The Last Band.pdf

TheLastBand

P o s t -

A p o c a l y p t i c !

R A C I N G

E xp los io ns!

KyleWilley

The Last Band is a game about post-apocalyptic criminals

riding sentient motorcycles duking it out in musical battles

at The Lantern, the last concert venue on Earth!

The Last Band is best played with a group of players,

three six-sided dice, dead trees or a digital equivalent, and

a bunch of imagination.

Excerpted from Luke Stillman's Journal, 2059:

The Rules:

TheLantern

Each player fields a "band" of four mostly disreputable

individuals and Battlebikes, and participates in a Disbanding,

a musical spectacular complete with racing around the

track and explosions. Nobody leaves alive, but it's 2059 and

there's not much to live for, so may as well go out with a

bang (and a new track record)!

TheLanternusedtobeagiantstadiumwhere

teamsofpeoplewouldcompeteingladiatorialmatches

(theforefathersareshakyonthispoint),butone

thing'sclear;itgothithardwhenthebombsfell.

Betweenitslightsandthegentleglowofradiation,

itiscalledtheLanternbecausewhenthere'sa

showitilluminateshalfoftown!

Everyonceinawhilewegetsomecriminalsin

town,andmakethemdoabattleinthere.

Band Creation:

Each player must make a band in order to play; they

should record their band either on scratch paper or using

the handy The Last Band character sheet .

Battlebikes

Players determine the specific benefits of each rider

and their Battlebike by selecting two adjectives; one for

each, until they wind up with four riders and bikes.

PapasaystostayawayfromtheBattlebikes,

buthere'swhatIknowaboutthem;they'resmart

bicyclesthatgoreallyfastandpeoplecanride

them.They'realotlikehorses,butmoredangerous.

Orsohesays.They'rewhatwemakecriminalsfight

onwhenwedisbandthem.

Rider Adjectives:

Light-10%morepointsfromsurvivingrounds.

Inventive-NopenaltydicewhenImprovising.

Loony-Everythreeroundsthischaractergets

2dicewhetherornotthelinestheyaresinging

makesenseandtheirplayerisactuallysinging.

Raider-Ifthischaracterrollsmultiplediceand

getsatargetingwordaimingatthemselvesandan

allyandanegativeeffecttheymayapplythe

effecttoatargetoftheirchoice.

Stingy-Thischaracteralwayshitsthemselvesor

anallyshouldtheyrollapositiveeffect.

Disbanding

Whenwemakecriminalsfighttothedeath,we

callit"disbanding".It'sayou-fee-something.Either

way,it'soneheckofashow;there'smusic,

Battlebikes,andexplosions!Mypapadoesn'tlikeme

watchingDisbandings,butsometimesIsneakinanyway.

There'sthiswholescoringsystembasedontheir

musicandit'sgreat,theneverythingendswitha

boom!

Battlebike Adjectives:

Sometimes, it's just too hard to get people to atone for

their crimes. When this happens, we call a Disbanding. We

give the criminals a Battlebike each and put them in the

Lantern, and let them fight until their bikes run out of fuel

or they begin bleeding from the radiation. Either way,

nobody leaves, but we made it a little more crazy. We make

everyone play music as well (usually badly), and we've

rigged the Battlebikes so that they respond to what the

music does. When a Battlebike runs out of fuel, it triggers

bombs in its saddlebags that blow the passenger clear out

of The Lantern. Not sure why they called it "Disbanding",

though. Tradition dates back to Elder Mark, who got rid of a

particularly nasty gang that way. Plus, he liked puns.

Industrial-ThisBattlebikesuffershalfround

survivalscorelossforterrain.

Flashy-ThisBattlebikecantakeFuelloss

insteadofanotherBattlebikeinitsBand.

Expanded-ThisBattlebikeholdsanextrafour

Fuel,butonlygetshalfroundsurvivalscoreuntilit

losesitsfirstfourpoints.

