JUSTICE LEAGUE
WORLD IN CRISIS
S Y N O P S I S:
World in Crisis is a co-operative RPG set in the DC Universe. In it, players will portray members of the Justice League, and will attempt to stop disasters, solve mysteries, and fight villains thrown at them by the Game Master. While it does include a very simple dice mechanic (described in the Gameplay section), that is meant primarily as a writing prompt for the players, hence me putting it in Advanced instead of Tabletop (though I will move it there if the mods deem it necessary). As this is more of an experimental format, this game is not meant to continue perpetually, but will end after one “Season” once the larger Crisis is concluded.
G A M E P L A Y:
At the start of the game, the GM will generate a Crisis, a large world-spanning threat perpetrated by a Mastermind villain. The exact nature of this Crisis and who is behind it is unknown to the heroes, but will be uncovered as they resolve Events.
Twice per week, the GM will roll on a table to generate a new Event that the players can resolve. These can be Disasters that endanger the lives of civilians, Mysteries that require keen eyes and sharp wits, or Villains that attack the heroes directly. The exact details of the Event and how the players resolve them shouldn’t be too different from any standard play-by-post RPG, though there are a couple of mechanics that make the game unique. Each event has three factors that the players must account for: the Location, the Target Number, and the Timer.
The Location is the area in which the Event is taking place: a character in Gotham City cannot suddenly show up to help with an Event happening in Tokyo, for instance. The Target Number is the amount of Progress the heroes need to make in order to resolve the Event-- think of it like the Event’s “Hit Points.” The Timer is how long the heroes have to resolve the Event. The Timer is set at the start of an Event, and is reduced by 1 every time an attempt is made to resolve the Event, or if a full day passes with no heroes attempting to resolve the Event. If an Event is resolved, good things happen. If an Event Timer reaches 0 without being resolved, bad things happen.
Players are allowed 1 post per day, with a minimum of 3 complete paragraphs, recommended no more than 10. In that post, they can do the following:
Make Progress in an Event: Before the player begins to write the post, they will determine how much Effort their character is using, then roll a die to make Progress towards resolving the Event. The die roll signifies how well your character is doing at resolving the Event, and should be reflected in how the player writes the post.
Minimal/Struggling Effort: 1d4
Standard Effort: 1d6
Empowered Effort: 1d12, can only use again after spending one post with Minimal/Struggling Effort
Maximum Effort: 1d20, cannot use again without a Down Time post
For each additional Hero at an Event, add +1 to the die roll.
Extra Effort, Stress, and Catastrophe:
If a player is dissatisfied with the result of their die roll for Progress, they can choose to put in Extra Effort and roll an additional 1d6. If they do this, however, their Stress Level goes up by 1. If a hero has at least 1 Stress, then they run the risk of causing a Catastrophe during an Event, if their next Effort roll is lower than or equal to their Stress Level (for example, a hero with a Stress Level of 3 will cause a Catastrophe if their next die roll is 3 or lower). A hero’s Stress Level remains the same unless they Banter with another hero, or spend a post in Down Time to reduce it to 0.
A Catastrophe will render the hero unable to contribute to the Event-- this could be the hero being severely injured by a villain, causing a horrific amount of collateral damage that they must break away to contain, or otherwise being taken out of action. A character who has suffered a Catastrophe must make a Recovery post to be able to participate in another Event.
Banter:
A player can reduce the Stress of another hero at an Event by playing out a short skit with them. This is the only instance wherein players are allowed to post more than once per day, in order to keep an interaction going, but for mechanical purposes the entire Banter only counts once. All characters engaging in Banter reduce their Stress by 1.
Travel:
A hero cannot suddenly appear out of thin air in order to participate in an Event; they must first spend time traveling to the correct Location.
Down Time:
A hero can spend time with friends, loved ones, etc, to clear their head for the next Event. Reduce the hero’s Stress Level to 0. A player can only make a Down Time post if they are not currently participating in an Event.
Recovery:
If a hero suffers a Catastrophe, they cannot participate further in the Event, and must spend time Recovering to be able to participate in another Event. This can be seen as spending time in the hospital, training harder after a defeat, getting a pep talk from a mentor, etc. Their Stress Level will remain the same as it was before suffering the Catastrophe, but otherwise they will be back in the game.
Once per day, the Game Master will post to update the Timers on all active Events, and roll to see if there are any Twists that occur. A Twist is a change in the Event that may be good or bad-- such as raising or lowering the Target Number, extending or reducing the Timer, or affecting the type of Effort a hero can put into their next attempt to resolve the Event.
Twice per week, the GM will roll on a table to generate a new Event that the players can resolve. These can be Disasters that endanger the lives of civilians, Mysteries that require keen eyes and sharp wits, or Villains that attack the heroes directly. The exact details of the Event and how the players resolve them shouldn’t be too different from any standard play-by-post RPG, though there are a couple of mechanics that make the game unique. Each event has three factors that the players must account for: the Location, the Target Number, and the Timer.
