JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure - The RPG

Second Edition (v2.0) // Put together by Esby.

Buy me a coffee by leaving a small donation.

Thanks to…

Araki Hirohiko, for creating the series,

JoJo’s Colored Adventure, for the panels used in this document,

KineticPlasma Fonts, for Rabbid Highway Sign II

Darrell Flood, for Exquisite,

Joe Prince, for Varela Round,

Huerto Tipográfica, for Acme.

Scribus and Inkscape were used extensively to create all non-Google documentation.

Open The Game!

This document outlines a game you can play with your friends to tell a story in the style of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Along with a Game Master - also called a GM, for short - a group of two to six players will create characters and take on Stand-using opponents in tricky, unique encounters that take creative strategies to win. Though it helps if you’re familiar with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, these rules also work for people who’ve never read the manga or watched the anime. This document has no spoilers for the series.

All you need to run this game is a few friends, this document, the character sheet, and at least three - ideally six - twenty-sided dice, also called d20. Digital alternatives work just as well.

This is meant to be a light but involved system, accessible to people who’ve never played a tabletop role-playing game before. Unlike some of the most popular role-playing games, though, this game focuses very heavily on storytelling. Some players may find that focus leads to a different sort of gameplay than they’re used to.

        An Important Note on Boundaries

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure often enters into gory and uncomfortable territory. You don’t need to include this in your games, but the rules in this document are built to allow groups to do so.

As with any tabletop RPG, groups should discuss their boundaries, and make sure everyone knows what kind of topics or themes are off the table. Even if you think you’ve picked up on these boundaries, making them clear can save your group discomfort later.

The X-Card is a very simple, useful tool for making sure people can communicate when they’re uncomfortable. You can read about it here. If that doesn’t sound like it suits your group, that’s fine too. What’s important is that people can communicate - if someone is stuck in an uncomfortable situation with no clear way out, that’s not fun for anybody.

Links

 Old Versions (1.4 / 1.3)  //  The Wiki

Want to support the developer? Leave a small donation.

Character Sheets

Official (Print) // Official (Digital)

Translations

The system hasn’t been translated into any other languages yet. If you’re interested in volunteering to do so, please go right ahead. Any completed translations will be linked here.

An Introduction to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

If you’re familiar with the series, you can skip this section and jump straight to the next one, which marks the start of the RPG rules. If you’re not familiar, this should help.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, first published in 1986, is a manga series by Hirohiko Araki about the Joestar bloodline, and the trials faced by its descendants. It’s split into individual parts, each one featuring a different main character, often in a different part of the world. It starts with Phantom Blood - set in England at the end of the 19th century - a gothic soap opera about buff martial artists, but by the time the second part, Battle Tendency, started, the fights had become elaborate spectacles that showcased strategic brilliance just as much as the unusual abilities of its characters. This style would be defined by the introduction of Stands in the third part, Stardust Crusaders, the part that the series is best known for.

A Stand is the personification of a character’s fighting spirit, and a fun visualization for all kinds of psychic powers. Their elaborate designs and creative abilities mean that battles between Stand Users are often complex and interesting, and the Stands themselves have become an enduring image in their own right. This is especially true of Star Platinum, the Stand of Jotaro Kujo, the protagonist of Stardust Crusaders. They’re usually shown as a ghostly humanoid figure, standing beside its user, with an unusual appearance and abilities, informed by the user’s personality and desires.

Despite long-standing recognition in Japan, only Stardust Crusaders saw much appreciation abroad, until recently. Two important releases resulted in bursts in popularity: the late 90s Capcom fighting game, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future, based on characters and events from Stardust Crusaders, and most recently, the very well-received anime that first aired in 2012, starting from the very beginning with Phantom Blood. Here’s a dubbed clip of the kind of melodrama and action you can expect.

If you want to try the series, most would recommend starting with the anime. It’s generally considered an excellent adaptation and a great TV show in its own right, and is also easier to find. Stands are introduced in the third part, Stardust Crusaders, so once you’ve made it to that, you’ll have a great idea of what this game is about. The manga is also worth reading, but a slow release schedule can make it difficult.

While all the personality is focused on the characters, many actions - and most of the actions that will be performed in this game - are performed using their Stands, while most conflicts will be fought against enemy Stand Users. Stands are usually stronger, faster, and tougher than their users, and their unique abilities make for shifting, complex encounters. Most Stand Users have total control over their Stand, but this comes at the cost of sharing any damage or injuries with it, something that the User will need to be careful to manage.

Knowledge is a large part of the battle. It won’t always be clear how a new enemy Stand works, and figuring that out is an important first step to beating it. Antagonists often start encounters with the upper hand, and shifting the balance away from that can make for a long, difficult fight.

As well as their unique abilities - Stands usually only have one or two - their physical strengths and weaknesses are also measured in six stats: Power, Durability, Speed, Precision, Range, and Potential. These stats are ranked (best to worst) from A to E. An A-rank, or even a B-rank are far beyond human potential, capable of catching bullets, moving faster than the eye can see, or punching hundreds of times within seconds.

As an example, this is Crazy Diamond, the Stand of Josuke Higashikata, protagonist of Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable. It has the ability to restore items to their original state - generally speaking, it fixes things. This is because of Josuke’s kind and protective nature. He wants to protect and heal, so that’s what his Stand ability does. It also has an A-rank in Power and Speed, while only a D in Range, meaning that it hits hard and fast in close combat. Most importantly, the ‘fixing’ ability has very broad applications.

It can heal allies and repair items, but the series shows that it’s useful in more than just fighting. It’s ‘fixed’ a piece of torn-off clothing, sending it flying towards the rest of the jacket in order to track the person wearing it. It’s punched clean through an ally in order to capture a Stand that had crawled into their stomach, then seamlessly ‘fixed’ the wound.

These are the kinds of intense, surprising and absurd events that this game will help you fill your stories with. If that sounds like something you’d enjoy, check out JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, or read on to find out how you can use this system to build your own stories. Don’t worry if you still feel a little lost - the game will still make sense without knowing all of the details.

Playing The Game

The rules in this document should be followed as written, unless:

• A Stand ability explicitly contradicts it, or
• You decide that it doesn’t suit your game.

Give the rules as written a try first, and see how they make you feel.

The goal of most role-playing games, and the goal of this system, is to tell a great story. As the GM, you tell the story of the situations and opponents that challenge the player characters, and as a player, you control what your character does to respond to those challenges. Outside of narration, GM and player characters will mostly follow the same rules. Those characters will be recorded on their own character sheets - A4 pages that can be filled in with details on each character.

Neither the GM or the players can tell the story alone, so everyone at the table shares the responsibility. This kind of storytelling can be difficult for people who are new to role-playing in a group, so everyone at the table should try their best to create a space where everyone feels comfortable, and can contribute to the story in a way that suits them.

Typically, your group will gather for a few hours at a time, playing through a session until you reach a comfortable place to pause the story. To match the episodic storytelling of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, play is split up into encounters. An encounter will usually start with the introduction of a new enemy and new situation, and end with their defeat. In most cases, a session of playtime will start with a brief interlude, then begin and end an encounter, but longer encounters that take place over multiple sessions are possible.

Encounters start when risk and drama are introduced to the story - when characters might get hurt, or lose things they care about, and when there’s someone or something they can fight to stop it. Most of the mechanics in this game won’t apply outside of an encounter, including rolling for actions, so the GM should be very clear about when an encounter has started.

This doesn’t mean that all encounters are about direct combat, though! Maybe your group of player characters faces an opponent who doesn’t like getting their hands dirty, and they offer to settle their conflict with a non-violent test of skill. Maybe they’re chasing someone through busy streets, or through a dense jungle. They could be trying to pull off an elaborate heist, or rescue a friend from prison. Just like any other story, encounters can be funny, dramatic, sad, tense, or anything else you want. Putting your characters in new and different situations gives you different angles to see them from, and you might be surprised at what you find.

Actions

To have your character do something, tell the story of what they’re doing. It’s not always as simple as that, but in this game, you have control of what your character does, from talking, to fighting, to tying their shoelaces. Whenever you’re telling their story, think about what it is they want to accomplish - what do they want to change about the situation they’re in? What’s the impact they want to have?

A lot of the fun comes from dressing up your character’s behavior with habits and dialogue. It helps your group see what your character’s like in a way that a simple description doesn’t. Some people even enjoy making it a performance, and using a distinct voice for their character’s dialogue. That said, even for people with a lot of experience, ‘getting into character’ can be difficult, and learning how to tell stories this way can take some getting used to. So, no pressure! The important thing is that the group enjoys telling the story together.

Example: “Bring Me The Head of the Disco King!” Set in the late 1970s, Adrian “Disco” Volante, independent journalist, has been targeted by P.Y.T. International Ltd. as a reprisal for an expose on a vast environmental conspiracy that threatens the people of their small town. They turn to their friend - and fellow Stand User - Joyce Joestar, for protection, and to help get their story out into the open.

That said, the stories that this game tells, like the ones in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, create tension using conflict, uncertainty and danger. If a player gets to choose whether their character fails or not, they don’t really get to experience that tension. So, to take fate out of the group’s hands, you’ll roll dice to represent the chance of things going wrong - or at least, not going how you expected.

If you’re the GM, players will depend on you to help decide when things are risky enough to need a dice roll. A simple, consistent way for you to make this decision is to look for challenge and consequences.

• Challenge - can the character fail? Is there a good chance that the character could fail to have the impact that they want? Moving a ball is easy for most, getting it into a goal from the other end of the field is not. It’s also unlikely that a character would fail if they were acting on a willing target, like an ally, or a target who isn’t resisting, like someone who’s asleep.

• Consequences - does anything happen if they fail? If the character does fail, how does the story change? A character might only have one chance at something - they might risk breaking an important tool, or they won’t have time for another try. They could risk hurting themselves, or someone they care about. If there aren’t any obvious consequences, make something up. A big part of being a GM is coming up with answers to this question.

Asking these two questions before players roll helps make sure that every roll is tense and eventful. If a character is trying to do something simple, making the player roll anyway can make that character feel incompetent. If their failure wouldn’t have any consequences, then there’s no risk to make the roll feel exciting - it’s just keeping them busy. This can also apply to things a character obviously can’t succeed at. No matter how powerful a Stand is, some things are impossible, and rolling for these things can make the story seem trivial.

Example: Joyce is trying to open a door. If all they had to do was turn the knob and push on it, there wouldn’t be any challenge for them. To add a challenge, the GM decides that the door is locked. However, without any consequences, there’s nothing to stop Joyce from trying the door over and over - the story needs to change if they fail. So, the GM tells their group that if the roll fails, the angry security guard chasing Joyce will catch up to them.

That said, as the GM, it’s important that you don’t decide how the game is going to play out in advance. Nobody controls the story, it’s a collaboration between you and the players. You should never have to tell a player what their character is doing - tell them what they see, hear, or sometimes, what happens to them, and let the players decide what their characters do.