Mean-ThisBattlebikewillsiphononefuelfrom

anopponenthitbyitsriderwithmultipledifferent

detrimentaleffects,butlosesanypointsitwould

normallyearn.

Impervious-ThisBattlebikeresiststwo

detrimentaleffectsbeforelosingFuel.

Group:"They","Them","ThosePeople",andthe

likeforothergroupsofridersandbikers;"Us","We",

etc.forsinger'sowngroup.

Once these adjectives are chosen, mark out forty

bubbles (this is why the character sheet is handy) for Fuel

for each individual Battlebike in a band, and ten bubbles for

Doses for each rider in a band, give or take any modified by

their adjectives.

Individual:"I","Me"andsoforthforoneself,"He",

"she","it","ThatGuy"andthelikeforothers

Effects:

The finished record should look as follows:

Threateningorinsultinglyrics("burninafire","I

neverlikedyou")causethelossoffourfuel.

Rider: Adjective

Battlebike: Adjective

Fuel:

OOOOO OOOOO

Lyricsthatareinspiringorthelike("wecando

it","it'sgoingtobeokay!"restoreoneRad.

Lyricsthatimplymovement("Getup!","theway

youdance")adda40%bonustoroundsurvivalfor

thetarget.

Doses:

OOOOO OOOOO

Now all you need is a song. This can be done in any way,

but there are some considerations. Every song must start

out with a theme; an Effect Phrase that is always present.

Songs must also have lyrics that make sense. Technically,

you can just sing gibberish and lose a die, but that's a bad

idea, and you have to sing something to get The Lantern's

bonus and penalty assessors to work. Finally, if you sing

along you get an extra die, regardless of how bad your

singing is. Consider this when choosing lyrics, especially if

you are in respectable company. You can always take a

song someone else has made, or you can make up your

own. Once you have your song, choose up to five "Power

Phrases" from each line or couple of lines (be consistent)

to use for effects; these must fit in with the song's style.

The Effect Phrase and each Power Phrase is assigned a die

result. If there is no effect or target attached to a number,

the player will get no effect from any roll of that number,

and may not re-roll. Effect Phrases and Power Phrases

may not be reused in the same line or result set. Multiple

effects or targets may be applied. If a group is targeted,

either the effect is split equally (losing four Fuel takes one

from each Battlebike), or applied to one target only (regain

one Rad only works on one chosen member of the group).

Should you roll the same result twice you double its

effects, or if you roll multiple target phrases you may

choose your favorite.

Singingaboutsomethingnostalgicorsafe("Just

likebackhome","Finallyhome")protectsthetarget

fromupto4pointsofFuellossduetoTheLantern

orhostilelyrics.

Note: You can add the "Assumed I" or "Assumed You"

and give a target of yourself or an enemy (or related

groups) to a song; this works in lieu of other targeting

phrases and allows you to use effects without rolling a

target. You may not switch between assumed targets during

a song. You may skip lines of a song by "improvising", but

this loses a die to determine Power and Effect Phrases.

If your song ends you must start another song; you may

not repeat songs unless you have played two other songs

since you last played it, so it is recommended to have three

songs ready. Should you be forced to repeat a song before

two other songs have passed you will suffer a one die

penalty to all rolls.

Example:Ijustrolleda5,3,anda2whilesinging

asong.ThelinesIsangwere:

Leaveme!I'mnotyourfriend!

Itdoesn'ttakealeapoffaithtodetermine

thatthesonghasan"AssumedYou"andthatits

toneishostile(lossoffourfuel).IfIchoseforthe

EffectPhrasetobeusedonarollof6andthe

PowerPhrasestoberolledon1-3inorderof

Here is a generic song style with some Power Phrases

to get you started:

Targets:

effects stemming from The Lantern.

appearance,I'verolled"I'm"and"notyourfriend",

whichsinceIincludedthewholephraseandnotjust

theyourappliesasthehostileeffectoflosingfour

fuel.Ilosefourfuel(becauseofmyeffect)because

Irolledforthe"I'm"and"notyourfriend!",butI

don'tfactorinotherelementsthatdidn'tcomeup.

