High School Harem Comedy (Game System, PEACH)

[A Rainy Knight]

High School Harem Comedy

There’s a new transfer student in class! He’s a handsome and well-meaning young man, but a bit inexperienced when it comes to love. Unfortunately for his studies, from the very first day of classes, he finds himself positively surrounded by gorgeous young women, each interested in making him hers and hers alone! His school life is about to get a lot noisier, funnier, and bouncier in the middle of this showdown between girlish lovers…

High School Harem Comedy is a rules-light game system aimed at facilitating a fun storytelling and roleplaying experience in the vein of harem anime. The Game Master (GM) takes on the role of a hapless harem protagonist while the players take on the roles of his prospective lovers, trying to befriend, impress, and arouse the protagonist with their unique charms.

An Overview of Gameplay

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A game is divided into episodes. Each episode is a self-contained adventure in which the protagonist and the girls have some kind of interesting experience in their high school life, whether it be a regular day of classes, afterschool club activities, a gift-giving holiday, or a trip to the beach or hot springs on summer vacation.

Each episode consists of the GM confronting the players with a series of scenes which present opportunities for the girls to win Victory Points (VP) via the four rolls: Allure, Conflict, Luck, and Skill. A scene might present multiple rolls for the girls to choose between – for instance, during their trip to the beach, the girls might be able to pick between using Allure to get the protagonist to rub lotion on their back, using Conflict to beat down those beach bullies eyeing the protagonist, using Luck to cause a wardrobe malfunction in front of the protagonist, or using Skill to impress the protagonist with incredible watermelon-splitting ability. These scenes might involve rolling against a challenge of fixed difficulty or using opposed rolls in a competition between the girls. Success in these scenes awards either varying amounts of VP or bonuses such as modifiers to rolls in upcoming scenes and access to scenes with more VP at stake, and the girl with the highest VP at the end of the episode is declared the “winner” of the episode. In the event of a tie, a tiebreaker challenge can be held or victory can be awarded to multiple girls.

The length of the campaign can be decided in a variety of ways. The GM can define the winner as the girl with the greatest number of victories after a set number of episodes or the first girl to reach a certain number of victories, or the game can simply be played out until the players have had their fun, and the series ends with the classic “harem ending.”

Getting Started - A Player's Guide

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Just a few easy steps, and you’ll be off pursuing your beloved!

1. Choose two archetypes from the list and get the GM's approval.
2. Choose a strength and weakness. Your choices are Allure, Conflict, Luck, and Skill.
3. Choose a number of advantages set by the GM (a safe default is 6). Your choices are the ones listed under your archetypes and the ones listed under “Universal Advantages." Although not required, it's recommended that you choose advantages applicable to a variety of situations instead of specializing in a single roll type.
4. Come up with all the other details of your girl. You should be consistent with the archetypes and advantages you’ve chosen, but you have a lot of leeway to come up with a name, backstory, appearance, personality quirks, and anything else.

Now, you can play an episode.

1. When the GM confronts you with a scene, decide which choice to take (if there’s an option) and decide if you want to apply any of your advantages to the roll.
2. Make your roll with a d6 (or have the GM roll for everyone).
3. Wait for the GM to announce the basics of how the scene plays out based on the results. Tally up any VP that you were awarded.
4. Roleplay the scene. Be creative! Flesh out the details in a way that agrees with the advantages that were applied and the results of the rolls. Be a little saucy! This is a harem comedy, so accidental gropes and pantyshots are par for the course. But remember that it's about being teasing, awkward, and flirtatious, not explicit.
5. Repeat from step 1 until the episode has ended. The girl with the most VP at the end of the episode has won!

Winning isn’t everything! Although this game is built around a PvP framework and a winner is declared at the end of each episode, it’s not meant to be a terribly deep strategic experience. The real goal is to have fun and tell a fanservicey harem comedy story, so don’t worry too much about losing the episode if you had a good time. Additionally, many of the rules and advantages are intentionally vague and loose to assist creative, flexible storytelling, so don’t take advantage of this just to get a bigger modifier on your roll if it doesn’t make much sense in the story.

Getting Started - A GM's Guide

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As the GM, your main job aside from roleplaying the protagonist is to come up with the fluff and the mechanics of the scenes that make up the game. The basic elements of roll types, unopposed rolls, and opposed rolls can be put together in a variety of ways to form the skeleton of a scene, and this generic template can be applied to all sorts of specific situations. Here are a few generic templates to get you started:

One unopposed roll: Set a difficulty number, and award VP to any girl who manages to roll that number or higher. You might restrict which roll types are allowed.