GM Note: This means it’s not a great idea to use this system to model social interactions. When you’re trying to trick someone or convince them of something, the tension in the scene is based on what their decision will be. Leaving that up to a roll of the dice means that the decision isn’t based on what the character thinks or feels anymore, it’s based on random chance. Save the rolling for what comes after the decision.

When a player does something that has challenge and consequence and needs a roll, it’s called an action. These are the backbone of the game’s storytelling. Even if you don’t have a handle on all of the rules, make sure you know how an action works before you start playing.

Rolling

Not every roll will look the same. The nature of the character that’s performing the action changes the dice you roll, and the way that the action is being performed changes what happens to the number that you end up with. However, an action roll will always be either a failure or a success, based on the final number.

• When the result of a roll is equal to 10 or less, it is a failure.
• When the result of a roll is equal to 11 or more, it is a success.

The difference between the two involves what impact the character was trying to have with that action, and who tells the story.

• A failure means that the intended impact of the action does not happen, and the character faces the consequences that were set up earlier. They tried, but made an error, or something got in their way. The GM takes over the narration - they tell the story of the failure, and the consequences it has.

• A success means that the action does have its impact, and the consequences are avoided. The player who controls the character gets to narrate this part of the story - while they can’t change the impact of their action after it’s rolled, they can make their description as flashy and impressive as they want.

If a player is uncomfortable with taking charge of the story after a success, don’t force them. They can choose anyone else at the table to narrate for them, if they want. Players can also add in details about how their character thinks, feels, or reacts, no matter what the situation - as long as it doesn’t change anything about the impact of someone else’s narration.

As a GM, remember that a failed roll doesn’t just mean that nothing happens. If a roll happened at all, that means that there were possible consequences. Use those consequences to change the situation that characters are in, and make the players come up with a new approach.

Whenever an action doesn’t involve using a Stand or other supernatural ability, use the basic action roll. Roll two twenty-sided dice at the same time. Once the dice have been rolled, take the lowest of the two numbers, and apply any bonuses or penalties. This number is the result, and is used to decide whether the action was a failure or a success.

Example: Joyce decides that to get to the other side of a locked door, they’re going to break it down. This counts as an action, so they roll two twenty-sided dice, getting 4 and 11. The lower number of 4 is the result, making the roll a failure.

You might notice that the basic action roll often gives a low result. The world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is full of people with supernatural powers, capable of things that ordinary people could only imagine. Since characters built in this system are not ordinary people, they will have several things they can use to increase or decrease the result of a roll. These can include:

• Traits, including Impulses, Trusts, and Goals,
• Ventures, a bonus that spends built-up Momentum, and
• Conditions, temporary effects that apply to a character.

Working out what applies to a roll is a conversation between the GM and the player. Generally, the player wants to give themselves as many bonuses as possible, so the GM should be on the lookout for any penalties that make sense. Once both the GM and player agree on the action, and any bonuses or penalties, roll the dice.

Most characters will also have access to a Nature - a supernatural ability that increases their results, mostly by changing the dice that you roll. In this document, we’ll focus on Stands.

        Using Your Stand

Stands are arguably the defining feature of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Every Stand has at least one ability - a strange, unique power that reflects the User’s personality, drawn from their approach to life. Whether they’ve had their Stand since childhood, or recently discovered it, they’ll be able to manifest it, and use its power.

This means that using a Stand’s ability is the same as doing anything else. Stand Users know how to use their Stand, so unless it says so in the ability’s description, you don’t need to treat it like a special skill, or something with limited uses. If there’s no challenge and consequences, it doesn’t even need to be an action.

Even when a Stand isn’t using its unique abilities, they can be much faster and stronger than an ordinary person - or slower and weaker. To represent this wide range, we use six different stats. There’s more on Range and Potential later, but most rolls will use Power, Durability, Speed or Precision. Unlike the basic roll, any actions performed by a Stand must be assigned to a stat. Stats will have a rank from E (worst) to A (best), and a higher rank gives better dice to roll with, so players should focus on actions that can be assigned to their highest stats.

Actions should only be assigned to the single stat that makes the most sense - using a Stand to throw a rock probably won’t use Durability. Here’s an idea of what each stat is good at.

• Power is a good choice for most actions that involve destruction or force - offensive blows, or raw strength.
• Durability should be used anytime a character needs to stay standing after an impact, or to put their body on the line in a reckless maneuver.
• Speed works best for quick reactions - catching things, dodging attacks or obstacles, or just doing something in a hurry.
• Precision is used for accurate movements, hitting a target, or anything else that requires fine motor control.

Sometimes, more than one stat is suitable for an action, or the GM and a player might disagree on the most suitable stat. Both parties should be willing to negotiate and change details about the action - while keeping the impact in mind - in order to reach an agreement.

Example: Joyce is getting a little tired of standing in front of a locked door, and decides to use their Stand to get it open. They have plenty of options for their action.

• They could use the Power stat to simply break the door down.

• They could run headfirst into it, and hope their Durability is enough to avoid injury.

• They could use their Speed to rapidly unscrew the door from its hinges.

• Or, they could use their Stand’s Precision to pick the lock.

Once you’ve selected a stat for your action, roll for it based on the rank that the Stand has in that stat. The dice you use for each rank are as follows.

Example: Deciding to solve two problems at once, Joyce waits for the security guard to charge them, then uses their Stand’s Power to shove the guard through the door. Their Stand’s Power has a rank of B, so they roll two twenty-sided dice again. With a 16 and a 10, they use the highest number, 16, as the result, making the action a success.

Take the number you roll, and add or subtract any bonuses or penalties to get the result, just like with the basic roll. For the most part, it works the same way as the basic roll, but between their abilities and stats, Stands can be a lot more likely to roll successes.

Fortunes: Creating Advantages

While encounters are shaped by the group’s characters and abilities, the setting of the encounter gives them something to work from. Interesting, memorable locations make for interesting, memorable encounters. To help develop a space, everyone at the table has the opportunity to create Fortunes, which are objects or features found in the environment. They’re recorded on a Fortune sheet, a piece of paper - or equivalent - that is kept where everyone in the group can mark it.

Whenever a player character’s action fails, their player can choose to create a Fortune and record it to the Fortune sheet. At the end of the current action or Contest, the player chooses something that everyone at the table agrees could reasonably be found in the setting of the encounter. They might be small objects, like pens, or books, larger things like furniture, or even parts of the environment, like a window, or a set of stairs. The idea is to create something that anyone in the group can use, so try and keep your allies’ Stand abilities in mind.

Example: Adrian has failed an action to dodge a runaway car, and as a consequence is sent clean through the window of a storefront. When they’ve picked themselves up from the floor, they notice they’re standing in a cafe. The player adds a nearby magazine shelf to the story as a Fortune, writing it on the sheet at the center of the table.

Once a Fortune has been recorded to the Fortune sheet, any character can use it as part of an action. Players can decide on any specific qualities that the Fortune has, as long as the group agrees that it is within the spirit of the original Fortune, and makes sense for the setting.  A water bottle could be full or empty, a chair could be for a dining room, living room, or study.

There are a few rules to keep in mind for player-created Fortunes.

• A Fortune cannot affect the story without a character interacting with it. A bomb set to explode could not be found as a Fortune. A truck barrelling down a highway, while it is moving, won’t change course until someone interacts with it.
• The same object cannot be a Fortune more than once within a single encounter. It’s also recommended that you avoid relying on the same Fortunes multiple times across a campaign, if possible.
• Fortunes only last until the end of an encounter. All Fortunes are removed from play permanently once the encounter is over, unless the story calls for it.
• Fortunes can be destroyed. If a Fortune is used in a way that means nobody else can use it, whether or not it was intended, cross it off the Fortune sheet.
• Fortunes can be marked. If a Fortune is marked with an ‘S’, as part of a Secret, nobody can use it until the Secret is complete.

To Be Continued: Secrets allow you to set up actions for later, as long as they involve a Fortune. You can read more about them under Momentum Moves.

There’s also a few things you shouldn’t use as Fortunes.

• Anything lethal or intended to cause injury, like weapons, explosives, or poisons.
• Anything particularly large - the size of a car is a reasonable upper limit.

Using Fortunes that can quickly end an encounter, or work better than using a Stand, is not much fun for the group. Sticking to everyday items gives people at the table a chance to surprise each other with their creativity.

Fortunes are the only way for players to describe the environment during an encounter. Players tell their character’s story, but the space their characters are in belongs to the group, and follows these rules. Interludes aren’t subject to this restriction.

Once the Fortune has been selected, it’s recorded on the Fortune Sheet. Then, it’s up to the GM to place it in the setting. They decide how far away it is from the character who found it, and what someone might need to go through to get it. Simple objects might be within arms reach, but something particularly useful or uncommon might be inside a locked car, or some distance away. As the GM, this is a tool you can use to ‘balance’ Fortunes. The more of an advantage they give, the harder they should be to get.

To Be Continued: Distances are described in the section on Range & Movement.

Fortunes are also a useful tool for GMs, letting them quickly set up the location of an encounter.

GM Advice: Setting the Scene

One of the main roles the GM has is bringing life into the game’s setting. While Fortunes help share this responsibility with everyone at the table, a lot of the joy of running a game comes from creating vivid spaces. So, to make sure that GMs can participate in creating encounters the same way as players, GMs use Fortunes a little differently.

As the GM, you prepare the Fortune Sheet at the start of each encounter. Make sure everyone can access it, and create around three GM Fortunes to start things off. Mark them with a ‘GM’, so that they’re clearly separated from player-created Fortunes. These GM Fortunes are important features of the encounter’s setting, and help set the tone for what kind of things your group can expect to find. They don’t follow the same rules as normal Fortunes.

• They can be created by the GM at any time. Try to only make them as necessary, so you don’t drown out the Fortunes your players contribute.
• They don’t follow the same limitations as player-created Fortunes. They can be much larger, or more significant - think construction equipment, towering monuments, steep cliffs, or other things like that.
• They can only be crossed off by the GM. This should be saved for special circumstances - often, GM Fortunes will be things that can’t or shouldn’t be easily removed from the scene.

When creating GM Fortunes, it can help to try and make one for each of these three categories.

• A landmark - a major feature of the environment. It could be an elegant statue, a room-filling dining table, or a seemingly bottomless pit. Ignore the size limit for these. What’s the first thing your players will see when they arrive?
• An obstacle - something that can get in the players’ way. It could be a feature of the terrain, like a thick marsh, or the people filling a busy street. What about the location is going to change the way the encounter works?
• A common object - something easy to pick up and use, wherever you are in the location. Rocks, plants, papers, cutlery, and other small things. When it’s not the arena for an encounter, what is this space used for?

