Whether you’re interested in diceless roleplaying games or not, and whether or not you’ve already checked out the Pay What You Want “Anything Goes” Version of DeScriptors, you may be wondering what the deal is with DeScriptors: Definitive Edition. Here are five reasons to check it out, highlighting its best qualities!

#1. Ready to play in minutes.

You can learn the game, have a character created, and be ready to play in minutes.

Many roleplaying games feature rules where the fundamentals can be learned after a 20 minute read-through, but how many have rules that fit on a single page and have characters that can be generated in under 5 minutes? DeScriptors is notable for having a one-page rules reference that explains the full game (yet there are endless add-ons and “dials” to change things up, without altering the fundamental game play). Characters are generated simply by choosing an overarching concept and a few descriptive words, then you’re done. You can read the rules in about 3 minutes and spend the remaining 2 hitting it up a thesaurus for good adjectives. Easy peasy.

#2. Choices matter.

If you want a “narrative-style” diceless game where choices matter.

Many folks say “narrative-style” when they really mean “rules-lite.” DeScriptors hits “narrative-style” in two distinct ways:

  1. Simple yet highly expandable rules.
  2. The mechanics drive an unmistakable change in your character, creating a character arc.

It’s inside of that second part where your choices throughout a game session of DeScriptors really matter. At its heart, DeScriptors relies on you “bidding” or spending the descriptive words that make up who your character is in order to overcome challenges. You can “fish” for new descriptive words, altering the sorts of things your character has equipped, the resources they have available, or the knowledge they gain by investigating a scene. You might also suffer setbacks, which are descriptive words you pick up as a result of failing to overcome a challenge. When it comes down to it, what makes up your character — who they are, what they can do, what they use from conflict to conflict, what they know — changes in every single scene as a result of the choices you make or the challenges you face, whether or not you succeed or fail.

Your character simply will not have the same traits at the end of the session as they began with. A true character arc!

#3. Quick and decisive conflict resolution.

If you want a game that resolves conflict quickly and decisively.

Some gamers love highly tactical, crunchy combat systems, and we can’t fault them; we love ’em, too! But there are some who don’t see combat as any different from other forms of conflict (negotiation, interrogation, puzzle solving, investigation, medical procedures). DeScriptors uses the same mechanic for all conflict, and it’s incredible simple: the Storyteller frames a scene and presents a possible conflict, and the player(s) chooses to succeed (spending an adjective) or fail (gaining a setback). The Storyteller and the Player then work together to narrate how this looks in the fictional world, and progress to the next scene as a direct result of their success or failure.

In point of fact, combat does have one slight difference that suggests it’s not the best path to resolving most conflict: it costs two adjectives to succeed, not just one. The fact is, any fight worth narrating is going to be challenging, and thus a character will suffer unintentional scrapes, bruises, or stress even if they succeed.

#4. Perfect for gamers of all ages.

If you want a game with simple rules that can be enjoyed by young and old players alike.

Because DeScriptors doesn’t rely on math, reading dice, or probabilities, and since characters only have a handful of words to track at any given time (or less!), it’s super simple for young gamers to understand. If your five-year-old wants to play Rika the Scrappy Princess who is Smart, Sneaky, Magical, and Happy, that’s their character. Rika might have to be stealthy to get past the ogre without it noticing and reclaim the Scepter of the Seven Kingdoms, but all that requires is crossing off “Sneaky.” Anybody can play this!

But adults and more advanced gamers aren’t going to find the experience lacking just because DeScriptors features a simple system. First of all, there are tons of add-ons and expansions in DeScriptors: Definitive Edition. Secondly, you don’t need add-ons to see why some folks are going to enjoy the fact that DeScriptors…

#5. Emphasizes wordplay and improv.

If you enjoy wordplay, puns, synonyms, and thinking on your feet.

When your character goes “fishing” in a scene to gear up for a battle they see coming, maybe they’ll pick up some knives and add Sharp to their character sheet. But maybe you diffuse that fight before it ever happens, and in a later scene, or even a later game session, you’ve still got Sharp on your character sheet. Maybe that stands for your Sharp suit; you look good at the cocktail party in which you have to hobnob with the elites to find the culprit behind a murder mystery. Or maybe you have to talk your way past a guard, and use your Sharp wit to convince them. Or you use Sharp words to get the Grand Duke to back down in his accusations against your investigatory powers.

The Storyteller frames scenes. The players narrate their successes and failures. The Storyteller then creates the next scene, informing it with the consequences that come from the players having chosen success or failure. Everyone at the table pitches in with ideas of how things might go, or what they might look like. Everyone keeps an eye on their ever-changing adjectives and setbacks, developing an arc for their characters, and discovering that too many successes means dwindling traits to spend when things heat up.

Exciting improv. Clever wordplay. Sometimes silly puns. DeScriptors utilizes language to develop a character arc for everyone at the table, and a story arc for everyone to engage in.

Check out DeScriptors: Definitive Edition in our Shop. You can purchase it through DriveThruRPG or itch.io, so it’s always in your Library of choice!

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Happy gaming to ya!