Instant Game is a tool for creating and playing new RPG settings and plots on the spot. With these charts and rules set, you can roll up a completely original setting and plot, create and develop characters on the fly, and be ready to roleplay in just a matter of minutes!
Use our game rules - or use your own! The Instant Gaming rules provided are especially well suited to the broad range of possibilities allowed by the Instant Tables. But with only a little effort, one could just as well adapt d20, GURPS, Fudge, Risus, or any of dozens of others to run the stories and settings generated by the tables.
The Instant Game tables can be applied to existing games. You may not need the setting stuff, but the Instant Plot can be applied to any game setting.
Imagine that we’re playing our favorite fantasy RPG, and we’re all out of pre-packaged modules. A few quick rolls on the Instant Plot table gives us “invaders/outsiders trying to assassinate a miniature giant while the players must guard a teacher.†Obviously, the invading goblins are trying to eliminate the newly found “Chosen One†who prophesy says will lead the Five Nations to victory. The Chosen One happens to be a child of the barbarian Valley Giants. It’s up to the players to escort the wizened high priest of the Sun Temple to Giant Valley. If they can get the priest safely to the giant child before the goblins arrive, he may be able to help the child unlock his true nature and save us all.
But that same set of plot rolls could have worked just as well within a space opera or a game of high-seas adventure or in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The key is inspiration. Any part of Instant Game that can help you in any of your gaming endeavors makes us happy. In this way, the Instant Tables can be used any time you get stuck for an idea in any game. Perhaps you’re using a published adventure and the players choose to go off the beaten path to look for clues in a remote hamlet. There’s nothing in the adventure to cover this, and you need a half dozen or so residents to populate a local tavern. Crank out a few rolls on People and Personalities, and you can have the basics within seconds.