Example: If an encounter were to begin in a garage, you could use the following Fortunes.

• A large van, raised on a piston, in the center of the room acting as a landmark.

• Tool racks and shelves, acting as obstacles.

• Car parts, like tyres and panels, as the common objects of the scene.

If you have any items that are really important to the story in the scene, you should record them as additional Fortunes. A coveted briefcase or the car your group is traveling in are things you would want to add as GM Fortunes. You might also want to think about the abilities in your group. If any of them depend on finding something in the environment, giving them a small amount of useful items to work with will help them get started.

Contests: Rolling Against Other Characters

Even with a Stand and other bonuses, finishing an action isn’t a sure thing. While many actions will be uncontested, characters who are nearby and ready can attempt to stop an action that’s about to happen with their own counter-action. First, the starting action is rolled, and if it’s a success, the story stops just before it has any impact. Then, the counter-action is rolled to see if that impact can be reduced. This sequence of rolls is called a Contest.

When someone declares that their character will do something, and establishes the impact of their action, any one player can declare they want to try and reduce the impact, causing the action to have a lesser effect on the story. If things go their way, they will have the chance to narrate how the starting action is reduced by their character’s counter-action.

Neither the starting action or the counter-action has to be a direct attack. The only restriction is that counter-actions can never have an impact of their own - all they can do is change the impact of the starting action. It might not seem like it, but there’s plenty of room to move within that. Everyone involved in a Contest should try to make their actions exciting, and full of character.

Example: Joyce is locked in combat with Heath Bexley, a local punk with an aggressive streak. To try and close some distance, Joyce wants to spear a car muffler through Heath’s jacket to pin them down. Heath decides they will use a nearby hubcap to deflect the attack, attempting to reduce the impact of Joyce’s action.

There’s two important things to keep in mind during a Contest.

• If either character fails their action, the Contest ends immediately and the other player takes over narration.
• If either player’s result overpowers the other by 10 or more, the higher result is a success and the lower result is a failure.

The starting action is rolled first, the same way as any other action.

• If the starting action is a failure, the Contest ends, the countering player takes control of narration, and the starting action has no impact.
• If the starting action is a success, the starting player continues narration, and the story is paused the moment before the action has any impact.

Then, the responding character decides on their counter-action, and rolls to find out if they can reduce the impact.

• If the counter-action is a failure, the Contest ends, the starting player continues  narration, and the starting action has its full impact.
• If the counter-action is a success, the counter player takes narration, and the starting action has a reduced impact.

Don’t forget to check if either result exceeds the other by 10 or more. If the countering player manages this, they take over narration and the starting action has no impact, just as if the starting action had failed in the first place.

• When an action has no impact, it has no effect on anything at all, and it’s up to the countering player to decide how that happened. They tell the story of something getting in the way of the action, whether it’s their own character, or sheer luck. It’s important to note that they can never narrate what the starting character does - only the player responsible for a character can decide how their character behaves.

• When an action has reduced impact, it still cannot accomplish what was originally planned. However, after the countering player has finished narrating, the starting player can choose to declare that their action has had a minor impact on something other than the initial target. This effect cannot be significant enough to require an action in itself, so there cannot be any challenge or consequence associated with making it happen. As always, the player can defer to another player or the GM if they can’t come up with anything.

Example: Joyce and Heath’s actions both succeeded. When the muffler is done flying through the air, a loud clang signals that it has been deflected, avoiding Heath and their clothing entirely. However, the force of the throw lodged the muffler in the wall in 6front of Heath, meaning they will need to go around it to escape.

• When an action has full impact, it proceeds exactly as a normal action would. Remember, a character can only be directly controlled by the player responsible for them, but they must accept any impact that’s had on their character.

In short, the starting player rolls to find out if their action will have any impact, as normal. If it does, then a countering player rolls to find out if their action will reduce that impact.

GM Note: As a GM, you help direct this process. Ask questions to make Contests shine!

• Prompt a Contest by asking “Does anyone want to reduce the impact?”

• Ask participating players “Does your character say anything?”

• Ask a player who’s working on their reduced impact “What else can this action do?” or “How can you change this situation for the better?”

Try to inspire and encourage your players where you can - it makes for a much more exciting story.

You won’t always be able to start a Contest - characters need to be nearby and ready for it.

• Characters can only perform counter-actions if they are Close - within roughly 10 meters - to the starting action. Most encounters will take place with characters being Close to each other, but if a character is at Mid or Long distance, you’ll need to get closer before you can start any Contests.
• Characters can only use their Stand for a counter-action if it’s ready.

To Be Continued: Distances and Stand readiness are covered in more detail later in the rules - check Stand Mechanics, and Range & Movement for more information.

Once a Contest ends, the character who got a lower result on their roll has their Momentum decreased by -1, and the other player has their Momentum increased by +1. If the result is a tie, no Momentum is gained or lost.

Momentum and Provoking: Shifting the Balance

Encounters in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure have a tension that pulls back and forth, as characters take the upper hand, or find themselves on the back foot. Each Contest is a chance to learn something about an opponent, whether it’s their strategies, or their personality. By managing Momentum, players will be able to use that tension to their advantage.

During encounters, every character has Momentum, which is a single number that starts each encounter at 0, and ranges from -3 to +3. It represents how much control that character has over their situation. A character with higher Momentum has more room to move, while a character with lower Momentum is feeling pressured by their opponent. Shifts in Momentum are a great opportunity to show everyone how your character is feeling, so when they happen, try bragging, panicking or whatever feels appropriate.

GM Note: Since Momentum reflects how characters feel about their situation, as a GM you could consider giving a character +1 Momentum if they’ve done something exciting, impressive, or particularly in-character.

The main thing that Momentum changes is the order of actions. Characters with higher Momentum get to go first when they want to perform their single action per turn, while characters with low Momentum will have to wait.

To Be Continued: Information on how Momentum ties are broken - and more on when exactly actions happen - is under Turn Order.

There are two ways to gain or lose Momentum. The first is through Contests, as described earlier. The player with the lower result loses -1 Momentum, and the other player gains +1. If the two actions have the same result, then no Momentum is exchanged.

The second is through provoking. Every character has traits that outline their personality, and actions that line up with those traits get higher results. By provoking, characters can call out each other’s traits, forcing a trade in Momentum if the trait is used.

To Be Continued: The three different kinds of traits are detailed later.

To provoke, all you need to do is declare you’re doing so against a target character. Describe how your character goads their opponent into acting in-line with one of their traits. If the opponent’s next action uses that trait, your character gains +1 Momentum, and they lose -1. However, the bonus from the Trait is doubled. If it doesn’t use that trait, nothing happens.

Example: Heath knows Joyce from previous run-ins, and is familiar with how protective they are of their town, a fact that’s recorded on their character sheet as an Impulse. “Y’know, we keep goin’ like this and we’re gonna tear the whole building down!” they taunt. Joyce falls for it, and with a furious yell, charges Heath. The +3 that they would normally get from activating their Impulse is doubled to a +6 instead.

You may not know exactly what traits your opponent has! Typically, GMs should keep this information a secret, where they can, until it seems like the players have figured it out. Players are welcome to make guesses, but if they are unsuccessful, the provoke does nothing.

The catch is that actions gain +3 to their result when they’re in line with a trait, which is doubled to a +6 when provoked. You might gain Momentum, improving your position in the long run, but you might also struggle to deal with an action that’s been powered up.

Momentum Moves

To make the most of your character’s Momentum, you can spend it on three different Momentum Moves: Secrets, Feints, and Predictions. The moves you can use depend on what your character’s Momentum is, and all three can be very effective in the right situation.

While your character has 0 Momentum, you can plan a Secret instead of a normal action, using up a Fortune for a special Secret action later on. First, select a player-created Fortune from the sheet, and mark it with an S. Your character has secretly done something with this Fortune, without anyone noticing. Until you’re finished with it, nobody else can use this Fortune, but you can’t use any other player-created Fortunes.

Anytime before the end of the encounter, you can declare a Secret action, using the Fortune you marked. Since it’s very difficult to come up with an action that will still be useful several turns later, the player doesn’t need to actually come up with an action until they declare it. The story is paused, and you decide an earlier point in the encounter - in between the time you planned the Secret, and the declaration - to have done an action with the Fortune you marked.

Example: Early in the encounter, Joyce put aside a wrench they found as a Fortune while they had 0 Momentum. After Heath manages to dodge one of their attacks, they declare their Secret action - using their Stand ability to launch the wrench from their sleeve, giving them an additional action for the current turn.

This action is treated just like any other, and only needs a roll if there’s both challenge and consequences. Characters in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are known for uncannily accurate predictions, so there’s no need to restrict actions in the past to things that would make sense for a real person to assume about the future. However, if the action fails, the narration returns immediately to the present, where the GM takes over to tell the story of how the Secret action is discovered before it can have its impact.

Secret actions don’t use up a character’s single action per turn - this means that planning a Secret gives you the opportunity to do two actions in the same turn later.

While your character has positive (+) Momentum, you can Predict your opponent’s moves. As soon as a Contest starts, declare the stat you think your opponent will use for their action. Their opponent then has to choose whether or not they will use that stat, in a binding decision. If they say they will use that stat, they must use it, and if they say they will not, they cannot. Both characters involved in a Contest may Predict at the same time. You lose -1 Momentum as soon as your opponent makes their decision.

If the Predicted stat is not used, nothing happens, and the Contest proceeds as normal. If it is used, the character who made the Prediction can instead narrate their action or counter-action as though they had succeeded, without rolling. Since they do not roll, nobody gains or loses Momentum after the Contest.

Example: Heath, feeling confident after easily goading Joyce into attacking, decides to anticipate their next move. They Predict that Joyce will try and attack them with their Stand’s Power, and declare as much with a confident boast. Now that Joyce knows Heath is anticipating a Power-based attack, it’s up to them whether or not they stick to it and risk having a reduced effect, or change their tactics and rely on a different stat.

While your character has negative (-) Momentum, you can Feint. If you fail an action as part of a Contest, you can use a Feint to pick a new action, and roll for that instead. The old action - and its apparent failure - was actually a trick, and now you get to reveal your true intentions. Whether or not you actually planned for it to be a trick isn’t important.

When you Feint, the old contest stops, you immediately take over the narration, and explain how your move was covering up a new action. This action must have a different impact, and use a different stat to the action that just failed. Just like with other actions, your opponent can choose to attempt a counter-action, starting a new Contest.

While a Feint doesn’t use up your action for a turn, you can only Feint once per turn. You can only Feint if you have one or more points of Willpower left.

If your opponent succeeds at a counter-action against your new action, you lose a point of Willpower whether or not your own action succeeded. Since they’ll do so automatically if your action fails, you’ll want to save Feints for when your opponent is likely to fail, or when you’re likely to roll high enough to force their action to fail.

