Santiagojoe

Santiago Joe
And the Treasures of Oblivion

A PLAY-ANYWHERE ROLE PLAYING GAME
BY JAAP DE GOEDE
Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

– 1 –
License
(CC) 2009 Jaap de Goede, Amersfoort, Netherlands
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or

modify this document under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
License 3.0 or any later version published by
Creative Commons. All other rights reserved.
It is advised that the user checks whether copyright

conditions hold up in his or her country before
copying or distributing all or part of this work.
A copy of the Creative Commons license

can be found at:
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode
.
fonts Rough Typewriter & Adventure from dafont.com,

artwork was conceived by artistically reworking
classic B-flick-stills in the public domain on
archive.org
This document was prepared on an Asus EEE PC

using Open Office 3.0, and GIMP 2.6
Version 07-07-09 22:55:13

– 2 –
Content
Front Page..........................................1
License.............................................2
Santiago Joe.......................................7
WRITER AND STARS...................................8
PREPARING FOR PLAY.................................9
A. NAMING THE MOVIE.............................10
B. MAKING THE HEROES............................11
C. PREVIEW: DECIDING ON SPECIFICS..............16
RULES: SO HOW DO WE PLAY?.........................19
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF SANTIAGO JOE..............19
1. Thy game must go on..........................19
2. Thou shalt not hesitate. ....................20
3. Thou shalt regard interruptions.............20
4. Thou shalt be creative.......................21
5. Thou shalt not be repetitive, unless it is thy
strong point....................................21
6. Thy profession shall be regarded.............21
7. Thy weakness must be observed...............22
8. Thou shalt end a scene when it's done.......22
9. Thou shalt not kill, unless..................23
10. Thou shalt make it harder, not impossible. .24

– 3 –
THE SECRET COMMANDMENT..........................25
Example of play.................................25
BUILDING THE ADVENTURE MOVIE......................30
BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS: SCENES.....................30
BIG BUILDING BLOCKS: ACTS.........................31
ACT ONE: UNFINISHED BUSINESS....................32
ACT TWO: SETTING THE STAKES.....................33
ACT THREE: STAKING THE ODDS.....................34
ACT FOUR: FINAL CONFRONTATIONS..................34
OPTIONAL RULE: SEQUELS AND PREQUELS..............38
OPTIONAL RULE: PREWRITING TOGETHER OR ALONE.......39
OPTIONAL RULE: COUNTDOWN VARIATION................40
OPTIONAL RULE: HANDICAPS..........................41
OPTIONAL RULE: PLAYING BY MUSIC...................41
OPTIONAL RULE: DOING FEWER OR MORE ACTS...........42
APPENDICES: IDEAS FOR ACTS........................44
APPENDICES: IDEAS FOR SCENES......................46
24 HOUR WRITING AFTERWORD.........................48
AFTERWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................50
Back Flap.........................................52

– 4 –
Santiago Joe
And the Treasures of Oblivion
SCENE 4.2
INT. NIGHT, CORRIDOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SANTIAGO was running for his life. Again.

Usual pastime. Nothing new. NAZIS, what else.
He sped through the corridor on his way out of the
University building. Just fifty more yards.
And then the MAN IN BLACK appeared. His eyes hidden in

the shadow of his hat. His hand into the fold of his
coat. A gun. One of them!
SANTIAGO darted to the first door on the left.

Locked.
Damn! Try the other left!

– 5 –
SCENE 4.2 CONTINUED
Open. A big room full of old statues and artwork.

Scary African masks. Roman busts. Chock full.
SANTIAGO winced. He zigzagged for the window.
Made it. But the window was barred. Heavy footsteps

sounded down the hall.
SANTIAGO (whispers)
Looks like I might have to shoot them...
SANTIAGO reached for his own gun.

And then he figured that he left his gun in the car.
Oh yeah. That's right. Now what?
Errr... Time was short. Five seconds... four...

three... two...
The MAN IN BLACK entered the room, his gun cautiously

at his side. He watched left, then right. Artwork.
Roman busts. A broken window. Carefully he stepped
forward to the windowsill.
It was too late when he noticed the darting eyes

behind the African mask. A heavy head of a Roman
emperor hit him right in his face.
“That's one” SANTIAGO thought. And then THE OTHER MAN

came in. The gun pointing at him.

– 6 –
Santiago Joe
SANTIAGO JOE is a fast paced, diceless role
playing game. In it, you recreate the type of
adventure of old B-movie heroes. You delve for
priceless treasures, shoot it out with nazis, run
away from angry natives, steal the stuff from
your competitors, nearly die in grinding car
chases, jump from army trains and dangerous
glaciers, unmask beautiful spies and seduce them,
get poisoned while the antidote is in enemy
hands, open cursed tombs and find nests of snakes
and crawling spiders, uncover ancient relics,
nearly get burned alive in bomb blasts, and save
the day as you bring the artifact to the museum.
In SANTIAGO JOE you are the writer-director and

stars in your own B-movies. You decide what
happens to the heroes, and keep the story going –
until... your time is up, the heroes win, or you
find that you are in a film noir after all.
SANTIAGO JOE is especially designed to be played

in lunch breaks, while walking home, waiting for
the subway or when otherwise killing time. You'll
need at least one friend to play with, a little
spare time, and good spirits. That's it. Maybe
you also want to keep this booklet handy, have
something to munch and to write but that's it.
So how does it play? If you read the last two

pages, you read a short example already.

