagine starting each session with a
  recap. Make your players take part on this,
  having them insert their lines, thoughts and
  speculations on why, where and by whom.
  15
  
  Of course, all the planning in the world can’t
  save you from the havoc the players let loose.
  They will probably do all the wrong things and
  make all the wrong decisions. Don’t make too
  detailed and time consuming plans since the risk
  of the players screwing things up is too great.
  Section 7 deals with player GM conﬂict.
  Try to ﬁnd balance between inspiration and
  planning. Try to keep large-scale plans but let
  the players ﬁnd their own way to the plot points
  you want to keep.
  That way you won’t seem
  like you’re railroading, even if you are. Practice
  makes perfect so play often and play hard, but
  play fair.
  6
  Setting and speciﬁc rulings
  Creating a working and interesting setting is a
  great challenge.
  There are a multitude of in-
  terdependent things you have to consider when
  building the world around your story. To succes-
  fully build a detailed world you’d have to be a
  geologist, ecologist, economist, historian. . . Since
  we can’t master all that, we must cheat and give
  our world a theme.
  The theme will deﬁne the way the PCs per-
  ceive the world around them and give you a way
  to escape the burden of creating all those minute
  details by giving them only the details that ﬁt
  the genre and theme of the setting. In a comedic
  setting, for example, the inner workings of the
  taxing system should be left out of the picture.
  You should “zoom out” — i.e. skip the details
  — as often as possible to maintain the storyﬂow.
  But don’t think that details aren’t important,
  they are.
  6.1
  Races
  The attribute system uses a racial oﬀset system
  for non human races. Racial oﬀset is an adjective
  level modiﬁer used to widen the adjective space.
  A typical racial oﬀset is that for strength, ie. a
  troll traditionally has a lot more brute force than
  a human. The notation used in this document
  for racial oﬀset is race : atribute : oﬀset :
  deviation:
  circumstances — Thus, “Troll :
  Strength : +2 : Normal” translates: trolls have
  normal adjective deviation for strength, all levels
  are considered two levels higher than the human
  medium.
  Oﬀset is a raw number giving the amount of
  levels with wich the attribute is modiﬁed when
  used for action resolution.
  Deviation tells how the attribute adjective
  level can diﬀer from the medium. The options
  include normal, negative only, positive only, min-
  imum or maximum deviation value. You could
  say “Troll: intelligence: 0: Negative only: all”
  making human medium level intelligence the
  maximum for trolls or “Elf : Perception : +2
  : min. +1: all” to give elves perception at least
  one level higher than the medium human.
  Racial oﬀsets can also be environment speciﬁc.
  I.e. some races have better dark vision but in
  daylight their vision does not distinguish itself
  from those humans.
  This information goes to
  the circumstance part of the racial descriptor.
  Refer to Appendix A for racial oﬀsets for the
  standard fantasy races and modify them to your
  needs or create a set of your own races.
  6.2
  Cybertech
  Hydraulic arms and infrared vision eyes? How
  should they be handled? Think of them as argu-
  ments.
  Enhancing cyberware should count as positive
  arguments to the skill or attribute. They grant
  positive argument adjective levels to the original
  skill or attribute levels. Damage to enhancing
  equipment will only reduce the skill or attribute
  to the original. Enhancing cyberware can also
  give negative argument levels.
  Equipment replacing organic parts should
  count as level granting arguments. They give the
  speciﬁc argument adjective level no matter what
  the original skill or attribute level was.
  Dam-
  age to such equipment will permanently lower
  the adjective level untill the equipment is re-
  paired.
  Replacing human ﬂesh with machine
  parts can count as negative arguments for other
  skills and attributes than what the cybertech was
  constructed for.
  6.3
  Magic
  Magic system always sucks — there’s no way
  around it. It’s a cooperative eﬀort between the
  GM and players to make it suck as little as possi-
  ble. I present here the basic steps of designing a
  magic system for Argument DSS — to review my
  ﬁrst argument magic system, refer to Appendix
  B.
  16
  
  To create a magic system for your Argument
  setting answer the following questions:
  • Power source - Where does the energy
  for the spells come from? Is the caster the
  power source? If not, then what / whom? If
  yes, what attribute, skill or personality as-
  pect makes it possible for her to cast spells?
  • Control - How does the caster control the
  ﬂow of energy?
  What kind of actions are
  needed to succesfully control the ﬂow? Does
  the energy ﬂow through the character? Is
  the character a conduit or a ﬂoodgate? If
  the energy does not traverse the caster then
  what point origin, route and destination
  does the energy follow?
