Readlog: Arkeos Adventures Early Access
Here’s a French game for a change. Arkeos was a pulp adventure game and campaign released over twenty years ago. I never played and never read all of it (despite having it on my shelves all this time) but this new edition is making me want to go back to these cinematic 1930s, leading a bunch of two-fisted archeologists in a race across the world against Nazi sorcerers.
With his new publishing imprint, the original publisher Christian Grussi brings pulp action back to us, with an entirely new, diceless system. This early access (read: quickstart adventure) is a 66-page booklet, available as a pay what you want PDF from Rafiot Fringuant, or physically for €15 — which is deductible from your pledge should you chose to back the boxset.
arkeos box
It looks like a board game…
Christian was nice enough to send me the booklet and I am very impressed with the game mechanics. Browsing the PDF after the game’s announcement, my initial impression was along the lines of “Does this need to be so complicated?” but as I read on, I realised it was due to the two infograph style spreads.
These serve to both recap the rules and give examples, and in all their colour coded glory, they gave me the wrong impression. Admittedly, the photos of the contents must have been a factor in my initial thinking.
arkeos infographic
It’s smells like a board game…
As it turns out, the rules of Arkeos Adventures are straightforward enough. I bet I can explain them to you in a couple of paragraphs!
At the start of a Challenge (any situation that cannot be resolved by conversation), each character bets from their pool of Daring tokens against a general Difficulty (how sneaky that Nazi spy is) and optional Complications (the morning crowd in the souk) described by the GM and each materialised by a card bearing a number, at least one of which face down. If a Complication is only affecting a character, it is put in front of that player.
Players decide where their tokens go, describing what they’re attempting to do, and the turn is resolved by comparing each card (revealing it if needed) to the sum of the tokens bet against it. The highest number wins and the difference is subtracted either to one of the cards (player wins) or to the character’s Daring tokens (player loses). The next turn starts with the GM describing the new situation, possibly adding more Complications for one character or for everyone. And so on until the players lose all their Daring tokens or the scene’s Difficulty card is reduced to zero.
Also, a Challenge can be a simple affair where the players either succeed or fail in one turn. The grumpy doorman who refuses to let the heroes in the Explorers’ Club doesn’t come with a Difficulty and Complications! He actually comes with a single number, as does every challenge in the game. Talk about an efficient stat-block!
arkeos NPCs
It even plays like a boardgame…
There are subtleties of course: characters can help each other, players can spend Plot tokens they’ve earned previously to affect the narrative, etc. If a character spends more than half their current tokens on a single action, they must draw a Fortune card (some have positive or negative modifiers, some add something to the fiction).
A rule I really like: as a player only wins if they beat the card they’re facing, they can risk everything in case of a tie. They flip a coin, either reducing the card to zero or losing all their Daring tokens and therefore failing at the whole Challenge.
Yet it’s a fiction first RPG!
Having not played the game (yet) I don’t know if it runs as smoothly as I think it does. But these mechanics look like they could bypass the conversation entirely:
GM: Out of the shadows comes out a burly figure you recognise. (Puts down a card worth 6). She plants herself in front of the door and declares in her thick German accent: “I have orders. The ritual must be conducted without interruption. But do try to get in, Ms Lundgren, so I can finally crack your Dummkopf open.” Player: I say: “It will be my pleasure to crack yours, Heidi dear,” as I take a sip of my hip flask… and suckerpunch her square in the jaw! (Advances 3 tokens and points to her Action of 2 and +2 for the Liquid Courage resource, on her character sheet.) GM: She goes off like a lamp. You walk over her and open the door…
With everything laid out on the table, stakes are obvious to everyone and tension can build up as players push their luck. With a little practice, it looks like a session could be almost completely devoid of gameplay conversation.
Build your PC with adjectives
As a fan of FKR games, I believe you can create a fun TTRPG character with a couple of sentences and not a single numbered value. Arkeos works in the same kind of way, even if it doesn’t eschew maths entirely.
Characters are defined by traits that give points adding up to three abilities: Action, Thinking, and Interaction — the pregens in the booklet have scores ranging from 0 to 6, and I don’t think the full character creation rules will let you go much higher, if at all. Like all good pulp action heroes, Arkeos characters also have weaknesses (claustrophobic, hopeless romantic…) and special gear that’s more like special abilities: a pocket bible that will absorb some some damage once, or good hiking shoes that lower risks in some precarious situations.
Taking the character sheet for ‘Cap’ Edward Nesbitt, I could sum up his stats as: a brainy mercenary and a learned fighter, who suffers from motion sickness, and has a pocket logic puzzle and a signature weapon, both with special effects. The pregen characters are rounded off with a presentation and a motivation, a short sentence each.
Given the fact that the traits are organised as archetypes, occupations, profile, and talents, it looks like character creation will be a breeze.
I’ve rambled enough, so I’ll just add that the booklet has a long adventure, complete with a lot of historical background and photos dripping with atmosphere.
I’m excited about this game, even if I’m not sure I’ll ever get to run it (I’d have to track down enough French speaking gamers around me).