Valence2.pdf

valen C e

[vey-luhns] –noun

1. the quality that determines the number of atoms or groups

with which any single atom or group will unite chemically.

2. the capacity of one person or thing to react with or af-

fect another in some special way, as by attraction or the

facilitation of a function or activity.

Little Game Chef 2010 edition

where chemistry meets the dreamtime

keeps your attention focused in the shifting distractions of the Design, your atomic

body takes well-deserved holiday gliding in the troposhpere. You managed to shack up

with two sexy oyxgen molecules, digging their vibrations for the last few days. But now,

one of them is getting annoying and the other is losing interest. Fortunately, there is a

storm coming. That should shake things up…

but you know better. The atoms call the dream-like realm of imagination

where they really spend their time the Design, not that there is much order to it.

Still, any time atoms hook up in the real world, its only because something hap-

pened in the Design to make it so. But even the luctuating chaos of the Design

develops something of a status quo. At least until the lightning hits…

Introduction

In Valence , you play carbon atoms, subject to the rules

of chemistry and covalent bonds, but whose minds plot

and scheme in an anarchic dreamtime that actually con-

trols chemical reactions in reality.

What You’ll Need

•Some players (2-6 is probably best).

•No gamemaster.

•Some way of modeling simple molecular structures, such

as a Molymod kit . If you cannot ind such things, you

might be able to use toy building blocks, toothpicks and

Styrofoam balls, magnetic toys or some other replacement.

Failing that, pen and paper are still an option.

•Three decks of playing cards, keep the jokers. These decks

are referred to as the obstacle deck , the principal deck and

the adversary deck .

•Several dozen Post-it® Arrow Flags or other small tags that

you can both write on and move around on the molecular

models. Color doesn’t matter for these tags, so using all

one color is usually best. Make sure your tags are of a size

that it (and actually stick to) your molecular models.

•A stack of standard 3’x3’ Post-it® notes, a few of each

color, in as many colors as there are players.

•One session tracking sheet (included below).

•A character sheet for each player (included below).

•Rarely encountered alone, atoms are usually confronted

grouped into molecules . You will be as well. In a complete

molecule, all available bonding sites are occupied.

•A realm of no physical laws or constraints, the Design is

where the story happens.

•All molecules have Will , used to change the Design and

other molecules.

•Every molecule is represented by a form in the Design. Any

time the molecule you are in changes, so does your form.

•All atoms belong to a faction . Usually, atoms will only

bond to atoms of the same faction, but you carbon atoms

have ways around this. You can also belong to more than

one faction.

•All factions have taboos . Violate these and it is harder

enforce your will.

•Everything in the Design holds personality traits called

properties , and these help shape the story. They can also

be passed around, even inlicted on others.

•Conlicts are resolved with a test , fed by narration, proper-

ties and cards.

•The victor of a test controls an outcome in the atomic

reality. This can mean forcing a chemical reaction and rear-

ranging molecules, transferring properties to a molecule or

ditching one its own, even altering factions of molecules.

•PCs can convert or capture molecules that might be re-

called to help them later.

•Partially formed molecules (that is, those with available

bonding sites) are called ions , and are at a distinct disad-

vantage in the Design, fairing poorly in tests.

•Sometimes the structure of a molecule is special and gen-

erates speciic game effects. (Ions are one example of this.

The noble gasses are another.)

• Lightning breaks molecules apart and rebuilds them. At the

same time, every lightning strike causes radical changes to

the Design. The game always begins with a lightning strike.

Strikes may also occur in play.

Order of play

A session of Valence begins with a formal setup phase,

where the group decides on particular aspects of the

story they will be telling. Then they make characters.

Next comes a lightning round, when a lightning strike

remakes molecules and sets up the player’s opening

structure.

Play then proceeds in rounds, the story focussing on

one player at a time, but involving all players in each

round. Lightning strikes may force another lightning

round. Play continues until you run out of time, when

each player helps narrate an ending.

