It’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum… by playing All Outta Bubblegum!

Alright, last Monday of the month, and after that, this blog’s going into a special hiatus where I’ll only be focusing on major sessions that I have planned. As such, we’re gonna do a breather game in the form of All Outta Bubblegum.

If you haven’t been familiar with movies, allow me to educate you. In 1988, John Carpenter released a movie called They Live. It’s a movie about a guy who discovers that the world he lives in is a lie and that the rich-class civilians are really aliens undercover. You ever see that picture where a guy puts on the shades and sees that an advertisement really has the words OBEY on them? This film is where that came from, along with the infamous line “I’m here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of gum.”

The rules of the game are simple. You have 8 points in your stat called Bubblegum. You can do two kinds of actions. Kicking ass or not kicking ass. Like with Lasers and Feelings, these two actions differ in the fact that when you roll a die, one stat will have the range of success be above a certain number (in this case, Bubblegum) with the other being below. In this case, not kicking ass is the above and kicking ass is the below.

If you end up failing to not kick ass or get your ass kicked by someone else, you lose a point in Bubblegum. Eventually, you’ll end up without any Bubblegum for your non-asskicking actions. In short, you’ll be… you guessed it: Here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and you’re All Outta Gum.

A very clever concept for a one page RPG. Some people who play the RPG even suggest to hand out sticks of bubblegum to represent your Bubblegum stat, as it’s highly discouraged to write down the stat. However, Solo RPG Voyages operates differently. I don’t do an entire session in one sitting. I tend to just write up the process throughout several days to even weeks.

So I’ll write down the stat. As for an adventure, we’ll be using TOSS for the framework. The only things left to do is to figure out a concept for a character and find an Engine to run. I guess I’ll base the character (and situation) off of where the RPG got the premise from: aliens living among us and this character must stop them.

As for the Engine… Well, since we’re using a Conjecture Games product, it’d be sensible to use Conjecture Games’ Engine too. Now, first question.

[Q: Do I know that the aliens exist? Purpose: To Knowledge. A: 24. (Surge Counter: 1)]

Okay, so they know I exist and will be a major threat. If I don’t know they exist, I won’t know how they’ll deal with me. But ”how” am I a threat? Perhaps I know too much. With aliens being everywhere, I won’t know where danger will strike.

So, with that, I’ll say that this story takes place in a local diner. My character’s eating his burger when suddenly, the waiter who took my order came back with a phaser subtly hidden. I need to roll my not-kicking ass roll to make sure I see it.

[Roll: 7]

I see it and I will try my Kickass check to knock it out of his hands.

[Roll: 2]

In this case, I failed my roll. Now, if he rolls a 1, I can still survive this.

[Roll: 9]

Nope. So I lose a stick of Bubblegum and I am shot. I’m pretty sure everyone in the diner has seen this and are escaping. Meanwhile, I’ll sacrifice a stick of gum to knock the gun away. Sacrificing a stick means automatic success. With the gun knocked away, I will attempt to knock him in the face.

[Roll: 10]

Critical success. I punch his face in.

[Q: Does he get knocked out? A: 8, -2 from Surge to make it 6]

No, but it’s enough to stumble him for another attack.

[Roll: 5]

Sadly, five is not enough. He has to beat a five to kick my ass.

[Roll: 5]

And he ties it. I guess we go again.

[Roll: 1]

With that, I critically fail. I presume the alien takes me down and I am dead. You’d think this’d be the end of the session, right? WRONG! I’m also going with the “Going Psycho” framework that was suggested on Conjectural Games’ site. As the title suggests, things go downhill from here as people are called to investigate the murder. However, there’s no briefcase of money to be discussed in this scenario.

Just an alien trying to get away from the cops that have just been called because of the shootout at the diner. He gets eight sticks of gum and he’ll try to get away.

[Roll: 2]

He manages to sneak out of the diner, but now the cops are combing the streets. He’s gonna have to continue his stealthing.

[Roll: 1]

Oh yeah, he manages to get away from the scene of the crime and reintegrate with his alien peeps who are hanging at the bank.

[Q: Do they catch wind of the situation? Purpose: To Conflict. A: 29, Surge Counter: 1]

No. They don’t. He’s free to lay low. He’s also gonna subtly change his human form.

[Roll: 2]

And he does so. Even with the news hitting the airwaves of a murder happening, the police would be looking all over for the alien and not suspect that he has a new form. That’s… pretty much the end. I just finished the game with some lucky rolls. I was considering increasing the conflict by rolling up some chance encounter, but quite frankly, the alien ended up getting away with murder.

In fact…

[Roll: 7]

He manages to talk down some of his alien superiors by saying that he took out a witness to his alien presence and that by eluding the cops, he ensured the secret will stay hidden…

Then I realized that my character knocked the gun out of his hand. Oh crapbaskets. Well, the police now have their hands on it and they’ll have their top men on the ready.

[Q: Do we have alien infiltrators in the police force? Purpose: To Endings. A: 61, Surge making it 63, which increases the surge counter to 2]

Okay, we do, so that means the corrupt cops just throw the evidence away and give me the alien equivalent of a slap on the wrist. That’s… actually it. I gained victory… somewhat. I mean, my original character died, but my new character won out… Yeaaaaah, this is one weird session. Bon voyage, gamers.