  • Eﬀect - What does the controlled ﬂow of
  energy do when it strikes the target? What
  eﬀects various aspects of energy manipula-
  tion cause? Are there absolute limits to the
  eﬀects for each energy type?
  • Orientation - Is magic control or ﬂow ori-
  ented? Do you need to perform speciﬁc con-
  trol ritual for each eﬀect? Are there only
  named and numbered spells or can casters
  construct spells? Is the spell development a
  lengthy process or can the caster just “wing
  it?” Can you combine spell eﬀects to cre-
  ate something new? How ﬂexible the magic
  system is?
  • Diﬀerent forms of magic - Are there
  more than one way to cast spells? If yes,
  where does the diﬀerence occur?
  Is the
  power source diﬀerent, or maybe the con-
  trol method?
  Go through these steps for
  each diﬀerent form of magic.
  When you have the answers to the questions
  above, you can start designing the actual magic.
  It’s easier to create named and numbered spells -
  like in most magic systems, but you might want
  to venture into the uncontrolled free magic if
  your setting allows it.
  The magic system de-
  scribed in Appendix B is a freeform system with
  no speciﬁc spells.
  When designing the actual eﬀects of magic,
  keep in mind that every eﬀect should translate
  roughly to the attributes, skills and their argu-
  ments. Magic can give you skills to use or take
  them away from your adversaries.
  Magic can
  alter your attribute levels etc. To maintain bal-
  ance you should try even out the power cost and
  the power gain for each spell.
  It’s safe to say
  that you should keep the argument eﬃcency of
  a single spell under 100 percent.
  This is eas-
  ily achieved by making the power input actually
  count as negative adjective levels and the gained
  power as only argument adjective levels.
  Personally, I’d advice against named and num-
  bered spells. If magic is so commonplace and for-
  mal that spells can be listed, named, numbered,
  labeled and archived, then power is too easily ob-
  tained and controlled. This will also force all the
  villains and heroes to use the same stupid ﬁre-
  ball or magic missile. Every spell system that
  uses spell lists is, in my opinion, unbalanced and
  will inherently break the world since all such sys-
  tems are designed for players and PCs, not for
  whole worlds. Spells that don’t seem unbalanced
  when used in adventuring will totally screw up
  the peacefull city life of the normal commoner.
  7
  Argument and frustration
  The ﬁrst thing you must realise is that when
  there are no dice in play, whatever you do, some-
  one won’t like this or that thing and they will
  whine at you about it. And they will keep whin-
  ing about how badly you described things and
  had you done a better job they would have done
  things altogether diﬀerently.
  Usually they are
  partly right and partly wrong. They probably
  didn’t know all that you did about the situa-
  tion and maybe you just didn’t mention some-
  thing. But they shouldn’t know everything, and
  it’s their job to ask you questions and tell you
  their reasons for their actions. So the ﬁrst rule
  of keeping the GM sane goes like this: Players
  whine — don’t take it personally.
  Players don’t like to lose. And that’s the sec-
  ond thing you must learn to accept.
  But by
  accepting it I don’t mean that they shouldn’t
  lose. Sometimes the players must lose to keep
  the story ﬂowing right.
  So you must not pay
  heed to their whining and let them bully you
  into second guessing your choices.
  You can’t please everyone.
  The players will
  comment on the setting, the names, the story,
  the plot, and individual people. They will make
  fun of your dramatis personae and try to screw
  the whole storyline by doing something overtly
  stupid or they will think that they have ideas
  17
  
  worth installing into the campaign. They might,
  so hear them out, but don’t let them pressure
  you into accepting things into your world that
  just shouldn’t be there. Again — when you turn
  them down, they will whine.
  There is no limit what the players will do;
  they’ll threaten people, they’ll steal things —
  even important relics — for no purpose and
  whenever they can, they’ll provoke conﬂicts. In
  general they will do everything else, except the
  things you had planned. It’s your job to adapt,
  but only to a certain degree. If you’re trying to
  tell a story with little or no violence, when the
  players start kicking drunks on the streets, just
  walk out. If they can’t play the game you want
  them to play, they need another GM.
  However, you should not be too protective of
  the world, setting and story you’ve created. This
  will make you seem judgemental and partial and
  the game will suﬀer. Give your players free reign,
  but give them some guidelines.
  8
  Acknowledgements & after-
  words
  This is the ﬁrst public play test version of the
  argument system.
  The core components were
  constructed from ideas by many diﬀerent people:
  Mika Harju came up with the skill develop-
  ment model.