– 7 –
WRITER AND STARS
To play SANTIAGO JOE, you have to be with at

least two people. One of the players will have to
be the WRITER. He or she has to start telling the
story, give the setting, keep the game paced,
judge the actions of the heroes, and play all
roles of opponents, hapless victims and other
non-major heroes. The WRITER should be the player
who is most awake, best at telling stories,
feeling most nasty and devious, and most up to
the challenge.
All others players are the STARS. They play just

a single role in the story. The role of a brave
adventurer, treasure hunter, thrill seeker, kind
of lucky bastard, crazy guy or gal, or one of
their sidekicks. The player who feels most up to
it and is most quick witted after the WRITER
should be the STAR who plays the HERO of the
title. He or she should play a SANTIAGO JOE... or
SANTIAGO JANE.

– 8 –
PREPARING FOR PLAY
Before you can start you

have to decide on a few
specifics of the story-
movie-adventure you are
going to play. You do this
taking turns. First the
WRITER names one aspect of the movie, then one
STAR names another aspect, the next STAR yet
another aspect, and so on. If you run out of
players, you start with the WRITER again, going
'round until you decided all specifics.
Important is that you can never, never deny what

someone else has stated. You can only amend it,
and add to it. It's like a brainstorming
exercise. No negativism here!
You have to work on three things together.
– A. You have to name the movie

– B. You have to decide on the HEROES the
STARS play – and what they can do, and
– C. you have to decide on some specifics
like subgenre, time period, opponents and
basic setting.
–
You decide which you want to do first, as long as
you do them all before you roll into your first
scene.

– 9 –
A. NAMING THE MOVIE
First thing you'll probably want to do is name

the movie. In fact all in all, you'll build up
what you see on the film poster together. From
the poster you'll get an idea of the time period
and subgenre. There is a title with the name of
the MAIN HERO and the object it's about. And from
the pictures you get an idea who the MAJOR HEROES
are, who they fight, and where they'll go.
So let's make that title then.
The STAR who feels most like it names the MAIN

HERO. That's the HERO he os she is going to play.
And it's also the first part of the title (say:
SANTIAGO JOE, or MARIAH NEVADA). The next STAR
names the second part of the title (say: ...and
the treasure of the Sierra Madre, or ...and the
Crystal Rose). If there is just one STAR, the
WRITER will do so. If the players like, they may
also build up the title in more pieces – like:
MATT JOHNSON... and the secret of... the hidden
kingdom... of Vishnu.
Lets say our working title is:
Santiago Joe and the Treasures of Oblivion
Now we have a title. Let's hope it's catchy and

sounds like something you want to watch. If not,
then you'd better give it another go. Satisfied?
Then we establish the cast.

– 10 –
B. MAKING THE HEROES
The WRITER sets off by

saying the title of the
movie, and then
“starring ...” name of the
STAR who then names his or
her HERO. Like: “Today we
play... JACK COOPER and the
Tribe of the Golden Scalp,
starring Jim who plays...”
And then the player tells how his or her

character will be named. So Jim says: “... who
plays JACK COOPER”. The WRITER then goes on to
the announce the next STAR, who also names their
HERO. This goes on until all HEROES are named.
Then all HEROES must be given their attributes.

These are:
– A. What their day job is

– B. What they do especially well
– C. What they know the other HEROES from
– D. What their major weakness is
– E. What they look like
Again WRITER and STARS take turns in assigning

these attributes, one at a time. Note that
everyone may assign attributes to every other
HERO. You're not confined to your own. If you
want to annoy or help a partner player, go ahead!
However, there are a few ground rules again.

– 11 –
– 1. If you assign an attribute to a HERO
that's not yours, it may not have been
given yet. You must be the first to make
one up.
– 2. If you are the STAR that has just been
assigned an attribute by someone else, you
may amend it, or add to it once, in your
immediate turn following. You may not
contradict what has been said before.
– 3. If you are the WRITER, you can amend and
add to an attribute too, but only if it has
not been amended or added to before. And
even as a WRITER you may not contradict
what has been said before (except when its
absolutely ridiculous, maybe).
For example: Mikel plays JACK COOPER, and

states that JACK is a superior shot with the
pistol. John says that his own hero BOB THE
RIPPER knows JACK from the army, and they were in
the same unit. Tineke is next, and she says:
“JACK COOPER shoots well, because he's very
precise, you can see that because in daily life
he's a dentist”.
Mikel now may not contradict what is said, but he
may amend and add another attribute to his day
job. So he says “JACK COOPER indeed works as a
dentist, but his friends know that at night he
works as an amateur private detective.”
Let's have a look at our example adventure-movie-

story again:

