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supreme-leader-stoat · 1 year

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Six Shooter Universal RPG System

I've been thinking a bit recently, and it feels like the right time to dig my old prototype rules-light game out of its box and release it on the world. If anybody's interested, please feel free to take it for a spin, I'd love to know what you and your friends think of it.

I've also got a separate blog set up where I'll post any new/revised versions, should I continue development on it.

The Basics:

Playing Equipment:

A 52 card deck, jokers optional

A six-sided die (backup dice in case it is lost are also a good idea)

Paper for each player

Pencils for each player

Operators:

Player characters are “Operators,” adventurers, explorers, criminals, mercenaries, and other people who live on the edge. Each Operator starts with a Descriptor, an Archetype, and a Lucky Number.

There are four Descriptors to choose from, each of which correlates to both a specific card suit and a way of solving problems, and which helps give an idea of what an Operator is best at. What Descriptor your Operator has influences how you can use cards (see below, under Playing the Game). The Descriptors are as follows:

Dangerous (Clubs) – Weathering extreme environments, fighting with fists, weapons, or powers, moving heavy objects, and resisting damage. The best fighters are Dangerous.

Sharp (Diamonds) – Solving riddles and academic problems, carefully observing the world around you, having just the right bit of knowledge, or breaking through digital security systems. The best thinkers are Sharp.

Sly (Spades) – Going unnoticed, disguising yourself, unlocking physical security systems, and picking pockets. The best sneaks are Sly.

Charming (Hearts) – Persuading, deceiving, intimidating, negotiating, and networking. The best talkers are Charming.

An Operator’s Archetype has no direct bearing on game mechanics, but it is very important for helping make sense of how that Operator interacts with the world around them. An Archetype is a word or short phrase that you use to get across the most important parts of who your character is, what they can do, and how they fit into the world around them. For example, a medieval Knight and a wild-west Gunslinger will probably both be Dangerous and specialize in fighting, but the actions their rolls represent will probably be very different. Likewise, even within the same game, a medieval Knight and a medieval Famed Archer will approach the same situation in different ways and make the same rolls with different descriptions of their actions.

Your Operator’s Archetype should slot in nicely with the genre and tone of the game you’re playing. If you and your friends are playing a standard heroic fantasy game, you probably shouldn’t pick Noir Detective as your Archetype. In a gothic horror game, a Superhero will be similarly out of place.

Each player should pick a Lucky Number for their Operator from 2 to 10. No two Operators at the same table should start with the same Lucky Number.

Setting up the game:

Working clockwise around the table, have each player introduce their Operator, including their Descriptor, Archetype, Lucky Number, and whatever other information they’d like to share.

Shuffle the deck of cards. Clockwise around the table, have the Game Master (GM) deal six cards to each player, then place the rest of the deck in the middle of the table. Each player should place their six cards face-down in a line going from left to right in front of them. This line of cards is the player’s hand. Each card in the player’s hand represents a number from 1 to 6, with 1 being the leftmost card, and each subsequent card’s value increasing by 1, with 6 being the rightmost card.

Have each player turn one card of their choice from their hand face-up and begin the game.

Playing the game:

Deciding Turn Order: Whenever multiple players want to tackle the same challenge, have them draw from the center deck and immediately discard the cards they drew. The higher the value of the card a player draws, the higher they are in turn order. If two or more players tie, have them draw again, with the one with the higher card going before the other in the turn order.

It’s recommended that the GM keep a piece of scratch paper around to keep track of the current turn order.

If, at any point during the game, the deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile and use it as the deck.

Overcoming Challenges:

Throughout the course of play, the characters will have to roll to try to complete certain objectives. However, the primary purpose of Six Shooter games is for a group of people to improvise and tell a story together, so the GM should only ask for rolls and introduce that degree of randomness in certain situations; when there is a real possibility for characters to fail or have their fortunes change. Rolls are made with a six-sided die, and the outcome of the die roll is measured against something called the Critical Number.

The Critical Number represents the difficulty of the task the character is attempting, and has different effects on the game based on whether the outcome of a character’s die roll is lower than, greater than, or equal to the Critical Number.

If the result of the roll is greater than the Critical Number, the Operator overcomes the challenge they are facing.

If the result of the roll is equal to the Critical Number, the Operator overcomes the challenge, but the player must Roll Their Hand (see below).

