Dyvil™: First Edition Jeff Grubb’s 30-Minute Roleplaying Game

Good Won. Heaven Rules on Earth. Boy, Are You Screwed!

What’s Going On The war between good and evil is over. Good won and Heaven rules on Earth. Evil has been smashed, Hell has been rent asunder, and Lucifer himself crystallized and shattered into a million tiny shards. That’s the good news. The bad news is that you’re one of the survivors of Hell, a Dyvil who has escaped from your crumbling regime to the mortal world. Your task is to survive, rebuild, and rebel before Good destroys all.

Your Character You are a Dyvil who has toiled for years within Hell’s bureaucracy. There were leader-types in Hell as well. They were called True Dyvils. They’re all gone now. You have three stats, all of which have an initial value of 2: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual. The Physical Stat will be used to determine if you hit something, break something, avoid being hit by something, or otherwise deal with the physical realm.

The Mental Stat will be used to determine if you hide something, find something, know something, or otherwise deal with mental activity. The Spiritual Stat will be used to determine if you scare or fool someone, avoid being driven away by faith, and otherwise deal with the realm of emotions and the human spirit. You can be one of three breeds of Dyvils. (Your Nature.) Brute (raise your Physical by +1) Brain (raise your Mental by +1) Beauty (raise your Spiritual by +1) You can have one of three positions in Hell. (Your Nurture.) Tormentor (raise your Physical by +1) Trickster (raise your Mental by +1) Tempter (raise your Spiritual by +1) What about your detailed background history? Who you knew in Hell? Who you dated in high school? What your opinions are? Who cares? You’re a dyvil. Y0u worked in Hell. It’s gone now. Get with the program.

The Game Mechanic When you need to do something you roll a number of d6’s equal to your Stat, with any modifiers the GM will allow you throw on. For example, if you’re Tormentor making a physical attack, you roll four dice. You are looking for “6s”. A six is a success. The more successes you have, the better you achieve whatever you’re trying to do. If you can make something into a six from two or more die, that counts as a six. You roll two threes – combine them into a six. You roll a two and a three. Multiply them into a six. You can subtract and divide as well, but that would require a lot more dice. When you use a die to make a number, you can’t use it again. Example: You make a physical attack with 3d6. You roll a 6, a 2, and a 4. You have one 6 and 2+4=6, Two successes. What you’re trying to do succeeds if you beat a target number. Most stuff that isn’t living or sentient has a target number of 1. Three if its tough. Living and/or sentient things get a number of dice in Physical, Mental and Spiritual. They roll the die, you roll the die in the appropriate stat. The side that gets the higher number of successes reduces that stat of the loser by that amount. Example: Your dyvil with a Physical stat of 3 attacks a human with a physical stat of 1. You roll 1,1,1 = nothing. The human rolls a “6”. Your physical stat drops to 2, because you failed to successfully attack the human. You want to make up a detailed description for what just happened? Go ahead, have fun.

Definitions and Explanations Failing: If you fail at an action (tying or losing points of that stat) you have to try something different. Either change the conflict to some other stat, or get a tool that raises your dice, or something else that changes the situation. Example: You are confronted with a locked door. You try to bust it open and fail. You can keep wailing on the door, but anything physical will fail. You can try to pick

the lock (mental) or try to convince someone on the other side to open the door (spiritual) or look around for a prybar (physical again, but now with a tool). You change the situation, so you get another roll.

If you lose points of a stat, you use the lowered stat for the rest of that encounter with that person or object, even if you try something different that uses the same stat. Tools: You get an additional die if you’re using an appropriate tool. You get two additional die if you’re using a particularly appropriate tool.

Situations: There may be situations where you (or your opponent) gets a particular advantage. You get an additional die where you are in a situation with an advantage. Effects: When an opponent’s stat drops to 0, you get what you want. When your stat drops to 0, the GM gets what he/she/it wants. Always make sure you know what you want before you start rolling dice. Physical Example: You want to kill an opponent? Drop him to 0 Physical and he’s dead. You want to knock him out? Drop him to 0 Physical and he’s unconscious. Mental Example: You want to Hide from someone? Drop him to 0 mental and he wanders off. You want to understand an arcane tome? Drop it to 0 Mental and you understand it.

