A downloadable story game

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PHYSICAL COPIES NOW AVAILABLE VIA INDIE PRESS REVOLUTION! (also available via the Ratti Incantati online store)


Art by Bodie Hartley.

"The play-based GonParis Method is a simple, smart, and effective way to banish encumbrance forever.  Adopt this dungeoneering strategy, and you’ll never be overloaded again."

A Simple Effective Play-Based Method To Banish Encumbrance Forever

This game is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to encumbrance rules and other tropes found in beloved dungeon-crawling games.

It is a GM-less storytelling game for 3 to 6 players, designed to be played in a few hours with polyhedral dice and no preparation.

Players in this game embody Adventurers who, as a group called a Party, have reached the last level of a Dungeon and defeated the Boss who presided over it. Play starts as Adventurers discover Loot you create. The objects you decide your Adventurer carries home makes up what you pack as their Final Inventory.

If Adventurers hold on to possessions that spark joy, they might feel invigorated and satisfied for the rest of their existence, or at least until their next adventure. But letting go of less emotionally charged but useful Belongings might prove to be a deadly mistake for the Party on their Journey Home.

Content

Replay

It’s the transcript of a complete play session, edited for your enjoyment, to give you an overview of how the game works. This is inspired by the TRPG (Tabletalk Roleplaying Game) format popular in Japan.

Complete Rules

This includes the rules and everything you need to play the game in step-by-step instructions. This game is a collaborative storytelling game. You can jump straight to the GonParis Method and follow its Six Steps without prior reading. However, it works better if one player facilitates your first session by reading the rules in advance.

Play-Aids and Card Decks

You will find in the Appendix links to all the Play-aids and Card Decks in both JPG and PDF formats that you will need to play around a table.

Those are also included as a Miro board that you can copy to very easily play the game online.

Credits

A game designed by Kalum from The Rolistes Podcast.

Rules Editor: Chris S. Sims.

Graphic design: Francita Soto and Kalum 

Art by Bodie Hartley

Purchase

Get this story game and 251 more for $8.00 USD
View bundle
Buy Now$20.00 USD or more

In order to download this story game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $20 USD. You will get access to the following files:

Paris Gondo - The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying - Rule Book 33 MB
Paris Gondo - Card Decks v1.2 (Individual Cards) 222 kB
Paris Gondo - Card Decks v1.2 (Print Sheets) 1.2 MB
Paris Gondo - The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying (Text-Only v1.4) - Play-Aids 846 kB

Community Copies

Support this story game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.

Community Program

I'm thankful for the generosity of fellow TTRPG designers who offer community copies of their creations. I'm glad to contribute too in a similar way. Feel free to grab one of these free copies of "Paris Gondo - The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying", if you're going through a difficult time. 

Nothing will make me happier than helping you forget about your worries for a couple of hours thanks to my game.

<3

Development log

Comments

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Hi. I have a suggetsion (I can't be the only one, so maybe you already fixed this in the KS edition.)
As you know, the Encounters and Epilogue rolls are roll-under, but the Horde roll is roll-above. This could be confusing, however, if you simply add the AEF to the target number, rather than the roll, it can also be roll-under.

I also have the following variant rule suggestions:

MINORITY OPINION

Items are generally worth what they are worth (they might be mass produced, belong to a famous person, are made of precious metals, etc.) but for some their value could be different (maybe they hate the famous person and don't want their stuff or this is a long lost family heirloom.) This means adventurers might want other classes' stuff, adding more dynamics to item exchange.
When making loot in step 3, add the following 2 rolls for both items:

Determine who among the party has a different opinion about this item (this can be you). This is easiest to do with a d12 or a d10 (for 5 players.) Alternatively you can roll d6/2 for 3 players, d20/5 for 4 players, d20/4 for 5 players or d6 for 6 players.
Determine what they think of the item, by rolling a d10 (0 means 0) or a d20/2 rounded down (1 and 20 are both 0.)
When introducing the item, ask the Player whose adventurer has the special opinion to explain why the item is special for them. If the item is carried by this adventurer, it counts as having this much Emotion, for everyone else- the normal amount.

EVIL PARTIES

Some players might be tired of Epic Fantasy with it's Noble Hero Adventurers and Black and White Morality (like Lord of the Rings), and instead like to play out a Dark Fantasy, where adventurers are Self-Serving Anti-heroes and morality is a grey mess (like Game of Thrones.) This variant is for them. (make sure all players are on board with this, because it will make the light-hearted comedic tone of GonParis much darker!) This should affect the description of the dungeon and party dynamics.
Add the following 4 phases:

Ostracism (aka Pride): at the end of Step 4, the party votes (by raising their hands of the count of 3, or by other means) on if they want to leave the least useful adventurer behind. If more than half raised their hands, the adventurer is Left Behind and the voting continues with the new least useful adventurer. Otherwise the phase is over.

Revenge (aka Envy): After all Failures in Step 5 are countered, the Left Behind adventurers roll a d20 against their peronsal total usefulness. Any who fail must describe how lacking an item (that was taken by another player or not take at all) has led to their demise (or getting lost in the dungeon forever.) Those who succeed move to the next phase...

Showdown (aka Wrath): for each Left Behind player that survived Revenge add another failure for the party. Determine if the party succeeds or fails. Go around the table describing how players use their items to fight the other group, players who haven't spoken yet is Step 5 (and the Left Behind) must contribute, the others may skip or join in at their own discretion. The result of the fight must match what was determined. If the party is defeated, the Left Behind (only the ones who survived Revenge and participated in Showdown) repeat steps 4 and 5 adding the defeated party's loot to their own. (Skip Ostracism this time.)