  Jaakko Virtanen introduced the idea of us-
  ing cards to create random attributes. He also
  provided insight throughout the writing process,
  asking all the right questions that still needed an-
  swering. He also played in all of the pre-release
  playtest campaigns.
  Martti Huusko provided ideas for the racial
  stats system and wrote the standard fantasy
  races appendix A.
  You wouldn’t be reading
  this without Martti’s help with proofreading and
  playtesting this release.
  Both Jaakko and Martti contributed to the
  Kalevala magic system described in Appendix B.
  The purpose of this document has been to
  write down a simple, but eﬃcient system for dice-
  less role-playing. There are numerous other free
  systems out there using largely the same idea-
  base as presented here.
  I’d like to give you one ﬁnal rule for diceless
  role-playing — It’s supposed to be fun.
  18
  
  Appendix A
  The Standard Fantasy Races
  by Martti Huusko
  Intro
  These stats introduce the size attribute. Since
  both the gaming system and most of the gaming
  settings are build around size +0 humans, those
  playing a character of a race of a diﬀerent size
  can face some diﬃculties.
  The use of size attribute in combat is given in
  the combat section.
  The stats for each fantasy race are given only
  where they diﬀer from the human stantard.
  Dragon
  Dragons are the absolute paradigms of creature.
  Wise and powerful they boast incredible pow-
  ers of magic and body. In the fantastic settings
  dragons usually posses a wide variety of diﬀerent
  powers from shapeshifting to a ﬁery breath. All
  in all, dragons are to feared and respected:
  • Strenght: +5 : min +3 : all
  • Willpower: +2 : normal : all
  • Endurance: +3 : normal : all
  • Perception: +2 : normal: nightvision
  • Size: +3: min +0 : all
  Dwarf
  In modern fantasy literature dwarves are por-
  trayed as short sturdy warrioirs that live un-
  der the ground and love working with metal and
  stone. They are cunning in the arts of war and
  metalwork and have a tendency for greed.
  • Strenght: +1 : min +0 : all
  • Endurance: +1 : min +0 : all
  • Perception: 0 : normal : nightvision
  • Willpower: 0 : normal : -2 when gold is
  involved
  Elf
  Elves can be seen from two perpectives:
  ei-
  ther they are a group of noble defenders of the
  woodlands against the encroachment of the other
  races or they can be seen as a bunch of wimps
  hiding in their forests and caring nothing of the
  troubles of others. Anyway, the elf oﬀers a pos-
  sibility of a ﬂexible race.
  • Perception: +1 : min +1 : possibly nightvi-
  sion
  • Endurance: -1 : normal : all
  Giant
  Giants are a race of large human-like beings with
  immense physical strenght yet usually lacking in
  intelligence.
  • Strenght: +3 : min +2: all
  • Size: +2 : positive only : all
  • Intelligence: 0 : negative only : all
  Gnome
  Gnomes are the fabled tinkerers in the modern
  fantasy. They are smart and wise, prone to ab-
  sent mindedness and melancholy moods but still
  plying their trade usually as a tradesman of some
  sort.
  19
  
  • Size: -2 : negative only : all
  • Willpower : +1 : normal : all
  • Strenght: -2 : normal : all
  Goblin
  Goblins resemble gnomes in that they are curi-
  ous and small. However, the modern fantasy has
  made the goblins beings of malice and hatred,
  quick with their wicked weapons and eager to
  use traps.
  • Size: -1 : normal : all
  • Strenght: -1: normal : all
  Half-Dwarf
  Half-dwarven folk are rare in the modern liter-
  ature of the genre. They are usually portrayed
  as strong as their dwarven heritage yet with the
  size of their human parents.
  • Half-dwarf: Strenght: +1: normal: all
  • Half-dwarf: Endurance: +1: normal: all
  Half-Elf
  Half-elves are the cross-breeds of the elves and
  humans. They are more robust than their elven
  parent and have the nightvision too. They are,
  however, usually social outcasts because of their
  polluted blood.
  • Perception: 0 :normal: nightvision
  Halﬂing
  Hobbits, the small folk or the hin. The halﬂings
  have many names in the genre. They are por-
  trayed as small and agile, usually with either
  a homely bent or that of innecessant desire for
  loot.
  • Size: -2 : max -1 : normal: all
  Half-Orc
  Half-Orcs are the children of orcs and humans.
  They are socially unacceptable in many worlds as
  their heritage betrays their violent siring. Half-
  Orcs are both large and stupid, but not as large
  and stupid as their Orc ancestry. They make an
  interesting adventurer.
