The Action Resolution System Engine is the greatest roleplaying game ever conceived.
It does everything that other games do and far more.
There is no setting it cannot simulate; there is no story it cannot tell.
It is simply the best.
The first thing to do when playing a game of ARSE is to decide what mechanic(s) to use during the game for action resolution. There are many available options.
Fortune
Fortune mechanics are based on chance. Characters use some random variable, possibly in combination with one or more Characteristics, to determine whether they succeed or fail at tasks. Dice are used most often, but cards are also common. Sticks and stones are not unheard of.
Karma
Karma mechanics are based on the concept that actions should succeed or fail based only on the competency level(s) of the character(s). If a character is good enough to succeed at a task, then she should succeed. If two characters are competing, the character with the better attribute/trait/skill should win.
Drama
Drama mechanics are based on the idea that actions should succeed or fail based on whatever is best for the ongoing story. With drama mechanics, the random variable is the mood of the Talemaster.
The Talemaster must choose at least one mechanic for his game, and possibly more than one if she wishes for different types of actions to be resolved in different ways.
Each character in ARSE will need to be described in some fashion in order to determine what that character can do and how they are different from the other characters. This description can be in the form of numbers (Strength: 4), tokens (Strength: | | | | ), simple adjectives (Strength: Good), or anything else the participants can come up with.
Characters may have a list of Attributes, Traits, and/or Skills, or they may not. The Talemaster may rule that the characters should be described by a short essay, story, poem, drawing, painting, sculpture, or performance art piece.
If characters are created from a list of fixed abilities, the values for these abilities can be determined in several ways.
Fortune
Characters may be generated randomly, according to one or more of the Fortune mechanics chosen in the first section.
Karma
Players may be given a pool of some value measurement (like points, levels, or dice) with which to build their character. The various attributes, traits, and/or skills chosen for the game should be assigned various weights by the Talemaster. Players will then divide their pool amongst these different characteristics, some being more or less expensive than others.
Drama
Alternatively, the Talemaster may simply create all of the characters himself and give them to whatever players she wishes if this is what is best for the story.
A game may call for characters to have access to things that are not intrinsic to every character (like attributes) or easily acquired (like traits or skills). Supernatural powers, vast wealth, special equipment, and such fall under the category of special Options.
The Talemaster must decide how these Options are to be acquired by characters. Like Characteristics, they can be generated randomly, via a pool of points, or via Talemaster fiat.
If points are used, Options could use the same pool of points as Characteristics or a seperate pool.
This section covers all of the everyday equipment that any character can acquire in the game. The Talemaster should come up with a list of common and important items and assign a method of obtaining them. This could mean giving characters some starting money and a price list, allowing characters to choose a set number of items, allowing characters to have only that equipment which makes sense for their character, or anything else that makes sense for the game.
Action resolution is simple in ARSE. The Talemaster assigns one of the mechanics chosen in the first section to any action that it is possible to take in the game. The success or failure of an action should probably be related to the characteristics and/or options of the character, but they don't have to be if it is bad for the story.
The simplest way to to this is to have a single mechanic cover every single possible action. This makes it easy to remember how to resolve any action, as all are resolved in the same way. This may result in some loss of flavor, however.
An alternative is to have a different mechanic for each and every possible action in the game. Every type of attribute, trait, or skill would have a different method of resolution. This gives the game master very fine control over the flavor of his game, but leads to a lot of added complexity.
Most games will probably fall somewhere in between the two extremes, having a handful of mechanics that are used for different situations.
Combat is a case in point, as fighting seems to be a large part of many roleplaying games. The game master could decide that all combats are resolved with a single use of a single mechanic, or she could work out an elaborate, realistic system involving multiple mechanics, paying close attention to gritty details such as weapon type, hit location, the debilitating effects of wounds in various locations, etc.
Similar actions usually have the same mechanics (if firing a gun uses 2d6 one round, it usually uses 2d6 the next round), but they don't have to. The Talemaster can vary the mechanics from round to round to spice things up if it's that kind of game.
Characters may improve with experience, or they may not. If they do, then these improvements can be generated using the same methods that were used for determining characteristics in the first place, or they can use different methods.
Action Resolution System Engine: it's not just a game; it's an experience.