This role-playing game is distributed free of charge. You may give out
copies, so long as the text is not modified and no fees are charged for the
copies distributed.
GRAPE is updated, revised, and simplified, at various points. The current
version can be found at http://www.unseelie.org/grape. If
you would like to suggest updates or changes to the author, or simply to
make comments, please feel free to write email to sgray@unseelie.org.
GRAPE is a game for two or more players. This page is a complete game.
Advice to new players can be found in the Green
GRAPEs supplement. Adventure ideas and links to complete adventures
can be found in the GRAPE Seeds supplement. Ideas
for magical systems can be found in the GRAPE
Grimoire supplement.
One participant is chosen to be the Game Master (GM). The others are all players, and will make characters. The GM is
responsible for designing an environment and situations with which the characters will interact, and to approve or disapprove the players'
characters and guide the players in making/developing characters that will be enjoyable to play and enjoyable to witness being played
in the varied situations that come up. The GM has final say over everything that happens in the game, but players who don't
like it are allowed to quit.
Before play begins, the participants choose a setting. The setting
might be cyberpunk, fantasy, Russian revolution, ice age, English civil
war, Chicago mafioso, Trojan war, a WWII POW camp, or anything else the
players can imagine. The characters and environment made by the players
and GM should be consistent with the setting.
Players may use any media they wish to describe their characters, as long as it is approved by the GM; pictures, short stories,
clay, etc. Some players may present characters made under other rules systems with GM permission. Players should be prepared to
clarify their characters for the GM. The GM will decide whether or not the character is reasonable, and may give suggestions
for revisions or disallow the character.
As play proceeds, players are encouraged to play "in character," using their character's voice and taking on the role. Funny
accents are encouraged!
As the game progresses it often becomes plain that a character is not complete. Some aspects of a character were not made
clear in, or mentioned by, the original character concept. Sometimes such changes do not represent oversights in character
creation, but rather changes which the character has undergone over the course of the game.
With the GM's permission the character concept can be updated or modified. In some cases, a player may petition for such a
change. To prevent character development from distracting players from the game, many GMs will only entertain suggestions to
modify a character concept at the end of a game session.
Game-play consists of hypothetical situations being described by the GM, and the characters' actions and reactions being
described by the players. The GM describes settings in which the characters find themselves, including the actions of any
characters in those settings not represented by the players. The manner of resolution of each scene or hypothettical situation
will suggest to the GM ramifications which will lead the GM to generate the resulting hypothetical situation and present it to
the players, leading to a story being generated by the interaction of the players and the GM.
The GM will sometimes use (or ask players to use) a random or pseudo-random influence, to help determine the outcome of particular
hypothetical actions. The GM may specify the random factor (GM's whim, tarot cards, question to a passerby, vote, dice, a spinner,
random number tables, bribes to the GM, expenditure of chits or points, acting out the scene, rock-paper-scissors, etc.), or allow
the player to choose. The GM interprets the result.
GRAPE: Generic Roleplaying All Purpose Engine.