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Breaking the Ice
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A Game about Love, for Two.
Sa
A roleplaying game by
Emily Care Boss
PDF Version 4/10
First Edition ©2005
Black and Green Games
Shield and Crescent Press, Plainfield, Massachusetts. USA
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Credits and Thanks
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Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever fixed-mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never write, nor no man ever loved.
Sa
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~ William Shakespeare
This game is dedicated to my parents, for all their love.
Proofreaders
Andrew Morris, Barry Deutsch, Michael S. Miller,
Phoebe Mathews, Ed Heil, and Luke Crane.
Illustrations
Art on cover and pages 4, 5, 7, 11, 19, 27 and 33 by Barry Deutsch.
<www.amptoons.com>
Logos by Jenn Manley Lee.
<www.jennworks.com>
Playtesters
Vincent Baker, Tom Russell, Jeremiah Genest, Jessica Pease, Kirby
Vosburgh, Ben Lehman, Andrew Morris, Krista Evanouskas, Nicolas Crost,
Frank Tarcikowski, Andy Kitkowski, Adam Singer, Jeff Schecter, Jason
Morningstar and Autumn Winters. Thank you for your feedback and dead
on suggestions.
Design Influences:
The Pool by James V. West. <www.randomordercreations.com>
Sorcerer, Trollbabe by Ron Edwards. <www.adept-press.com>
My Life with Master by Paul Czege. <www.halfmeme.com>
Universalis by Ralph Mazza and Mike Holmes.
<www.ramshead.indie-rpgs.com>
Thanks to the online community of the Forge. This game wouldn’t exist
without this great group of folks. Thank you for all your input & support.
<www.indie-rpgs.com>
Many thanks to the households of Salamander Farm and the Ennead for
being there. And my special thanks to Vincent Baker, Meg Baker, Tom
Russell and Ben Lehman. Thanks for your critical input, and helping me
really make it happen.
.
©2008 Emily Care Boss, Black and Green Games. (Shield and Crescent Press,
Plainfield, MA. USA) All rights reserved. <www.blackgreengames.com>
Breaking the Ice
1
2
www.blackgreengames.com
Credits and Thanks
Andrew Morris, Barry Deutsch, Michael S. Miller,
Phoebe Mathews, Ed Heil, and Luke Crane.
Illustrations
Art on cover and pages 4, 5, 7, 11, 19, 27 and 33 by Barry Deutsch.
<www.amptoons.com>
Logos by Jenn Manley Lee.
<www.jennworks.com>
Playtesters
Vincent Baker, Tom Russell, Jeremiah Genest, Jessica Pease, Kirby
Vosburgh, Ben Lehman, Andrew Morris, Krista Evanouskas, Nicolas Crost,
Frank Tarcikowski, Andy Kitkowski, Adam Singer, Jeff Schecter, Jason
Morningstar and Autumn Winters. Thank you for your feedback and dead
on suggestions.
Design Influences:
The Pool by James V. West. <www.randomordercreations.com>
Sorcerer, Trollbabe by Ron Edwards. <www.adept-press.com>
My Life with Master by Paul Czege. <www.halfmeme.com>
Universalis by Ralph Mazza and Mike Holmes.
<www.ramshead.indie-rpgs.com>
Sa
This game is dedicated to my parents, for all their love.
mp
le
~ William Shakespeare
Proofreaders
file
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever fixed-mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never write, nor no man ever loved.
Thanks to the online community of the Forge. This game wouldn’t exist
without this great group of folks. Thank you for all your input & support.
<www.indie-rpgs.com>
Many thanks to the households of Salamander Farm and the Ennead for
being there. And my special thanks to Vincent Baker, Meg Baker, Tom
Russell and Ben Lehman. Thanks for your critical input, and helping me
really make it happen.
.
