Metalface: RPG drops you into the world of advanced technology, robotic warriors and corporate battles. You take on the role of any type of character you wish and sign up for missions and jobs from high paying profiles. The goal of the game is to have fun. A possible secondary goal of the game is to fulfill a character’s professional duties.
This site will make references to standard role playing terms and phrases. Whether you are an expert player or you are just learning the concept of role playing games right now, this section covers the basic terms that are used in this game.
The Guide
In most role-playing games, there is a player called a Game Master or Dungeon Master who controls the flow of the game. In Metalface, this player is called a guide.
The guide is a special player who does not control any one specific character. Instead, the guide’s task is to provide all the information and challenges that the character will encounter. This means that the guide will always know more about what’s going on than the character, but the guide must be responsible and use this information to help the player have fun.
Guides should be somewhat creative and able to explain things in easy to understand terms. Guides describe what is happening to the character and might give the player options on how to proceed. Although the guide has a better understanding of how problems in a mission should be solved, it is always up to the player to decide how to proceed. A good guide should know the game world and rules well enough to handle a few unexpected situations or character actions. A great guide should be able to modify the rules on the fly it so that he can run a character through an entire mission without ever saying, “You can’t do that” or “Let me look that up.”
Player Characters
Players take on the role of fictional characters and play the game as those characters. These are called Player Characters (otherwise known as PCs). PCs are obtained one of two ways; players either follow the process of creating an original character or choose a pre-generated character. Pre-generated characters have the advantage of being well tested and easily available however many players may prefer the ability to create an original character from scratch. Once a character is obtained, players use their characters to attempt paying missions or jobs. Players keep track of their character’s success and make decisions in order to advance their character. If they complete the mission objectives and fulfill their duties, they earn “Success points” which result in improved values. All of this is done with the help or supervision of the guide.
Supporting Characters
Characters that are unable to be controlled as a player character are called Non-Player Characters or NPCs in most role-playing games. However, in Metalface, these characters are called Supporting Characters.
The PC will most likely run into friends, enemies, or even the occasional bum off the street. Any character in a mission that is not controlled by a player is called supporting character. SCs often take the form of either the villains, leaders, important figures or neutral persons who can give helpful information. However, there are sometimes when a player may want to take some backup for a particularly hard mission. Or when a PC runs into long lost partners and a rare and temporary team is formed, a SC may join the game. If a SC needs to make decisions or actions, the guide takes control of them. But the guide must remember that the “stars” of the game are the PCs.
Game Session
When two or more players come together to play a game of Metalface, it is referred to as a game session. Most game sessions will last over an hour or two. This is normal even for a short mission. If players break up the sessions into shorter meetings, this is referred to as campaigns.
Character Sheet
Each character is represented by a character sheet. A character sheet holds vital information about a character including values, inventory, money, and other background information. A player should feel free to use the back of a character sheet for any additional information.