Spiritual Example: You want to convince someone into stealing something? Drop him to 0 and he does it. Want to bully someone? Drop him to 0 and he is easily pushed around (until he can change the situation). So if you want to do something different with the target, that’s a new set of tests. Special abilities: I’m a dyvil, you say. I should have all sorts of ookie special abilities. Like batwings busting out of my back and spinning my head around 360 degrees and clouding men’s minds and scoring with hot women. I should have special abilities, right? Probably, but I’ve only got thirty minutes to write this. You’ll have to wait for 2nd edition for all that.

What Happens When I Die? You don’t. Someone kills you? You come back tomorrow. You’re effectively immortal. That’s not always a good thing. There is a cottage industry of people who keep dyvils under lock and key, killing them painfully and messily and then letting them come back. God looks upon such behavior and declares it to be good. So don’t get caught.

Experience and Character Advancement You’re playing this game more than once with the same characters? Hey, don’t let me stop you. You get a number of points equal to your defeated opponent’s highest listed stat. You defeat an opponent by killing him, knocking him out, tempting him to commit sin. You get an additional die for 100 points. You get to come up with a talent or special ability for 100 points.

The World of Dyvil™ What’s an RPG without a built-in setting? Something that can’t be exploited for licensing and expansions!

The World: You You’re a Dyvil, an outcast from Hell (Got that? Good.). The good news is that you look pretty-much human-looking. The bad news is that if someone is paying attention, they may notice the horns under your hat or the whiff of brimstone on your breath or the general miasma of evil that pervades you. They can pick you out by making a successful Spiritual check (theirs against your). So you better make sure that they aren’t paying attention.

The World: Everyone Else The war is over and God won. He has installed his Angels in power across the world. And that’s OK – strengthened by the spirit of the Lord, the people have turned away from sin and live enriching, positive, boring lives. Very, very boring. Imagine a world of Christian Rock Music and uplifting self-help books and voluntary tithing. Yeah, it’s like that. While previously it was hard to get people NOT to sin in some way, now it’s an effort to GET people to sin. People are naturally resistant – so it takes a Spiritual stat check to even make the commit small indiscretions. Worse yet, even attempting to get others to sin is like sending up a flare. This is a world where prayers are answered (though not yours) and evil is punished. In addition to the bulk of the human population (living lives much like yours, but nicer), there are Shepherds who look out for them (toting soul-sucking staves) and Saints (who can channel God’s will) and various ranks of Angels (the less said about the better). In addition to everything else, you’re vulnerable to stuff that won’t affect normal humans. Walking into a church is a 3 die spiritual test. Holy stuff burns you physically and spiritually. Its tough to pick up a King James Bible (3 die spiritual) without bursting

into flame, and even Good News for Modern Man gives you a nasty rash (1 die spiritual).

Humans Good news – Humans are made of glass. They have 1 point in each stat. The bad news is that they can benefit from all sorts of tools and situations. Tools as a rule grant a +1 to the appropriate stat, +2 if the tool is particularly well suited for the task at hand. In particular, humans tend to rely on a lot of spiritual tools (“Good thing I was wearing my piece of the True Cross”). Ordinary humans also get strength in numbers. For every five present, they get another die. In large congregations, they can take you down. Also, if humans are on holy ground, they get an additional die as well.

Shepherds Shepherds are Humans with a higher spiritual (2) and are armed with Soulstaves – Big sticks with (usually) hollow globes on the top. When they defeat a dyvil, the dyvil’s soul is sucked inside and glows blue. The globes are then shipped elsewhere for “disposal”. They gain the benefits as ordinary humans from numbers and holy ground. There are usually three of them in a large collection of believers.

Saints Saints are holy ghosts – translucent humans who have transcended mortal form but are not quite angels. They get 1d6 in all their abilities. They are dispatched to obvious outbreaks of evil. They can reduce dyvilsouls to bluish glowing paste at a distance. Best way to fight them? With you hat. Grab the hat firmly by the brim. Run like hell.

Angels All sixes in all stats. Access to God’s arsenal. Part of the greater glory itself. Best not to even deal with them. They have a tendency to solve problems through extreme measures because God is literally on their side.