– 12 –
Santiago Joe
and the Treasures of Oblivion
Starring:
jake goodman as...............Santiago Joe

mikel reesedyke as.............jack cooper
john comptonius as.........bob the ripper
tiny key small as.............mariah nevada
and also featuring
writer-director rinzl schauerman

as
Millius Keeton, lord of a thousand Monkeys
And in addition we know, partly from the photo's

and the blurb we now have not available, that:
SANTIAGO JOE is very good at driving cars, runs a

boxing school as a teacher, is tall with blue
eyes and always grinning below his fedora, and he
is particularly scared of dogs.
JACK COOPER is an excellent shot, a dentist who

is an amateur detective in the evening, looks as

– 13 –
a dandy always in white, and is very scared to
have his face hurt in any way, he is Santiago's
good friend from childhood
BOB THE RIPPER is very good at taking blows, is a

daytime car mechanic, who knows Santiago from
being his favorite mechanic, is huge with a fat
belly and a beard, and he has the tiny problem
that he can go into a killing frenzy if he's hurt
MARIAH NEVADA used to be Santiago's girlfriend,

she is an excellent pilot and owns a biplane
which she doesn't want damaged, her day job is
kindergarten teacher (so dealing out commands and
leading groups is easy for her), she looks
smashing as long as her face isn't full of soot,
and her weakness is her brother, who is now
working for the MASTER ENEMY (see later) named...
MILLIUS KEETON.

– 14 –
MILLIUS KEETON is the villain of this story, and
he is especially good at enchanting a thousand
apes into following his commands, his day job is
being leader of a Zulu Kingdom, in this
incarnation he looks like a tall, laughing,
immensely strong black man, and his known
weakness is his interest in technological toys.
Give him a typewriter, and he will be amazed.
For this adventure-movie-story the WRITER already

decided, MILLIUS has kidnapped MARIAH's brother
NICK the reporter exactly because he was carrying
a... broken typewriter. Bloody apes bust it.
So now we know which HEROES the STARS play and

what they can do. Now, what sort of movie is it
exactly? What would (p)reviewers tell you?

– 15 –
C. PREVIEW: DECIDING ON SPECIFICS
Finally (assuming you have not already done so)

you have to make a few decisions on the type of
movie-story-adventure. So that you know what
you're going to play, what the ground feel is,
what you may expect. Again WRITER and STARS take
turns to decide. These are the things you'll at
least want to know:
– A. The subgenre. It's an adventure, but is

it straight Indiana and the Jewel of the
Nile, or is it also horror, or film noir,
or war movie, even science fiction, or a
detective or a mystery play?
– B. The year the adventure takes place.
– C. The country or countries we eventually
end up in. These should be exotic, arctic,
tropical, or at least full of natives.

– 16 –
– D. The legendary object, thing or person
it's all about. This is probably in the
title already, but it may be fun to make up
one or two extra things about it. Is a lost
people involved, a kingdom of gold, a relic
of the first Saints, an undead creature?
– E. The opponents, or
type of opponent.
Are they Nazis,
Communists,
Capitalists, Thugees,
Zulus or a secret
Runic Sect. Or all
of them?
– F. The WRITER will also have to make up at

least one MASTER ENEMY. This is the leader
of one group of opponents, and he or she
may pose as the patron for the adventure at
first. You can also make up the MASTER
ENEMY together (WRITER and STARS together)
during the creation of the HEROES.
– G. The patron for the main adventure. Who
asks that the object be recovered or the
lost culture be found? Is it the U.S.
Government, a collector, who? The WRITER may
secretly decide that the MASTER ENEMY will
pose as the patron, or have an accomplice
working with the HEROES.

– 17 –
THE UNWEEKLY MOVIE PREVIEW, June 1931
SANTIAGO JOE is a tongue in cheek, humorous

adventure movie, set in the late nineteen-
twenties. The bold heroes set out in the desert
of Gobi, China, where they try to get away from
Long Bob, from whom they have stolen the secret
book roll of the Dalai Lama. Whether they
succeed in keeping it out of his clutches,
you'll see, but eventually the trail will lead
to...
The heartlands of Africa, somewhere near the

source of the river Nile, in a Zulu Kingdom,
where master enemy MILLIUS KEETON, LORD OF A
THOUSAND MONKEYS takes them prisoner as the
seek out the treasures of Oblivion. And these
treasures consist of an old golden artefact, on
which is written about the beginning of the
world, written while it happened. Or so the
legend says. In their search the heroes are
chased around by renegade proto-Nazis (SS-men
working for some bloke named Adolf), and a
British SIS man named Pinkerton. Their patron
Kuma Kai Kara, a Chinese crime lord they met
on earlier set them on the trail of all this
mayhem.
Intrigued? Go and play the adventure yourself!

– 18 –
RULES: SO HOW DO WE PLAY?
SANTIAGO JOE is diceless

storytelling and role
playing. So unlike most
paper and pen role playing
games you don't roll hands
full of dice. You don't
draw cards either. And you
also don't do paper-stone-
scissors, usually.
Instead you have a few simple ground rules to

resolve all conflicts and actions that arise
during the game. You can see these as the TEN
COMMANDMENTS of SANTIAGO JOE. The first seven are
the most important ones for both the STARS and
the WRITER. The rest is mostly for the WRITER.
Basically though, the art is to keep the game
going!
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF SANTIAGO JOE
– 1. Thy game must go on.

The WRITER gives the setting, and the STAR
reacts. Then the WRITER reacts again, and
so on. As long as the reaction is adequate,
cinematic, good, unexpected, creative, new,
or the thing the HERO is particularly good
at, he or she succeeds. But then the WRITER
should think of something new that goes
wrong. And the STAR dreams up a solution.
Keep throwing new problems as a WRITER.