Of course, a Disbanding is a competition, and as such it

has certain rules-none of the competitors are allowed to

harm each other except through sound (and are placed at

intervals around the track that try to reinforce this)-and an

empirical method of scoring. Scoring is based on a per-

rider approach and a per-band approach; bands gain points

for each of their riders and riders gain points simply for

their own actions.

There's no hard rules on what makes a song in The Last

Band, so don't worry too hard about it. If it has lyrics and it

has music it's fine.

All actions are undertaken by the rider who would

receive any "I-something" effects (determined before

singing a line), and scoring is based on that.

You also don't have to worry too much if parts of your

band blow up quicker than others-the Battlebikes can

carry a tune and to be honest your guitarist probably

wasn't anything stellar to begin with. The Lantern responds

to all music, regardless of how bad it is.

ScoringRulesTable:

50points-survivealine

10points-gainasingleDose

5points-loseasingleFuel

10points-removeasingleFuelfromanopponent

10points-removeadosefromanally

15points-landmultipleeffects

10points-causeanopponenttoexplode

-10points-causeanallytoexplode

100points-completeasongwithoutImprovising

Of course, half of the danger of a Disbanding comes not

from the other performers, but from The Lantern's own

trials; each time all bands finish singing (the effects of

which are undertaken simultaneously), The Lantern

unleashes a challenge for each of the riders and their

Battlebikes.

When a challenge is called, someone must roll two six

sided dice and add up the results. The following effects

happen:

Of course, there's another note-if a Battlebike runs out

of Fuel or a rider takes too many Doses they are removed

from play and stop gaining survival score (or any other

sort). Should all your riders be removed, your band's done

for.

2- Everyone gains two Doses as The Lantern belches

radioactive waste

3- The terrain becomes rough and score for surviving

the next round is decreased 50 percent

4- One rider in each band becomes irradiated, gaining a

Dose.

5- All Battlebikes have a little fuel siphoned by The

Lantern's remote control, losing 1 Fuel

6- Nothing happens.

7- Nothing happens.

8- The terrain becomes smooth; the score bonus for

surviving the next round is increased 50 percent

9- The Lantern releases radiation, giving one rider in

each band a Dose

10- The Lantern doesn't hear the next line of music

11- The Lantern doubles the effects of the next line of

music

12- One rider from each band explodes

So, now that you know all about the Disbanding, are you

ready to rumble?

For more information about The Last Band, supplements,

an interactive character sheet, and more, visit the author:

Where normally the band choosing an effect decides the

target in the case where an individual in another band is

affected, the player of a certain band chooses which rider

or Battlebike suffers the effects of individual-specific

https://sites.google.com/site/kylesideas/projects/the-last-

band

The Last Band was made with LibreOffice and Scribus.

License:

Text licensed under CC 3.0 BY-NC-SA, or under the following short license (whichever works best, they're supposed to be

pretty similar):

Credit me in this and anything you make based on this.

Don't sell this or anything based off of this without all prior contributors' permission.

Anything you make based off of this must use this license, including crediting known contributors all the way back to me.

Font:

Phat Grunge Bold (Bolt Cutter Design)

Breip (Alan Hussey)

Victor (Fumare)

The Last Band was made for Game Chef 2012, with the theme “Last Chance”. I used the ingredient “Lantern” for the

inspiration of the arena, and I received the following random threads:

Thread # 1684 (Made up each player's “band” as a concept, not quite motorcycle jousting but close)

Thread # 4057 (Fuel as a way of extending character life; I left out the voluntary part of the equation, though I tried to

model the protection effect based on this concept)

Thread # 2681 (went unused)

Thread # 6142 (Songwriting system; made the game use music)

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