If the result of the roll is less than the Critical Number, the Operator does not overcome the challenge (and may have to deal with the in-story consequences of failure), and the player must Roll Their Hand.

A challenge’s Critical Number gives a rough idea of how difficult the challenge in question should be for the Operators. You don’t have to tell your players the exact Critical Numbers for challenges before they roll, but it’s generally polite to give them a rough idea of how difficult a certain challenge will be (or at least, how difficult it might seem to their Operators). Here’s some guidelines to give the GM a rough idea of how to assign Critical Numbers for challenges:

0 or lower – The Operator overcomes the challenge without having to roll. Challenges should not naturally have this Critical Number, but it can happen if the player uses a card (see below) to reduce the Critical Number of a challenge.

1 – The Operator is sure to succeed, but it might take a little effort and luck on their part to do so.

2 – There is a slight chance for the Operator to fail, but they’re still almost certain to succeed. This is a good ‘standard’ Critical Number for challenges, enemies, and obstacles that should wear Operators down but that they should be able to overcome just fine.

3 – The Operator will most likely succeed, but the chance of them failing is not insignificant.

4 – The Operator is as likely to fail as they are to succeed.

5 – There’s a slight chance for the Operator to succeed, but they’re far more likely to fail without rigging the odds in their favor.

6 – The Operator is almost certain to fail, and even succeeding will bring them a little closer to the day their luck runs out.

7 – The Operator will fail unless they use a card or the All Or Nothing rules (see below), and even then, their success is likely still far from assured. Multiple Strikes (see below) will never increase a Critical Number above 7.

Impossible – There’s no point in the character rolling because what they’re trying is completely impossible within the bounds of the story you are telling, so they don’t roll and need to search for a different solution to the problem. For example, unless your game is set in a fairy tale world where people can climb moonbeams, a character attempting to climb moonbeams would result in this.

A single challenge might have multiple Critical Numbers, one each for trying to overcome a challenge through Danger, Sharpness, Slyness, or Charm. For example, a locked door challenge might have a Critical Number of 4 if an Operator uses Slyness to pick the lock, 5 if they try to break the door down, 7 to try to find some hidden weakness in the door with Sharpness, and be Impossible to overcome with Charm (of course, if there’s a guard with keys on the other side of the door, then that’s a different challenge altogether).

A character failing to overcome a challenge does not necessarily mean that they can’t try again. If there’s no time limit or imminent danger, then the only immediate consequence of failure might be the player having to Roll Their Hand. Of course, after a certain number of failures, the GM might decide to move the story along without the Operator having succeeded, with any consequences that follow being yet more challenges for the Operators to deal with.

Rolling Your Hand:

As mentioned above, when the result of your roll is equal to or less than a challenge’s Critical Number, you must Roll Your Hand. What this means is that you roll the die another time, then find the card in your hand that matches the number you rolled. What happens next depends on whether that card is face-down, face-up, or has already been discarded.

If the card is face-down, flip it face-up.

If the card is face-up, discard it without gaining any benefits.

If the card has already been discarded and is missing, you gain a Strike.

Strikes:

Strikes are used to abstractly represent your Operator’s luck slowly but surely running out, as well as accumulating disadvantages like serious injuries or running lower on resources. For each Strike you have, the Critical Number of all challenges is increased by 1 (but never above 7) for your Operator and your Operator only. Once you get your third Strike, your Operator’s luck runs out completely and they are removed from play. This could be used to represent authorities catching them and taking them into custody, old enemies catching up to them, being too injured to continue with the adventure, or even dying.

Using Cards:

Throughout the game, you can use face-up cards from your hand to increase your Operator’s odds of success. You must declare your use of a card and discard it before you make a roll. The Critical Number for your roll is then reduced by a certain value based on the card you used:

2-10 – The Critical Number is reduced by 1.

Jack – The Critical Number is reduced by 2.

Queen – The Critical Number is reduced by 3.

King – The Critical Number is reduced by 4.

Ace – The Critical Number is reduced by 5.

Normally, you can only use a card if its suit matches up with the method you are using to try to overcome a challenge (clubs for Danger, diamonds for Sharpness, spades for Slyness, and hearts for Charm). The one exception is when the method you are using matches your Operator’s Descriptor, in which case you can use a card of any suit to reduce the Critical Number. For example, a Dangerous Operator has no clubs with which to improve his odds when trying to overcome a challenge in a Dangerous way, but he does have a face-up three of spades, which he uses instead.