– 19 –
– 2. Thou shalt not hesitate.
Whenever you are hesitating when it's your
turn to think of an action, the other party
starts counting with one hand. Five, four,
three... If he reaches zero before you say
something useful (“errr” does not count),
you fail.
– 3. Thou shalt regard interruptions.

You also fail if you are interrupted in any
way, by a phone call, your teacher, a car
driving over you, your girl friend, your
guiding spirit or whatever. That is also
true if you are the WRITER and it was your
turn to think of a new cinematic action or
effect. Then the HERO blissfully succeeds
and the enemy loses. If you're stupid
enough to prefer winning a beat in this
game above surviving socially and
physically as a player, then... let's just
not go there. Interrupt is interrupt.

– 20 –
– 4. Thou shalt be creative.
If you think of an action or effect that is
new, cinematic or unexpected, or all of
these, it will work. You will then succeed
at least partly. Chances are though, that
you have to face a new unexpected
challenge!
– 5. Thou shalt not be repetitive, unless it

is thy strong point.
You cannot use the same method successfully
to do something twice, unless that's the
one attribute you're extremely good at.
Then you can. In all other cases that you
use the same method twice in a row (or
scene), you fail, at the very least partly.
– 6. Thy profession shall be regarded.

If it's your profession you're at, and you
at least vary in your description, you
succeed. You don't have to be too creative
there.

– 21 –
– 7. Thy weakness must be observed.
If you encounter your great weakness, you
should play it out and panic. Freeze,
frenzy, give memorable quotes, make a show
of it. If you do it well, the WRITER should
reward it even if you fail because of your
weakness. Which you will.
– 8. Thou shalt end a scene when it's done.

As a WRITER you should end a scene when it
reached its climax. Or before it withers
down. Once you don't know what to throw at
your STARS anymore, run out of active
opponents, you are interrupted, you have
captured, killed or knocked out your
HEROES, or best of all, if you think think
the STARS have delivered a nice scene –
then end the scene. If you need to, wrap
the scene up nicely, then go on to the next
one.

– 22 –
– 9. Thou shalt not kill, unless...
Killing off minor characters in your movie

is a matter of WRITER choice. I'd suggest to
only do it for the sake of story progress,
a point you are making or at the very least
for cinematic effect.
Killing HEROES and MASTER ENEMIES is

another matter.
The death of a HERO (or MASTER ENEMY)

should only be caused as the direct result
of a suicidal action or non-action of the
HERO. The WRITER should warn that this will
be the result if the HERO follows through
with the action. If a HERO cannot be saved
by his own actions or fellows, preferably
wound or capture and imprison the HERO for
a later scene.
Also, killing a HERO or MASTER ENEMY is not

normally advisable until either the last
act, or until the STAR playing the HERO is
leaving the game anyway (then you can make
it a dramatic exit for the player). The
only way to do it, is making it extremely
cinematic, dramatic or heroic.
Finally, if you are on the brink of really

killing a HERO, and you fear playing God as
a WRITER, resort to scissor-paper-stones.

– 23 –
– 10. Thou shalt make it harder, yet not
impossible
Paramount in the WRITER job, is to make

things harder and keep throwing new
challenges at your STARS. But you have to
let them succeed as much as possible too.
If a HERO fails at a really dangerous task

or in a fight, you may leave him or her
either WOUNDED or INCAPACITATED.
A WOUNDED HERO is also no longer capable of

automatically succeeding in what he does
especially well anymore. Instead, the STAR
now must make up something (mildly) new and
creative each time to make actions succeed.
An INCAPACITATED HERO is knocked out for

the rest of the scene (or even rest of the
act) and can be captured by the MASTER
ENEMY, or otherwise miss out on te story,
and be a plot device at the same time.

– 24 –
THE SECRET COMMANDMENT
– 11. Thy shalt not forget the Cavalry
Whenever you as a WRITER have brought the

HEROES in too great a predicament, you
should use the secret eleventh commandment.
You should send in the cavalry. This can be
the FBI, the local police, another enemy,
another HERO who was not at the scene yet,
or whatever Deus Ex Machina you can think
of. If you don't introduce the cavalry, you
have a film noir. That's o.k. Too.
Example of play
using the TEN COMANDMENTS of SANTIGIO.
WRITER:
Okay, BOB, there you lie. Your two legs extended
from under the car, your fat belly heaving up,
and down. BOB has to fix the car to make it work
again within five minutes. Or you'll be too late.

– 25 –
BOB:
That's bloody short timing, my man!
Let's see it as an art form. It's my profession,
but it's also art. Swing the monkey wrench left,
left, left. Then put on a new bolt here, here and
here and there one for symmetry. Should do well.
{BOB has car mechanic for profession, so he could

fix the car anyway. But thinking it is a hard
task to do it so fast, BOB's STAR John throws in
a bit of creative cinematics. He makes it a
dance. The WRITER likes it and agrees.}
WRITER:
It looks fixed. You can hand the car to SANTIAGO.
BOB:
Ready, Joe. You drive!
SANTIAGO:
I jump behind the wheel, and turn the starter.
It had better work, Bob! Or I'll wrench you!
WRITER:
Jigga-jigga-jigga-Vrooom.
SANTIAGO:
Great! I drive and put the pedal to the metal!
BOB:
Wait for me you twit!
I clamber into the car as fast as I can with my