©2008 Emily Care Boss, Black and Green Games. (Shield and Crescent Press,
Plainfield, MA. USA) All rights reserved. <www.blackgreengames.com>
Breaking the Ice
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www.blackgreengames.com
Table of Contents
Road Map to Play
4
Introduction
5
About the Game
Overview of the Game
5
6
Guidelines
7
7
8
9
10
11
Characters
Playing the Game
Structure of the Game
About Dates
Beginning the First Date
About Player Turns
22
Attraction Dice
Bonus Dice
Re-Rolls
Conflict Dice
Compability Dice
24
25
26
27
28
16
17
18
18
29
30
Endings and Resolutions
33
30
30
30
31
31
31
32
The Final Date
Taking Stock
Happily Ever After?
33
34
34
Other Ways to Play
35
Different Rules for Different
Approaches
More than Two to Tango
Long Ago and Far Away
Setting Creation
Deepening Your Play
19
19
20
20
21
22
23
24
Resolving an Attraction Roll
Who Has Final Say about
Attraction Roll Resolution
Transitions
Ending a Turn
Between Dates
A Chance to Bring Back
Attraction
Second and Third Dates
Sex in the Game
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14
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Creating Characters
The Switch
Favorite Color and Word
Web
Brainstorming for Traits
About Traits
Example of Character
Creation
Choosing a Conflict
Example of Choosing
Conflicts
Agreeing on a Setting
Creating Compatibilities
11
12
13
Advice for Being Active Player
or Guide
Time in Player Turns
Attraction Rolls
Narrating and Awarding
Dice
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Paving the Way for Romance
Genre
Ratings
Example of Choosing Rating
and Genre
Road Map to Play
CHARACTER SHEET
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35
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36
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1) Agree upon Guidelines: Genre (page 8) and Rating (page 9)
2) Create Characters by:
Making a Switch of player attributes (page 12)
Choose characters’ favorite colors and make a Word Web
(page 13)
Create Traits
(page 14)
Choose Conflicts
(page 16)
Agree on a Setting
(page 18)
3) Begin the First Date (page 20) by:
Having a player take a Turn as Active Player (page 21)
Other player acts as Guide (page 21)
4) The Active Player then:
Sets the Scene (page 21),
Establishes time (p. 21), and
Makes an Attraction Roll (p. 23)
5) To Play out Attraction Roll:
Gain Attraction Dice (page 24)
Gain Bonus Dice (page 25)
Gain Re-Rolls (page 26)
Invoke Conflicts (page 27)
Use Compatibilities (page 28)
Jed
6) Then:
Resolve Attraction Roll (page 29)
Raise Attraction Level (p. 29) or
Create new Compatibility
(page 18, 29)
7) For Transitions:
See how to End a Turn (p. 30)
What to do Between Dates (p. 30),
Second and Third Dates (page 31)
8) End the Game by:
Playing the Final Date (page 33)
Taking Stock (page 34)
Breaking the Ice
3
4
www.blackgreengames.com
Table of Contents
About the Game
Overview of the Game
5
6
Guidelines
7
Paving the Way for Romance
Genre
Ratings
Example of Choosing Rating
and Genre
Characters
Creating Characters
The Switch
Favorite Color and Word
Web
Brainstorming for Traits
About Traits
Example of Character
Creation
Choosing a Conflict
Example of Choosing
Conflicts
Agreeing on a Setting
Creating Compatibilities
Playing the Game
Structure of the Game
About Dates
Beginning the First Date
About Player Turns
7
8
9
10
11
11
12
13
14
14
15
16
17
18
18
Attraction Dice
Bonus Dice
Re-Rolls
Conflict Dice
Compability Dice
24
25
26
27
28
Resolving an Attraction Roll
Who Has Final Say about
Attraction Roll Resolution
Transitions
Ending a Turn
Between Dates
A Chance to Bring Back
Attraction
Second and Third Dates
Sex in the Game
29
30
Endings and Resolutions
33
30
30
30
31
31
31
32
The Final Date
Taking Stock
Happily Ever After?