  • Strenght: +1 : normal : all
  • Intelligence: -1 : normal : all
  Human
  Humans are usually the mainstay of all fantasy
  worlds.
  Depicted as adjustable and numerous
  they don’t have be to that way, some worlds
  have the humans in more disadvantaged posi-
  tions. They usually lack any stat modiﬁers.
  Humans have the followin argument stats:
  • Strenght: +0 : normal : all
  • Endurance: +0 : normal : all
  • Perception: +0 : normal : all
  • Willpower: +0 : normal : all
  Lizardman
  Lizardmen are amphibious beings of the swamp-
  lands. They posses strong limbs for swimming in
  the murky waters and their scaly hide ususlally
  grants them protection. They however require
  water to survive as their aqautic skin cracks and
  dries if not immersed in water.
  • Strenght : +1 : normal : all
  Orc
  Orcs are very common in the fantasy settings.
  They take the political and ecological niche of
  stupid enemies that come in large hordes. They
  are big and stupid and their primitive tribal so-
  ciety makes an easy target for the more civilized
  heroes. As with humans this can be diﬀerent.
  Orcs have a strong tribal society and a shamanis-
  tic belief system that altough from outside looks
  primitive in fact is not. Orcs make an excellent
  misunderstood race especially if they are not in-
  herently evil in the world.
  20
  
  • Strenght: +2: normal : all
  • Perception: -1 : max +1 : in twilight and
  darkness +2, nightvision
  • Intelligence: -1 : normal : all
  Troll
  Trolls are gloriﬁed orcs.
  Very large and im-
  mensely strong they also posses the ability to re-
  generate quickly. This makes them a pain to kill
  and doesn’t encourage large brains in the trolls.
  • Strenght: +2: normal: all
  • Endurance: +3: min. +2: regeneration
  • Perception: -1 :normal: all
  • Intelligence: 0: negative only: all
  • Size: +1 : min 1 : all
  21
  
  22
  
  Appendix B
  Kalevala Magic
  The Finnish national epic Kalevala is a very
  magic rich story of great heroes and sorcerers,
  gods and witches. This myth is written entirely
  in peculiar rhyme because it was sung by old men
  and women. Elias L¨onnrot collected these songs
  and compiled the epic.
  The following translated excerpt from the
  Finnish mythos shows the Kalevala magic at
  work:
  I ﬁnd my power in a chant.
  I win my magic from a song.
  But can I ﬁnd a woman’s warmth?
  And can I win a maiden’s love?
  This sad song sang V¨ain¨am¨oinen,
  old magician, ancient sage,
  as his sleigh ran over the marsh,
  sped along the lake.
  The wind blew his beard,
  the summer sun warmed him.
  Around the bend
  another sleigh raced,
  full speed down the trail
  the young man pressed.
  No time to stop,
  no time to turn aside.
  The horses swerved,
  the sleighs collided.
  Shaft wedged against shaft,
  harnesses entangled.
  The drivers nearly tumbled out.
  Astonished, they eyed each other,
  waited for words.
  The horses dripped sweat,
  pawed the ground.
  ”Young man!” said V¨ain¨am¨oinen.
  ”Who are you who drives so recklessly?”
  ”I am Joukahainen,” said the youth.
  ”Old man, who are you who got in my way?”
  ”I am V¨ainamoinen,” said the sage.
  ”Now move your sleigh and let me by,
  for youth must ever give way to age.”
  Said Joukahainen,
  ”That was in a time long past.
  Age must now make way for youth,
  for the young know more than the old!”
  ”Is this true?” scoﬀed V¨ain¨am¨oinen.
  ”Say what you know, then.
  Share this great knowledge!”
  Said Joukahainen,
  ”Yes, I know a thing or two.
  I know the ﬁre is on the hearth,
  and the smokehole near the ceiling.
  A plow in the south is pulled by horse,
  and in the north by reindeer.
  The pike feeds on salmon
  and lays its eggs when frost arrives.”
  ”An infant knows as much!” said V¨ain¨am¨oinen.
  ”What else can you oﬀer?”
  Said Joukahainen,
  ”Iron comes from ore,
  copper from the rock.
  Water is born from the mountains,
  ﬁre from the heavens.
  The titmouse was the ﬁrst of birds,
  the willow the ﬁrst of trees.”
  ”A toddler has such wisdom!
  23
  
  Can you furnish nothing better?”
  Said Joukahainen,
  ”Back in the beginning,
  the seas were dug out,
  and the mountains piled high.
