Flying Away

It was only three hours ago that you learned the truth.  You should have known, but blinded yourself to it.  There was nothing to do but run... right?

Flying Away is a roleplaying game for two players.  To play you will need only another player, three six sided dice, and a copy of the play sheet. 

The year is 1823.  The rise of “Science!” has just begun to take shape, steam powered machines roam the landscape, dirigibles and gliders slide across the skies, all at the beck and call of those few who have the talent to create them.  With this talent comes temptation.

This game is about a female protagonist who has just learned that her husband plans to release his inventions upon an unsuspecting world, and in some way she is the cause of it.  She stole one of the gliders from the dirigible they lived on and ran.  Why, how, and what she will do now is up to the players to determine.

How To Play

You and the other player each choose a role, one plays the protagonist, and the other plays her memories of her husband as a younger man.  Together you will explore the history of these two, and finally decide what happens next.  Will she change her mind and return to him?  Will she leave him behind after all? Or will she do something else entirely?

The game is broken up into four scenes.  Each scene has a premise, an influence for the protagonist, and an influence for the man.  A scene is played as follows:

1.Players take turns framing a scene that can lead to the given premise. If lacking agreement, the players should roll a die to determine who goes first.

2.The two players then act out the scene, describing their actions and talking in character.  Either player may describe the actions of other characters, making sure to keep these description out of character.  No “conflicts” occur here.  Once the players are satisfied that the premise is resolved cut to the next step.

3.The player of the memories gives a monologue describing his feelings as the protagonist might see them.  Remember, you are playing her memories of him, not him.

4.The player of the memories then rolls his influence for the scene and adds it to the total memory influence.

5.The woman gives a monologue describing how she felt at the time.

6.The player of the woman then rolls the dice for her influence and adds them to the total protagonist influence.

7.For the second, and third scene, the player who rolled more influence on this scene may choose an optional “sideline” scene from the list.  On a tie no sideline scene is played.  For sideline scenes the players switch roles, and act the scene out as normal, complete with monologues.  No dice are rolled.  If either player feels that they will be unable to reach the fourth scene based on the events in a sideline scene they should say so, and a different result should be worked out.

Once all of the scenes are resolved, the total influences are compared.  Whichever player has the higher influence describes how the story ends.  In the event of a tie the protagonist chooses an additional sideline scene to frame as a flashback.  Each player then rolls 1d6 more.  If the tie persists the protagonist narrates the story ending.

Some quick pointers to remember while playing...
* They really did love each other
* In his mind he is doing this “because of her.”
* She does not know what is happening until the fourth scene, and was not even hiding it from herself before the third scene. 

Standard Scenes
Premise / Man's Influence / Woman's Influence
The day we met / 3d6 / 1d6
The greatest day of our lives together / 2d6 / 1d6
The day I should have known what you were doing / 1d6 / 2d6
Today / 1d6 / 3d6


Sideline Scenes

Premise
The day I betrayed you
The thing that happened to me that made you decide to do it
The day I saved your life
The day our marriage began to fall apart
The day you wanted something from me I never thought I could give you
The day our child died
The day after my friend told me you were evil
The day you made your greatest discovery