You can also use a card to improve another Operator’s odds, but only if the suit of the card you are using, your Operator’s Descriptor, and the method they are using all match up. For example, if a Charming Operator is trying to sneak unnoticed past a guard with Slyness, the player of a Sly Operator can use her face-up jack of spades to reduce the Critical Number of the challenge by 2 for the Charming Operator. As above, the card must be used before the roll takes place.

Only 1 card can be used on any given roll.

Beyond the raw mechanical benefits, the use of cards is an excellent time for players to have an influence on the flow of the plot and let their Descriptor and Archetype shine. The reduction of the Critical Number of a challenge might be the result of an Operator using a special hidden ability or piece of technology, or a non-player-character ally showing up in the nick of time to help out. Essentially, the GM should let payers suggest plot twists or give their character a shining moment whenever they use a card, with face cards and Aces allowing for bigger twists and brighter moments.

All Or Nothing:

Certain high-tension situations, where an Operator takes a huge risk or puts everything on the line (a showdown at high noon is a good example) fall into All Or Nothing territory. If an Operator takes an All Or Nothing approach to overcome a challenge, they can wager any number of Strikes (though the Strikes wagered and the Strikes a player already has can total no more than 3) before making their roll. For each Strike wagered, the Critical Number of the roll is reduced by 1. If the Operator overcomes the challenge, the wagered Strikes do not take effect. If the Operator fails, then that player immediately gains a number of Strikes equal to the ones wagered, possibly enough to remove their Operator from the game.

Cards cannot be used on the same roll as All Or Nothing.

Both the GM and the players should be judicious about the use of All Or Nothing moments. This mechanic is especially designed to represent climactic scenes.

Lucky Numbers:

An Operator’s Lucky Number comes into play whenever their player discards a card with the matching value, whether it was the result of Rolling Their Hand or using that card. As soon as the card is discarded, the player can replace it by drawing a new card from the central deck and placing it face-up in their hand in the place of the old card.

Combat:

Combat can be modeled two ways. The first is to treat each enemy as its own challenge, and the second is to treat a large group of weak enemies as a single challenge with a higher Critical Number. Both are valid options, and the GM should use whichever one serves a better role in the story at them current moment. Almost all combat is solved with Danger, though the GM can choose to reward creative players if they come up with a reasonable way to solve a combat encounter with a different method.

In Six Shooter games, the accumulation of damage and running out of an Operator’s luck go hand and hand, so there’s no damage mechanic; instead, damage is folded into Rolling Your Hand and Strikes. If a GM wants to introduce more immediate effects of damage, such as a character being momentarily knocked out, they can simply make that the cost of failing to overcome the challenge a certain number of times.

Multi-stage Challenges:

Some obstacles are too big to overcome with a single roll. For example, it would feel rather anti-climactic if the dragon that the Operatives have been tracking for the entire adventure goes down in the first turn of combat because the Dangerous Knight had a really lucky roll.

To represent these advanced enemies, security systems, and other obstacles, use multi-stage challenges. In these cases, the Operatives must collectively succeed on a certain number of rolls before the challenge is overcome. Keep in mind that this exponentially increases the difficulty of challenges with high Critical Numbers.

Player Versus Player Rules:

Since the characters are all on the same team in most games, inner-group conflict should hopefully be rare and able to be solved through communication. Still, some groups may want to have contests between Operators at certain points in the game. To do so, use this rule:

The players of both Operators roll the die once. The player with the lower roll must then Roll Their Hand. If the rolls are equal, then both players must Roll Their Hand. Continue as necessary until one player either concedes defeat or gains a Strike, at which point their Operator loses the contest.

Strikes, using cards, and All Or Nothing all affect the outcome of your opponent player’s die roll the same way they would the Critical Number of a challenge.

Character Progression: Six Shooter is a good system for pick-up games, but if the GM and players want to create a series of adventures for their characters, they can easily do so with these rules.

At the end of an adventure, if a player has at least one unused face card or Ace face-up in their hand, they can give one Operator at the table (including their own) an extra Lucky Number, chosen by that Operator’s player.