Example: Joyce’s attempt at a precise strike failed, but they’re determined to take advantage of being up-close. They Feint, declaring that their attack was meant to get Heath to look the wrong way while they used their Stand ability to launch a car door across the room as an attack. Heath only has a moment to react, and starts a new Contest.

When your character has positive Momentum, they have more control over the encounter and their opponent’s options, while negative Momentum opens up opportunities for people who can think on their feet. Secret actions are tricky and suspenseful, but they are also rare, so take advantage of them when you can.

        Ventures: Going All-In With Your Momentum

When a character is at -3 or +3 Momentum, they’re either starting to fold under the pressure, or feel like they’re totally in control of the situation. In moments like these, they can put everything they have into a single action, spending all of their Momentum on a Venture.

To use a Venture, reset your character’s Momentum to 0 and add a bonus of +10 to their next result. This is done after an action has been selected, and before the roll. While using a Venture, a character cannot receive any bonuses or penalties from their traits. Otherwise, that’s all there is to it.

Example: Joyce is struggling, and has been brought down to -3 Momentum. They’re desperate for a solution, so they resort to using their Stand to shatter a glass window, flinging the shards towards Heath. They need this to work, so they put everything they have into it with a Venture, resetting their Momentum to 0 and adding +10 to their action.

Here’s a couple of reasons why a +10 bonus is special.

• The lowest number you can roll on a twenty-sided die is 1, and the target for successes is 11, so it’s impossible to fail an action that’s using a Venture unless you’re dealing with penalties.
• In Contests, you can overpower your opponent by getting a result that’s more than 10 over your opponent, making their action a failure. This means that as long as a character’s result is higher than their opponent’s without the Venture, the +10 bonus will overpower their action.

Using a Venture at the right time can just about guarantee an important action, especially when you line it up with an opening in your opponent’s strategy. They can take several turns to build up, however, so make the most of them.

Clash Contests: When Ventures Collide

Sometimes, the only way to respond to the sheer force of a Venture is with another Venture. If two players declare Ventures against each other, a Clash Contest is started. These are high risk, high reward competitions, rolling the same action again and again, until one of the characters finally gives out.

When a Venture is used as part of a Contest, the other character involved in the Contest can use a Venture of their own, if they also have +3 or -3 Momentum. This changes the Contest into a Clash Contest. Both players declare repeatable actions that oppose and target each other, simultaneously. The two actions oppose each other repeatedly, over multiple rolls, until one or both characters are worn down.

GM Note: You can stretch the boundaries of what is actually ‘repeatable’ here. While it’s logical to assume that a pistol will eventually run out of ammunition, temporarily ignoring this logic can make for a more exciting Clash Contest.

The two declared actions are rolled for simultaneously. The narration can bend the rules a little here: time can be stretched, the logic of the shared world can be temporarily ignored, and the iconic Stand cries can fulfill their dramatic potential. Any players involved can work together to narrate the spectacle, but neither can have an impact until the Clash Contest is resolved. The actions are affected by the Venture used to start them, so as normal, all rolls receive a +10 bonus, and players cannot use their traits.

Once both players have rolled, the results are compared, and whoever rolls lower loses, failing their action. However, the Clash Contest isn’t necessarily over - a player who has lost can spend a point of Willpower to force both players to roll their actions again, with the same bonuses and penalties. In the case of a tie, both players lose, and will both need to spend Willpower to continue. This continues until the losing players are no longer willing or able to spend Willpower.

To Be Continued: Willpower has a few uses, which are covered later.

If neither player spends any Willpower, the Clash Contest ends. The players who have lost - which can be both - will take any consequences from their opponents action, narrated by their opponent.

Example: Heath sees Joyce using a Venture to attack with a flurry of glass shards, and throws up a barrier to protect themselves with their Stand, blocking each shard before it can strike. Their Willpower is currently at +3, so they activate a Venture to match Joyce’s, starting a Clash Contest.

The two players roll against each other, and Joyce gets a lower result. However, they spend one of their points of Willpower to try again - both players roll, and this time Heath’s result is lower. Not to be outdone, Heath also spends Willpower, extending the Clash Contest.

Another roll, and Joyce has the higher result once again. This time, Heath decides to play conservatively, and save the rest of their Willpower for later. They concede the Clash Contest, and Joyce’s player narrates the results of their successful action.

GM Advice: Challenging Your Players

It’s generally the case that an encounter will feature, at most, one or two enemies against your entire party of players. This can mean your non-player characters are outnumbered by two-to-one, or more! Since characters in this RPG are meant to be evenly balanced in a straight fight, it might be hard for your non-player characters to pose much of a threat. However, it’s very rare for anything in this series to be straight.

As the GM, the characters you control will probably have inside knowledge of the location that the fight takes place in - if they are the aggressor - and may have some idea of what abilities your players have. It’s a good idea to take advantage of these things. If your players feel like the whole world is against them, that makes it that much more satisfying when they take back control.

The game is at its most exciting when people are coming up with new strategies that they hadn’t considered before. To make that work, players have all kinds of different tools at their disposal to win, between the game mechanics and their unique Stand abilities. Don’t be afraid to push your players into giving everything they’ve got! Use Predictions, Conditions and dangerous GM Features to make them come at the encounter from new perspectives. That said, keep in mind that you aren’t trying to win, or make your players suffer. You’re trying to tell a good story - help them out by making sure they aren’t missing any advantages they might have, or easing up and having your characters gloat instead of landing a killing blow.

Encounters aren’t the only kind of challenge you can set up, though. Players can be challenged emotionally too. Expose their characters’ personal failings with provocations and storytelling. Ask yourself “how could the character’s personality stop them from getting what they want?”, and put your players in positions where they have to make difficult choices. Maybe an opponent knows exactly how to push your player characters’ buttons, or forces them to choose between a Goal they’ve been chasing, and winning the immediate battle.

Turn Order

To make sure that everyone gets a chance to share what their character is up to during an encounter, actions are grouped into turns. Each character in an encounter can only start one action per turn, and when everyone’s had an action (or decided they’ll skip this turn), the turn ends, and a new one begins. The passage of time in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is very dramatic and unreal, but actions shouldn’t be anything that could take more than six seconds.

This also applies to things characters want to do that don’t have challenge or consequences, and aren’t actions. If they want to do something during a turn, they’ll only have one opportunity to get things done, even if they aren’t rolling for it. Again, try to stick to that six second limit.

Characters can start actions whenever they want within a turn. There’s no rule that decides in advance what order actions will happen in. However,

• If more than one character wants to start an action at the same time, the character with the highest Momentum goes first.
• If multiple characters with the same Momentum want to start actions at the same time, the character with the most Willpower goes first.
• If characters are tied for both Momentum and Willpower, the character with the highest Speed stat available to them goes first.
• If that’s a tie as well, flip a coin.

Each character can only start one action per turn, but there’s no limit on counter-actions. If your character is involved in a Contest, their counter-action doesn’t count towards the action limit of one per turn. Remember, Secret actions don’t count towards this limit either.

Example: A new turn has started. Joyce, Adrian and Heath all want to act first. Joyce and Heath both have +1 Momentum, while Adrian only has 0, so we check Joyce and Heath’s Willpower. Joyce has two remaining, to Heath’s one, so Joyce gets to go first.

A major exception to all of this is dialogue. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has a habit of giving characters as much time as they need when it comes to talking, no matter what’s happening in the story. Ignore the six second limit for dialogue, especially when you have the chance to express something interesting about your characters.

Stand Mechanics

Stands are capable of a number of miscellaneous things that aren’t easily covered by other sections, so here’s a few things to keep in mind. Any of these rules can be contradicted by Stand abilities, or changed if it doesn’t suit your group.

• A Stand will generally share its senses with its User. This depends on the Stand’s form. If it doesn’t have eyes, the User won’t be able to see things with their Stand. Otherwise, for humanoid Stands, it’s safe to assume they are capable of any sensory perception their User is.

• Stand users can communicate telepathically. In roleplaying games, it’s common for players in a group to plan and coordinate things together in ‘table talk’, sharing knowledge that their characters might not individually have. Unless the encounter explicitly calls for it, it should be assumed that characters can communicate freely, even if it seems like they wouldn’t be able to hear each other.

• Stands are either called out, meaning that their form is fully visible, or not. If a Stand is used as part of an action, it’s called out, and will stay that way until the User’s next action. If it doesn’t affect the impact of any actions, this rule can be ignored, but when a ruling is required, a Stand that has been used has its entire body manifested.

• A Stand is ready when it hasn’t been called out, or is Close to the User. This means that it’s prepared to step in and defend the User, even without their awareness. When a Stand is ready, you can use it to perform counter-actions, and start Contests. If the Stand isn’t Close to the User, this won’t be possible.

        Range & Movement

When it comes to positioning in these kinds of encounters, it’s very rare for a meter or two to make a difference, so we focus on what’s important. All we need to know is how far away from each other characters or objects are. This means that as a GM, you can concentrate on quickly setting a scene with Fortunes, and as a player, dealing with your Stand’s Range is as simple as asking how far you are from something.

When you want to set how far away something is from something else, you can use a distance. They each match a rank in the Range stat.

Characters and their Stands can move to anything that’s Close to them as part of an action, unless there’s something in the story that stops them from moving. For instance, a character that’s tied to a chair would need to escape before they could get to the door, even if it is Close to them. Also, if a character needs to cover more ground, they can move closer or further away from something by one distance, instead of their action.

Example: Joyce, Heath and Adrian are all in pursuit of an enemy Stand User. Joyce has used their Stand to get closer, and is within Close distance. They can close the gap and strike in the same action, as long as their opponent doesn’t move. To help with this, Heath uses their Stand - which has a Range stat of C - to create an oil slick under their enemy’s feet, even though Heath themselves is at Mid distance.

A Stand can only have an impact within its range. For instance, a Stand with a Range rank of D can only move, perform actions, or have an impact within the Close distance, up to 10m away from the User. Outside of that distance, the Stand is incapable of manifesting, as part of an action or otherwise. This includes throwing projectiles, unless it’s explicitly included in a Stand’s ability.

A Stand with a Range stat of E can’t move away from its User. Actions using Stands with this rank are only possible if their User is close enough to perform the action themselves.

A Stand with a Range stat of A has virtually unlimited Range. This often applies to Stands that have specific effects, such as Manhattan Transfer, a Stand that is used in tandem with a sniper rifle to make precise, long-distance attacks. It’s unlikely that you will encounter a situation where the exact edge of A-ranked Range is important, but if you do, make sure everyone at the table agrees on what that edge is.

Conditions

Sometimes a character will be under an effect that changes the way some or all of their future actions will work. If they’re freezing cold, they may have difficulty moving, or they might struggle with finding their body heavier than usual. When this happens, the nature of that change is recorded in a condition. This way, the player in charge of that character can quickly reference the effect, and take it into account when planning their actions.