  The pillars of the sky were erected,
  and the rainbow raised.
  The sun and moon were set on their paths,
  and the stars scattered in the sky.”
  ”Know yourself a fool,” said V¨ain¨am¨oinen.
  ”For I dug out the seas,
  and I piled high the mountains.
  I stood among the seven heroes
  who erected the pillars of the sky
  and raised the rainbow.
  And when that was done,
  we set the sun and moon on their paths
  and scattered the stars in the heavens.”
  Then declared Joukahainen,
  ”If my knowledge does not impress you,
  my sword may do better.
  Old man, draw your blade!”
  ”My sword stays where it is,” said V¨ain¨am¨oinen.
  ”I would not dirty it on you.”
  Cried Joukahainen,
  ”You won’t ﬁght?
  Then I’ll use great magic on you!
  I’ll chant you to a pig,
  change you to a swine.
  After that, I’ll strike you dead,
  throw you on a dunghill!”
  Then V¨ain¨am¨oinen grew angry.
  He began to chant.
  The earth shook,
  the sky rumbled.
  Water splashed from the lake,
  the stones cracked.
  V¨ain¨am¨oinen chanted
  and the sword of Joukahainen
  became lightning bolts across the sky.
  His crossbow turned to a rainbow over the lake,
  his arrows to hawks overhead.
  V¨ain¨am¨oinen chanted
  and the sleigh of Joukahainen
  became a log in the water.
  His horse turned to a boulder on the shore,
  his whip to a reed on the bank.
  V¨ain¨am¨oinen chanted
  and the coat of Joukahainen
  became a cloud in the sky.
  His hat turned to a water lily on the lake,
  his belt to a snake among the reeds.
  V¨ain¨am¨oinen chanted
  and Joukahainen sank in the marshy ground,
  up to his waist in the swallowing earth.
  Cried Joukahainen,
  ”Reverse your words,
  undo your spells!
  I will give you a hat full of silver,
  a helmet full of gold.”
  ”Keep your wealth,” said V¨ain¨am¨oinen.
  ”My coﬀers overﬂow.”
  He chanted again,
  and Joukahainen sank to his chest.
  ”Reverse your words,
  undo your spells!
  I will give you ﬁelds for plowing,
  meadows for pasture.”
  ”Keep your land.
  My farm stretches beyond sight.”
  He chanted again,
  and Joukahainen sank to his chin.
  ”Reverse your words,
  undo your spells!
  I will tell you of the fairest woman,
  the ﬁnest maiden.”
  V¨ain¨am¨oinen stopped his chant.
  Said Joukahainen,
  ”She is lovely Aila,
  maiden of Northland,
  daughter of age-old Louhi.
  She’s called a blossom sweet to smell,
  a fruit ripe to pluck.
  Her fame spreads far,
  the suitors gather.
  But no proposal has she smiled on,
  no suitor given the nod.”
  24
  
  Then V¨ain¨am¨oinen chanted again.
  He reversed his words,
  undid his spells.
  Joukahainen rose from the marshy ground,
  up from the swallowing earth.
  The cloud became again his coat.
  The water lily turned back to a hat,
  the snake to a belt.
  The log became again his sleigh.
  The boulder turned back to a horse,
  the reed to a whip.
  The lightning became again his sword.
  The rainbow turned back to a crossbow,
  the hawks to arrows.
  The young man wept in shame.
  The old man raced for home.
  Kalevala Deities and demigods
  Deities are always present in Kalevala. Almost
  every song is song to them, by them or because of
  them. Each deity in the Kalevala pantheon has
  a well deﬁned domain of power. The domains do
  overlap a bit — there are usually both male and
  female deities for each domain.
  Ukko is the Ancient Father who rules the
  highest heavens; He makes all things possible;
  He’s the sky god and leader of the Finnish pan-
  theon. Even today, the ﬁnnish word for thunder
  carries his name — ukonilma (Ukko’s weather)
  Akka or later Rauni is the Goddess of light-
  ning, grain and the rowan tree. She is the great
  maternal deity and the goddess of sexuality.
  Tapio if the god of forest and vegetation. He
  rules the Tapiola domain of forests.
  Tapio is
  also the god (drinking) water. Tapio has a very
  dark beard. Tapio is the caretaker of forests and
  game.
  Mielikki is the lady of prey, the lady of the
  Hunt. She is also Tapio’s wife — the queen of
  Tapiola. Mielikki is the protector of hunters, for-
  est wayfarers and campers. She is also the queen
  of forest haltija’s (faeries). Mielikki crafted the
  Otso(Bear), and thus she is the mistress of the
  beast.