An Operator can have up to two Lucky Numbers at any given time with no restrictions. Past that point, an Operator cannot gain more Lucky Numbers unless all other Operators have at least as many Lucky Numbers as they do (all Operators must have at least two Lucky Numbers for an Operator to upgrade from two to three, all must have at least three for an Operator to upgrade from three to four, etc.) This is to help prevent large power disparities within a group. Lucky Numbers must be from two to ten, and an Operator cannot have more than one of the same Lucky Number, so by default the absolute cap for lucky numbers is nine. If the GM wishes, they may set the cap lower to better fit the game.

If a player gains three Strikes over the course of an adventure, their Operator is still removed from the current adventure, but can choose to lose a Lucky Number rather than being retired permanently, letting them rejoin the group at the start of the next adventure. Maybe their buddies bailed them out of jail, or their injuries were serious but not lethal. All Strikes are reset at the start of each adventure. If a character has three Strikes and no Lucky Number, they are still retired permanently.

Playing With Jokers:

As mentioned at the start of the manual, jokers can optionally be included in the card deck. In this case, they use the following rules:

A joker can never be discarded from your hand. You cannot use it, and if you would normally lose it through Rolling Your Hand, you instead hang onto it.

A joker has a value of 0 for determining turn order.

#tabeltop rpgs #tabletop rpg #roleplaying game #six shooter rpg system #homebrew rpg #homebrew

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r-rook-studio · 10 months

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Rosevile Beach Reads Octavia Butler

So on r-rook.studio, I’ve been building an Appendix N for Moonlight on Roseville Beach by looking at what genre paperbacks might show up in the town’s Paperback Exchange in 1979.

This time, I'm looking at Octavia Butler's exploration of a psionically powered far future that has its roots in very personal stories of people blessed and cursed by psi phenomena in the 20th century: The Patternist Series.

#octavia butler #books #patternist #patternmaster #tabletop gaymes #ttrpgs #tabeltop rpgs #tabletop roleplaying #roseville beach reads #moonlight on roseville beach #appendix n

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cassimothwin · 1 year

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Cleaned up my games shelf.

#TTRPG #shelfie #tabeltop games #imagine if I printed all my pdfs #more games on preorder

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bellshazes · 1 year

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crazyinsane to me that bdubs says "this brings back memories" right before crownign tango king of parkour when he's preparing the crown right after tango asks about the banners which is a complete non-sequitur that tango actually cuts from his episode because it does not in fact make any sense whatsoever. and bdubs is so insistent about there being a ceremony in the same way he's insistent about the ritual of turning the regular dragon head cub returns to him into the giant one that becomes cub's prize - which, watching bdubs, is a simple sleight-of-hand that's poorly obscured by him standing in the cauldron of water (?) and upstaged by cub's netherite trick which earns him a spot in the court; and of course the dropping of an anvil on ren's head after the it takes a little heat speech. he's got a bunch of lore locked up behind those big eyes and he will explain NONE of it but he will make you kay your s or watch him be goofy and shout at you if you don't comply but despite the fact that in real life he is making video content for viewers who are not the people participating in said rituals he won't explain it to us either. this is deeply upsetting and also perfectly in character and i've just tricked you into reading a rant that's actually about the volcano town from society of wolves that he never gave us the 5000 years of history for. i hate him

#i think he would be the worst tabeltop gm for a big fantasy game.#the petrified wood............ the story. he's such a storyteller but he does not CARE if people know the backstory!#he just needs there to be reasons for the current narrative moment to be pivoting in a given direction in his heart enough others go along!

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thelostbaystudio · 1 year

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UnCosmic Horror

OK, this is a subject I like to go back to often, like an ongoing conversation with friends, that is regularly interrupted, and starts again as soon as possible. Today it’s sparked by friend and estimated fellow TTRPG designer David Blandy’s tweet about the joy of cosmic horror.

I get what David says, sort of, but I must confess that somehow I don’t know what Cosmic Horror is. Or what is it about? And this kind of freaks me out, I’m writing a modern horror game, The Lost Bay, see UNIT DH-17 early adventure for the game, and I’m worried the game won’t hit the right horror chords. I mean, in TTRPGs, and geek culture, Cosmic Horror is one of the main (horror) genres, what happens if I don’t understand it, if the stuff I write is totally devoid of it? (But is it anyway?)

Why is Cosmic Horror like a foreign language to me? A language I am fascinated about, but can’t understand? Is it because of my personal or cultural background? Probably.

I grew up in quite an archaic place, and The Lost Bay is sort of an adaptation/transposition into TTRPG of that place.