Conditions are made up of three things: a name, an effect, and, if necessary, a value. It’s rare for the name and effect to change much, so to save time, it’s worth preparing any Conditions you’re confident will come up during an encounter in advance. Recording them on index cards, or another kind of easy-to-share note, is a good way to easily distribute them as they’re applied to characters in the scene.

The name is just a quick way to refer to the condition, and briefly describe it. Single adjectives like ‘high gravity’ often work in most situations, but you can also use the name of a Stand ability, like ‘She’s So Heavy’, if the effect is very specific. Try not to have multiple different conditions with the same name, if you can help it.

The effect is the critical part. This defines what the condition actually does. An easy way to think about it is by using cause and effect: when x happens, y.

• Bleeding: At the start of every turn, this character takes two points of damage.

• Fear: When this character looks at this Stand, they will feel an irresistible compulsion to move one Range band away, or be unable to act for the rest of the turn.

• Happy Feelin’: This character cannot receive any penalties from their Impulses, or bonuses from their Goals.

Another tool you can use when creating Conditions is giving them a value. Some Conditions might become more severe over time, or as specific things happen in the story. In these cases, you can record a number along with the Condition that can be changed in whatever way suits it.

• Asphyxiating: When this Condition is applied, set the stack to 5, and reduce it by 1 at the start of every turn. If the stack reaches 0, this character becomes unconscious.

• Can’t Help It: Each time this character is asked for help and refuses to give it, add 1 to this Condition’s stack. Use this Condition’s stack as a penalty on all rolls. e.g. a stack of 3 reduces all of this character’s rolls by -3.

Removing a Condition depends on the Condition itself. For some, the only option may be defeating the enemy Stand User responsible. While you should make sure you have some way to remove Conditions when preparing them, a big part of dealing with Conditions is improvising solutions. For example, if a character was ‘burning’, the obvious way to remove the Condition might be to immerse themselves in water. However, they might surprise you with a drastic strategy, like using their Stand to remove the oxygen in the room and put out the fire.

GM Note: The final say on whether or not a Condition is removed is always with the GM - however, if your players can come up with an interesting or fun solution to a Condition, consider rewarding them for their ingenuity rather than forcing strict logic on them.

GM Advice: Prep

Tradition would suggest that the Game Master should spend hours locked away with massive tomes of rules, building out worlds and plots for their players to explore, preparing for every possible outcome. It’s okay if that’s your style, but this system works a lot better with a different approach. You don’t need to have everything planned out! Things won’t necessarily work out the way you expect, and that’s the point. It’s a shared story, and that often means giving your players room to surprise you. With that in mind, don’t worry too much about your expectations, or any grand plans you have. Try to encourage your players to contribute to the narrative, and help them tell their characters’ unique stories.

A great place to focus your efforts is in your own non-player characters, whether they’re enemies, allies, or something in between. By creating and embodying interesting characters as a GM, you provide all kinds of different perspectives for your players to examine their own characters from. Your characters can expose their flaws, and force them to confront painful truths about themselves. The best place to start is by sitting down and really thinking about who your characters are. What do they want? How are they going to get it? What values do they try to uphold? What do they do in their spare time?

It’s also worth thinking carefully about their Stand. Not just coming up with interesting powers - how can you customize the arena of the fight with Fortunes to complement those powers? What will your character have prepared in advance, knowing that they’re going to start a fight, to make their power more effective? Additionally, what kind of strategy have they developed over their years of using that power? Their Goals and Impulses can help you decide how they fight.

Another good way to prepare for an encounter is by having your Fortunes and Conditions ready to go. Try to come up with Conditions that make for interesting puzzles ahead of time, or at the very least, have the descriptions and numbers ready so you don’t have to try and figure that out as you go. That said, being open to tweaking things that aren’t working out at the table is also a good way to make sure your encounters go smoothly.

Damage & Wounds

While encounters typically involve as much thinking as fighting, eventually, someone’s going to get hit. To show off how badly characters get beat up, this system tracks injuries using damage, and wounds. In most cases, damage should only be dealt by a character if it’s the impact of an action - or a Condition created by that impact - but follow what makes sense for the story.

Whenever someone gets hurt, that injury is dealt in damage, with the amount of damage based on the source of the injury. In most cases, this will be dealt by a Stand, so we use the Stand’s Power to work out how many points of damage the injury is worth. While any stat can be used in a roll that causes damage, Power is the only one used to determine the amount.

To Be Continued: Stand abilities can also be used to set the amount of damage dealt, or reduced.

If a Stand User has their Stand ready to defend them, any damage they take will be reduced by a Stand’s Durability. By default, a Stand User will not have any damage reduction, usually making them a more vulnerable target than their Stand.

* Stands with an E in Durability receive 1 extra damage only when the damage is the direct impact of an opponent’s action.

When the amount of damage has been worked out, it’s dealt to the character. Each point is used to fill a single segment of a wound. These are tracked in boxes on the character sheet, with four boxes making up a single wound. Every point must fill a segment, so if you fill a wound with points leftover, start filling the next one. You cannot start filling a new wound if any other wounds are partially filled.

Once all four boxes of a wound are full - every time a character has taken four points of damage - the character is wounded. If a character ever has five wounds - a total of twenty points of damage - their body is too badly beaten to continue fighting, and they are considered retired, meaning they are unable to act for the rest of the encounter.

To Be Continued: Retired doesn’t mean dead, just unable to perform actions or have an impact on the story. Check the section on Death for rules about killing characters.

Whenever a character is wounded, their player must also mark a wound condition of their choice. There are four of these on the character sheet. Mark the effect you choose at the same time as the wound. These effects are easy to handle individually, but taking on too many can make encounters very challenging. They affect all actions a character performs until they’re removed.

• Shocked: All bonuses from traits are limited to +2.
• Slowed: You cannot move from your current position as part of an action without assistance.
• Bleeding: Take one damage at the end of any turn where you didn’t take any damage.
• Stunned: Lose turn priority to characters who don’t have this effect.

Example: Adrian has been wounded by their enemy, and after recording enough damage to fill a Wound, is forced to pick a Wound action. Since they’re currently in pursuit of an enemy, being Stunned or Distracted doesn’t seem sensible to them, so they take Agitated, limiting some of the trait bonuses they’ll receive going forward.

To avoid being wounded, you can spend Willpower. Any time you would fill a wound completely, you can instead spend two points of Willpower to ignore the wound. Clear all segments of the wound completely, and do not take a wound effect. If there’s any damage left over, continue to assign it.

Sometimes, characters can receive damage from sources other than a Stand. In these cases, the GM will need to decide how much damage is dealt. While it can vary based on the situation, here are some common examples of alternative damage sources, and how much damage they should do.

• 1: Paper cuts, stepping on nails

• 2: Unarmed attacks.
• 4: Attacks with weapons.
• 6: Dramatic events - car crashes, building collapses.
• 8: Point-blank explosions, thunder strikes.

GM Note: While Willpower is the main way to prevent wounds, healing abilities are another possibility. Stand abilities, experienced Users, or even lucky Fortunes could all be used to offer relief from wound effects. However, if characters are allowed to clear wounds or remove damage, encounters can last for a very long time. You should consider only allowing healing abilities to clear wound effects.

Willpower

Willpower is a resource that reflects a character’s capacity to stay in a fight, and focus on achieving what they want. There are no consequences for running out, but not having any Willpower to spend can be dangerous. As characters grow, and as the group learns more about them over the course of a campaign, they’ll gain more Willpower, and be able to handle longer, higher-risk encounters.

Characters always start encounters with their Willpower at the maximum, which is determined by their traits - every new trait increases it by one point, and advancing a trait increases it by two. Since most characters will start with two traits, they’ll have two points of Willpower.

To Be Continued: Traits and how they’re Advanced are covered in more detail later.

Willpower has a number of different uses, and you can freely spend your character’s Willpower on any of them, as long as you have enough.

• Ignoring wounds: When your character would take a wound, you can instead spend two points of Willpower to clear the wound.
• Clash Contests: When you lose a Clash Contest, you can spend one point to roll the actions again.
• Determination: When an enemy meets the right conditions, you can spend one point of Willpower to mark Determination against them.
• Feints: When a counter-action succeeds against your Feint, one Willpower is lost. You may only start a Feint if you have at least one Willpower.

Some Stands, especially those that try to avoid direct conflict, might weaken or defeat opponents by making them lose the will to fight. When you’re coming up with Stand abilities, you can also use Willpower to reflect a character’s mental stamina, or fighting spirit. If their Willpower reaches zero, then the ability can activate, possibly with a devastating impact. Consider using this for encounters where your players meet a challenge that they can’t punch their way out of.

Determination

Depending on the campaign, your characters may have reasons to loathe their enemies, beyond simple animosity. They may want to seriously hurt someone, or worse. In these cases, players can mark Determination on their character sheet for a Willpower cost, noting the hatred they have for this particular enemy. Lighter campaigns may want to avoid using this, but if the GM is building up a nemesis for the players, or a minor NPC just really rubs you the wrong way, consider making a note of it with Determination.

Once per session, you can mark Determination against a character when they do something to hurt someone your character Trusts, or keep your character from completing their Goals. It must be done immediately, in the moment. You can’t mark Determination after the fact. This costs one point of Willpower, and is marked by recording the character on your sheet, along with marking the first available flame next to it.

To Be Continued: Trusts and Goals are two of the three kinds of trait. The third, Impulses, do not have any effect on Determination.

Once Determination is marked, you can ignore any bonuses or penalties from your Goals to add +3 to actions that directly harm the marked character.

Example: Joyce is trapped under rubble, watching Brann Sanders, the head of security at P.Y.T. International. They’ve severely injured Adrian, and are speaking impassionately on the phone with their boss about how they’ve taken care of the troublemakers. The rage and hatred that Joyce feels at this corporate bully’s callousness boils over, and they mark Determination against Brann, recording it on their character sheet.

A few notes:

• Characters with Determination marked against them cannot become the subject of a Trust, and vice versa.
• If a character changes their mind, Determination can be cleared at any time, by erasing all marks from the character sheet.
• GMs can consider giving their group the choice to mark Determination against someone for free, if the story calls for it.

If Determination is marked against a character three times, it becomes Dark Determination. The +3 bonus from Determination is now doubled to +6, but your character also receives a -3 penalty to actions that do not harm the marked character. This penalty applies whenever the character is present in the encounter.

        Death

Character death is optional, and rare. While losing a character can make for memorable, dramatic scenes that leave a lasting impression on the group, it’s important to understand that not all players will be okay with losing a character, or watching others lose theirs. Forcing a player to give up their character without consent can easily make an entire campaign turn sour. Whether character death is left out entirely, opt-in for players, or totally improvised, the entire group should agree on what the approach for a campaign will be.

