Against the Unknown revised

Based on feedback from the gaming public, not to mention spurred by a desire to improve the layout, Against the Unknown is now available in a newer, better PDF form.

The new PDF is already online at RPGNow and its sister sites - if you already got a copy from there, the updated file will automatically appear in your online library for download.
If not, why not get it now?

Mutant Chronicles: a partial Whitestar filmography

Stalker (1979) - this goes without saying, right?
Dersu Uzala (1975)
On the Beach (1959/2000)
Monsters (2010)
The Last Train (TV, 1999)
Mad Max trilogy (1979/1981/1985)
Le dernier combat (1983)
The Book of Eli (2010)
Solarbabies (1986) - don't actually watch this
Zombieland (2009)
Le temps du loup (2003)
Waterworld (1995)

Online procedural resolution for DramaSystem

I recently finished a successful online DramaSystem game that we played by forum posts over the course of a year. 

As fun as it was, we quickly discovered that the back-and-forth of DramaSystem's procedural resolution mechanic was unwieldy in asynchronous play and slowed things down an awful lot. 

With that experience in mind, I've drafted the following adaptation for play-by-post games. It is untried in this form, though it draws on accommodations we made in actual play. 

The GM and players have red, yellow and green procedural tokens as usual. 

Players may only make scene-level moves. That is, their actions must aim at resolving the scene in its entirety. No small preparatory moves like "I peek around the corner to get a better look."

PCs in a procedural scene may have the same or different goals. 

If your PC is present in the scene, you must spend a token. 

If your PC is not present, you may aid those present with a green token if you have one. 

The GM does not conceal what tokens they have remaining. 

Steps: 

1) Declare your goal, and the attendant danger. 

2) The GM says which token they are spending and which ability is appropriate to the task. 

3) Spend your token and then add up the numbers from your token, your ability and the GM's token, as follows: 

+1.................0.........................-1

Green ........Yellow................Red -- Player token

Red ...........Yellow...............Green - GM token

Strong.......Middling..............Weak - PC ability

4) Narrate the outcome as follows: 

Total is +1 or more -- You succeed in your goal and the danger does not come to pass. 

Total is 0 -- You succeed but the danger comes to pass. 

Total is -1 or less -- You fail and the danger comes to pass.