By archaic I mean three things

1.the proximity with an untamed nature. Because of the lack of modern infrastructures, it was quite common to feel the indifferent power of nature weigh on one’s life: your house is destroyed by a sudden landslide, you live on top of a volcano that might blow up any moment, there is no hospital around and you could die easily from a wound or bug.

2.social structure: from how to greet, to how to die and be buried, to how you must retaliate when offended, the unspoken archaic laws of the Bay are actually more important than the written laws and codes. I remember an old dude telling a visitor: “written law ends and the mouth of the Bay, the Bay has its own codes, you must abide by them as soon as you set foot here”. I’m kind of romanticizing here, of course, but still, as an example: it’s illegal to bury your dead yourself, but I know a lot of folks who buried close ones in a cave, underwater, in a communal grave, because that’s the Way. And the Way is better/stronger than the Law.

3.archaic beliefs: a few years ago I came back from a party at around 3am, the party was boring, and I didn’t like some of the folks there. I drove probably 40km to get back home, in the darkest of nights, and just as I was entering the suburb of the town I noticed a pale elongated shade on the side of the road. The view of it froze my heart, I was shit scared. The next day I told my friends what happened: they all got alarmed instantly. I could have died in a gory car accident, alone, cursed. Something was probably after me: a supernatural force ambushing me, a dead ancestor trying to collect a debt of some sort, or some living person hating me and projecting their hate in the shape of that ectoplasm. Anyway, that specific spot was too dangerous for me, so I shouldn’t take that street again. Big deal, but no big deal. All those conversations were happening while we were swiping on our smartphones at the karaoke bar. Archaic beliefs, in a sort of modern world. Archaic beliefs where there is no clear distinction between the visible and invisible worlds, the living and the dead, natural and supernatural forces.

And horror? Oh there is horror in the Bay: people disappearing, murders, stuff way worse than murders, violent nature, beasts, stuff coming back from the dead, or from even weirder places. But like all things, horror is part of the world you live in. You have to deal with it. You might be a victim of that horror, sometimes you might even cause it. Horror, even in its most violent expression, is small, not epic. And in a way, this is precisely what makes it horrifying. It’s not an ancient deity, a gigantic corp, or a wandering asteroid, it’s your neighbor. Could be a real person, a curse, a demon, but it’s close to you. If it’s a beast from hell, it probably eats in your trash bin, and you have to clean after it every morning.

The Lost Bay is a place of violent UnCosmic Horror.

As the Bay is getting more modern every year (some back there would say colonized) this belief structure is slowly fading away, or maybe just adapting to new sets of values, and rules.

I’d love to say much more about this, and the game I’m writing is the way I’ve found to do so, but I’d love to hear your thoughts too, and keep this convo going. Is Cosmic Horror a part of your culture? What is it really? What space is there for horror in games? Is UnCosmic Horror a thing?

Photo from https://www.jadorechambery.com/2434/legende-de-la-dame-blanche-de-chapareillan/

#horror #indy tabletop rpg #TTRPGs #game design #OSR #NSR #indie tabletop rpg #tabeltop rpgs

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craigofinspiration · 2 months

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How I Run Initiative In Dungeons and Dragons 5e (and a free download!)

There are many ways to handle initiative in D&D and TTRPGs in general. It took me some time but I finally found a method that works for me. I know this won't work for everyone but at least I hope it inspires you. Let me know what you think.

There are many ways to handle initiative in D&D and TTRPGs in general. It took me some time but I finally found a method that works for me. I know this won’t work for everyone but at least I hope it inspires you. Let me know what you think. So the first thing I do before the session even starts is determine the initiative I’m going to use for the monsters. Depending on the combat I’ll use their…

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#dm advice #dm tips #dnd #dnd combat #dnd initiative #dnd tips #dnd5e #dungeon master #dungeon master tools #dungeons and dragons #game master #initiative #rpg #tabeltop games #tabletop rpg #ttrpg

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miraculous-angel-rigo-1 · 1 year

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D&D Tropical “Delight” Campaign

Requirements: Discord, D&D Beyond, Startplaying account for booking and payment

Title of Campaign: Tropical “Delight”

Price(s): $3.50 for early bird and $7 for the rest

Story/Synopsis: You are adventurers looking to recruit members or financial backers of your group and the best way to do that is to go to a resort where adventures retreat to. But not all is what it seems in such a luxurious place

