# So You Wanna Have A Bad Time…

If you’re reading this, you want to make a Bad Time Game. Great! But what is that?

Simply put, the Bad Time Game system is a d4-based system for creating RPGs where characters have a very bad time. In more technical terms, the core of the system is not to empower success but to encourage failure for the purposes of storytelling and player enjoyment. Inspired by the likes of Paranoia and Fiasco, it asks players to put aside what other games ask for (strong characterization, stat optimization, in-depth storytelling) and instead focus on having a collaborative experience that revolves around good-natured failure and its results.

# And Why Would I Want This?

There are a vast number of systems that play around with the empowerment of characters so they have an increasingly good time, but not enough that encourage characters having a bad time in a FUN way. Comedy in TTRPGs is typically coincidental rather than purposeful, or generated more so by player in-jokes than it is the actual mechanics of the game. Failure is a frustration, a setback that must be overcome, rather than something to be accepted and laughed about. Of course, that isn’t to say there aren’t great comedy TTRPGS out there - far from it! But part of making a Bad Time Game is about making games that cultivate and even encourage not only laughter, but a certain schadenfreude in players.

You might also be looking at a game that centers the d4, the ugly duckling of the dice world, as a means of distinguishing your game from the thousands of others that utilize its more distinguished sisters the d6 and d20.

Part of you might even want a roll-under system and the cultivation of failure as an acceptable part of play, with “failing forward” being the means of advancing - or not.

Whatever the case may be, you’ve come to the right place.

# Which Makes This…

An SRD - A System Reference Document and Design Guide. While the mechanics behind Bad Time Games are criminally simple, this document will provide a basis for why design decisions are the way they are, as well as potential ways in which you can mould or break them. Anything and everything is possible, so long as you remember one thing:

Whatever you do, you’re here to have a Bad Time, so the table can have a good time.

# What Makes A Character?

Characters in any Bad Time Game are made up of their Name, Appearance, Personality, and Stats. Seems shallow? That’s because it is, at least to start. It makes character creation very simple, allowing you to hit the ground running and also means you feel less guilty about your characters suffering. Of course, depending on who you have at your table, the single sentence descriptions can balloon and expand outwards.

The Stats are meant to be descriptive of what a character is like, expanding on their personality as well as the way they approach life. In End of the Line, you have 4 points to allocate across 5 statistics [Smart, Sexy, Subtle, Strong, and Snarky]. Those five terms help bring players into the mindset that they are not creating characters who have a lot of depth, and who will most likely go on to have untimely deaths. It also hammers home the fact that most of what they will try to do is going to fail miserably, as even with an even spread of points you’re likely to end up with

However, don’t take 4 points across 5 statistics as an ironclad rule! Make as many statistics as approaches you think players will take, and give them as many points as you think is fair (or unfair) for the game that they’re about to play. Trust me, they’re gonna need them.

# Bad Time Dice and Their Buddy Bad Time Mod

The core of the Bad Time Game is the Bad Time Dice and Bad Time Mod systems. The Bad Time Dice are a group of 4d4 rolled against a roll-under system. For each point a character has in the stat applicable to the action they want to undertake, they roll one less die. The aim is to roll a value of 7 or lower. Roll 8 or above, you fail your action and add +1 to the Bad Time Modified (a.k.a. Bad Time Mod). Roll 16 or above? Your character has a BAD TIME, which can mean any number of things. A magnificent failure. Being spotted cheating. Or, in the absolute worst case scenario, death.

And that is the gist of how the dice are. Currently.

Of course, this was designed to be rather punishing to the average player, particularly the implementation of the collective Bad Time Mod. It was not only designed to ensure that at least one death happens, it was also instituted to prevent what should be a snappy game from going on for longer than it has to. However, you may find it is too punishing for your game, and might want to give your players a better chance of success. There are ways to tune it down, such as having individual Bad Time Modifiers or playing around with success and failure thresholds, but what is important is that the Bad Time Dice ensure a Bad Time _for the characters._ Players should still be engaged and enjoying themselves. If they aren’t, then you need to try and course correct.

