Basic Concepts

Our characters are not limited by human frailties as we are. They have supernatural powers and expanded abilities beyond our own. Because we cannot actually do many of the things our characters can do (sprout fangs, turn into mist, juggle) these "extra" attributes and abilities are defined by the scores and cards used by the Pandemonium rules system.

Most role-playing systems involve rolling lots of dice, Pandemonium does not. There are two systems used in pandemonium to determine the success of actions made by characters. The first is reality. If a player, as their character, really can convince the shift manager of the Hotel coffee shop to give them a clove of garlic and a banana then they succeed. The real personal and technical skills of the Players are used when characters want to perform most actions. When characters wish to perform actions which would be impossible or unsafe for the Player to really perform (such as combat or magic) a contest is performed instead.

The contest is the method of resolving physical or supernatural conflicts between characters. In a contest one character uses their attribute and/or ability scores in a bidding contest against the scores of the opposing character. The character who initiates the contest begins the bidding by bidding a number between 1 and their total score. The opponent responds with a bid of their own which is higher than the previous bid. Bidding continues, just like at an auction, until one of the opponents runs out of points. It is stated in the rules covering the different kinds of situations when contests are necessary and what scores are used in each case. In general; physical situations will require a Brawn Bidding Contest and mental or magical situations will require a Psyche Bidding Contest.