  Hiisi is a forest spirit. Hiisi was originally a
  benevolant forest spirit but after the Christians
  inﬁltrated the land he became associated with
  evil sorcerers and necromancers.
  Louhi Witch-Queen of Pohjola, the Winter
  Hag/Crone; leader of the rival tribe of the south-
  ern Kalevala
  Tuoni Lord of the Underworld Tuonela, along
  with his wife, Tuonetar, and his daughters:
  Kalma is the spirit of death, Loviatar pro-
  vides the shamans a passageway to the trance,
  Kivutar is the daughter of pain and Vam-
  matar is the daughter of suﬀering and injury.
  Also called Kipu-tytt¨o (pain girl).
  Untamo God of sleep and of dreams. Bringer
  of rest .
  Ilmatar Goddess of creation and the mother
  of waters, daughter of the Sky.
  Ahti is the sovereign of waters.
  Vellamo is the wife of Ahti, powerful Goddess
  of the water.
  Pellervo is the lord of the ﬁelds, trees and
  plants.
  P¨aiv¨at¨ar is daughter of the Sun God.
  Terhi is the goddess of the Mists.
  Power source of Kalevala Magic
  The power for Kalevala spells — called songs, as
  seen in the excerpt above — comes from many
  sources. The main source for power is the song
  itself and all songs are of speciﬁc realms. These
  realms dictate what kind of eﬀect the song can
  have.
  Realms are gained by meeting the prequisites
  listed below. Each realm is considered a skill and
  given an adjective level. The adjective level can
  change substantially during the game and the
  initial value varies much like any skill in CV skill
  tracking system. See the Singing section below
  for details.
  Realms of power
  Here’s a list of the realms of song and their preq-
  uisites. The Finnish word for each realm is given
  to provide mysticism.
  Divine realms
  The Gods of Kalevala provide their worshippers
  with songs to praise them and ask them for fa-
  vors. Access to these realms also makes other
  realms available.
  25
  
  • Jumala — God (specify): This realm can
  only be gained by male characters.
  • Jumalatar — Goddess (specify): This realm
  can only be gained my female characters.
  Realms by Kin
  In the Kalevala family is power. Like in most
  primal myths, virginity is emphasized.
  • Neito — Maiden: This realm can only be
  gained by unmarried, sexually intact female
  characters or their bridegrooms. The bride-
  groom access to the realm is limited to
  the period between engament and marriage
  ceremony.
  This realm is lost to both fe-
  males and males when the marriage is con-
  sumated.
  Raped Neito realm users retain
  the power of the realm untill the next sun-
  rise.
  • ¨Aiti — Mother:
  For women only.
  This
  realm is gained on the ﬁrst full moon during
  pregnancy. This realm cannot be lost even if
  there is miscarriage or the child is lost after
  birth.
  • Is¨a — Father: Like the ¨Aiti domain, but for
  men.
  • Akka — Crone/Hag: For women only. This
  realm is gained when reaching menopause.
  When a woman gains this realm she loses
  access to the Neito realm. The name of this
  realm is the same as the maternal deity.
  • Ukko — Old man:
  For men only.
  This
  realm is gained when hair starts to turn
  gray. Men don’t lose the bridegroom access
  to the Neito realm even if they have gained
  this realm.
  • Veli — Brother:
  For men only.
  This
  realm is gained by forming an ritual blood-
  bond. Naturally, male characters that be-
  come brothers also gain this realm. Physi-
  cal brotherhood realm can never be lost, but
  if the ritual brotherhood is lost by death of
  the other or betrayal of trust, then the realm
  access is also lost.
  • Sisko — Sister: Like the Veli realm, but for
  women.
  Elemental realms
  Elemental realms are free for all, but follow-
  ers of certain deities have an automatic +1 ad-
  jective level argument when singing from these
  realms. The elemental realms and correspond-
  ing the deities are given below.
  • Maa — Earth: Tapio, Mielikki, Ukko, Il-
  matar
  • Ilma — Air: Ukko, Ilmatar
  • Tuli — Fire: Ukko, Tapio, Mielikki
  • Vesi — Water: Ilmatar, Ahti
  • El¨am¨a — Life: Ukko, Akka, Ilmatar, Tuoni
  • Valo — Light: Ukko, Ilmatar, P¨aiv¨at¨ar
  • Pimeys — Darkness: Tuoni, Akka, Ukko,
  Untamo
  Ritual realms
  Ritual realms are open to everyone but the sym-
  bol of the realm must be present while singing.
