At first, it seems like an ordinary day; you all get out of your case, onto your position on the board, and your opponents do the same. Yet, the Kings stay at the side of the board, discussing some matters. They have seemed somewhat bored with checking and checkmating each other as of late. Perhaps they will finally change things up, somehow?As it turns out, they will; instead of their usual, alternating orders for us servants, they will let us use our free will, let us move ourselves on our own! The Queens and Bishops express worry, the Knights are excited for a new challenge, and the Rooks…are as steadfast as ever, save maybe a slight grin in the corner of your eye. For you, though, it is a long-awaited opportunity to prove your worth to your King, prove you can do more than simply crossing the board one space at a time, occasionally managing to “promote” to a superior piece that takes your place. This is your chance to be unique, to be more than a Pawn.
Before you can think another thought, the match begins.
This is a minimalist, Chess-based RTD. All the players are pawns for one color or the other (their choice), and are allowed to do anything they choose…as long as they follow the rules of Chess. They can’t do anything they explicitly can’t do in the rules of Chess. All actions are determined with a roll of a d6, in standard RTD fashion; often, 1 fails catastrophically, 2 fails completely, 3 succeeds somewhat, 4 succeeds mostly, 5 succeeds as well as possible, and 6 succeeds with a repercussion or two. If you defy the rules of chess with your action, you’ll get a -2 to your roll, but as long as the rules don’t mention it, you’re probably fine.
As a pawn, there are only 8 Things you need to know.
1. The game starts with 8 pawns of both colors on the board, all in a row, in the 2nd and 7th ranks (rows)
2. When you move, you can only move straight forward 1 space toward the opponent’s side of the board, or two if it’s your first move.
3. You can capture an opponent’s piece instead of your normal move by moving forward diagonally 1 space onto the space of an opponent’s piece, removing them from the board.
4. You can be captured, too, which will simply remove you from the game. No hope for coming back, whatsoever.
5. If an opponent’s Pawn moves 2 spaces on it’s first move, which was the last move made, you can capture it as if it only moved one space forward.
6. You do not need to know the name of the technique mentioned in Thing 5.
7. If you reach the furthest row on the other side of the board (your 8th rank), you are replaced with any different kind of piece of your color, other than another King. Normally, this means you are put on the sidelines for the rest of the match, and are able to do absolutely nothing.
8. The game ends if one side is unable to prevent their king from being captured by the opponent.