Player Slots: 0 to 5 a minimum of 2 needed

System: D&D 5e

Style & Themes: High Role Play, Medium Combat, Mystery, Exploration

https://startplaying.games/adventure/clfst2f7l000i08md9czy14xy

#d&d #d&d stuff #ttrpg community #ttrpg #startplaying #dungons and dragons #tabeltop rpgs #tropical #d&d movie

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sequentialplanet · 1 year

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Tabletop Game Review: My City

My City KOSMOS 2-4 Players Playtime: 30 Minutes Legacy games can certainly be polarizing. For those who aren’t familiar with them, these board games are played as a campaign with the same players through every session. These games slowly build up toward a conclusion of some sort. While this sounds neat, the drawback is that the board is often permanently altered by the end of these experiences…

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#kosmos #Legacy Games #My City #Tabeltop Games #Thames & Kosmos

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calochortus · 2 years

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Carpenters Hall - The Carpenter Hotel - Austin, Texas by ChrisGoldNY

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lovelytsunoda · 1 year

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one of the boys // charles leclerc

summary: she's worked for ferrari for four years now. four years that only let her feelings for their number one driver grow stronger and stronger, until she wishes that charles leclerc would stop seeing her as just one of the boys, and start seeing her the way that she sees him

pairing: charles leclerc x mechanic! reader

warnings: ferrari fuckups, sexual tension, sad charles, actually charles goes through a whole range of emotions, matchmaker seb, mentions of workplace harassment, set in the 2022 season when charles won australia, sexual innuendos and references.

she sat on the halo, her feet resting against the seat as she leaned over the engine compartment, her boiler suit tied off around her waist and her hair pinned to the back of her head as the bahrain sun beat down.

ferrari had bottled it again. which meant double-duty for the pit crew to fix it for jeddah.

the radio hummed softly in the background as she cursed, losing her grip on the ratchet. when the engine fried itself, it had also made the parts a lot harder to take apart.

"fucking hell." she groaned, resting her head against the cool, red body of the car. "vasseur was supposed to fix this."

"what are you still doing here? you should have left at least an hour ago?"

the movement in the garage, as well as the voice breaking the almost-silence was enough to get her to look up, heart hammering against her ribcage.

the same annoyingly alert reaction that she'd had to his presence for the last two years.

"charles. what are you doing here?"

"hiding." the driver smiled sadly. the balaclava lines had faded fomr his face, but she could still see the sweat in his hair, the scent of the race mingling with his team-sponsored cologne. "you know how it is after a weekend like this."

"yeah, i do." she could feel the blush creeping onto her face, and she subtly pinched herself to try and make it go down. charles leclerc couldn't give her butterflies, it wasn't right. technically speaking, he was her superior.

but that didn't change how much she cared about him, how much she longed to feel the monegasque's lips against hers

"you should not be working. come out with the rest of us, we're getting drinks and commiserating. did i use that word right?"

it was hard for y/n not to smile at charles' attempt to learn the english language. he had a fantastic grip on the language, but when he tried to use larger words to sound cooler, it was usually followed up with uncertainty, all adding to what she liked to call his 'boston terrier energy'.

"yeah, you got that one right." she chuckled, dismounting the car, pain rocketing through the nerves in her feet as she hit the ground too hard. "that's a beauty of a car. such a shame that the scuderia doesn't know how to treat it properly."

standing next to charles, she was all too aware that she was wearing nothing but a sports bra on the top half of her body, and she wondered if she could pull her boiler suit back on without charles noticing.

charles snorted. "try driving that thing."

she patted him on the shoulder, a sad smile on her face. "give me ten minutes to go put some proper clothes on, and then we'll go out somewhere. drinks are on me, god knows you deserve it."

______

"seb, i don't know what to do!" y/n groaned, face against the tabeltop as the german man laughed.

sebastian vettel had been the closest thing she had to a father when she was on the road with the scuderia. in all fairness, the job with ferrari hadn't even been what she went to school for. she had picked engineering at college because it was what everybody else was doing, and she'd stumbled upon this job by accident with the promise of travel. when she was starting to regret everything, it had been sebastian who had convinced her to stay.

"ugh, this is so not funny!" she shouted, throwing her arms in the air and wincing as her knuckle banged against the shop window. they were in a quaint little café in fiji ahead of the australian grand prix, and y/n was in need of some serious advice.

but to get advice from seb, you needed to bribe him with coffee first. hence why they were in the rustic cafe, every bare surface covered in plants that sebastian had spent ages talking to the manager about.

sebastian vettel was a nerd. in a good way, of course.