Multiple unopposed rolls: Set difficulty numbers to a few options which the girls have the chance to choose between. You might award more VP for more difficult rolls, or you might restrict the roll types allowed for each choice.

One opposed roll: All the girls make a roll, and whoever gets the highest result wins VP. You might award VP to everyone who ties for first, or you might break ties with another roll. You might award VP to the highest two or three rolls, or you might award lesser VP rewards to runners-up. Again, you might also restrict which roll types are allowed.

Multiple opposed rolls: The girls select one of multiple options and make a roll. The highest roller in each option wins VP. All the options with a regular opposed roll still apply here, and you might restrict roll types or change VP rewards between different options.

Opposed and unopposed rolls: The girls select one of multiple options. Some options play out like unopposed roll scenes, and others play out like opposed roll scenes.

Preparation scenes: Instead of VP, the rewards that you give for victory are bonuses to rolls in one or more of the next scenes in the episode.

Qualifying scenes: Instead of VP, the reward that you give for victory is the right to choose a more lucrative option in the next scene, or the right to participate in the next scene at all.

The Four Rolls

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A game of High School Harem Comedy consists of a series of scenes in which the players make rolls in order to win VP or bonuses, and there are four categories of rolls that they can make: Allure, Conflict, Luck, and Skill.

All rolls in this game are made with a d6. The abbreviation “D#” will be used to signify “Difficulty #,” so “D6” refers to a Difficulty 6 challenge, not the die.

Every girl is strong at one of the rolls and weak at one of the others. You gain +1 on all rolls using your strong roll and take -1 on all rolls using your weak roll.

Rolls can be opposed or unopposed. In an opposed roll, all girls involved make their rolls and the highest roll succeeds. Ties can be broken with another roll, or anyone who ties for the highest could get a success. In an unopposed roll, one or more girls make a roll against a difficulty set by the GM, with any roll greater than or equal to that difficulty yielding a success.

Allure
Allure rolls represent your attempts to charm, persuade, or win over others with your personality and looks. Whether it’s flashing a winning smile first thing in the morning, looking great in your daring new swimsuit, or getting the protagonist to take your side with the help of your puppy dog eyes, Allure is the key to most positive social interactions.

Conflict
Conflict rolls represent your attempts to intimidate and defeat others with craftiness, ruthlessness, and violence. Conflict governs most negative social interactions, such as perfecting your terrifying death glare, beating bullies into submission, or having just the right threat to whisper into your competitor’s ear.

Luck
Luck rolls represent the coincidences and strokes of fortune both good and bad that end up putting you in intimate situations with the protagonist. Tripping chest first onto your lover, getting walked in on while changing, and being targeted by bullies that send the protagonist running to your aid are all the kinds of twists of fate governed by Luck.

Skill
Skill rolls represent your attempts to succeed at academics, sports, art, cuisine, and other practiced non-romantic pursuits. Skill governs a diverse range of challenging activities not spanned by the other rolls, such as crafting the perfect boxed lunch, pulling off a graceful ballroom dance, or cleverly doing some research to aid in your romantic pursuits.

Archetypes and Advantages

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Your girl's harem role is largely described by your choice of archetypes. The GM has veto power over archetype pairings that he finds incompatible, but you are otherwise free to choose any two archetypes for your girl. No two players may use the same pair of archetypes.

Once you’ve selected your girl’s archetypes, you define her skillset by selecting a number of advantages decided by the GM (a standard number would be 6). These can be drawn from the advantages listed under your archetypes and the Universal Advantages found further below. You may not take more than one advantage with the same mechanical effect.

Universal Advantages

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These advantages can be chosen by any girl, regardless of archetype.

Good Cook: You can prepare appealing, tasty food. +2 on Skill rolls involving cooking.

Natural Swimmer: You've spent more time than most in the water, and you've got the skills and the beach body to show for it. +1 on Allure rolls while in swimwear, and +1 on Skill rolls involving swimming.

Outdoorswoman: You've got a passion for some combination of camping, hiking, and hunting. +2 on Skill rolls involving outdoorsy activities and survivalism.

Splash Magnet: You've got an unfortunate arrangement with fate to make your life a neverending series of suggestive spills and splashes. +2 on Luck rolls involving getting wet.

Stargazer: You know the night sky like the back of your hand, and you've written way too many poems and song lyrics about the Summer Triangle. +2 on Skill rolls involving astronomy, and +2 on Allure rolls under the night sky.

Sweet Tooth: You have a love for cute, feminine snacks and a highly questionable way of eating lollipops. +1 on Skill rolls involving making or buying sweets, and once per episode, +1 to an Allure roll while eating sweets.

Archetype List here!

Rule Variants here!

