Rio de Janeiro at the end of the 19th century: a city of slums and palaces, street gangs and tycoons, magic charms and outlawed martial arts. Cunning, bohemian and streetwise, the malandro walks its streets without fear - because there's always a way out.
Malandros is a tabletop RPG based on the award-winning DramaSystem rules by Robin D. Laws, with procedural rolls influenced by D. Vincent Baker's Apocalypse World engine. You play characters in a tight-knit community caught up in tumultuous times: gang leaders, captains of industry, fishermen, martial artists, swindlers and more. You all know each other - you're family, friends, rivals or enemies, all living in the same part of town. You all want something from each other. Maybe it's respect, maybe it's love. Maybe it's fear, or something else. Will you get what you want? That's what we're here to find out.
NOMINATED FOR "BEST SETTING" IN THE INDIE GROUNDBREAKER AWARDS 2017!
Learn more at http://www.porcupinegames.com/malandros.
Act Under Pressure
When you act despite being under threat, or suffer some kind of adversity, say how you deal with it and roll. The ability you use depends on how you do it - for example…
• …by busting heads, Fighting
• …by getting out of the way or acting fast, Moving
• …by withstanding the onslaught, Enduring
• …by taking advantage of something you have learnt, Knowing
• …with stealth, Sneaking
• …using charm and social grace, Talking
On 6+, you do what you are trying to do and the threat doesn’t come to fruition.
On 3-5, you succeed but with drawbacks.
On 2-, the GM says what happens.
Find Something Out
When you go looking for information, roll the appropriate ability - Talking if you if you canvass people on the street, Knowing if you delve into the recesses of your own memory, and so forth.
On 6+, you find what you wanted, if available, and choose 1:
• you gain an ally
• you get bonus information
• you find out quickly
On 3-5, choose 1:
- the search takes a long time
- you have to spend wealth
- you suffer harm
- you have to call in a favour
- what you seek is out of reach
- your search attracts unwelcome attention
On 2-, the GM chooses 2 from any of the above.
The two actions above are the two core types of procedural action in Malandros.