Death is often a major moment in the arc of an encounter or campaign, so your group should be prepared to give it the weight it deserves. Give the players who are narrating the characters involved space to tell the story. Again, your group should make sure they’ve come to an agreement on how death will be handled during the campaign. Make sure to respect that agreement, and let people change their mind if they are uncomfortable. If a player allows their character to die, make sure to let them tell that part of the story in a way that suits them.

Before they can kill someone, a character must mark Dark Determination against their target. The act of killing is a grave one, and for characters to have a relatable sense of morality, they will need to be able to justify it to themselves. If you want your antagonists to be a lethal threat, then you can ignore Determination rules entirely for them.

If a character is retired, they can be killed by anyone who has marked them with Dark Determination. Since they are unable to act, they will be unable to do anything to prevent their death, but the impact of killing them can be reduced in a Contest by any other character that is able to perform a counter-action.

Example: Adrian has been retired in a fight with Brann, and neither Joyce or Heath is able to help. After the GM gets the go-ahead from everyone at the table, especially Adrian’s player, they decide to raise the dramatic stakes, and have Brann use their Stand to land the final blow.

While a character’s death should be considered first as a part of the story, players whose characters have died may choose to do one of the following.

• Pass down one of their Goals, allowing other characters present in the scene to record it permanently to their character sheet, as though they’d developed it themselves.
• Pass down a stored Venture, giving the Venture that comes with completing a Goal to another character present in the scene.
• Narrate a final action, bypassing the need to roll for a single, uncounterable action.

Example: After emerging from the rubble and racing to Adrian’s side, it’s too late for Heath or Joyce to do anything. As Adrian fades away, they plead with Heath and Joyce to carry on their mission, and expose the P.Y.T. corporation’s misdeeds. Heath and Joyce, honoring their friend, agree to it, and record Adrian’s Goal to their own character sheets.

Lastly, until the end of the encounter, a character who has died can communicate with any characters who Trust them from beyond the grave. It’s recommended to use this sparingly, for maximum dramatic effect.

Potential

In a desperate situation, if you really can’t think of a way out, your character can call on their hidden inner strength to modify one of their abilities - or even develop new ones.

Just as characters grow and change over the course of a story, the abilities that those characters use can change too. Every Stand has a Potential stat, which measures how much room they have to develop their abilities. Because of this, Potential works very differently to the other stats. First, it can only be used once per encounter. Second, it can only be used while you are at the right amount of Momentum. The amount required is based on your Potential rank.

A Stand with a Potential rank of A can modify or gain a new ability at any amount of Momentum. They are still restricted to one use of Potential per encounter, but it can happen at any time.

A Stand with a Potential rank of E cannot modify or gain new abilities. Their Stand is already as powerful as it’s going to get without any outside influence.

To modify an ability, simply change how it works. The only hard limitation is that modifications can only ever change either the target or the effect. If a modification would change both, it must be adjusted until it does not.

• Changing the target means that the ability can be used on more than it could before. This could mean that an ability that was previously restricted to allies only can now be used on enemies, or the environment.

• Changing the effect means that the ability has a different impact when used. A Condition it applies could be temporarily replaced with something more dangerous. The damage dealt could be increased, or it could otherwise change the story in a different way.

To Be Continued: There’s more on abilities and how they work in the section on Building Your Stand.

Modifications can also be used to simply change the description of an ability, meaning that it can have different impacts when telling the story. Any changes are subject to GM approval. Whatever change is made should make sense for the Stand in question, without diverging too much from its existing abilities, so as a GM, try to work with your players.

If the player wants to, a modification can be made a permanent part of the ability. This can be done immediately, if the Stand’s Potential is permanently reduced by one rank.

Example: Heath’s Stand, Cloudbusting, has an ability that allows them to rapidly condense vapors into liquids on contact. When faced with an enemy that has electrified a pool of water, they decide to use their high Potential stat to tweak that ability, allowing it to act in reverse as well - dispersing the pool of water into vapor, removing the threat.

Potential can also be used to develop new abilities. Unlike modifications:

• These are always permanent changes,
• Potential must be reduced by two ranks - meaning a D-ranked Stand cannot gain new abilities, and
• Characters may only gain new abilities if they were featured in the interlude before the current encounter.

Gaining new abilities through Potential should be handled carefully. It’s highly recommended you avoid abilities that would be worth more than two build points. You should also avoid abilities that diverge too much from the concept of the Stand, just like with modifications.

Example: In an interlude, the group notes that Heath has grown a lot since their first encounter with Joyce, and their player wants to reflect that by growing their Stand. In a moment of desperation, they discover that their Stand has the ability to affect solid objects as well, dispersing them instantly into ‘vapor’. They give up two ranks in Potential to record this new ability to their character sheet.

GM Advice: Use the Rules

Most of the rules in this document apply to both player characters, and non-player characters created by the GM. However, as the primary narrator for the game, the GM has the right to bend the rules in a way that the player might not, and to allow players to do the same under the right circumstances. Remember, the rules are in service of the story, not the other way around. If a player does something impressive that makes their character look cool, reward them with a point of Momentum. Give your players the opportunity to take new traits when the story calls for it.

Conversely, you can also use that to create more dramatic consequences for their actions by shaping the story. The threats and difficulties they face are up to you, so make them impactful. If they kill one of your antagonists, use that opportunity to send one of that character’s friends or loved ones to get revenge. Bring characters your players enjoyed back for a second round with a new twist on their Abilities, or new traits.

And remember, you can always fudge things if you really have to. While you should follow the rules of the game where you can, they’re never going to be more important than the story.

Building Your Character

Nobody starts a fight without a reason. It might not be a good reason, but it always comes from who the people involved are, and how they relate to each other. Characters might fight over something important to them, or have an unfortunate misunderstanding, or just hate each other's guts. In this system, who your character is is just as important as the things they can do. There’s no single way to build a character that fits into the world and style of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but the most rewarding characters to play as have strong personalities, and interesting powers.

This part of the document teaches you how to create characters. The rules work the same way whether you’re a GM or a player, but if you’re a player, it’s often a good idea to create your characters with your GM’s help. They can help refine your character with their knowledge of what the campaign will be like, and what the rest of the group will bring to the table. You can start with a Stand, or start with its User, or build both together at the same time. It’s up to you.

How Stands Work

Stands generally follow three rules:

• Anything that has a Stand only has one. Some Stands can have multiple bodies, or change their form, but they’re drawn from one spirit.
• Stands are ‘bound’ to something, usually the User's body. When that thing is damaged, so is the Stand, and vice-versa.
• Stands can only be seen by other Stand Users, except for Stands that are bound to objects.

All three have been broken by different Stands in the series, so if your idea also breaks them, talk it over with your GM. If it’s a fun idea that everyone likes, there’s no reason not to use it.

There are a few different ways for characters to get a Stand - though your character will probably start out knowing how to use theirs, it’s a good idea to think about how they got it. They might have been born with theirs, and learned to manifest it in a high-pressure situation, or they might come from a family of Stand Users. Others get theirs from being dedicated to an activity, profession, or art.

Another method is through coming into contact with the Stand meteor, a rock made from a mysterious element that can give a Stand to people who are strong enough in spirit to control it.

Building Your Stand

You have ten build points to use when creating your character’s Stand. These points are spent on either your Stand’s stats, or its abilities. Spending points on stats is good for making sure you succeed at actions, but abilities are what will make your Stand special. They’re the unexpected factor that you can surprise enemies with, the tool you can find a new use for with every encounter.

Coming up with a Stand might seem daunting at first, especially if you aren’t very familiar with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. However, the way they work in this system is very simple. When creating a Stand, there’s only four things you need to come up with.

• A form, the shape the Stand takes when it’s manifested,
• Stats, to define their physical capabilities,
• At least one ability, to make it a unique tool for your character to use, and
• A Name.

Once you have all of those, you’re set. You can spend time fleshing out your character’s Stand by working out exactly how it looks and behaves - or if you’re feeling lost, by discovering these things as you play. Remember, if you’re not sure exactly what to do with a Stand, you can always use Potential to develop their abilities during an encounter.

        Form

Although Stands don’t have physical bodies, they do usually have a shape that they take when they’re manifested. A humanoid body is the most common, but there are many possibilities.

• Hermit Purple, a Stand that takes the form of purple, thorny vines,
• The Fool, a Stand that creates different forms using sand,
• Anubis, a Stand that is bound to a sword, and possesses anyone who holds it,
• Khnum, a Stand with no form that allows its User to change his appearance,
• Harvest, a Stand that is made up of a swarm of small insectoids, and
• Black Sabbath, an Automatic Stand, meaning that it acts independently of the User, and does not share damage or knowledge with them.

The rules in this document work best for simple humanoid Stands, or other Stands that aren’t affected very much by their form.

Though it doesn’t cost any points, and it’s very unlikely to change anything about your character’s actions, you should think about what your Stand looks like. It’s a great way to characterize your Stand, and can give some insight into the character it belongs to. The rest of this section will cover some info on how Stands can be designed, but there’s no real restrictions.

Even humanoid Stands don’t quite look human. They may have human proportions, but it’s rare for all of their features to look recognizably human.

• Their eyes often have unusual colors, or resemble bug-like lenses. This has no effect on whether or not their User can see through their eyes, so go wild!

• Stands typically don’t have a nose or ears, and sometimes don’t have a mouth. In many cases, there will be decorations resembling those features in their place.

• While Stands typically have human hands, they can also have clawed fingers, or pincers. This can change how you describe how your character uses their Stand, so be sure to remember any alternatives you decide to give a Stand.

• Some Stands are noticeably larger or smaller than an average human. Smaller Stands might have larger heads in order to look cute, while larger Stands may only manifest from the waist up, or just as a head and hands.

Stands are also typically covered with armor-like shapes, especially around the head. These can be used to make a Stand look muscular, or give it that humanoid shape when the ‘base’ underneath is too skeletal to complete that look. It’s rare for these shapes to resemble real clothing, but it can happen. The head is sometimes shaped to look like a crown or helmet, too.

The Stand’s body can also be decorated with patterns - horizontal lines are common, but you can be more adventurous. Letters and mathematical symbols have been used in the series before, along with checkerboard patterns, organic textures, and puzzle pieces. Patterns are often used on the body itself, or restricted to specific areas, rather than the ‘armor’ shapes.

Motifs are often placed all over a Stand’s form. These are often direct references to their abilities, such as Sticky Fingers’ zippers, but they can also be there purely for aesthetics. You can use symbols like flowers or hearts, or other interesting ideas drawn from fashion, furniture, and architecture. These details will typically be concentrated around the head, hands, shoulders and chest.

Establishing a Stand’s form is not strictly necessary for playing the game. You can give your character a simple humanoid Stand and have a great time with complex abilities, but a lot of the fun of RPGs is developing a character, and for some people, having a visual for that character helps immensely. Play around with it! See what kind of fun and interesting Stand designs you can come up with, and be sure to make a note of it on your character sheet.

