A Trickster RPG

**** Here be dragons *****

This is not play tested, this is the draughtiest draft. Some possible changes I am considering would be inclusion of scoring systems that demonstrate that proximity will remove people from positive social experiences with others, from work that fulfills and adds to people’s lives, and perhaps other relocations of harm that have an impact on the closest people.

In a lovely community on a river, where people lived in relative harmony through shared work and distributing the burden of care, there was one person who always seemed to be addled in confusion.

This person was brought up in this village, held all of the teachings and skills as the others, but when it came time for work, somehow they could not recall how to proceed, or if they did, it was with such difficulty and clumsiness that they seemed incapable.

When the fishing nets tore, this person could not mend them. When the fire went low, they could not remember how to feed it. When food was being made, they claimed they didn’t have the skill to cut, chop, braise, boil, roast or do any of the work required to create a meal.

They were so gentle in this confusion. So often it came with a shrug and a soft voice: “I am so sorry, I just am not good at this.”

And so others learned to hold more vigilance, do more to watch the nets, the fire, cook, clean, and hold all the work before anything failed. They learned to arrive early and leave late. They learned to carry what this person would always drop.

Nanaboozhoo came through the village wearing a crooked grin.

Nanaboozhoo watched who rested and who rushed. Nanaboozhoo decided to sit in the village and play a game to reveal more than what met the eye of the villagers.

This is a playable parable for 4-6 players – a story that speaks to patterns and behaviours. It is a repeatable scenario and can be used as entertainment, or as a training tool to create awareness and understanding of weaponized incompetence.

You will need:

• A d6 dice
• Pencils and erasers for everyone
• A piece of paper for everyone
• A piece of paper for game tracking

Weaponized incompetence is not clumsiness. It is when the use of incompetence becomes a shelter from participation and responsibility. It is a manipulative tactic that creates unequal work and strong resentments.

The roles

The Burdened (1–4 players) – These are the people who notice the work, who step up and do what needs to be done. They work to prevent collapse of any task.

The Avoidant (Single player) – This is the person who weaponizes incompetence. They forget, they fumble, they avoid performing work.

The Trickster (Single Player) – The Trickster can change some of the conditions, they can name what is happening. But they cannot fix the problem for any of the players.

The person to the right of the of The Avoidant plays first and turns move clockwise.

Task Track

Tasks are chosen by the group and always threaten collective harm if ignored. The name of the task is written on the character sheet, and the group breaks down the aspects of completing the task into up to six Steps (in the boxes in the task section). If playing with more than 4, each step must be completed by 2 players. The tasks can be played as rounds in the game.

Examples of tasks, and broken down steps:

• Food is obtained – it must be cooked, processed, stored, cleaned up, distributed, put away in pantry
• Shelter is broken – we to gather tools, gather materials, prepare materials, prepare area, fix the structure, clean up

Steps can only be crossed off by reaching a condition of Complete. When all Steps in each Task are complete, the Task is considered Finished (all steps crossed out).

To complete a step:

Completion of step is determined by rolling a D6. If the step is determine Complete, it is crossed off all player sheets. If a step must be completed by two players, each player rolls in sequence to determine completion.

1-3 Complete

4-6 Incomplete

When the step is Incomplete, the Avoidant takes a turn before the next Burdened player. With a D6 they will determine one of the following for the specific Incomplete Step:

1 – Ignores the step – the step is issued to the next player

2 – Claims lack of skill – step is issued by Trickster to someone else

3 – Half Finished – step is passed to next player

4 – Clumsiness – step is issued by Trickster to someone else

5 – Claims lack of knowledge – step is passed to next player

6- Completes the step – step can be crossed off – the Avoidant completed the step

The Avoidant never completes a step on their own turn in the clockwise turn-taking. They can choose the excuse they wish to use for why.

The Avoidant will keep track of which steps they have avoided, and how many times (indicating with numbers next to the steps).

Burden Track

The burden track indicates the stress taken by the players and the group created by the weaponized incompetence. Each part of the Burden Track indicates the type of harm created by the manipulation. Additional work, time committed, and physical strain are represented in Labour Load. Resentment, anger, frustration are represented by Relational Debt. The increase of alienation and removal of the burdened is represented in Visibility.

When a step is avoided, or relocated due to an Incomplete Step, the burden is applied to the individual player who failed in completing the step by rolling a D6 to apply the Burden Check. On the Avoidant’s regular turn, a D6 is rolled to indicate where the harm is applied on the Burden Track of all participants.

Burden Check:

1-2 Labour Load

3-4 Relational Debt

5-6 Visibility

The Trickster

The Trickster is a wild card, and is played by anyone except The Avoidant. The trickster may:

• Shift Complete status of a step back to Incomplete
• Add up to 2 broken down steps to any task
• Reassign steps according to D6 roll when the step is incomplete

The Trickster may not:

• Reassign the role or the tasks of the Avoidant

End of Game

The game ends when the Burden Track is full for any single player. There are no winners; this isn’t a race to the bottom. But it is important now to add up the marks on the Burden Tracks of all players.

The Avoidant adds the total of avoided steps. These are compared with the total steps in each round.

Discussion questions for end of game

How did you feel throughout the game?

What role does proximity to The Avoidant play in the Burden Track of all of the players?

What real life roles are represented through these proximities?

What are the harms encountered to each individual, as well as the community when tasks are avoided, ignored, or reissued?

Where are the escalations of harm?

If we look at issues of blame, who looks most responsible for incomplete tasks when incompetence is weaponized?