# Why the d4?

There are a few reasons that this system specifically runs on the d4. First, it’s an abandoned die. Lonely. Nobody really likes the d4. It exists, and is brought out reluctantly. It is the ugly sweater from a relative of dice. That’s why there is a very real opportunity here to transform it, to make it something you associate not only with irritation and reluctance but fear and fun in equal measure. You should groan in the same breath that you giggle, knowing what’s in store.

Secondly, it’s symbolic. 4 is a number associated with mathematical perfection of shapes… but is also associated with death. That is why using 4 d4s is the ultimate expression of a Bad Time. Think of it as a summoning ritual, the invoking of death and misfortune as channeled through the roll of the dice. After all, the minimum you can roll on 4 d4s is a 4. And when you hit that great and terrible 16, it’s your 4th 4. Death death death death. That last sentence made you shiver, roll your eyes, or laugh. None of these is a bad reaction.

In short - it is not a Bad Time Game if you are not using a d4 in your design. End of story.

# A Game Of Two Phases

Another core idea behind Bad Time Games is that they are always two phase games. In one Phase, you act in some fashion. In the other, you are reacting. Essentially, what happens in one phase is the instigator of whatever action you take in the second phase. Cause and Effect. Passive and Active. In End of the Line, the first Phase is more Passive in that various Survivors are simply attempting to navigate their lives, finding themselves met by possible death at every turn. The second Phase is your Active Phase where you get shit done, which means your players can finally take matters into their own hands by attaining goals necessary in order to win.

Your two phases should feel distinct enough that players and GMs are able to determine when the transition is appropriate while also being narratively tied together. You could have an active investigation, followed by a debriefing. You could have preparations for an event followed by the conducting of the event proper. You can have a momentous catastrophe, followed by recovery from its conditions. Each should feed into the other, so that you have a stable game loop for players to progress through.

Of course, the two phase structure is more of a recommendation. You could easily smash the phases together and create one mega-phase, or parcel the game out into several different phases, or avoid this back and forth altogether by creating points in time where your Bad Time Mod is reset. But the important thing is to keep that Third Law in mind.

What Third Law?

Why, the one that states that for every ACTION, there is an equal and opposite REACTION.

# Aftermaths

Listen. Sometimes, people die. Or get humiliated. Or are sucked into the vortex of space. It just happens, especially in games that tout themselves as providing Bad Times. But elimination sucks, which is why Bad Time Games should always have a mechanic for any player eliminated by the Bad Time Dice to stay and join in the fun. In End of the Line this mechanic manifests as Ghosts - players who have been eliminated from the game linger at the table to heckle, hinder, or help the living. This comes in the form of a once per phase ability to force a reroll, which is a small but powerful tool to change the game’s dynamic.

You can keep Ghosts as they are, or make them more or less impactful on play. Not every game will need Ghosts. Not every game will WANT Ghosts. But it is vitally important that players don’t spend too much time outside of the action, bored. A great game keeps folks engaged, and doesn’t force them to stay bored for a long time. And there’s nothing more boring than being killed and being told to sit in the corner with your character sheet and the remnants of your dreams.

# The Role of Death - Do We Need It?

Death, or the Boogeyman, or whatever your antagonizing force is called, is the role taken up by the Game Master. They are the ones who put forward the challenges that our Survivors must face, and inevitably the authors of their gruesome demise. It is Death who arbitrates and oversees decisionmaking in the game, after all. Who ensures that rules are followed, that order is observed.

But does the game need a Game Master?

Arguably, no. Death and all their antagonism can be taken up by the collective table, their role divided between fellow players who can put forward suggestions of how best to torment each other’s characters. After all, since the object of this game is not truly to overcome obstacles but to tell an engaging story and enjoy the downfall of one’s characters, there is no need for a truly fair neutral power. That being said, this sort of approach requires everyone to set very strict boundaries and maintain them with each other. Last thing you want is to feel like you’re ganging up on other players.