"you're a lovely young woman, y/n. you have a nice figure."

"does hanna know you're out here complimenting younger women?" she joked, taking a sip from her strawberry lemonade.

sebastian laughed, shaking his head. "you need to let everybody else see that side of you, y/n. let your hair down, wear a nice pair of jeans for once instead of that boiler suit. let the world see the lovely girl that we all know is there."

"i'm going to miss you when you retire."

"i know, kiddo. listen, we're all going out after the race, to have drinks and whatever. go out with hanna, buy yourself a nice new dress on my credit card, and then come out for drinks with us. i guarantee that one look at you will whip charles into shape. you're a catch, y/n. i think that charles would be lucky to have someone like you in his life."

"i'm already a part of his life. as a work friend. and i'm accepted that i'm not likely to be anything more."

seb raised an eybrow. "doesn't sound like it."

in another bar, on another part of the small island of fiji, carlos and charles were having a very similar conversation.

"carlos, i can't make a move! technically, i'm higher ranking at ferrari than she is. there's a power imbalance, what if she feels like she can't say no? it's a harassment case waiting to happen!" charles whined, a pint glass clutched in his hands.

carlos shook his head, an annoyed sigh escaping the back of his throat. "you're an idiot, hermano. she's in love with you! you think you're the only person who sees her staring at you in the garage?

"forgive me if that's not something i want to be wrong about. i could be staking our careers on your little hunch."

groaning, carlos buried his head in his hands. getting through to his teammate was a hopeless and futile affair. once charles leclerc was set in his ways about something, there was no changing his mind.

"what about the party in australia? ask her to dance, buy her a drink? you're not getting any younger, charles. you need to get back out there and start dating again."

______

as f1 descended on albert park, the glitz and glamour taking over melbourne, y/n y/l/n and hanna vettel were standing in a small, glitzy boutique, armed with hanna's husband's credit card. the young ferrari mechanic was standing in front of a floor-length mirror, her hair falling around her shoulders.

"hanna, i don't know how i feel about this." she inhaled, staring at her reflection and the ferrari red dress that hugged her figure. "i love it, honestly, i do, i just cringe at the thought of ever wearing it outside of the house. especially if i;m in front of charles!"

hanns sighed, brushing her fingers through the younger girl's hair. "have a little bit of faith in yourself, darling. you look stunning, this dress shows off all your best physical attributes, and charles already knows your best qualities."

"yeah, because who else is going to sing nineties stoner rock songs in the car on the way to the track with me?" y/n laughed, remembering singing ‘teenage dirtbag’ with charles on their way to the track in jeddah, a carpool with some of the other mechanics. charles barely knew the words, but then again, y/n got them wrong a lot as well. “yeah, okay. lets do this fucking thing.”

hanna grinned. “that’s our girl!”

hours later, she was regretting her decision, standing in front of the club in her baggy leather jacket, shaky knees knocking together as she stood outside the front door in her heels and that tiny little dress, voices and laughter wafting through the walls as the inside hummed with the rarity of a ferrari victory. she nervously tapped her fingers against the side of her purse as a group of haas mechanics crossed the parking lot, wolf whistling at her before she flipped them both the bird.

“are you coming inside, or are you just going to stand there and freeze your balls off?”

“oh, if only I had balls to freeze. and this is bloody australia, its not even that cold.” y/n chuckled to herself, turning to look at jessica hawkins, one of the aston martin young drivers. “I need someone to remind me that I dont look stupid in this goddamn dress that hanna vettel picked out for me.”

jessica cocked an eyebrow, looking the mechanic up and down. “babes, you look hot! who are you trying to impress?”

“charles.” y/n mumbled, her face flushing pink before she cleared her throat. “its stupid, isn’t it?”

the other young woman shook her head. “not at all.” she grinned, linking her arm through y/n’s. “come on, lets go get you your man!”

the inside of the club was crowded, yet closed to the public as f1, f2, and the w series descended on the establishment. all of the f3 drivers were too young to legally drink, and had made their displeasure quite clear as they were herded away to an italian restaurant instead of the club.

"drinks for the lovely ladies?" abbie eaton chortled, bringing tequila shots over to where the mechanic and jessica were standing. "cheers on three, yeah?"

jessica sounded off with the countdown, the three women tapping the tiny glasses against each other before throwing back the burning alcoholic drink.