33
34
34
Other Ways to Play
35
Different Rules for Different
Approaches
More than Two to Tango
Long Ago and Far Away
Setting Creation
Deepening Your Play
19
19
20
20
21
22
23
24
CHARACTER SHEET
35
35
36
36
37
1) Agree upon Guidelines: Genre (page 8) and Rating (page 9)
2) Create Characters by:
Making a Switch of player attributes (page 12)
Choose characters’ favorite colors and make a Word Web
(page 13)
Create Traits
(page 14)
Choose Conflicts
(page 16)
Agree on a Setting
(page 18)
3) Begin the First Date (page 20) by:
Having a player take a Turn as Active Player (page 21)
Other player acts as Guide (page 21)
4) The Active Player then:
Sets the Scene (page 21),
Establishes time (p. 21), and
Makes an Attraction Roll (p. 23)
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5
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Introduction
Advice for Being Active Player
or Guide
Time in Player Turns
Attraction Rolls
Narrating and Awarding
Dice
mp
4
5) To Play out Attraction Roll:
Gain Attraction Dice (page 24)
Gain Bonus Dice (page 25)
Gain Re-Rolls (page 26)
Invoke Conflicts (page 27)
Use Compatibilities (page 28)
Jed
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Road Map to Play
Road Map to Play
6) Then:
Resolve Attraction Roll (page 29)
Raise Attraction Level (p. 29) or
Create new Compatibility
(page 18, 29)
7) For Transitions:
See how to End a Turn (p. 30)
What to do Between Dates (p. 30),
Second and Third Dates (page 31)
8) End the Game by:
Playing the Final Date (page 33)
Taking Stock (page 34)
Breaking the Ice
3
4
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Introduction
Introduction
About the Game
Finding love is not always easy:
An intimate picnic in the park turns into a madcap dash from a thunderstorm...
On the way to a restaurant, the car breaks down on a lonely road...
A hoped-for sultry seduction gets interrupted by a surprise birthday party...
In Breaking the Ice, two players tell the tale of the ups and
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downs of falling in love. Together they take on the roles of a pair of
characters going on their first three Dates. Seeking to increase Attraction
between the characters and create Compatibilities for the long term, the
players explore what it’s like to fumble through those first impressions and
feel the spark of mutual attraction arise.
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The players work together to create
a fun and exciting love story.
Collaboratively creating a pair of
engaging characters, the players
make a Switch that lets them play a
character that is like the other player
in some way.
The characters’ Traits--hobbies,
career, passions, faults and so on-are developed over the course of the
game, and are used to inspire events
that happen during the three Dates.
Meimei
Breaking the Ice
5
Overview of the Game
The game consists of three Dates made up of 4 to 6
player Turns.
During a Turn one player is the Active Player and the
other player is their Guide. Players alternate between
these roles with each Turn.
The Active Player describes a scene in which their character attempts to
win the other character’s heart.
The Guide gives suggestions and awards Dice to the Active Player,
The Guide awards Dice to the Active Player for narrating character actions
that embody Traits, for weaving colorful descriptions of locations into
narration, and for creating help and hindrance arising from elements of the
setting. Supporting characters, handy objects on the scene and larger things
like traffic or weather are called upon. Conflicts, Compatibilities and
suggestions by the Guide are also incorporated into play in return for Dice.
The Active player creates new Traits throughout their Turn, which may be
brought into play right away.
The Active Player rolls dice in successive stages that make up an Attraction
Roll. First, the Active Player narrates positive things that occur, then
setbacks and misunderstandings. The Attraction Roll determines if the
chemistry, or Attraction, between the characters grows or if they find
some common ground, a Compatibility that may form the basis for a
lasting relationship. Attraction may decrease between Dates, but
Compatibilities are permanent. If the main characters have enough
Compatibilities at the end of the game, it is likely that their relationship will
continue.
Each character also has a Conflict,
an internal or external obstacle that
complicates their quest for love.
After three Dates have been played out, the game comes to a conclusion,
and the fate of the relationship is resolved. The players answer three
questions, and together determine if this romance was a flash in the pan, or
the beginning of something beautiful.
The mishaps and misunderstandings
encountered are trials to be
overcome. But they are also
openings that may allow deeper
intimacy to develop and, ultimately,
cause true love to bloom.
Dice in this Game
All dice rolled in this game are standard six sided dice. A good number of
dice to have on hand is about a dozen, with three of a different color from
the others. The game may be played with only three dice, but having a
larger number makes the game run more smoothly.
6
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