Setup

Preparation for Valence is typically done on the spot,

as a group, without any premeditation. A single session

sheet tracks information determined in the setup. The

next page shows an example of how the setup can turn

out, with a bit more detail of how it is done. Follow

these steps (feel free to alter the order if that works bet-

ter for you):

•Gather the materials in the “What You’ll Need” section.

•Determine the tone . This is a property that everything will

be able to use throughout the session, and forms a theme

or undercurrent to the session.

•Determine the disruption . When the lightning strikes, it

causes a big change to the Design in the vicinity of the

players. What is that change? How does that change con-

tribute to the tone?

•Determine the factions . These are loose organizations

within the Design, with their own agendas and foibles.

Typically, there will be as many factions as there are players.

Add to or subtract from this if it feels right. You might try

having each player pitch a faction, or come up with them

all collectively, or any other method.

•Shufle the obstacle deck. This is shufled only once in the

session (although if it runs dry, reshufle the discards).

Concepts

During the course of a game, you are going to have to

deal with:

•The notion of valence , a trait of atoms that dictates how

many “connections” they can make to other atoms. In most

molecular model kits, valence is represented by the number

of holes in the atom.

•Other atoms , limited to hydrogen (valence 1), oxygen (va-

lence 2), nitrogen (valence 3) and the noble gasses (valence

0). Only PCs play carbon atoms (valence 4).

H umans may think that atoms drift aimlessly, one random interaction at a time,

C arbon atoms like you rarely recreate, at least not here in reality. While your mind

In this session, the players

came up with the disrup-

tion irst, giving a visual

that helped develop the

rest.

Players decided that disruption of the starish would have a “sky is falling” effect on the

locals, prompting them to go to ridiculous lengths to get what they wanted. They chose

“desperation” to represent this idea.

Tone: Desperation

Disruption: A large section of the local resort/spa replaced by a gigantic starish, which

starts to slowly move away, crushing all in its path.

Factions:

The name of a faction can

provide guidance on how to

play its members. Some of

these examples succeed bet-

ter than others.

These colored squares are

Post-it® notes, each one

representing a faction. Each

faction has its own color

of note.

Pheema

Agenda: Must clean up

the mess left in the

starish’s wake, following

procedures to the letter.

Taboo: Must make up

and quote obtuse rules

and regulations to justify

any action.

Roquefort Revolution

Agenda: Use the calamity

to launch “the Revolu-

tion”.

Taboo: Must speak in a

bad French accent, pep-

pering speech with high

school French and oc-

casional cheese-related

puns.

The Grass Court

Agenda: Under no cir-

cumstances will the

starish be allowed to

interrupt the King’s tennis

tournament.

Taboo: Must speak in

the voice ethnic comedi-

ans use to mock white

people.

Remember that the Design

is a dream-like realm, so

the laws of reality don’t

necessarily apply.

The agendas of these

factions are all reactions

to the disruption, though

this doesn’t have to be the

case.

Starish Kisses

Agenda: Having melded

with the spa, the star-

ish will clearly secrete a

superior lip balm. Acquire

it at all costs.

Taboo: In conversation,

must gesticulate in an

overly dramatic fashion.

When designing factions,

keep in mind that it is

possible for PCs to have

multiple taboos at once. A

PC who inds themselves in

both of these factions is in

for a challenging time.

When designing factions, keep in mind

taboos need to be followed not only

by the characters, but by their players

as well. So try to make the taboos

something that the player can do at

the table.

Choosing Properties

Properties are always single word adjectives. The adjective should be such that you

can easily imagine some group, somewhere, who consider it an undesirable person-

ality trait (even if you do not). A property will be even better if you can also easily

imagine some group, somewhere, who consider it an ideal personality trait, though

this is not required. “Sober”, for example, works like this, as some elevate it as mean-

ing responsible and level-headed, while others might deride it as meaning square and

uncreative. If you can’t think of words that go both ways, lean towards undesirable.

Character creation

Each PC is both a carbon atom in reality and a presence

in the Design. At this point, every player needs to decide

the following for their character:

•A name

•A property that the character may always use. This is the

characters deining characteristic

•The faction that initially claims the character’s allegiance.