It’s a role that could even, in some respects, be simulated by an Oracle system or series of tables. A list of scenario prompts for the situations to overcome, which you respond to through audio or written journalling. Or scrapbooking. Or puppets. The point is that so long as players are responsible and imaginative.

However, I will say that there is something special about a specific player taking on the “antagonist’s” role. It means they lack the favoritism that those playing Survivors may have, and may be more willing to go HARD when it comes to making sure when folks die, they die.

Also, come on - who wouldn’t want the opportunity to call themselves capital D Death at the table?

# What Kind of Games Can I Make?

At this point most of you have probably arrived at this section thinking I’m going to mostly advocate for slapstick comedies or cathartic violence, right? And you’d be correct.This was a system whose first inspiration was Final Destination, which has both of those concepts as the bedrock upon which a franchise was formed. A “traditional” Bad Time Game, if you can say a game has a tradition, is a quick and dirty game for a bunch of laughs. It’s an improvisational palate cleanser style of game, something you can get through in a single session for a bundle of laughs.

Of course, you don’t have to stick to the horror movie conventions of End of the Line. Far from it! There are so many situations in which people can have a humorously bad time. Think about the second hand embarrassment of a romantic comedy, of the sheer slapstick of a Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton movie, or even a family dinner. A more technical name for the Bad Time Game system is Murphy’s Law: The SRD. Embrace the bad times, and embrace the chaos.

That being said, it’s not because I don’t think that the dice or game system can’t handle something outside of that specific niche. It’s because this is a system that encourages failure, and I care for the players at your table.

Failure can be humorous if intentional. But it can be frustrating, even demoralizing to see. A player seeking achievement is going to find themselves up against the wall if they feel that luck isn’t on their side, and that they are unable to progress due to sheer luck. With the way the Bad Time Dice are designed, you are intentionally creating an environment that encourages failure. Comedy and schadenfreude add levity to failure, so that players can abstract the failures from themselves rather than feeling that failure personally.

It doesn’t mean that you can’t go against the grain of humour and do a game that very much delves into dark and serious territory. But it does mean that you need to be far more careful about the intentionality of failure, to which I offer two potential game solutions:

1. An Intentional Descent - This is a journey about characters losing everything, and specifically playing to lose. Think about any given tragedy. It’s composed of heart ache after heartbreak, drop after drop filling a cup of sorrow till it overflows. You’ll be looking to steep yourself in drama and melodrama intentionally, coming out with a deeply flawed character… or not coming out at all.
2. A Recursive Game - AKA the Time Loop game. Some time ago, Justin Ford of Mothland Games wrote a blog post about the potential of a TTRPG where you repeat time again and again… and Ihappen to think the Bad Time Game system would be PERFECT for it. When hitting the threshold, you die… and then come back the next session with your information and some other benefits. Or detriments. From Happy Death Day to ERASED to All You Need Is Kill, it’s easy to see how ending in the hard reset of death allows you to begin again.

That being said, don’t limit yourself here. If you can find a good way to make characters have a bad time, put it to good use!

# Legal Bits and Final Words

I’ll be really honest with you - I don’t have this Creative Commons licensed or any of that. But it would be really cool if, rather than just copying this system wholesale without credit, you used the following text (or something similar when you make a Bad Time Game):

_This game/product was made using the Bad Time Game system. This product is in no way affiliated with Kyle Tam or Urania Games._

You can find a logo to slap onto your games designed by the Lone Archivist to proclaim the fact, too! That’s in the downloads section when you pick this SRD up. There are loads of different color variants, so use whichever one you’re feeling.

Honestly, the most important part of designing a Bad Time Game is to have fun designing it, and to make sure your players have fun playing it.

Just so long as the CHARACTERS have a bad time.