Anatole Laudinot (order #6476865)

the irresponsible hero

The Irresponsible Hero is an experimental
roleplaying story game where players are
secret agents in a poorly-written action film
doing things that don’t make any sense… and
would certainly lead to their death.

first
Select someone to be the gamemaster. The
gamemaster frames scenes, sets challenges, and
acts out the NPCs who all die because of the
heroes.

Decide which agency you work for and what

secret threat is… well… threatening the world.
Next, you’ll need to make agents. Agents need
names and cover identities. Each of you should
have a specialty that no one else has. Guns
are a boring specialty. Each player starts the
game with one hero token and six countdown
tokens.

That’s it. You’re just about ready to play.

The Irresponsible Hero © 2014 jim pinto

and Post World Games playing
There are four kinds of scenes in Irresponsible
graphics and silhouettes by jim pinto Hero: Action, Drama, Exposition, and
Negotiation. With the exception of Action,
a scene type can not appear two times in a
row. A scene is defined as a single location
featuring at least one of the player characters.
The gamemaster is responsible for determining
which scene is being played.

Anatole Laudinot (order #6476865)

 countdown tokens critical failure
The hero fails miserably. In addition, he gains
Countdown tokens reflect how close the heroes one countdown token.
are to the final confrontation. It wouldn’t be
a crappy action film without a bunch of filler success
blocking the hero from getting to Act III. The The hero gets what he wants.
heroes cannot confront the final villain until
they’ve spent all of their countdown tokens. outstanding success
The hero gets what he wants in a fantastic way.
hero tokens In addition, he gains one hero token.
Hero tokens are used to steal the spotlight.
A hero may elect to spend one at any time.
They aren’t worth anything at the end of the
game, so don’t wait to spend them.

conflict resolution
The gamemaster decides what you can and
cannot do. Players roll 2d6 for everything,
wounds
Irresponsible heroes do not die. They get hurt
except their speciality which is 3d6. Dice are
in superficial ways, but they keep fighting on.
totalled together. A roll of a 2 is a critical
They do stupid things that get other people
failure. A roll of 6+ is a success. A roll
hurt though. The gamemaster may want to
of 12+ is an outstanding success. During
keep track of what happens to others.
conflict resolution, if any die comes up ‘1’, a
complication occurs.
Bad guys go down in one hit. Henchmen take
two hits before they die. Major villains take a
complication
lot longer to put down.
In addition to any other effect being
produced, the hero’s action has an unintended
consequence or complication. Being an
irresponsible hero, this means that someone
scenes
The gamemaster sets a scene for the players.
innocent is hurt, an entire city energy grid
Each scene (except exposition) has a conflict
goes down, or something exacerbates the
in it. The next page lists the scene types and
problem in a dramatic way. A hero token may
what goes on in them. The gamemaster decides
be spent to stop a complication.
when a scene is over and whether or not it
costs the agents additional countdown tokens.

Anatole Laudinot (order #6476865)

 action drama negotiation
Action scenes are the meat and potatoes of Drama is boring. But sometimes it’s necessary. Someone has something the agents want:
The Irresponsible Hero. Action scenes fall into Meeting the bad guys’ girlfriend for the first codes, information, keys, another piece of the
three types. Active, reactive, and fiddling. time is dramatic. Dramatic scenes should be puzzle, etc. In a negotiation scene, the agents
limited, but each story needs at least one. Let cannot kill to get what they want but anything
Active Action scenes involve the heroes each agent get a chance to shine. else is up for grabs. Intimidation, punching,
doing things to the bad guys (or innocent seduction, torture, and so on.
bystanders). Active Action scenes may or may • The cost of Drama scenes is up to the
not be the result of a plan, but there must gamemaster, but never more than 1 Negotiation scenes involve NPCs or inanimate
be some kind of strategy in order for it to countdown token. objects. Either way, something stands between
be active, otherwise it is reactive or fiddling. the agents and what they want. Conflict is the
Defusing a bomb is actually an Active Action key here. The gamemaster needs to make it
scene, because the hero is doing something to interesting by defining why the NPC or object
the bad guys’ plans. is opposed to the agents, but the scene cannot
end until the agents succeed.
• The cost of Active Action scenes is always
1 countdown tokens. Of course the agents get what they want,
but the gamemaster must determine if the
Reactive Action scenes involves the bad guys scene leads to further problems or not (it most
doing things to the heroes. They are always certainly will). If it does, the next scene must
the result of the heroes doing something in be Action.
a previous scene. The bad guys cannot do
anything to the heroes until the heroes start • The cost of Negotiation scenes is always 1
doing things to them. to 3 countdown tokens, based on just how
close to the bad guys the scene takes the
• The cost of Reactive Action scenes is heroes.
always 2 countdown tokens.
exposition The gamemaster needs to be inventive here.
Fiddling Action scenes involves the good guys Exposition is boring. An NPC tells (or Make up another bread crumb in the trail that
doing things to the scenery. They are cutting otherwise gives) the agents something they leads to the villain. It doesn’t need to make
barbed wire, turning valves, shooting down need — gadgets, information, permission sense. The irresponsible heroes will either
satellites, or otherwise adjusting things that to kill, and so on. Exposition scenes should interpret it however they like, or brush it aside
shouldn’t be adjusted. be limited and followed up with action or as they race to the finale.
negotiation.
• The cost of Fiddling Action scenes is Do not turn negotiation scenes into exposition.
always 1 to 3 countdown tokens, based on • The cost of Exposition scenes is always 0
just how bad things get. countdown tokens.

Anatole Laudinot (order #6476865)

 Act iii countdown tokens
It is possible to earn
Once the agents are out of countdown tokens
countdown tokens, they during Act III. Poor
enter Act III. In Act III, die rolls can create
the heroes finally confront complications and so on.
the villain, usually in some impossible fortress
that eats up half the movie budget. This is An agent with countdown tokens in Act III
especially true in films where the writer has is wounded. He cannot act as quickly as the
done nothing to complicate the plot. others and no longer gains a benefit from his
specialty. The agent may spend one hero token
Remember the bread crumbs? to fix this, but a short scene should be played
out explaining how the hero overcomes this.
In the final confrontation with the villain,
things go to hell quickly. Explosions rattle the He’ s getting away
base, bad guys run in every direction, and the Once the objectives are completed, the final
heroes race against time to save one hapless chase of the villain begins. It is the job of
victim from a previous drama scene. the gamemaster to make catching the villain
difficult, but not impossible.
At this point, the gamemaster gives each
hero an objective based on how the story Keep them guessing. Take turns describing
has progressed so far. These objectives the action of what happens next. Think of the
require three successes to solve, which means boat chase in Face/Off — that thing goes on
numerous steps must be taken to accomplish for days.
these objectives.

Anatole Laudinot (order #6476865)

 final finale
The villain is cornered now. He’s going to die.
It’s always that way. But how do the heroes
do it? Does anyone have any hero tokens
left? Does he steal the spotlight and fire the
flamethrower into the 5’ x 5’ room filled with
compressed hydrogen? This is where the
irresponsible hero shines.

shock ending
Is the hapless victim rescued? Does the villain
get up one last time? Can the heroes land the
plane in time? Sounds like it’s time for one last
die roll. Don’t you think?

conclusion
I wrote this game in two hours based on a
facebook conversation with Paul Caughell and
John Belding. I was working on The Last 12
Hours (another game design of mine) when
something I posted made them think I was
writing a secret agent roleplaying game.

I wasn’t.

But now I am.

It’s done.

Enjoy.

Anatole Laudinot (order #6476865)