"if i'm going to do this," y/n began, raising her voice to be heard over the drake song that was playing. "i'm doing it right!" she took off her jacket, throwing it over a chair before she made her way over to the dj booth, her ballet flats sticking to the floor.

after a whispered conversation (and a monetary bribe), wheatus' 2000 hit 'teenage dirtbag' began to play over the speakers as y/n and jessica took to the floor, champagne flutes in hand as they began to dance.

from across the way, under the deep blue lights, charles leclerc was in a trance as he watched the way she moved, laughing and giggling as she sang along, finally getting each word right. adn charles would be lying if he said he didn't love the way her legs looked in that short little dress, how full her breasts looked in the red fabric that cradled them.

"is he still being a pussy?" pierre gasly groaned. "come on, man! you won the fucking race, and that's still not giving you the confidence you need to tell her you have a crush on her?"

"i'd rather not embarrass myself too much, thank you pierre." charles grumbled, taking another sip of his fruity mixed drink.

"he won't even drink proper alcohol." carlos commented. "i think she broke him."

pierre shook his head. "i will not stand for this, i am not letting it go on any longer. ilies!" he shouted, waving over his best friend- save for charles of course- and social media manager. "we need you to do something for us, for charles."

ilies nadri nodded. "it's about that girl he keeps talking about, isn't it?"

"exactly. so here's what you're going to do."

back on the dancefloor, y/n was beginning to forget that charles was watching, laughing and singing with jessica as the dj began to play 'toxic' by britney spears, at a drunken lando norris' request.

"looks like you've got an admirier. and it's not charles." nerea marti pointed out, nudging her head in the direction of ilies nadri, who was beginning to make his way over to the girls.

"well, if charles isn't interested." jessica shrugged, calpping her on the shoulders. "you look too pretty tonight to go home alone if you don't want to, and it looks like there's a good looking bloke who wants to join ya."

moments blurred as nadri took y/n's hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles and making her laugh with a french come-on, and before she knew it they were dancing to britney.

and she had forgotten about him, about the reason she wore that red dress in the first place.

but charles never forgot about her, his eyes boring into the back of ilies' head as he watched them dancing to a christina aguilera song. his grip was steadily tightening on his glass, and carlos looked over at him with a concerned glance.

"are you sure that getting her to dance with ilies was the smartest idea?" carlos whispered under his breath, raising his eyebrow at pierre. "he's going to break the fucking glass."

"or, he'll get jealous and go over there." pierre reasoned.

"how the fuck do you have a girlfriend, gasly?"

but pierre's reasoning must have been rooted in proof, for charles put down his glass and tromped over to the dance floor, his eyes a certain shade of jealous as he prepared himself to finally make a move.

he didn't speak, sweeping over the dancefloor to grab y/n's arm and pull her away from ilies and away from the dancefloor and it's illuminated vinyl flooring.

"charles, what is wrong with you?" y/n shouted, tispy on her feet and buzzing from alcohol as she tried to ignore the way her chest tightened and her heart skipped a beat at charles' possessiveness.

"i'm in love with you." he blurted out, desperation in his voice. "and i'm tired of hiding how i feel. i don't care how it looks to the outside, or to mattia, but i want to be with you. you were never just one of the boys to me, y/n. you were just you. and i like who i am with you. i want to be able to be that person for you, all the time."

"charles." she said softly, heart softening before starting and stopping again in an erratic beating pattern that would have worried her if she could have heard the beating over the refrain of charles' confessions playing on loop in her mind, louder and louder each time. "just kiss me."

and that's what charles did, an *nsync song playing in the background as he mashed his lips to hers, backing her up against the wall as she giggled, wrapping a slender, bare leg around his own, arms looped haphazardly around his neck and over his shoulders.

"charles, your phone isn't in your front pocket, right?" she panted.

charles looked confused, resting his forehead against hers. "no, i always put it in my back pocket."

"fuck." y/n all but moaned, arousal pooling in her own thighs as she thought about what was in between charles'. "that means that it's your rock-hard cock that's pressing against me right now, and that's so fucking hot."

grinning to himself, charles pressed up against her even more. "whay don't you join me at my hotel, and i'll show you just how fucking hard you make me."

"is that a threat or an invitation?"

"it's whatever you want it to be, mon cher."

"kiss me one more time, and you've got a deal."

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