Tips for the Game Master
Table of contents
As you may have noticed, Paper Story is designed to act the way you'd expect the original games to – at least as far as combat goes. I've tried to include as many fun ideas as possible, and keep closely to the original spirit of Paper Mario.
Your players are bound to have all sorts of crazy ideas, either to solve problems in inventive new ways, to skirt around the limitations of their Techniques or to play wacky species not covered here.
I strongly recommend you work together with them on that, to the extent that your game is comfortable with it.
The Items, Species, Techniques and Traits presented in this book are just a starting point. Don't be afraid to draft new content for your players, or design Techniques by hand. Creating an imaginative solution that suits your game and your players will always be better than forcing players into a mould they're not interested in.
The rest of this book is devoted to resources for you to use at your own table, and suggestions for how to tweak the provided rules for your players.
I hope this helps you to wrap your head around the game. Thanks again for reading. These are very special games, and I hope you enjoy translating them to your tabletop.
NPC Inaction
A critical distinction between Paper Story and other systems you might have played is that Non-Player Characters (NPC's) don't follow any pre-defined rules – they just kind of work.
NPC's only have very basic stats – HP and Defense is usually the only thing you need to consider, as well as how they attack the players (if they do).
Essentially, NPC actions automatically succeed, and the players are the ones that have to respond to those actions. They represent the flow of the narrative for your game, so you just have to direct them as you see fit.
They don't make attack checks, they don't contest player's actions, and they don't waste your time.
In a combat scenario, all you need for an NPC is to track their key stats and the outcome of their attacks – which is usually just the number of strikes, the damage dealt and any Statuses they can dish out.
You can give them FP, too, if you want the players to wear them down over time; usually though I'd recommend just spacing out their best attacks by a turn or two. If their FP total comes up (such as through a Point Swap), it's rare enough that it's easier to just come up with something on the fly.
By design, all of this is simple enough to mock up on the spot, but it can be really helpful to look at how the games have used enemies in battles and build off of that.
If an NPC really poses a challenge (out-swimming a Cheep Cheep, or Bullying a mighty dragon), your players still make their rolls as normal, but you might want to warn them they'll need more Grades of Success. Boss fights in particular can get away with some resistance to Statuses.
If you're not familiar with this style of play it can take some getting used to – I highly recommend Dungeon World and other Powered By The Apocalypse systems if you're interested in seeing that concept taken further, as it was a big inspiration for this system.
NPC Action
Of course, if you prefer you can crunch out NPC stat blocks, giving them skills and techniques like a player would have. In this case you would either have their skills set the target number of Grades of Success players need to succeed, or have them actively oppose the players with rolls of their own.
The important thing to remember is this will make the players' lives a lot harder, as all of their actions will take more effort and the outcomes will be less certain. So it's important to be clear with your players if you take this option.
Star Power Techniques
In a long-form campaign, players may acquire certain powers that rely on Star Power to function, from artifacts, powerful beings or whatever else fits within your campaign. With these boons comes an increase in maximum SP, improving SP limits by 10 with each ability.
In the context of Paper Story, these are basically just Techniques which cost SP instead of FP, as defined by the GM. As these are more potent than regular Techniques and run on a less reliable power source, GM's are encouraged to set SP costs as they see fit, and homebrew effects as necessary.
Some examples are provided below based on the existing games, to be taken as suggestions only. Traits used are provided as a reference, showing how they could potentially be designed as Techniques, and the relative power level when translated into FP.
Simple rolls are generally assumed to succeed, however for debilitating Statuses and other effects where variance is useful, feel free to request relevant checks. Magic, Bully, Cheer and Perform are all useful skills to call in these circumstances, though that will vary based on the Technique and source of their power.
Equivalent FP costs assume the Technique operates at 1 Power and automatically achieve their full potential.
When used in-game it's recommended that these Techniques don't rely on the user's Power or Attack; usually, they just have set damage values.
Keep in mind these are rough estimates, as many Star Power Techniques don't fit neatly into Paper Story's mechanics – generally, it's better for the GM to design Star Power Techniques from scratch, working as they see fit.
Refresh
Eldstar10 SP
Restore all allies' HP and FP by 5, and cures all status conditions. Affects the user, too.
Allies, Hearty x3, Flowery x3, Dismiss, Harmless
Equivalent: 11 FP
Lullaby
Mamar10 SP
Attempts to put all targets outside the user's group to sleep, Dazing them.
The user makes a Magic or Cheer check; for each Grade of Success, targets are Dazed (5) for 1 turn, to a maximum of 5 turns.
All, Safe, Daze x5, Harmless
Equivalent: 7 FP
Star Storm
Skolar20 SP
Deals 7 Piercing Star DMG to all targets outside the user's group.