Characters must obey the taboos of all the factions to

which they belong.

•A property associated with the character’s initial faction.

This property can get used as long as the character remains

loyal to the faction.

•You do not specify your form in the Design. You will do

this once you have constructed your initial molecule.

All PCs have a Will score, measuring their inlu-

ence over other atoms and how well they resist

the inluence of others. This will luctuate during

the game, though can never be higher than 10 or

lower than one. All PCs start with a score of four.

This player is using a Post-it® arrow to track the

character’s Will.

Lightning Round

When lightning strikes, chaos ensues. Atoms are scat-

tered and molecules rebuilt. Lightning strikes at the start

of the game, and any time a joker is drawn from the

obstacle deck.

At the start of the game

For each player, place two hydrogen atoms and one

oxygen atom in a pile at the center of the table. Fill in

the bonds for the atoms with sticks, but do not connect

the atoms to each other. (You want loose atoms with

bonding sites ready to go.)

Every player is given a single carbon atom. This atom

represents their character, and forms the rough center of

the molecule about to be constructed.

Whoever inished illing out their character sheet irst

signals the start of the lighting round by saying “boom!”

(with or without warning). At this point, all players begin

a mad grab for atoms to connect to their carbon atom

in order to build their starting molecule. Almost anything

goes during the mad grab, however:

•Players can only grab one atom at a time. The atom must

be connected (though not necessarily fully) to the starting

molecule before the player can grab another atom.

•During the grab, players cannot break bonds they previously

made. Addition only.

•No player can touch another with their hands or arms.

•Any other agreed upon restrictions.

•The mad grab ends when all the atoms on the table have

been taken, or no one wants to take any more.

Once the grab ends, if a player’s molecule has any open

bonding points, that molecule is ionized , which puts it

at a disadvantage in the round that follows.

Tip: if you are not sure what type of molecule to build,

shoot for either methane (CH 3 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) or

formaldehyde (CH 2 O).

During the game

Should lightning strike during the game, the process is

the same except that the atoms come from molecules al-

ready in play. All player molecules are dissembled. Players

keep their carbon atom, but the rest are put into a pile

in the center of the table. Additionally, each player must

sacriice one convert (if they have any), and its atoms are

placed in the center as well. All atoms have bonds placed

The character’s form will likely change

fairly often in the luid realm of the

Design. This space may help track this,

or you can just keep it in your head.

No matter what might happen to Jos, his player

wants him to always be a little clueless. So, she

makes his primary property “oblivious”.

Some atoms in the design change names almost as

often as they change bodies. Some never do.

Name: Jos Bleau

Form:

Will: ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪ ⚪

Property: oblivious

Model:

Converts:

PCs will be mov-

ing in and out

of the factions

as the game

continues. Each

time they gain a

new faction, they

put a Post-it® of

the faction’s color

in this space, and

deine a property

that holds as long

as they remain

in the faction.

When they leave a

faction, the note

(and the property)

is discarded.

Place the character’s current

molecular model in this space. If

not using models, you could also

draw the structure in here.

PCs may convert

opposition they meet,

who they can then

recall to help them

later. Such converts

are held in this space.

Faction(s):

Roquefort Revolution

lamboyant

Speaking bad French really appeals to this player, so she will embrace the

revolution, at least for a while. To it in, she shoots for behavior as outrageous

as the accent, so chooses “lamboyant” as her faction property.

in them (as in the start of the game) and any property

lags are removed.

The player on whose turn the joker was drawn signals

the start of the mad grab.

At the end of the lightning round, the group needs to

decide how the lightning strike appears in the Design,

and how it disrupts the status quo. The disruption sec-

tion of the session sheet should be updated with this

new reality.

Any faction that does not currently claim a player as

a member dissolves. It’s note color is assigned to a new

faction the group should create. Additional factions may

be created if desired.

Existing factions can be replaced as well, as long as

all current members agree. Current members keep the

faction note on their sheet, and automatically become

members of whatever faction replaced the old one,

whether they like it or not.