The Location is the area in which the Event is taking place: a character in Gotham City cannot suddenly show up to help with an Event happening in Tokyo, for instance. The Target Number is the amount of Progress the heroes need to make in order to resolve the Event-- think of it like the Event’s “Hit Points.” The Timer is how long the heroes have to resolve the Event. The Timer is set at the start of an Event, and is reduced by 1 every time an attempt is made to resolve the Event, or if a full day passes with no heroes attempting to resolve the Event. If an Event is resolved, good things happen. If an Event Timer reaches 0 without being resolved, bad things happen.
Players are allowed 1 post per day, with a minimum of 3 complete paragraphs, recommended no more than 10. In that post, they can do the following:
Make Progress in an Event: Before the player begins to write the post, they will determine how much Effort their character is using, then roll a die to make Progress towards resolving the Event. The die roll signifies how well your character is doing at resolving the Event, and should be reflected in how the player writes the post.
Minimal/Struggling Effort: 1d4
Standard Effort: 1d6
Empowered Effort: 1d12, can only use again after spending one post with Minimal/Struggling Effort
Maximum Effort: 1d20, cannot use again without a Down Time post
For each additional Hero at an Event, add +1 to the die roll.
Extra Effort, Stress, and Catastrophe:
If a player is dissatisfied with the result of their die roll for Progress, they can choose to put in Extra Effort and roll an additional 1d6. If they do this, however, their Stress Level goes up by 1. If a hero has at least 1 Stress, then they run the risk of causing a Catastrophe during an Event, if their next Effort roll is lower than or equal to their Stress Level (for example, a hero with a Stress Level of 3 will cause a Catastrophe if their next die roll is 3 or lower). A hero’s Stress Level remains the same unless they Banter with another hero, or spend a post in Down Time to reduce it to 0.
A Catastrophe will render the hero unable to contribute to the Event-- this could be the hero being severely injured by a villain, causing a horrific amount of collateral damage that they must break away to contain, or otherwise being taken out of action. A character who has suffered a Catastrophe must make a Recovery post to be able to participate in another Event.
Banter:
A player can reduce the Stress of another hero at an Event by playing out a short skit with them. This is the only instance wherein players are allowed to post more than once per day, in order to keep an interaction going, but for mechanical purposes the entire Banter only counts once. All characters engaging in Banter reduce their Stress by 1.
Travel:
A hero cannot suddenly appear out of thin air in order to participate in an Event; they must first spend time traveling to the correct Location.
Down Time:
A hero can spend time with friends, loved ones, etc, to clear their head for the next Event. Reduce the hero’s Stress Level to 0. A player can only make a Down Time post if they are not currently participating in an Event.
Recovery:
If a hero suffers a Catastrophe, they cannot participate further in the Event, and must spend time Recovering to be able to participate in another Event. This can be seen as spending time in the hospital, training harder after a defeat, getting a pep talk from a mentor, etc. Their Stress Level will remain the same as it was before suffering the Catastrophe, but otherwise they will be back in the game.
Once per day, the Game Master will post to update the Timers on all active Events, and roll to see if there are any Twists that occur. A Twist is a change in the Event that may be good or bad-- such as raising or lowering the Target Number, extending or reducing the Timer, or affecting the type of Effort a hero can put into their next attempt to resolve the Event.
R O S T E R & C A N O N
The roster is limited to members of the Justice League. Since the canonical membership of the League is gargantuan, to keep things simple, the initial active roster of the League is 12 members:
Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
The Flash
Green Lantern
Aquaman
Martian Manhunter
Green Arrow
Black Canary
The Atom
Hawkman and Hawkwoman
Zatanna
Other members can only be added if all 12 have been claimed, or if one of the initial 12 dies and must be replaced. Other heroes in the DC Universe do exist, and can show up as assists or peripheral characters to interact with, but for the moment will not be playable.
This game subscribes to a mentality of “casual canon,” wherein the exact details of a character’s history can be fudged a bit, so long as they are still immediately recognizable as the character being portrayed. You can mix and match elements from a character’s canon to play them how you want, so long as the core elements of the character are preserved.
Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
The Flash
Green Lantern
Aquaman
Martian Manhunter
Green Arrow
Black Canary
The Atom
Hawkman and Hawkwoman
Zatanna
Other members can only be added if all 12 have been claimed, or if one of the initial 12 dies and must be replaced. Other heroes in the DC Universe do exist, and can show up as assists or peripheral characters to interact with, but for the moment will not be playable.
This game subscribes to a mentality of “casual canon,” wherein the exact details of a character’s history can be fudged a bit, so long as they are still immediately recognizable as the character being portrayed. You can mix and match elements from a character’s canon to play them how you want, so long as the core elements of the character are preserved.
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