All, Safe, Strong x3, Piercing, Element (Star)
Equivalent: 15 FP
Chill Out
Muskular20 SP
Reduces the Attack of all targets outside the user's group by -3, for 3 turns.
All, Safe, Weaken (Attack) x3, Harmless
Equivalent: 7 FP
Smooch
Misstar30 SP
Restores the user's HP by 20.
Hearty x10, Harmless, Self
Equivalent: 6 FP
Time Out
Klevar20 SP
Attempts to freeze all targets outside the user's group in time, Stunning them at Status Level 5.
The user makes a Magic or Cheer check; for each Grade of Success, targets are completely Stunned (6) for a turn, to a maximum of 5 turns.
All, Safe, Stun x5 (Stronger Variant), Harmless
Equivalent: 12 FP
Up & Away
Kalmar20 SP
Attempts to remove all targets outside the user's group from battle, sending them to the stars.
The user makes a Magic or Cheer check; for each Grade of Success, they can remove a target with 5 HP or less from the battle.
Multiple Grades of Success can be bundled together to remove targets with more than 5 HP.
e.g. Two Grades of Success could remove two targets with 5 HP, or one target with 10 HP. All, Safe, Custom Banish Effect, Harmless
Equivalent: ? FP
Star Beam
Star Haven10 SP
The user can remove all positive conditions (e.g. Boost, Counter, Secure) and magic effects (e.g. Invisibility, Flight) from all combatants in the target group.
Group, Harmless, Dismiss
Equivalent: 3 FP
Simplified Rules
While the core rules for skill checks and Grades of Success are meant to be lightweight, you might find the depth of options presented for Species and Techniques to be overwhelming.
That's okay! These are just meant to be a starting point for players. If you'd prefer to take things back a step, and your table is okay with it, you can break these down into simpler concepts for them.
- To make a Simple Species, give them +2 to their Stats (in any combination), and 3 relevant Skill Specialisations.
They start play with 1 Power and 0 Defense.
That's all you need for a playable species with its own distinct flair, but if you want to go further, their qualities can be summed up as Quirks.- Quirks can be Big or Small, and either Positive or Negative.
Big Quirks are twice as valuable as Small Quirks; think of Small Quirks as +/- 1, and Big Quirks as +/- 2. The final species should have a total Quirk value of (roughly) 0. - Big Quirks impact important stats like Power or Defense, or provide significant advantages, like Immunity or Weakness to certain attacks.
- Small Quirks are more situational advantages and flaws, like points in Resistance, Flight or the Aquatic Trait.
- Quirks can be Big or Small, and either Positive or Negative.
- To make a Simple Technique, start from a simple damage-dealing attack using Coordination. It deals up to the character's Power in damage with no successes, and up to twice that with a Nice result.
To expand on that, you can summarise all of a Technique's effects as Quirks.- Like with Species, Quirks can be Big or Small, and either Positive or Negative.
Big Quirks are twice as valuable as Small Quirks; think of Small Quirks as +/- 1, and Big Quirks as +/- 2.
The final FP cost of the Technique should be about 2 less than its total Quirk value, but players should work with the GM to find a value that's right for their Technique. - Big Quirks represent the bulk of the action, like a Status you want to inflict, the Technique's targets, the required Grades, extra damage you want to deal, or (as a negative) even the inability to deal damage.
- Small Quirks represent the little things, like requirements to use the Technique, the type of damage it deals or the HP it recovers.
- Like with Species, Quirks can be Big or Small, and either Positive or Negative.
Keep in mind though that these simplified systems aren't balanced the same way as regular Species or Techniques, so it's recommended to only use them sparingly. You shouldn't need more than a few Quirks for anything.
Travel Time
Generally, navigating around the world can be handled on a scene-by-scene basis, with the GM describing the players' surroundings and the players asking clarifying questions or making actions to engage with the world.
However, sometimes you want to move the exploration along a bit, or have the players carry out some exciting acrobatic feats deserving of a Mario game.
These rules can be used to quickly navigate an area, abstracting a dungeon, "level" or other explorable area into a couple of rolls.
Make sure you still describe their actions and the area they're exploring!
Otherwise it's easy to feel like you're just making dice rolls.
- All players make an Athletics check (or otherwise appropriate skill) on their own, representing their general ability to navigate the terrain.
- With enough Grades of Success, they can make it through without difficulty. The exact amount needed would vary depending on the area they're exploring, but usually a Great result is a good start.
- If players fail this check, they suffer some kind of complication; but ultimately, they should still make progress.
