Arlecchino’s Eleven

Ten years ago, you and your team of highly specialized, completely legitimate associates were cheated out of the score of a lifetime by someone you all trusted. Now that you’re all out of jail or out of hiding, you’ve got the gang back together for one last job – you’re gonna hit the Cavalcade. As far as Reno gambling establishments go, the Cavalcade isn’t much to write home about; it’s a third-rate establishment in a second-rate town. But the guy who conned you used the money he stole to buy it, so this is personal.

That’s the what. The how is that you have several briefcases full of leather masks and theatrical props that let you do magic – real magic, not stage-show misdirection. They’re hundreds of years old, and they only work if you charge them up by performing a traditional Commedia dell’Arte improvised play during the heist. It’s a bit unconventional, but you’re good at it. And people come to Reno for a show.

If you can keep the gags coming and spin a tale of heartbreak, slapstick antics and comic misunderstandings, you’re unstoppable. You can walk on air, change your face, make people fight, shrug off otherwise fatal injuries and do almost anything you can imagine, as long as you continue driving the rules of the commedia into the real world. 

Just remember: the show must go on. Don’t break. Don’t flub your entrances. Don’t let the magic run out before you’ve got your money. Or your revenge.

Arlecchino’s Eleven is a roleplaying game written by Grant Howitt and Daniel Lavery.