Stats

Your Stands stats determine the dice you roll when using a Stand to perform actions. Each stat is rated with a rank, ranging from E, the lowest, to A, the highest. The higher the stat, the higher the chance of getting a success, or beating an opponent. However, higher ranks cost more build points - you’ll need to find a balance that fits your vision for your particular Stand.

* If you take an E rank in a stat, you gain 1 build point to spend elsewhere.

While this spread might seem fairly small, with only five possible ranks, the differences between them are significant. Rolling with an A-ranked stat has a good chance of beating a B-ranked stat, but with the bonuses from traits and unique Stand abilities, it’s not impossible to surprise someone when you’re using even your lowest ranked stats. Just remember that you only have 10 points, and some of them need to be spent on abilities as well.

When you’re picking out your stats, you should keep in mind what kind of actions those stats are used for. It helps to think about what kind of Stand you’re planning, the character you want to give it to, and your preferences as a player.

Power

A Stand’s destructive capability. It determines how hard a Stand can punch, but also the destruction caused by any abilities, and how much damage it does.

It’s a good stat for

• Stands with destructive abilities (controlling fire, explosions, etc.)

• Characters who are efficient, and like to end encounters quickly,

• Players who like staying on the attack.

Speed

A Stand’s movement speed, whether attacking or avoiding. It might not help your character act first or run fast, but they’ll be hard to pin down.

It’s a good stat for

• Stands with abilities that apply Conditions, or strong attacks,

• Characters who rush into challenges,

• Players who like to avoid direct conflict.

Durability

A Stand’s ability to take hits, from Stands or otherwise. A high-Durability Stand can keep your character safe, but staying safe won’t always get you through an encounter.

It’s a good stat for

• Stands used to protect things,

• Characters who make a lot of mistakes, or act rashly,

• Players who like being the center of attention.

Precision

A Stand’s accuracy. It can be used for pinpoint attacks, projectiles, observation, and fine movements.

It’s a good stat for

• Stands with long-ranged or finely controlled abilities,

• Characters who like to keep their distance, or execute careful plans,

• Players who like to execute carefully laid plans.

Range

The distance a Stand can move from its User, and the area that its abilities can cover. It might not seem as useful as other stats, but don’t underestimate the advantages of a Stand that outrange its opponents.

It’s a good stat for

• Stands that work independently,

• Characters who like to have control of their surroundings,

• Players who are confident in their capacity to multitask.

Potential

A Stand’s capacity to learn new abilities, or increase stats. It’s also used for flexible Potential actions.

It’s a good stat for

• Stands that are full of surprises,

• Characters who are learning new things about themselves,

• Players who like to improvise

Abilities

Stand abilities are one of the most critical parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. They’re what make encounters fresh and exciting, while telling us about each character, and how they solve their problems. The Stands that belong to your group’s protagonists should have abilities that are simple, flexible, and adaptable, since they’ll feature in many different encounters across a campaign. The abilities of an antagonist’s Stand can be more rigid - as a GM,  put your antagonistic characters in environments that fit their Stand, creating interesting puzzles for your players to solve.

An easy way to come up with new Stand abilities is to start with a more conventional super power that you enjoy. For example, the power of flight is a staple of the genre, but on its own it doesn’t have the complexity that makes Stand abilities interesting. To accomplish that, we can think about a ‘twist’, or something that the ability needs in order to be used. The ability might require that the User holds on to a long, tall string that stretches into the sky. This could add further complications, like leaving the User to rely on existing wind currents to get around.

This specific example is drawn from how some spiders can use their webs to travel in the air. The world around you is a great source of inspiration in any creative works - Stand abilities can be drawn from nature, technology, human culture, other media, or anywhere else inspiration can be found. The rest of this section will help you design Stand abilities that are balanced and suit this game well, but as long as all players agree, there are no restrictions on what you can make an ability do. For important NPCs, especially powerful adversaries, consider bending these rules.

Every ability will need the following.

• A name
• A description
• A point cost
• Optionally, Condition cards.

When it comes to designing a Stand ability, it’s important to understand that Stands are meant to be powerful in the right situation. There’s nothing wrong with a wild, exciting idea, as long as it helps tell an interesting story. Powerful Stands are a concern when they can solve every problem in the same way, every time, without encountering any difficulty. This leaves you with boring encounters that often don’t last very long. Powerful abilities aren’t as much of a problem when it takes time, effort and luck to actually make use of that power.

With that in mind, when you’re designing an ability it helps to think about them in terms of their effect, and their target.

Effect

An ability’s effect is what it does when it’s successfully used. Effects can interact with any mechanic, change any rule, or affect the story in any way you like. For example,

Apply a Condition

If your Stand’s effect changes something about other characters, and lasts longer than a single action, consider writing the details of that change down as a Condition, so it’s easy to apply and remove.

This can work well for:

• Abilities that have a lasting effect on other characters.

Roll bonuses or penalties

Some abilities make the User more capable of certain actions. In these cases, adding a bonus to rolls involving that action is a good way to reflect that.

This can work well for:

• Abilities that grant uncanny luck.

• Abilities that make someone unnaturally good at something.

Deal damage

Some effects are best expressed by dealing damage. The amount of damage dealt by an ability typically overrides the amount determined by the Stand’s Power stat.

This can work well for:

• Abilities that attack directly.

• Abilities that create destructive elements.

Create Fortunes

Abilities that give the User access to particular objects can record them as Fortunes without having to follow the normal rules. Make sure to add any important details or special properties of the Fortune to the ability’s description.

This can work well for:

• Abilities that transform, create, or summon objects.

• Abilities that have effects on the location of an encounter.

Reveal information

Stands with character-focused abilities, or with a focus on utility, can request information from the GM or other players, like specific details about where enemies are, or what traits they have.

This can work well for:

• Abilities that alert the User to facts about their situation.

• Abilities that find hidden things.

Apply wound effects

Some Stands can hurt characters in ways that are very similar to existing Wound effects. In these cases, you can just have the ability apply the existing Wound effect, without needing to fill a Wound.

You can mix and match these effects, use multiple, or come up with new ones entirely. Finding a way to express your ability in the mechanics is a big part of coming up with it, but don’t be afraid to have abilities that create new rules for the story to follow.

However, there are some effects that you should be very careful with if you plan on using them. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t ever use them, just that you should be very careful.

Dealing too much damage

Even the worst injuries shouldn’t do more than eight points of damage. Abilities that deal this much damage can end encounters far too quickly. This includes abilities that deal damage in a single action, or that apply it gradually over time.

Extra actions

The more actions characters have, the more chances they have to control the encounter. Giving a character extra actions, or taking away opportunities for actions, can severely shift the balance of an encounter, and potentially leave players feeling left out.

Guaranteed successes in Contests

Being totally unable to counter leaves characters unreadied and vulnerable to attacks. It also can make players feel like they don’t have input into the story.

Clearing wounds

Encounters that focus on combat have something of a time limit: the amount of wounds each character can take. Abilities that clear wounds extend this limit, which makes for encounters that outstay their welcome. Consider giving Stands that focus on healing allies the ability to clear wound effects instead.

If an effect seems overpowered at first glance, that might not be a problem. Abilities that are hard to apply to every situation let players feel powerful - and more importantly, clever - when they find ways to use them. Give some thought to what the ability can target before you start making changes to the effect.

Target and Balancing

An ability’s target is what a Stand is capable of having an effect on. This is the main balancing tool you have when it comes to abilities, and it’s a big part of how to work out how many build points an ability should cost. The more potent an effect seems, the harder it should be to use. However, if this is taken too far, it can make players feel left out of the action altogether.

Generally speaking, abilities can target three different things.

• Enemies, or anything else that is capable of resisting the ability.
• The User, any allies they have, or anything else that consents to the ability being used on them.
• Inanimate objects, or other parts of the environment.

For each of these targets that applies to an ability, add one point to the cost. So, if an ability can target both enemies and allies, but has no effect on inanimate objects, it should cost two points.

In many cases, this will be enough to set a point cost. However, some abilities might need a little more fine-tuning, especially if their effect is significant. Consider adding one point to the cost of an ability if it has any of these qualities.

Area of effect

Stands that can apply their abilities to an area, and have an effect on multiple targets simultaneously, should be treated with care.

Independent damage

While it’s common for Stand abilities to deal damage, abilities that can do it on their own, without relying on the environment, lead to repetitive, uninteresting strategies. Consider keeping the amount of damage dealt low.

Raising stats

Raising stats can be inconsistent, difficult to keep track of, and lead to severe power gaps. It can also make it harder to keep track of the state a Stand is in. To avoid increasing the build point cost of an ability, you might want to add a +3 bonus to certain actions instead.

If an ability costs four or more points, you should find a way to change the target, and bring that cost down. Four points is a lot of power and versatility, and can lead to repetitive, boring encounters. Consider adding one of these qualities to the ability, and reduce the point cost by one point if you do.

Dependencies

A dependency is a thing outside of the Stand that is required for the ability to be used. If a Stand manipulates metal, that metal must be found in the environment as a Fortune for the ability to be used.

Weaknesses

A Weakness is a way for an opponent to end the effects of an ability early, built into the ability itself.

Activation

While most abilities take little effort to use, some abilities won’t work without a specific event. For antagonist Stands, this is often their target saying, doing, or interacting with something specific, but some abilities are activated by their own User through a spoken phrase or other quirk.

Balancing abilities is tricky, and a lot of it is just going with what feels right. Remember, the idea isn’t to perfectly balance an ability, the idea is to get it to where it can help tell a great story. Even once you’ve started a campaign, if a particular part of an ability seems like it’s getting in the way of that, it might be a good idea to sit down and talk about adjusting it. If best-selling, prolific manga authors can change their character’s powers halfway through a story, so can you!

        Name

Once you’ve got a picture of what you want your Stand to be, it’s time to tie it all together with a name. Traditionally, Stands are named with musical references to bands, albums, or songs. In the series, a lot of Stands draw their names from popular rock music of the late 20th century, but there’s no reason you can’t use any kind of music that you happen to like, from any time, place, or genre. Pick something that’s short, sweet, and fun to shout. If necessary, you can always abbreviate. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard could be shortened to K.G.L.W., or just King Gizzard.

Some campaigns might model their naming conventions after Stardust Crusaders, which named Stands by combining colors with the major arcana of tarot decks. Your group might also come up with a new naming convention entirely. It’s worth agreeing on a rough idea of how Stands should be named as a group, especially if you’re aiming for a game that has a more serious tone.

Building Your Character

Stands are important, but so is the Stand User. While a Stands behavior, abilities and appearance can tell us a lot about its User, the User themselves is the one the story’s about. They make the decisions that drive a campaign forwards, and start the conflicts that become dramatic and exciting encounters.