  • Malja — Chalice
  • Veitsi — Knife
  • Veri — Blood
  • Ahjo — Forge
  Realms of Divine Domains
  Gods grant speciﬁc controll over their favored
  terrain to their servants. The domains and the
  granting deities are listed below.
  • Aava — the wide open sea: Ahti, Ukko
  • J¨arvi, suo — Lake, swamp:
  Ahti, Terhi,
  Tapio
  • Mets¨a — Forest: Tapio, Mielikki
  • Puu — Tree, Wood: Tapio, Mielikki
  • Sumu — Mist: Mielikki, Terhi, Tapio
  26
  
  Protector Spirit Realms
  Animal protector realms are granted if the char-
  acter has an aspect of the protector beast. Usu-
  ally this means a high attribute adjective level.
  The following list gives the essence attribute for
  each protector spirit.
  • Otso — Bear, Strenght
  • Kissa — Cat, Perception
  • Hukka — Wolf, Endurance
  • Kettu — Fox, Willpower
  • Joutsen — Swan, Appearance
  Using the realms
  Each realm is a song. A character, who gains
  an access to a realm of song has become skilled
  in that song. In theory all songs are as power-
  full, but there are certain exceptions and special
  cases. Every song is more powerfull when sang
  for an eﬀect inside that song’s realm — Mother
  song would be especially powerfull when used to
  protect one’s own child. GM should to give pos-
  itive argument levels for such a song use.
  It’s not eﬃcient to start naiming the eﬀects for
  each realm listed above. You should be able to
  ﬁgure out the concept of each realm and thus be
  able to make decisions what’s acceptable during
  gameplay.
  Singing and songs
  In Kalevala everyone can sing. Every character
  has access to at least the El¨am¨a realm and thus
  everyone can sing spells.
  Using this magic system with the Argument
  DSS you need to determine the realms each char-
  acter has and their skill level in each of the realm
  songs. Skill level determination can be done from
  attributes or from general background.
  Example:
  You’re creating Vieno, a young
  woman of the Norther Kalevala tribe. She’s an
  unmarried virgin woman of 17 years. This grants
  her access to the Maiden realm.
  Her appear-
  ance attribute is excellent, so her skill level in
  the Maiden realm is also excellent.
  Singing uses up song levels from the realm
  songs. To sing a song a character sacriﬁces one
  or more adjective levels from one or more realm
  songs. This is only a temporal powerdrain, the
  levels return once per day (morning/evening —
  GM discretion).
  The sacriﬁced power ﬂows to the song, add
  all the levels together. Every level is worth the
  same amount — Good + Pathetic = Excellent.
  The resulting adjective level is the power adjec-
  tive level of the spell.
  The power adjective level and the realms used
  to sing the song dictate the eﬀect of the spell.
  Songs that sound from elemental realms or di-
  vine domains can cause damage. Use the damage
  severity system in GM section 4.
  Example:
  Louhi, the demigoddess witch
  from souther Kalevala is raiding the lands of
  the northern Kalevala tribe. She’s s got rather
  formidable powers. Let’s assume that the GM is
  making Louhi sing a song. Louhi sings a chant
  to mentally overpower a PC — let’s make her
  the forementioned Vieno, a Songmaster for the
  patron deity of the Kalevala Patheon, Ukko.
  Louhi’s base willpower is excellent, easily
  matched by Vieno’s Superior level willpower.
  Louhi summons a hailstorm by singing from the
  both the Air and Water elemental domains. She
  sacriﬁces one level of each realm song.
  Since
  Louhi is the controller of the summoned storm,
  she can use it as an argument for the test of wills.
  Louhi’s willpower is now considered an argu-
  mented rank one level higher than superior —
  she used two adjective levels to gain two argu-
  ment levels — let’s mark that down as “argu-
  mented Superior (+1)”. If the Songmaster does
  not defend herself, she’s in trouble.
  Louhi’s
  song
  brings
  down
  the
  hailstorm.
  When it comes to chants, elementals are not
  her strongest ﬁeld — but being away from her
  stronghold and battle worn, she must use the
  songs she has left.
  Vieno’s deity is the divine
  controller of the weather, thus Vieno could sing
  a song either from the Jumala (Ukko) Realm or
  the Air elemental realm anytime and easily twist
  the storm out of Louhi’s grasp.
  Vieno refrains from such an action, wishing
  to use her deity’s song for the ﬁnal blow.