– 26 –
fat body. Rephrase that. I clamber faster. Jeez.
WRITER:
You're in just in time Bob. Santiago, the road is
bloody tortuous. It goes down fast with a ravine
on your left. If you fall, that goes down faster.
SANTIAGO
Hold on, pal! There we go!
I growl as I twist and turn the wheel. This is
what I'm best at. Driving. Driving anywhere,
fast. I can do it.
{SANTIAGO's specialty is driving, so he makes

this, no matter what, unless the WRITER makes up
something very special.}
WRITER:
You speed down, twist left, turn right! And
then... {SANTIAGO and BOB start counting with
their fingers: five, four, three... because also
the WRITER should not hesitate.}
Suddenly there is a truck in front of you. And it
stops dead in its tracks.
{The WRITER is in time to keep the game going,
and in addition thought of something to make it
harder despite SANTIAGO's driving skill.}
SANTIAGO:
Incredible! I... I... {Now the WRITER starts
counting down silently. Five... four... three...}
I jam the brakes and skid the car on its side
between the wall and the truck.

– 27 –
{Excellent creative and crazy escape, well done.}
WRITER:
Wow! The car skids right past, the wheels
gripping the wall instead of the road. Now BOB
falls out.
BOB:
Thank you very much. Aaaaargh!
WRITER:
Your head bobs on the floor, BOB. Bob, bob.
BOB:
I take the blows as that is what I can do well.
{That's right.}
Then again, does it really hurt? Then I'll want
to hurt SANTIAGO too.
{That's BOB's weakness. But BOB courteously
leaves the decision to the WRITER whether he
should go into a killing frenzy.}
SANTIAGO:
Don't give the WRITER ideas, BOB. I'll save us.
I wrench the wheel and get back on all fours
after the truck. There you are!
WRITER:
You're past the truck, but there's yet another
one! Now what?
TRINNGG. At that moment SANTIAGO's phone, or

rather the phone of his player goes off. SANTIAGO

– 28 –
is interrupted and his action will fail, no
matter what. However, SANTIAGO also pleas that
the WRITER was somewhat repetitive by throwing in
another truck. The WRITER agrees. He decides that
the scene is kind of done anyway, interrupted as
it is, so he ends in a cliffhanger.
WRITER:
The car smashes into the truck and you are thrown
out with enormous force. You both tumble down the
ravine.
BOB and SANTIAGO together:

Aaaaaaaargh!! Grab something!!!
WRITER:
Unbelievable, but you do. As
if you are helped by angels,
you can hold on to some
growth on the edge of the
rocks. There you are left
hanging.
Now let's switch to MARIAH
and JACK in the next scene.
{A literal cliffhanger, in fact. And in a way

it's also an angelic cavalry that saves our
HEROES. No want to kill the HEROES either, as we
are not even near the end of the adventure-story-
movie. And they were not really failing that
badly yet.}

– 29 –
BUILDING THE ADVENTURE MOVIE
Now we kind of know how to play, and we have our

HEROES and story basics ready. Let's begin.
Lights out, and there we go.
A full game plays in four acts, subdivided into

scenes. An act should have about three or four
scenes, or maybe more. You may not always have
time for a full game, so just see how far you
get each time you play. You can always go for a
cliff hanger and continue the story-movie-
adventure later on. Later, when you have time
again, after work, bedtime or college.
BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS: SCENES
Like a movie, a game of SANTIAGO JOE is made up

of scenes. And preferably you start a scene in
the middle of the action. WRITERS should not
spend too much time between scenes. If the last
scene ended with thee heroes being captured by
the Gestapo, just skip to the part where they
they are bound to chairs ready to be

– 30 –
interrogated. Or skip to the part where they are
already interrogated, badly hurt, bound to a
chair, and finally left alone to potentially
escape. Or skip to the part where they are being
rescued by their colleagues. Think cinematically!
Scenes are around a single location (this may

also be a vehicle or series of vehicles), and are
during a short continuous stretch of time.
When you play a scene, be sure to describe what
the new situation in a scene. Everyone should
know where they are, and whether they are in the
scene or not. Also clearly mark the end and the
beginning of a scene. Tell where it is, whether
it is night or day, maybe what the date is, why
they are there and what they are basically doing.
BIG BUILDING BLOCKS: ACTS
A group of scenes together can

make up an act. An act also is
a little story in itself, with
a beginning and an end, with a
challenge and an outcome. If
an act is not the last one in
a story, it shouldn't end too satisfactory. It at
least should leave a good lead into the next act,
already giving (an idea of) the new challenge to
come. An act also is usually set in the same
country or general area, and plays within a
limited time frame. A typical SANTIAGO JOE game
is comprised of four acts.