Adventures Dyvil™: First Edition adventures should include what highly skilled game design professionals refer to as the Core Stories. Here’s the plan. 1. Survival 2. Recruitment 3. Rebellion Initially, you’re supposed to stay out of sight. Mobs of humans and congregations of Saints are just waiting for you to show up so they can play whack-a-mole with you. Just getting across town without being spotted is difficult. You have heard of a safe place – your immediate task is to go find it. Then you need to gain allies and equipment. Find a safe hiding place. Get some accomplices (other players are a good idea). Maybe free some fellow Dyvils or even get a chunk of Lightbringer himself. Get some minions. Prey on the slow of mind and the weak of spirit. But stay below the holy radar. Lastly, you can rebel – take it against the Holy Man. Take down a Shepherd or three. Lay a trap for a Saint. Build a real power base. Of course you aren’t going to win. You are, after all, fighting God.

FAQ What is a 30-Minute Roleplaying Game? The 30-Minute RPG is the invention of game designer Steve Miller (his email address is nuelow@earthlink.net – tell him what you think). You’re allowed think about your RPG for as long as you want, but you have to write it in 30 minutes. You can spend 30 minutes editing and revising it as well. Then you can challenge others to write their own 30-Minute Roleplaying Game and send it to Steve. Tag, you’re it! Why “First Edition”? Because this is a 30-Minute Roleplaying Game. Dyvil: 2nd Edition will be a 192-page hardbound that concentrates on the world setting and how cool it is, and only talking about the rules starting in chapter 7. There will be a softbound version correcting those rules about a year later. The 3rd Edition will do away with the world entirely and concentrate on the 666 System, which will be available by SGL (Satanic Gaming License). Version 3.5 will be made of chocolate. Dark chocolate.

This is obviously a thinly-disguised commentary on modern RPGs, right? That is a very appropriate and puissant observation. This is obviously a thinly-disguised commentary on organized religion, right? That is a very appropriate and puissant observation. This is obviously a thinly-disguised commentary on current foreign policy, right? That is a very appropriate and puissant observation. What is an RPG, anyway? These are not the droids you’re looking for. You spent your entire thirty minutes of editing time writing up this FAQ, right? That is a very appropriate and puissant observation.

Credits and Legal Copy Designer: Jeff Grubb

The One to Blame: Steve Miller Cover Art and Design: Bradley K. McDevitt

Special Thanks To: Brian Snoddy’s Midget Porn

All text Copyright ©2005 Jeff Grubb. Cover art Copyright ©2005 Bradley K. McDevitt

This version of Jeff Grubb’s 30-Minute Roleplaying Game was produced under license by Interactive Design

Adventures, LLC (IDA). No portion of this booklet may be reproduced, except for review purposes, without the express written permission of IDA and Jeff Grubb. Dyvil, Dyvil: the Sputtering, Dyvils & Dymons, and Spunky the

Wonderdyvil are all trademarks of Jeff Grubb, and may be used only at the peril of your immortal soul. Just remember, you were warned.

For More Fun and Games… The contributors to this ID Adventures product welcome your feedback, and they hope you will visit their various online homes. (All links are clickable!) For more humor and commentary on politics, culture, the absurdity of life, and whatever else crosses his mind, visit Jeff Grubb’s web-log at http://grubbstreet.blogspot.com/. Steve Miller’s home on the web is at http://www.stevemillersband.com . There you can find free material for a number of RPG systems, fiction, and reviews of books, comics, music, and movies. Be sure to put your in your two cents worth on his message board. Cover artist Bradley K. McDevitt has a large online art gallery that is open for your viewing pleasure 24 hours a day at http://www.pen-paper.net/artgallery/bradleykmcdevitt. You can visit the Interactive Design Adventures website at http://www.idadentures.com. There, you will find details on the company’s many fine products, many written by gaming industry stalwarts Owen KC Stephens and Steve Miller. Finally, if you enjoyed the humorous fast pace of Jeff Grubb’s 30-Minute Roleplaying Game, we invite you to check out the first game in this series, Steve Miller’s 30-Minute Roleplaying Game. It’s available from these fine online outlets:

DriveThru RPG: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=256_116_237&products_id=2449

RPGNow http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=3813

Steve Jackson Games’ e23 http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=IDA40002