THERE's ART HERE SO GIVE THESE RULES A MOMENT TO LOAD
Panels was originally a game system I set up back in college to play in a comic book world. Over the years it's evolved and lost most of it's rules. There's a trick to it. I cooked up some very simple dice rules a little while ago, but mostly this game can be played "diceless" or, as it is more often called, "at the mercy of the guy running it." My friend John Williamson sometimes runs an alternative game using cards (or poker chips). In this version, whenever you want to have something happen to another player's character (or one the GM deems "important"), you just give them a card (or a chip or whatever.) You start out with four cards each. You never get any more than that. (By the way, creating a character in this game is called, get ready: making up an ORiGiN. See, I read lots of superhero comics.)
The trick to playing Panels lies in its name. Turns are called Panels, not just because it's cute, but because of the way they're handled. A turn basically consists of a player describing one Panel from a comic book which features their character. A player can describe anything imaginable happening in that Panel. As long as it follows semi-logically from the last Panel (whatever was described last turn) it happens. The thing is, you have to describe a picture -a moment frozen in time and captured in the sequential Panel of an imaginary comic book.
You have to say more than just "My character beats up the supervillain." You have to describe the scene, preferrably in detail but, if you love your friends, briefly. You might say "You see my character grimacing, muscles bulging, as he smacks the evil villain across the room." or "There's a WHA-FUMCH sound effect and my character is hunkered down, both fists extended, as the evil supervillain sails through the far wall in a cascade of electrical debris." or even "You see my character hitting the villain really hard." Any of those would do better than "I try and hit him. I'm using UltraMuscles Level VIII," at least, to my sensibilities.
When there is a disagreement about what happens in a Panel, it is never rescinded. Whatever the player described is still considered to have been drawn into that imaginary comic book. However, there may be consequences. That's where the dice actually come in (or, if you use John's method, giving the offended party a card in compensation.) They help assign consequences in a semi-fair way. See for yourself.
TOP,
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I just wanted to see how many people have looked at this since May, 2001:
I haven't looked at the CGI. It probably just counts if you hit the first page, so be kind and have a look at Yokeltania proper, please.
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