There’s no restrictions on what sort of character you play. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure features all kinds of diverse, unique and outrageous character designs, and you should aim to reflect this part of the series - or better yet, surpass it - in these qualities. Stand Users can come from all walks of life, whether they reflect humanity’s diversity, or are outside of it. The series has featured Stand using orangutans, dogs, pairs of rats, trees, and even a colony of plankton. Your character sheet contains a section on your character’s appearance, and you should use this space to outline what other people will see when they look at your character.

It’s common to assume ‘default’ characteristics when creating a character, resulting in a lot of straight, white, non-disabled, cisgender male characters. Whether you’re a GM or player, you should consider looking for ways that you can challenge this ‘default’ in your own characters. This may involve playing a character with a different life to yours, and doing the research to make sure you’re being honest to that experience. Or, it might mean putting parts of your own experiences into your characters. Either way, filling your games with diverse characters enriches the story that you’re telling together, and helps to make your games inviting.

This is especially true for campaigns that follow the globe-trotting model of Stardust Crusaders, and similar parts. If you can’t draw from your own experiences, research is a critical tool for making sure that your depiction of people and places from other parts of the world doesn’t draw on tired stereotypes and misinformation. Not only does it help you avoid alienating players in your group, but it helps give them the impression that the story you’re all telling together is set in a real place, with its own culture and history.

        Traits

A character’s body and appearance likely won’t change much about their actions. Instead, we focus on what’s truly important to who they are: their personality, the people in their lives, and what they want to accomplish. These parts of your character are recorded on the character sheet as traits. You’ll use them to build up and demonstrate your character’s personality, and see how they grow over the course of a campaign.

There are three different kinds of trait, but they generally do the same thing. Whenever a character is performing an action that is relevant to a trait they have, that trait can be activated.

• If it satisfies the trait, meaning that the character shows off their trait as part of what they’re doing, then the character will receive a +3 bonus to that action.
• If it rejects the trait, meaning that the trait conflicts with what the character is trying to do, then the character will receive a -3 penalty to that action.

Each trait is activated in different ways, based on what part of the character they represent. The GM should be looking for actions that don’t suit a character’s traits, while the player should be looking for ways to get those bonuses by filling their character’s actions with personality.

GM Note: If someone at the table is struggling with playing their character in a way that shows off their personality, consider offering them advice! A lot of people learn by example, so helping them develop their character by suggesting ways they can tweak their actions could really help bring that player into the game.

The three types of trait are Impulses, Trusts, and Goals.

• Impulses are the first thing that someone notices about your character. Whether they’re under pressure or just going about their life, these are easily spotted qualities that define your character in the eyes of the world. Are they loud? Defensive? Hungry? Maybe they can’t stand high-pitched noises, or bite their nails when they’re nervous. Use these to express and define your character.

• Trusts are the people in your character’s life that they’ve come to depend on, respect, or love. If your character has a strong bond with someone who’s important to them, you may want to add them as a Trust. Also, with enough time, you can fill your sheet with Trusts for other player characters in your group, as your characters grow closer together. Whoever the Trust is, your character is willing to fight, suffer, and sacrifice for them.

• Goals are things that your character wants to accomplish. They can be distant hopes with no chance of completion, or specific targets that the character works towards as part of the campaign. Maybe they’re out for revenge, or they want the world to recognize their talent as a musician. Once your group has a solid idea for what your campaign is going to be about, you can show your character’s dedication to the cause by adding it as a Goal.

Example:

• Impulse: Stay Healthy: Joyce loathes injury and sickness. They may receive a bonus to their efforts to avoid getting hurt, but might take a penalty to actions that involve putting themselves in harm's way unnecessarily, or touching things that could give them a disease.

• Trust: Aldous Harding is Joyce’s best friend and roommate. Over years of companionship, the two of them have formed a platonic bond as strong as any love. However, Aldous is unaware of the existence of Stands - can they be kept safe, or will they be targeted by this character’s enemies?

• Goals: Overcome My Fear: Heath is deathly afraid of the ocean. They can hardly bring themselves to visit the beach without being locked up in terror at the endless blue. Taking steps to finally defeat their fear of water will be difficult, but this character has dedicated themselves to accomplishing it.

It’s recommended that new characters start with two traits. When you record a trait on your character sheet, you should give it a name, and make sure to fill out a description. The name makes it easy to reference, while the description makes sure you can lay out exactly what the trait means to you. Remember to increase your maximum Willpower by one with each new recorded trait.

Applying each of the traits to a roll works like this:

• Whenever an action demonstrates a character’s Impulse, it receives a +3 bonus from that Impulse. Conversely, if an action ever seems like it goes against a character’s Impulse, it receives a -3 penalty.

• Whenever a character is certain that their Trust needs help, any actions that provide that help will satisfy the Trust, and give the player a +3 bonus to that action. If that character isn’t providing that needed help, or would hurt their Trust, they will reject the Trust and take a -3 penalty to their action.

• Whenever an action is seen by a character as progress towards their Goal, the Goal is satisfied, and the player receives a +3 bonus to that action. If the character knows that an action would make it harder for them to achieve their goal, it is rejected, and the player receives a -3 penalty instead.

Each type of trait can only be activated once per action. You can have any combination of an Impulse, Trust, or Goal activated, but only one of each. If more than one of a type of trait is relevant, the most relevant one should be prioritized. It’s possible for discussions on which traits are relevant to go on for a while, so players should be willing to tweak their actions to have a more clear expression of their character.

Advancement

Since most campaigns will involve telling stories about the same characters for hours, it’s inevitable that those characters will grow and change. As you learn more about them and explore how they handle the trials of a campaign, you can advance their traits, making them more useful to the character.

Each trait has a spot on the character sheet where you can mark advancement - moments that make the character express that part of their personality differently. Keep an eye out for these moments as you play, and how you can drive your characters towards them. Every time a trait is advanced, increase the character’s maximum Willpower by two.

To advance an Impulse, your character needs to learn from their mistakes. Once per encounter, if your character gets into trouble because of an action that satisfied their Impulse, you can mark it on the character sheet. When you’ve marked an Impulse three times, show your group how your character has learned to overcome this part of themselves, and how they keep control of it. This can be played out immediately, or at a later time. If your group agrees that the character has learned their lesson, the Impulse is advanced. From now on, as long as it’s relevant to the action, only you can activate this Impulse.

Example: An Impulse to Stay Healthy is not a bad thing, necessarily, but Joyce’s rigid adherence to it gets in their way when the only way to escape an oncoming attack is to dive in the sewers. They follow their Impulse and try to defend, but wind up severely injured instead. Because their Impulse got them into a worse situation, the player marks the trait on their character sheet.

To advance a Trust, your character needs to sacrifice something. They have to give up something important to them in order to help their Trusted character. This could mean giving up a chance to complete a Goal, or putting themselves in the way of serious harm. If the group agrees that the sacrifice was significant, the Trust is advanced. From now on, the person in the group responsible for playing the Trusted character can choose to give a +3 bonus to the character with the Trust, once per encounter. This bonus stacks with any other bonuses.

Example: Joyce is in hot pursuit of an enemy Stand User, and right as they catch up, their enemy reveals that Aldous has been taken hostage. Joyce never meant for their close friend to get involved, so they let go of the only lead they have on their enemy to hurry to Aldous’ rescue, and mark advancement on the character sheet.

To advance a Goal, your character must complete it. For some Goals, it’s easy to know when it’s been completed, but for others, completion can be more about what suits the story. Whatever it looks like, if the group agrees that the goal has been completed, the Goal is advanced. Remove the Goal from your sheet. You can no longer use it for any bonuses or penalties, but you can store a free Venture that you can use at any time, no matter how much Momentum you have. It can only be used once - store the Venture on your character sheet, then erase the mark after you’ve used it. Only three Ventures can be stored at a time.

Example: Joyce is under the effect of an enemy Stand, making them rapidly sink beneath ocean waves. Heath, desperate to help, but terrified of the waves, declares that they’ll never let being afraid take an opportunity from them again, and completes their goal to Overcome My Fear by diving into the sea to rescue their friends.

Traits can only be advanced during an encounter. In JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the pressure of a life-or-death situation is often what demands that characters overcome their flaws.

Interludes

Outside of encounters, characters can’t advance their traits, but they can gain new ones. This happens as you learn about them, exploring their personality in low-pressure Interludes - short stories, separate from any encounters, that have no danger, no actions, and no rolls.

After an encounter, one player character is selected to be featured in an interlude. This should typically be the player with the lowest total Willpower, but anyone can be selected as long as the group agrees to it. The selected character doesn’t have to be the only player character involved in the interlude, but they’re the only one who can receive a new trait from it. It can help to have an idea of what this trait will be in advance, but it’s perfectly fine to decide what it is as the interlude happens.

Before the next encounter, the group will tell a short story that centers on the selected character. The GM starts the story by putting the character in a situation that gives them a chance to show off a new trait. This takes place outside any encounters, so there shouldn’t be any situations that call for an action. If it’s been decided on, the trait is announced to the group, and the interlude begins.

GM Note: Interludes can take all kinds of shapes. An Interlude may be a dramatic monologue, or short scene between two player characters. It could be a comedic moment involving an awkward situation with an NPC. It can be in between encounters, or end immediately where the encounter starts. It’s up to you!

Most of the narration will be carried out by the GM and the player whose character the interlude focuses on. However, it’s everyone else at the table who decides whether or not the character actually gets the trait. When one of the players whose character isn’t the focus of the Interlude decides that the trait has been demonstrated enough for them, they are allowed to add a twist to the scene - they can change something, cause an accident, introduce an unhelpful character, anything they can think of to complicate the story.

Once everyone at the table has agreed that the trait has been successfully shown off, and added their twist, the interlude can be drawn to a close, and the story can transition into an encounter. The trait is added to the character’s sheet, and their Willpower maximum is increased by one point.

Lastly, interludes are a good time to clear up any irrelevant Conditions, reset the Fortune sheet, and reset everyone’s Willpower back to its maximum.

Character Creation Summary

Stand

Start with 10 build points.

• Choose their form.

• Design your abilities

Abilities have an effect, and a target. The effect is whatever the ability does when it works. The target determines the point cost - for each of the following the ability can be used on, add one point.

• The Stand’s User or allies,
• Enemies or unwilling targets,
• Inanimate objects.

• Select your stats

Assign a rank for each stat. The stats are Power, Speed, Durability, Precision, Range and Potential.

• A: 3 points
• B: 2 points
• C: 1 point
• D: 0 points
• E: -1 points

• Name your Stand.

User

• Choose their appearance.

• Give them traits.

Give your character any two of the following.

• Impulse: Surface qualities.
• Trust: People they care about.
• Goal: Things they want to do.

• Set Willpower

Characters receive one Willpower for each trait they gain. If they have started with two traits, they will start with two Willpower.

• Name your User.