Betrayal (aka Greed): At the beginning of Step 6, just as the adventurers are about to go their separate ways, players have until the count of 3 to declare they are betraying someone. If they do, both they and their target roll d20 if they succeed (roll at or below their own Total Usefulness,) they have survived, but are winded, lightly wounded or just used up a resource- lower their usefulness by 1 until the end of Betrayal phase. If they fail (roll above Total Usefulness) they are killed, gravely wounded, knocked out or otherwise won't make it. Describe the fight. (If both players fail, they both don't make it, if both succeed - they can decide if they want to continue the fight or not.) After the fight, the rest of adventurers get to take any of the defeated player's stuff, with the winner (if there was one) getting first pick and the rest dividing what's left. Adventurers must discard items down to their maximum encumbrance, but once they do, can not continue discarding. Players may now betray again (note that Total Usefulness is not restored.)

(There are sadly no Lust, Gluttony or Sloth phases)

(+1)

I bought a physical version of this with real rocks at Lucca Games several years ago and immediately lost it. I am excited to try it out!

That was at UK Games Expo rather than Lucca.

:)

You were my first sale there.

Thanks again.

Sorry to read you misplaced it.

I don't have any physical copies of that edition left but a new edition is getting close from being Kickstarted.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rolistespod/paris-gondo

(+1)

You're right! It was the UK! I still have the game somewhere, I'm sure. 


The Kickstarter art looks really good.

Thanks.


Bodieh is an amazing artist and published a couple of his own game supplements. Goblings even received an Ennie.


:D

(+1)

j'adore ce jeu. Merci beaucoup ✨

Merci pour ton enthousiasme et soutient. 

:) 

(+1)

Awesome game! It's really easy to understand, it used AP examples very well, and I love how it flips a lot of sorts through and rearranges a lot of TTRPG tropes. I have a full review on TTRPGkids that breaks down a lot more detail, and I would definitely recommend - Paris Gondo 100% sparks joy, haha!

https://www.ttrpgkids.com/2023/09/12/review-paris-gondo-the-life-saving-magic-of...

(1 edit)

Huge thanks for your review. 

:D

(1 edit) (+3)

I cannot emphasize enough how much FUN I had playing this game! I played online, and the Miro board template included in the game was so slick and easy to use.

I also really liked the format of the game. I haven't read a game before that has a transcript of the playthrough before rules, and at first I considered skipping it to read the rules first because I thought I'd be confused, but then I thought "There's a reason the game is written this way, so I'll read it from the beginning and if I get confused, I can always skip to the end." But I was delighted to find that I understood the game really well from reading the transcript, and then reading the rules after just clarified things even more.

This game DEFINITELY sparked joy!

Edit: I've included the video of my playthrough!

Huge thanks for this enthusiastic review and for streaming a session of the game on Twitch. 

Feel free to to post here a permanent link to the video of your session. 

:) 

(+1)

I just edited my comment to include the video, thank you so much!

Awesome. 

:D

(+1)

This game was SO much fun to play! I wrote a review but also want to comment to tell anyone looking at it to buy it! I can't wait to play again with friends new to TTRPGs!

(also I learned the title is much more funny when you say it frenchly rather than overly north american with an aggressive s sound on the end)

(+1)

Thanks for this encouraging review. 

:D

I seize the opportunity to point out that a physical edition is now available via The Rolistes Big Cartel store. 

:P

https://therolistes.bigcartel.com/products

(+1)

Paris Gondo - The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying's title is a pun on a popular TV show. Instead of focusing on the adventurers' epic battles, this game is about inventory management and holding onto loot that sparks joy.

Thanks for your comment and noticing the pun. 

:)

(+1)

I was honestly and pleasantly surprised by the GonParis Method, a much deeper and very solid game lies beneath that facade of light-hearted parody.

It sparked a lot of joy at the table.

Kudos!

Huge thanks for this encouraging feedback. 

:) 

It's a bit frustrating how the parody/comedy aspect is the easiest to pitch but then I don't get the message across that the system can support cool stories. 

I guess running more and more game demonstrations is the best way to get that message across. 

:P

(+1)

This might just be the perfect one shot group game!

It took me far to long for the pun penny to drop, but the game passed the ‘ranting to my partner about how we need to get a group together ASAP’ test with alacrity!

Includes a full write up of a playthrough of the game/ “replay” from Session Zero to completion (my new favorite thing in games), as well as the full breakdown of the rules and mechanics, Play-Aids and Card Decks, which can be printed and cut out or used in PDF form.

Charming in universe intro with reviews of the The GonParis Method.

The Replay is an absolute delight to read and really captures the fun and gameplay in an engaging and entertaining manner. It’s worth the asking price on its own! 

The is a six-step game encompassing, dealing with safety tools and tone, creating your band of adventures and the dungeon and boss you just vanquished, making up loot and generating its stats, acting out the exchange and bargaining of the loot, playing out the dangerous journey home, and finally, determining the satisfaction and fulfilment of the character’s lives based on their feelings towards their goodies.

The rules are simple to follow and well explained with all manner of improvising and fun to be had at every step and I am absolutely sold!

The Ready-to-play Miro Board template features all the Play-aids and Card Decks. Copy it in your own Miro board and you will have everything you need to play is perfect for online play and most certainly sparks joy. 

The addition of art from Bodie Hartley (https://www.slowquest.com/) is absolutely glorious and fits the vibe of the game perfectly. 

In my review of the text-only version, I raised an concern about a sapient person, Phillipa the Fae, being dungeon loot in the replay, which has been addressed. In the new version she has been changed to Phillipa the Fae's Scrying Mirror of Long Distance Relationships through which she can communicate. 

This is one of those 'how was not already a thing?' things because it's such a great, fun idea it seems like it should always have existed!

(+1)

I'm eternally grateful for your enthusiasm and support. 

This sparks joy. 

<3