The agendas of all factions should be examined and, if

necessary, updated to relect the new disruption.

outcome of the round; however, throughout the round,

a process feeds into a inal test that determines how

much the principal had to compromise her integrity (and

molecular structure) to get what she wanted.

The following outlines basic play:

•The principal declares a goal

•By drawing a card and using their own narration, the ad-

versary and secondaries deine the obstacle.

•The principal and adversary decks are shufled. Initial hands

are drawn for the principal and the adversary.

•The adversary declares the obstacle’s mechanical objective,

paying cards from his hand if necessary.

•The principal declares her character’s mechanical objective,

paying cards from her hand if necessary.

•Taboos activate.

•The principal and adversary engage in back and forth nar-

ration to a satisfactory conclusion to the scene. Secondaries

both pitch in ideas and keep an eye out for speciic actions

from the principal and adversary that would alter their card

counts.

•A test compares the hands of the principal and adversary.

•The mechanical objective of the victor occurs.

•The narrative goal of the player occurs, with the test’s vic-

tor narrating how the mechanical objective came into play.

Principal declares goal

The principal reminds the table of her character’s cur-

rent form, and what the character is trying to accomplish

during this scene. This declaration must include some

explanation of how this goal furthers the agenda of at

least one of the character’s current factions. Usually, it

will imply the scene’s “set” as well. The principal should

state the declaration as if nothing opposed the character

at all.

...but unfortunately...

Naturally, it won’t be that easy. An obstacle stands in

the principal’s way. The adversary draws a card from the

obstacle deck , and compares it to the table below. This

deines a molecule the principal encounters in reality, the

basis for the obstacle. The adversary and the secondaries

Standard Play

Each scene of action in the Design depends on a stan-

dard round of play. Each round spotlights a single player

and rounds proceed in order around the table.

Determine which player takes the irst turn after the

lightning round. By default, this is the player who built

the molecule containing the most atoms, but you can

igure this out by some other method as well.

Rounds can get complicated, so this section will irst

detail a basic scene (one PC in conlict with one NPC

adversary) step by step. Later sections will address varia-

tions to the norm.

2-7♠ H 2

hydrogen gas

Property : impulsive

Will : face value

2-3♣

Rec all (any)

4-9♣ H 2 0

water

H H

Property : indolent

Will : face value

8-10♠

Recall (hyrdogen)

10♣

Rec all (any)

H H

J-Q♠ N 2 H 4

hydrazine

Property : critical

Will : 7

J-Q♣

H 2 O 2

hydrogen

peroxide

Property : harried

Will : 7

K♠ He

helium

Structure : noble

Will : 10

K♣ Ar

argon

Structure : noble

Will : 10

A♠ H +

hydrogen ion

Structure : ion

Will : 2

H •

A♣ OH -

hydroxide ion

O •

Structure : ion

Will : 2

2 ♥

Recal l (oxygen)

A Basic Round

All players have a job to do in all rounds. At the start of

the round, igure out who is doing what. Roles are:

•The principal : the player whose turn it is.

•The adversary : the player across from the principal, who

has special duties in controlling the obstacle.

•The secondaries : all other players, who help deine the

obstacle and administer the conlict.

The structure of the basic round puts the principal

against an obstacle . The principal, rifing off the adver-

sary and other players, ultimately controls the narrative

3-8 ♥ O 2

oxygen gas

Property : libidinous

Will : face value

2-4 ♦

Recal l (nitrogen)

5-10 ♦ N 2

nitrogen gas

Property : pretentious

Will : face value

9-10 ♥

Reca ll (oxygen)

J-Q ♥ O 3

ozone

O O

Property: intense

Will : 7

J-Q ♦ NH 3

ammonia

Property : noxious

Will : 7

H H H

K ♥ Xe

xenon

Structure : noble

Will : 10

K ♦ Ne

Neon

Structure : noble

Will : 10

A ♥ O -2

oxygen ion

Structure : ion

Will : 2

• O •

A ♦ NO 2 -

Nitrite ion

Structure : ion

Will : 2

Joker

Li ghtning

O O•

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