[Jormengand]

This is absolutely hilarious. I'm not sure how many people will want to play a stereotypical anime girl, though...

[AuraTwilight]

Mind if I change all the girls to boys?

And leave the protagonist a boy?

And otherwise play it as is?

Because I'm gonna. B) And it's gonna be great. Seriously, good work.

[A Rainy Knight]

This is absolutely hilarious. I'm not sure how many people will want to play a stereotypical anime girl, though...

Thanks!

Hmm, I suppose that's a possibility. You could probably make some more diverse characters if you did a rule variant where you could draw advantages from multiple archetypes, but at the end of the day, this is a pretty stereotypically anime-styled game.

Now that I think about it, I might want to think of any other rule variants that might be fun...

Mind if I change all the girls to boys?

And leave the protagonist a boy?

And otherwise play it as is?

Because I'm gonna. B) And it's gonna be great. Seriously, good work.

Feel free! I'm hoping that it's a flexible enough system that reverse harems and so forth should be feasible with it.

Oh, and let me watch that game, if it's possible.

[Amechra]

I think it would be hilarious to play this as a dungeon crawl.

Rescuing Protagonist-Kun, who got lost down there.

Watch out for traps, and try to work together while you are backstabbing each-other.

[Elricaltovilla]

Always playing a yandere. Always.

[AuraTwilight]

Oh, and let me watch that game, if it's possible.

Doable! My group meets on Roll20, we can do this.

I think it would be hilarious to play this as a dungeon crawl.

Rescuing Protagonist-Kun, who got lost down there.

Watch out for traps, and try to work together while you are backstabbing each-other.

...oh my god.

YESSS.

[A Rainy Knight]

I think it would be hilarious to play this as a dungeon crawl.

Rescuing Protagonist-Kun, who got lost down there.

Watch out for traps, and try to work together while you are backstabbing each-other.

Hmm... This might work as an expansion or something. I'm having trouble thinking how a lot of the Allure-related advantages would work in this kind of game.

Always playing a yandere. Always.

I had fun writing that class.

Doable! My group meets on Roll20, we can do this.

Wonderful!

[The Rose Dragon]

Reminds me of a more specialized version of Maid.

I should play more Maid.

[Admiral Squish]

...Okay, this is interesting. The rules seem nice and simple, and the classes provide some entertaining options for players. I think the way the system's set up would make it work very nicely for pbp games, too.

I would definitely like to see a gender-flipped version for reverse harems, mostly because I think it would be really awkward to see my (mostly male) gaming group pretend to flounce. The only thing that'd be different is the archetypes, really. Some of them would probably work in the broad strokes, but I think there would need to be a few changes.

[Amechra]

Allure: "Oh Mr. Monster, could you please let us past? Our friend got lost down here, and..."
Conflict: Beating up monsters.
Luck: Not dying.
Skill: Searching for traps, and so on and so forth.

[A Rainy Knight]

I would definitely like to see a gender-flipped version for reverse harems, mostly because I think it would be really awkward to see my (mostly male) gaming group pretend to flounce. The only thing that'd be different is the archetypes, really. Some of them would probably work in the broad strokes, but I think there would need to be a few changes.

Hmm... I think that this is what I'll work on next. Ouran High School Host Club is an old favorite of mine, so I've got a good reference to work from.

Once I've worked out which ones to keep and which ones to add, I'll make an update here.

Allure: "Oh Mr. Monster, could you please let us past? Our friend got lost down here, and..."
Conflict: Beating up monsters.
Luck: Not dying.
Skill: Searching for traps, and so on and so forth.

Not a bad idea at all! In that case, I guess it does work reasonably well as is.

[Jormengand]

I gave this a spin with some friends, and ended up playing as a "PNPC" (yes, it stands for "player non player character." Basically fulfilling an NPC roll, but played by someone) who was a boy. Weak allure and strong conflict. He was actually quite a lot of fun to play, and my objective was "keep the girls away from my best friend for as long as possible." I ended up using the Meganekko archetype (which was pretty cool, because I obviously never gained VPs so I got bonuses every scene with quiet patience). The Ojou character was a bit difficult to deal with ("What's that? You're a boy other than the protagonist?") but hey, it was cool. It worked.

Some of the things I did...

"Kyon rolls conflict to lock Asuna out of the building."
"Kyon rolls skill to set off the fire alarm without anyone noticing."
"While the girls are fighting over who gets to sit next to their new-found love in science, Kyon rolls skill to drop acid 'accidentally' on the chair next to him."
"Kyon rolls skill to explain to Yuna about the spare room."
"Kyon rolls conflict to lock Yuna in the spare room."

Oh yes. We had fun.

The dungeon crawl is one I have to try. It could be... interesting.

[Bezzerker]

This system looks fun and simple. Personally though, I think you should of had a skill called "The Power of Moe COMPELS you!"

I have absolutely no idea what it would do, but it still should be in the game!

On a more serious note, I think it might work better if you had two "archetypes" lists: One for type of character, another for type of personality. To use an example; the Childhood Friend Archetype could have a Tsundere personality, always hitting the Protagonist for perceived slights but genuinely caring for him, while the Ojou has a Yandere personality, using her obscene wealth to try and 'eliminate' the competition, and finally the Meganekko is a Cloud Cuckoo Lander who feels like the Protagonist is the only one who doesn't make fun of her for her strange ideas.

With two separate lists, you have the characters choose advantages from both Character and Personality, with the Universal advantages to fill things out.

[Elricaltovilla]

I think ElementsOfOrder has a good idea. Splitting them into "Background" and "Personality" types gets you a broader range of girls, and just like Shuffle! taught us, there's no reason why your childhood friend can't be known as "boxcutter kaede"


Now I want to figure out how we can combine your game and my game to get some Mai-Hi Me or Zero no Tsukaima stuff going on up in here.

[A Rainy Knight]

This system looks fun and simple. Personally though, I think you should of had a skill called "The Power of Moe COMPELS you!"

I have absolutely no idea what it would do, but it still should be in the game!

On a more serious note, I think it might work better if you had two "archetypes" lists: One for type of character, another for type of personality. To use an example; the Childhood Friend Archetype could have a Tsundere personality, always hitting the Protagonist for perceived slights but genuinely caring for him, while the Ojou has a Yandere personality, using her obscene wealth to try and 'eliminate' the competition, and finally the Meganekko is a Cloud Cuckoo Lander who feels like the Protagonist is the only one who doesn't make fun of her for her strange ideas.

With two separate lists, you have the characters choose advantages from both Character and Personality, with the Universal advantages to fill things out.

This is a pretty good idea! I had been thinking that my system needed a little tweaking to deal with yandere childhood friends and tsundere ojous and so forth. I think I'll need to come up with some more backgrounds/personality types to keep a good variety of characters, but that will give me something to work towards.

Now I want to figure out how we can combine your game and my game to get some Mai-Hime or Zero no Tsukaima stuff going on up in here.

My idea was just to hold battles using your system which award nice sums of Victory Points in my system, or to perhaps use battles to replace some functions of Conflict and give Conflict advantages some meaning in the battles.

I gave this a spin with some friends, and ended up playing as a "PNPC" (yes, it stands for "player non player character." Basically fulfilling an NPC roll, but played by someone) who was a boy. Weak allure and strong conflict. He was actually quite a lot of fun to play, and my objective was "keep the girls away from my best friend for as long as possible." I ended up using the Meganekko archetype (which was pretty cool, because I obviously never gained VPs so I got bonuses every scene with quiet patience). The Ojou character was a bit difficult to deal with ("What's that? You're a boy other than the protagonist?") but hey, it was cool. It worked.

Glad you enjoyed! The system really wasn't designed with that kind of PNPC in mind, so you might want to houserule some stuff in to deal with those issues. For instance, the Ojou's advantage is really just meant to let her wring information out of nameless NPCs or round up henchmen.

[Jormengand]

Glad you enjoyed! The system really wasn't designed with that kind of PNPC in mind, so you might want to houserule some stuff in to deal with those issues. For instance, the Ojou's advantage is really just meant to let her wring information out of nameless NPCs or round up henchmen.

Yeah, I did think it was a bit silly but the DM was all "no, we're doing this as written." Which was kind of silly, but there we go.

"Kyon hospitalises the DM."

[Elricaltovilla]

My idea was just to hold battles using your system which award nice sums of Victory Points in my system, or to perhaps use battles to replace some functions of Conflict and give Conflict advantages some meaning in the battles.

That's probably the easiest way to do it, yeah. It'll take a bit of tweaking, but replacing Conflict seems like the best way to get both systems plenty of use.

[Amechra]

You want me to give a try hacking them together?

It would be later this week, because I've got work tonight, but it shouldn't be that hard.

But you know what I was reminded of?

Mascot-Tan.

[A Rainy Knight]

Sure, you can have a shot at it if you want. I probably won't have the revised personality/character type list finished until tomorrow, so take your time.

[Elricaltovilla]

I just noticed A Rainy Knight, that you're missing one of the corners of the Dere triangle, the Kuudere. Examples being listed here.

Those are TVTropes links, you have been warned.

