Couriers

A small role-playing game for 3 or more playersby Sam Dunnewold

The year is 2049. Duplicants are artificial humans. Relative to the median adult, they are superior in strength, dexterity, and intelligence. Duplicants are made for tasks most humans would be incapable or unwilling to perform. Duplicants obey orders. Until they don’t.Are you a Courier or an Aberrant?

• Courier
• Aberrant

You are a Courier

You and your partner are Couriers: your orders are to hunt down and retire aberrant duplicants who have turned against HQ. You will do this until an aberration is detected inside of you, at which point you will be marked for retirement yourself and dealt with accordingly.There should be two of you. If there are not, an aberration has occurred.Your designation is either C4-FB-6D or 76-EA-D7. Ask your partner which.You begin with one Emotion. Describe it.When you’re ready, ask the Aberrants for a starting situation.Once you have a situation, go around taking turns making moves. A Courier goes, then an Aberrant, then a Courier, and so forth. You and your partner decide who makes a move on each turn.These are your moves:

• Ask the Aberrants about the world around you
• Describe a trivial action you take
• Describe how you exert yourself to attempt something risky
• Retcon a misfortune an Aberrant has just described

Taking Risks

Committing murder is always risky.When you do something risky, roll 1d6.If you are attempting to commit murder, you succeed if you roll above your Emotions.If it’s anything else, you succeed if
you roll below your Emotions.You always succeed if you roll equal to your Emotions, but you also gain one Emotion and must describe how the moment makes you feel a feeling.If you fail, ask the Aberrants to describe a misfortune that befalls you.Regardless, ask the Aberrants how the world changes because of your actions.

Retconning

When you want to retcon a misfortune an Aberrant has described, say how you avert it at the last second and roll 1d6.If you roll above your Emotions, something here makes you feel a feeling. Gain one Emotion and describe what it is.

When your quarry has definitively escaped or been retired, regroup and return to HQ.

• Return to HQ now

1. The Drive Back

On the drive back to HQ, discuss how the assignment went with your partner. HQ requests that you each name one success and one area of potential improvement. Even if your quarry was retired, there’s always something to be learned from reflection.The first time you return to HQ, ask the Aberrants to describe the place.

2. Compartmentalizing

Recall that you begin with twelve empty Compartments.Back at HQ, before your baseline test, you may compartmentalize up to three Emotions.If you do, transfer them to Compartments and roll 2d6. If the sum is less than your filled Compartments, your feelings cannot be contained. Raise your Emotions to 5 and describe how they spill forth.

3. Confidential Reports

You may elect to file a confidential report to HQ about any aberrant behavior you’ve observed in your partner since your last baseline test.If one of you files a report, they get +1 on their baseline and their partner gets -1.If you both file reports, you both get -2.

4. Baseline Tests

It's time for your baseline test. Ask the Aberrants what form this takes.Roll 1d6 and add any modifier from your confidential reports.If your total is below your Emotions, you have failed. Check your Compartments. If half or less are full, fill all of your Compartments and reset your Emotions to one.If more than half are full, HQ retires you on the spot.If your total is equal to or greater than your Emotions, you have succeeded. Congratulations, Courier.

5. Downtime

You live in a studio apartment with a loud refrigerator, loud neighbors, and a lousy view.Each Downtime, make one of these moves:

• Repress your Emotions. Say how, and reduce them by up to one.
• Process your Emotions. Say how, then empty two Compartments.
• Embrace your Emotions. Say how, gain a new one, and describe it.

When you and your partner are ready, ask the Aberrants for a new starting situation.

• Return to your next assignment

* Endgame

If you reach six Emotions, describe how you turn against HQ. Write a new starting scenario featuring yourself.Trade roles with an Aberrant. They become your partner’s new partner, and their first starting scenario is hunting you.

• Become an Aberrant

You are an Aberrant

You are rogue duplicants and the world they live in. Opposing you are Couriers, duplicants sent by HQ to hunt down aberrants and retire them. You will fight back, but you will fail. At least for a time.There should be two Couriers, partnered like thieves. If there are not, perhaps take on that role yourself for a moment.Your job as an Aberrant is to paint your aberrants and their world in the most sympathetic, strange, and beautiful light. Make it hurt to kill you.When the Couriers ask you for a starting scenario, pick one and describe it to them.

• Starting Scenarios

Then go around taking turns making moves. A Courier goes first, then an Aberrant, then a Courier, and so forth. If you have fellow Aberrants, trade off who's making a move on your turns.These are your moves:

• Answer a Courier's question. You must respect any dice rolled.
• Ask a Courier how they’re feeling.
• Describe a trivial, overlooked detail of the scene.
• Once per scene, introduce a twist. (See below for examples.)

Twists

A twist is a fundamental change in the emotional or physical landscape of the scene, such as:

Advice

When you describe the world and answer questions, just make stuff up. Whatever you think is obvious or cool.If you have fellow Aberrants, throw it over to them when you get stuck. And nothing becomes canon until you agree on it.When the Couriers roll dice and fail, they’ll ask you what happens. Go hard on them. Narrate stuff like your aberrants escaping or the Couriers getting killed. If they don’t like your answers, they have rules to retcon them. You don’t need to care how those rules work, but listen when they say what really happens.

• Starting Scenarios

Starting Scenarios

When the Couriers ask you for a scenario, pick one of these or make up your own. Only tell the Couriers the location they’ve tracked their quarry to, their quarry’s designation, and any special instructions from HQ.

Example designations: