The group watched as the pair of dice tumbled across the table, landing a two and a five for player One. Said player then moved his token seven spaces forwards, landing on a tile with a question mark. Four pairs of eyes then glanced towards the gamemaster.
"Okay, game event. You greet your neighbor who works at the local textile mill. She tells you the overseer allowed them to take home the blankets that failed to pass quality inspection. She is willing to give them to you at the rate of one blanket per three worker points. Do you buy?"
After some intense mental back and forth and the frantic look in his eyes, player One decides to dip into his preciously hoarded reserves and purchases two blankets. He knows full well that the Winter Phase will come eventually and the safety of his family is at stake. With a look of envy at player One's increased stockpile of blankets, player Two takes up the dice and begins to shake the dice in his hand, praying to the Great Leader that he does not get a four.
He gets a four. The gamemaster notes player Two's results and her eyes traces the path four spaces down and spots the reason for Two's displeasure. Citizen Audit. Sympathizing with his misfortune, she consults her notes.
"Alright, time for a random audit. It says here you currently possess three more loaves of bread than is permitted by the Bureau of Equality. The Audit Committee has decided to confiscate this questionable surplus in order to redistribute it to your less fortunate comrades. In their wisdom, the committee has decided to be lenient, just this once. Only five worker points will be deducted from your record."
Player Three picks up the dice as Two vocalizes his displeasure with a groan. Ignoring her colleague, Three cups the dice and blows into her fist, praying that she rolls a high enough number.
A four and a five heralds three's cry of joy as she moves her token nine spaces, making it past the starting point, and signaling the end of her work cycle.
"Congratulations, citizen. Your hard work has been noted, and ten worker points have been allotted to your record. Spend them wisely, and do not forget to thank the Great Leader for his generosity."
While Three mumbles a thank you, Four picks up the discarded dice and begins his roll. His hopes and wishes, however, turn into anxiety and shock, similar looks on the other players' faces as they all realize where Four's token is about to go.
"Ah, the Communism Chest," the gamemaster notes, "let's see…" She picks up and reads the words on the topmost card, noting the increased pallor on the faces of her players.
"Famine mode." Each of the players gasp as the gamemaster explains the rules, making sure they understand what's going to happen. "A famine has struck our great nation. Each player must roll a special pair of dice on each of their respective turns." She brings out the famine dice, eliciting a whimper from players One and Three and and startled yelps from Two and Four.
"Scoring five and above means you survive the turn unscathed, score lower and you gain one famine point. Unless you counter the famine point using one loaf of bread, accumulating three famine points results in your starvation and game over."
Two begins to sob, knowing he is at most risk due to the audit depleting his stockpile of bread. Four feels a pang of regret in his chest, knowing he'd triggered the famine. Meanwhile One grimaces in frustration as he struggles to decide whether to trade his blankets for more bread to avoid starvation, and therefore risk freezing during the Winter Phase, or risking starvation by hoarding his blankets. Finally, Three sighs in relief, knowing that her recently earned worker points may very well lead her to surviving Famine Mode.
The gamemaster notices all of this with but a sweep of her gaze, her expression blank as she makes sure not to sympathize with her players. As gamemaster, she must remain impartial and stoic, a rock against the waves. And so she concludes…
"Any questions? No? Then let's proceed."
With that, game night continues…
Note: Like I said, I don't have that much RP experience, only board games. This time I decided to make it a sort of mix between the two. It's a board game, but the addition of a gamemaster adds some elements of randomness into each session as some game events are made by the gamemaster on the spot or prepared slightly beforehand. Hope you guys liked my GM rendition! If you didn't, WELL TOO BAD!