– 31 –
ACT ONE: UNFINISHED BUSINESS
The first act of a game is actually the last act

of an adventure we never actually saw or knew. We
jump straight into the action and skip the acts
before. Maybe the heroes are chased by Nazis, by
Assassins or by Indians. Maybe they just enter
the tomb of an entirely different sort, and
uncover a golden relic protected by a vast number
of traps. Maybe they are right into a bank heist
or a great train robbery. Or maybe they are in a
great showdown with some Chinese crime lord.
The first act is often the place where the HEROES

meet each other, or at least are introduced to
us, and where they can show off what they can do.
A first act may also be a special “flashback”

act, in which we go back to the youth of at least
one of the heroes. We could find out where the
weaknesses of the HERO come from, or how he
learned to be so good at something. Or we can go
back to sketch an early encounter with the
MASTER ENEMY of the story, years before.
ACT TWO: SETTING THE STAKES

– 32 –
Once the HEROES have escaped from the first act,
they may or may not have the money, the relic or
whatever they were fighting for. It doesn't
matter. They are introduced. In act two we go for
the setup of the actual story. The HEROES are
back to their daily lives again, and now they
receive the commission to recover the thing that
is mentioned in the title of this game. Someone
will contact them to search for it, one of the
HEROES will find a lead to where it is, a secret
sponsor will donate money to go for it fast,
or... the competition is ready to knock out the
HEROES before they even know what they are
looking for (and thus the HEROES find out what's
at stake here). The second act usually takes
place on the home ground of the HEROES. In their
home town, during their day job, at school,
wherever. The second act usually ends with the
leaving for an exotic location far away,
preferably by commercial water plane.
ACT THREE: STAKING THE ODDS

– 33 –
The third act deals with the arrival at exotic
locations in hostile and forgotten third world
countries, secretly tracing the treasure,
finding of the hidden city, meeting interesting
and deadly native people, getting the treasure
from under the nose of the enemy, chasing around
with opponents, and often in the end losing the
treasure to the enemy.
ACT FOUR: FINAL CONFRONTATIONS
The fourth and final act contains the climax of

the movie. It deals with the getting the treasure
back, or getting it home. This will of course not
be too easy, as the MASTER ENEMY will also reveal
him or herself in this act (unless they also have
done so before), and become particularly nasty.
The HEROES may be captured, bound, and things may
become quite hairy. But one thing for sure, as
the MASTER ENEMY will try to make use of the
gained artifact, lost treasure or whatever
mystical power, the HEROES will find a way to
escape and go for a final confrontation. Or

– 34 –
alternately, they may be happy that they were
bound when a Deus ex Machina devours the MASTER
ENEMY in divine retribution. That's up to the
WRITER.
Finally, the HEROES will reminisce in the last

scene about what they have done, and store the
treasure in a museum or wave the starship
goodbye. This final scene is sometimes called
Aftermath or Denouement.
ACT ONE:
The HEROES begin in the middle of the action.
They are in the Gobi desert, China, and they are
being chased by LONG BOB, who tries to get the
secret book roll of the Dalai Lama back from
them. LONG BOB is helped by SIS man PINKERTON. We
might start out with a car chase, then a camp
scene near a crashed derelict plane where the
HEROES meet LONG BOB again, and finally a scene

– 35 –
where they reach a border town and are saved by
crime lord KUMAI KARA and his gang – who might
steal the book roll from the HEROES too.
ACT TWO:
Here the HEROES are on their home ground, in
Kansas, and they are drawn into a new adventure.
We could start out with SANTIAGO being invited at
the University, and suddenly being chased by
Nazis in disguise. This chase will extend in
another chase and confrontation with the Nazi
spies who seek something they do not have yet – a
cubicle box. Then in the next scene patron KUMAI
KARA saves the day, strangely enough, and he
offers something to make up for what happened. He
sets the HEROES on the trail of a much bigger
treasure. The HEROES can have it, they only need
to give KUMAI a small golden bracelet they will
find there. MARIAH's brother NICK was working for
KUMAI and already has gone ahead. He's kinda
lost.
ACT THREE:
The HEROES fly to the heartlands of Africa,
somewhere near the source of the river Nile. They
negate tortuous terrain, appear to be followed by
the nazi spies after all, and then arrive in a
Zulu Kingdom. There is master enemy MILLIUS
KEETON, LORD OF A THOUSAND MONKEYS, who takes
them prisoner as the seek out the treasures of
Oblivion – the cubicle box. On the cubicle is a
text, which is supposed to tell of the beginning
of the world, written while it happened Or so the

– 36 –
legend says. Also they meet British SIS man
PINKERTON again who works for MILLIUS, and knows
about what happened to NICK. He'll negotiate with
MILLIUS, he says, to get them free. He does,
together they have to find the cubicle within a
week, or NICK will die of mysterious disease he
contracted while trying to
get the cubicle himself.
Naturally, they must hand
the cubicle to MILLIUS to
get NICK back alive.
ACT FOUR:
Herein the HEROES find the
terrible, unearthly cave
in which the cubicle is hidden, negotiate a
number of deadly traps, and salvage it from its
hiding place. Then the Nazi criminals appear
again, and PINKERTON too, who (oh surprise) works
with the Nazis. The HEROES have to hand over the
stuff, and are delivered as failures to MILLIUS
while the criminals get away. But HEROES wouldn't
be HEROES if they wouldn't escape, chase the
thieves while being chased by MILLIUS army of
monkeys themselves, and finally use the cubicle
to escape to...
Well, you figure out what the ending should be!