- Depending on the area they're in and the pacing of the game, you might want to make this something small (like some damage, or dropping some Coins), but occasionally a big distraction can be fun – just keep in mind that anything too big is going to detract from the players that did succeed.
- Usually this should require the players make another skill check (e.g. Steady to resist some hazard), make a choice, or engage in battle. Although if they almost succeeded, or it's only a minor complication, it's fine to just describe it and move along.
- If players succeeded earlier, they can optionally make another check for some kind of reward, or to help players who are struggling.
- This can be up to the player, but usually as the GM you'll want to present them with a choice between two things to do, or two routes they can go down.
- The easiest thing to ask for here is a Notice check, giving players a chance to find Items or Coins. This is a good way to get small things to players that they might not have otherwise considered, like Mushrooms or crafting materials.
- Another fun option can be Perform, giving players a chance to revel in their athleticism. This is basically an Appeal for SP.
- Alternate, more difficult, paths could use Athletics, Coordination or Steady to traverse safely. These paths can lead to more rewards, bypass some enemies, or get to the end faster.
Usually, that's enough to get through an area. But if players are lagging behind, or the area is particularly long or dangerous, you can consider asking for another check to navigate the area.
Partner System
As an alternative to standard Paper Story, you may want to create a diverse cast of partners to assist one major character, much like in the N64 original.
This may better suit a campaign where players control a variety of characters, or where many players may drop in and out, centred around one main figure.
In the Partner System, in addition to ordinary characters (like Mario), there are simplified partner characters.
Whenever a partner takes any amount of damage from an enemy, they act as if KO'd and sit out of the fight; unlike ordinary status effects, this cannot be reduced by Steady.
Instead, at the start of each turn they restore 1 HP, and become active again when they're fully healed.
If for whatever reason a partner takes enough damage to reduce their HP to 0, then as normal, they are rendered completely inactive, can't take any further actions and don't passively heal.
Partners can't be attacked while in this state, though they may still take damage through other effects.
While in this state, partners can take certain actions to help them recover faster. This still counts as their action for the turn.
- Using Items on themselves.
- Making Heal checks on themselves.
- Getting a Second Wind with their SP.
Under this system, a number of Badges change when used by partners, as noted on the following page.
This system works well for a large number of partners, which may make things take longer and unbalance games. If this is a concern, you may want to restrict combat actions to one partner at a time (as in the games), or have a large group of partners in a loosely assembled formation behind their leader.
In any case, it's not as flexible as standard play, and is only recommended for games focused on a central protagonist.
Power Rush
BadgeAttackPartner Behavior
• 1 BP
• 50 Coins
While suffering from damage, and for the next turn after recovering from damage, you have +2 Attack.
Mega Rush
BadgeAttackPartner Behavior
While you have only 1 HP, and for the next turn after recovering from damage that reduced you to 1 HP, you have +5 Attack.
HP Drain
BadgeAttackPartner Behavior
-1 Attack.
When your attacks deal damage, you can restore 1 HP for yourself or an ally.
Last Stand
BadgeDefensePartner Behavior
You can still act until you lose 6 or more HP.
Close Call
BadgeDefensePartner Behavior
While suffering from damage, you can attempt to Dodge before you Block, and you have +1d6 to Dodge checks.
Heart Finder
BadgeBoonPartner Behavior
When an ally takes damage, you can make a Heal check targeting them as a free action.
True and Honest Paper Mario
Paper Story adds a lot of options that aren't covered in the original games.
And you might feel some kind of way about that. That's fair! Sometimes I feel like elements are a bit too much, too.
But the important thing is that you can pick and choose what works for you and your group. Whether that's some of the new Badges, the Power-Up system or entire Technique Traits, feel free to split off the parts that you don't want to deal with.
Always remember; the GM gets the final say.
Darker and Edgier
Sometimes you want to take the kid's gloves off, and delve into some darker themes. It's a vibe that doesn't really align with the Mario world, so it's largely absent from Paper Story, but it's a fair enough thought process.
The original games certainly dance a thin line here; death and other adult themes are certainly present in this world, if not a focal point, and sometimes you need to highlight the danger your players are in.
Sometimes, being KO'd in the field of battle is a very real possibility – you should make sure players understand the risks, and try not to be too flippant with it. It's probably okay for a lengthy poison to drain someone's life away, or a particularly devastating attack to end their game – not so much a Goomba's headbonk.
Even in these cases, it's best not to be too graphic, and let players form their own mental pictures to the level they're comfortable with. It's enough to explain that the dragon has eaten someone whole – you don't need to go into grisly detail about how it's playing out.
And of course, the most important thing is to set the expectation with your players. As long as everyone knows what they're signing up for, it can providea different kind of fun.