  In-
  stead, she uses the Neito song realm to make her
  beauty create envy in the ugly witch. She sings
  the song and sacriﬁces two adjective levels of the
  Neito song to bring about the forementioned ef-
  fect, thus eliminating the argument and levelling
  27
  
  the playing ﬁeld.
  Louhi is brought down to little choise. She has
  little more than her El¨am¨a song left to sing and
  she’s not prepared to sing it yet.
  She doesn’t
  have access to the Maiden song, since not 13
  summers had passed in her lifesong when she’s
  was bedded. She’s a singer of the Ritual realms
  but those songs have already been song.
  She
  does, however, have one song level of both wa-
  ter and darkness realm songs and she decides
  to use them to bring about black mist from the
  bog.
  Having depleted her magic she hopes to
  get away under the cover of the black mist. It’s
  up to Vieno now to ﬁnd the witch in the misty
  darkness.
  Vieno wants to make sure Louhi stays out of
  her lands so she calls on the power of Ukko.
  Her song sends shivers down the backbones of
  Louhi’s henchmen as Vieno sacriﬁces all four of
  her Jumala (Ukko) divine realm song levels to
  cast lightning upon them and their mistress.
  Four levels of the Songmaster’s song of the
  deity is worth a superior power adjective level.
  Lightning can surely be considered an attack
  song — superior level attack causes deadly dam-
  age. Vieno’s attack is an area eﬀect so she gets
  to distribute the damage anyway she likes. She
  decides to give Louhi her trouble’s worth and
  assigns serious injuries to the ﬂeeing witch. She
  them distributes the rest of the damage among
  Louhi’s henchmen, causing minor injuries to all
  of them.
  Lightning strikes down from the sky and
  through the pathetic black cloud Louhi conjured.
  It strikes the witch and burns her right eye burst-
  ing it out it’s socket. The lightning traverses the
  witch and spreds throught the ground to burn
  Louhi’s followers. The men scream as the elec-
  tricity heats up their swords and burns the skin
  of their palms. Vieno let’s the wicked witch re-
  treat — there’s no need for another evil woman
  in the universe.
  Curses and other songs of ill fortune
  One prevalent use of magic in the Kalevala are
  the curses.
  Curses are more powerfull than
  songs and are often sung by desparate charac-
  ters. Curses harm both the target and the singer.
  Characters who sing a curse are often taken mad
  or driven from their families, even suicide is not
  uncommon.
  If the tolls of singing a curse are horrid, so are
  the eﬀects. When singing a curse — “a Kirous”
  — the character permanently sacriﬁces levels of
  song realm(s). Each level counts as two power
  adjective levels.
  I.e.
  if the character perma-
  nently sacriﬁces two levels of the Neito realm the
  curse has four power adjective levels.
  All curses can be used to cause damage, no
  matter what realms where used to wrought
  them. Furthermore, the damage can be assigned
  either as physical damage or targeted towards
  speciﬁc attribute. It would not be uncommon for
  a raped woman to sacriﬁce her lingering Neito
  realm levels to bring vengeance upon her as-
  sailant.
  Cursing is an evil act. God’s will not toler-
  ate their realms being sacriﬁced as curses. Any-
  one using Divine or Divine Domain realms as
  the power base for a curse will soon ﬁnd them-
  selves facing cantankerous deities. God’s slash
  back with equal power that the curse delivered.
  They tend to target willpower and place an order
  of suicide or cause madness.
  Those venturing to curse from the Kin realms
  will ﬁnd that the matron deity Akka often dis-
  approves this kind of actions, not including the
  forementioned Neito realm sacriﬁce after rape.
  Those cursing with the Kin realm shall have their
  children eaten by a bear, brother’s lung pierced
  by a buck antler and their sisters will drown in
  lakes, drawn under by the malevolent water pixie
  N¨akki.
  Cursing from the elemental realms could be
  met with the elements of the sacriﬁced realms
  continuously hindering the curse singers life.
  The rain will allways pour, the wind will al-
  ways blow, the forest will not grant easy passage.
  There’s just no realm the caster can curse safely.
  When a realm is drained with curse, it’s lost.
  Some realms can be gained anew, like some
  realms of kin.
  A very evil woman could bear
  a child to gain access to the ¨Aiti realm, just to
  sacriﬁce her newborn to curse her enemies. The
  realm could be gained again by getting pregnant
  with a second child. . . Such use use of the realm
  should anger all the deities since the ¨Aiti realm
  is considered the most sacred realm of them all.
  After all, Lemmink¨ainen’s mother brought her
  son back to life from the Tuonela river.
  28
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Argument/Argument Corebook.pdf