– 37 –
OPTIONAL RULE: SEQUELS AND PREQUELS
If you like SANTIAGO JOE, find that you can play

it well, and would like to go for a sequel. Or a
prequel. You can then use (some of) the HEROES of
another adventure, and find out what happened
after, or before. You just make up an adventure
title and details as usual. But you already know
some of the HEROES.
In addition, when using an old HERO anew, you may

add an attribute. The WRITER may then amend that
attribute, or add another weakness too. HEROES in
this way grow, and gain depth and experience.
In prequels, the HEROES will be younger of

course, and if you go back far, it is unlikely
that they have they will have the same
profession. You may then give a new profession
(such as student, barman or paperboy), or the
WRITER will. Note that such a new thing may also
add depth in later adventures!
Example: SANTIAGO and MARIAH start their sequel

adventure-movie-story named MARIAH NEVADA and the
Bimovy Legend. SANTIAGO figures he has been asked
at the university as an expert, so he now is a
professional assistant archaeology teacher. The
WRITER agrees. MARIAH was very successful at
charming MILLIUS last story, so she figures that
she has become an expert at charming. The WRITER
thinks about it, then agrees, but also says she
has gained a new weakness, a panic for all apes.

– 38 –
OPTIONAL RULE: PREWRITING TOGETHER OR ALONE
Depending on the players and the time, the WRITER

may decide to make up the title of the adventure
and/or specifics alone beforehand. Players may
also make up their HEROES beforehand, and bring
them along. If you have bright ideas, read
inspiring novels, or seen crazy but great B-
flicks that inspired you, this can be great fun.
You can even steal some odd HEROES from real good
movies and stories, if you dare. I won't mention
names (such as Indiana Jones, Nick Carter or Alan
Quatre-mains).
Or, conversely you may even make up more together

taking turns. You could make up the start of the
opening scene together, or the attributes of the
MASTER ENEMY. Or you could make up the start of
all scenes jointly like this. It's up to you if
you like that challenge!
On a third note, you could even switch the WRITER

role between acts. That would be a nice challenge
too, for the really crazy method role players and
theatre sports initiates.

– 39 –
OPTIONAL RULE: COUNTDOWN VARIATION
You may find that if the cast of STARS is bigger

(i.e. You are with more players), that counting
down from five in case of hesitation is too long.
Or too short, depending on your players and
amount of sleep they have had.
In this case you can give them more or less time.

Counting down from ten is good too, or from
three. See what works well to keep the pace.
As another variant, you may count down from five

with the first hesitation. If you reach zero, the
HERO fails miserably, but kind of survives
miraculously, and loses a count. The next time
this HERO hesitates, he has only a count of four.
And so on, until zero counts remain. Then the
HERO will just die with the next lethal
hesitation. No more help then.
Counts won't be lost if the STAR picks up and

thinks of something before a countdown finished.
His or her HERO will have the same amount of
counts next hesitation. Lost counts are
replenished each new adventure, or each new act.

– 40 –
OPTIONAL RULE: HANDICAPS
You may also find that some players are wittier

and faster than others, or some are just more
experienced. To even the odds a bit, or make the
game more exciting for the faster ones, you may
give them shorter countdowns than the others.
Also you may help out younger or less experienced

players more, giving them easier breaks. The game
is supposed to be fun, exciting and movie-like,
not an exercise in realism, nor a contest between
the players.
OPTIONAL RULE: PLAYING BY MUSIC
A special challenge or handicap for all players

is to play while playing film music. Your scenes
and actions then have to – sort of – match the
mood of the music being played. Best thing to
happen is of course if a musical accent falls in
with a very dramatic moment (ta-daaah!). An even
greater challenge is to also finish the movie-
story-adventure by the time the end titles play!

– 41 –
OPTIONAL RULE: DOING FEWER OR MORE ACTS
Not all stories are the same, and you sometimes

know that you won't have enough time on your
hands. In those cases you can choose to do fewer
– or more acts.
A single act play would be the shortest option.

That would be a simple story, involving just one
general location (a city, a jungle, a desert),
and a straightforward plot. It could start with
the finding of a tomb in the desert, then
plundering it, getting the treasure stolen by a
competitor, then a chase for the treasure, and
finally an escape by aeroplane.
With two acts you could add another part to the

story. For example, in the second act you could
let the HEROES attend the exhibition of the
treasure in a big city, like Boston. Then it
might get stolen again, by an Oriental gang, we
have another chase around the city, and finally a
showdown with their boss, who appears to be the
same competitor as in the first part.
A three act play is the classic story structure,

used in many movie dramas. The first act then
typically ends with the main problem of the
story, one that really hits the main HERO or all
HEROES. This problem develops over the second
act, culminating at its end in a choice to be
made. This could be the choice between a treasure
and a friend, or between fame and love for

– 42 –
example. This choice is then resolved over the
third act, often in a climax where the HEROES
have to prove where they stand.
But you could also look at it more simply, and

just add another act to the first two. For
example, the confrontation with the competitor in
act two could end with his escape, with the
treasure, to another locale. Let's say the jungle
in Meso-America, where the treasure is to be used
in some dangerous ritual. The ritual could also
involve the sacrifice of a friend (or HERO) who
was also kidnapped in the end of the second act.
The other HEROES then try to prevent this ritual.
By adding acts, you can theoretically extend a

story indefinitely. But then again, you don't
want to be repetitive either, so the challenge is
to make the story more exciting with each new
act. If you feel that that's unlikely, if you add
yet another, you should not do it, and just end
the story then and there. Better to begin a new
exciting story then!