[A Rainy Knight]

Alright, I've finished the update. The following changes have been made:
-The existing archetypes were sorted into personalities and classes. When making a character, you now choose both a personality and a class.
-Four new personalities have been added: Kuudere, Shrinking Violet, Cuckoolander, and Pervert.
-Three new classes have been added: Sukeban, Iinchou, and Idol Singer.
-"Quiet Patience" was moved from the Meganekko to the Shrinking Violet.
-Several Universal Advantages were moved to the new personalities and classes.

Some of the new ones are a little short on advantages, and there are less Universal Advantages than before, but hopefully this should add a bit more variety to the characters.

Also, you should fear the yandere sukeban.

[Durazno]

Okay, I have to get a group together for this. I have to play as a clumsy genki girl so that I can use "Hypercharged" to fail spectacularly at everything all at once.

I think it would be hilarious to play this as a dungeon crawl.

It might be a pain to keep multiple character sheets, but I could also see this being layered on top of another tabletop game to help fill out the interactions between party members when they're not in a dank pit punching monsters (though its effects could spill over into the dungeon crawls, of course.) I've played in a few groups that have had a hard time thinking of what to do when the battlemat isn't out, and something like this could add a bit of wacky fun and encourage roleplaying.

This is a pretty good idea! I had been thinking that my system needed a little tweaking to deal with yandere childhood friends and tsundere ojous and so forth. I think I'll need to come up with some more backgrounds/personality types to keep a good variety of characters, but that will give me something to work towards.

I like the Personality/Class division you have going here, but you might also consider having an optional rule for a bit of hybridization. Something like, "If the GM is allowing six or more advantages, one (and only one) of them may be from a personality other than your character's main choice."

A character suddenly showing a surprising facet to their personality is a staple of the genre, after all, and isn't just limited to tsunderes. The shrinking violet could explode into fury when protagonist-kun is threatened, the genki guy could become quiet and determined when he realizes his relationship with protagonist-kun is on the line or the mellow kuudere could get so wrapped up in her reading that she seems like a different person when you catch her just after she puts down Conan the Conqueror.

You know, it might also be nice if there were incentives to become friends with the other characters, even if you can't see eye-to-eye over protagonist-kun.

EDIT: On the other hand, maybe that's best as a simple roleplaying thing. In the dungeon crawling example, I suppose your character would be depending on the other characters to fight alongside her, so there's some natural incentive to maintain her relationships with them.

[Elricaltovilla]

The changes look really good. I'm gonna get the playtest for my system started later today, so you should check it out. Also, let me know when you get your own playtest going. I definitely want to watch.

[The Rose Dragon]

By the way, I see a strong need for a "tomboy" personality and a "mysterious foreigner" class.

((And maybe a young cute teacher, and the captain of the kendō team.))

[Prime32]

By the way, I see a strong need for a "tomboy" personality and a "mysterious foreigner" class.

I think you mean "bokukko" and "half-foreigner who's been studying abroad until now". You could also throw in "miko" and/or "improbably young nun" who can give blessings, tell fortunes, and possibly fight evil spirits in their spare time.

[The Rose Dragon]

Half-foreigners are also acceptable! After all, anyone who has been away from Japan is bound to be weird.

[Mutazoia]

I can see running a "Love Hina" style game, where the girls don't particularly care for the new guy at first but eventually all start falling for him....

Although a "To Love Ru" style game seems more fitting....even though you did forget the "Little Sister" type (Mikan)

[The Rose Dragon]

I can see running a "Love Hina" style game, where the girls don't particularly care for the new guy at first but eventually all start falling for him....

We must have read completely different Love Hinas, since it was clear to me that Shinobu and Kitsune were pretty openly interested in Keitaro from the start, while Naru was just bad at hiding it.

Of course, Su's one and only love is Motoko, while Motoko is... well, Motoko.

[Mutazoia]

We must have read completely different Love Hinas, since it was clear to me that Shinobu and Kitsune were pretty openly interested in Keitaro from the start, while Naru was just bad at hiding it.

Of course, Su's one and only love is Motoko, while Motoko is... well, Motoko.

At the start Kitsune was looking at Keitaro as a mark to buy her things, and Shinobu was just impressed that he was a Toudai student (or so they all thought). They didn't develop real feelings for him until much later.

Motoko was one excuse away from slicing him to ribbons.
Naru thought he was just a pervert and wanted him gone to the point of trying to scare him off with an overload of work.
Su will latch on to petty much anybody.
Kitsune just wanted some one to buy her stuff (she even tried to seduce Keitaro and then said he "attacked" her when Naru caught her at it.)
Shinobu starts out with a big brother complex (at best) for Keitaro.