– 43 –
APPENDICES: IDEAS FOR ACTS
General Locales Countries
A a sandy desert U.S. Of A. or Canada

2 a sweaty jungle South Americas
3 a rainy forest British India, Indochina
4 craggy mountains Meso America or Mexico
5 a hot prairie Black Africa
6 a busy harbour front Middle East or N. Africa
7 a sprawling city Caribbean or Atlantic
8 a green countryside Russia, Mongolia, etc.
9 the open sea Northern Europe
10 an icy glacier Mediterranean Europe
J a treacherous swamp Japan, China
Q the arctic Himalayas, Nepal, Tibet
K cliffs on the seaside Down Under or Pacific
Possible Objects And why they are Special
A a chalice it prolongs life

2 a ritual dagger it has hidden knowledge
3 a religious relic it empowers the holder
4 an ancient artefact it makes one invincible
5 a statuette or idol it makes one invisible
6 a crucifix it can travel in time
7 a clockwork mechanism it is a radio with God
8 clothing or armour it can travel in space
9 a spear or weapon it's a dimension portal
10 a book or tablet it is a powerful weapon
J a painting or fresco it can transform reality
Q a person or people it commands an army
K a place or vehicle it gives super-charisma

– 44 –
Enemies Enemy Groups
A renegade secret agent Nazis or Fascists

2 an enemy spy Communists
3 an army officer Extreme Capitalists
4 a mad professor Militant Anarchists
5 a native priest one's own secret service
6 a witch or warlock a secret society
7 a Christian emissary an ancient sect
8 a tribal leader a forgotten tribe
9 a millionaire an enemy army
10 a crime boss thugees, assassins, etc.
J a competitor organised criminals
Q secret society teacher a mercenary army
K a fellow adventurer undead, monsters, aliens
Patrons and Allies
A Benevolent Millionaire
2 FBI or other secret service
3 Government Bureaucrat
4 University or Museum representative
5 Foreign Ambassador
6 Mystery lady
7 Charity Organisation
8 Special Army Unit
9 Church or Religious Group
10 Influential Friend
J Fellow Adventurer
Q Local Population Leader
K Supernatural Emissary

– 45 –
APPENDICES: IDEAS FOR SCENES
City Locales Outdoor Locales
A a bar or restaurant an ancient tomb

2 a hospital an ancient palace
3 a university campus a lost city
4 an office a native village
5 a garage a ghost town
6 a church or convent an abandoned factory
7 a museum a native marketplace
8 a castle hidden temple or church
9 a cemetery a ritual burial ground
10 a hotel or motel a railroad bridge
J a shopping mall a twisting road
Q a prison catacombs
K city sewers a hidden prison camp
Chases and Vehicles
A car chase
2 motor chase
3 biplane chase
4 airship or balloon
5 speedboat chase
6 bicycle chase
7 within train chase
8 rooftop chase
9 city chase on foot
10 wilderness chase
J horseback chase
Q swimming chase
K parachute or drop chase

– 46 –
Fights Other Scenes
A rooftop fight library speed search

2 fist fight defusing a bomb
3 all out brawl negotiate with enemy
4 fair duel rescue an innocent
5 vehicle fight solve a riddle or map
6 gunfight negotiate traps
7 grenades or mines enlist an ally or friend
8 avoid a sniper romantic scene
9 ambush by group locked in – escape!
10 intruding assassin Travel in rough terrain
J martial arts fight Lost!
Q military battle flashback
K special weapons nightmare of the future
Plot Twists
A HERO is poisoned, the antidote in enemy hands

2 HERO's friend or partner is kidnapped
3 HERO's friend or partner is killed
4 an ally turns out traitor
5 an enemy becomes a friend
6 HERO's dark past emerges
7 the artefact is cursed
8 the patron is the enemy
9 enemy falls in love w HERO
10 the HEROES get way lost
J HEROES must break law
Q HEROES chased by law
K Part of adventure is dream

– 47 –
24 HOUR WRITING AFTERWORD
I am now going into my

last hour of writing
this 24 hour game, and
see that I still have to
do examples, artwork,
contents and a lot else
I would have liked to
do. I'll cut that short
for the 24-hour
version. I hope to do it
a later day for a more
full-fledged one. Shouldn't have tried to start
on a free Sunday which turned out not to be free,
with not nearly enough sleep before I started. I
just changed from train to bus in the middle of
the last sentence, on my way to work, which makes
the effort seem even more crazy.
However, thanks to the guys from 1km1kt who

dreamt up this crazy challenge. It's good to see
how much I can do despite all this distraction
(like sleep, haha) in 24 hours. And thanks to my
wife, daughters and friends too, for role playing
with me and being there.
Oh yes, and thanks to George and Steven for

bringing the adventure movie back in our lives.
I figure you deserve all the money you made with
them. And Harrison, thanks for portraying one of
the inspirations for this game.

– 48 –
Finally I'd almost forget Rinze and Mikel,
friends and fellow players who figured out the
basic idea for the diceless mechanics this game
uses. When they had no dice, they thought of the
continuous action roleplaying – like:
– I grab the bar!

– You succeed, but it breaks and you fall.
– Then I slide falling onto the elevator.
– That's ok, but now the elevator starts
moving. And you start to fall again.
– I'll grab the cable and hold on.
– Brilliant! You move down. Now he has seen
you and opens the elevator hatch.
– I slam it down.
– He falls, and the hatch breaks. You
nearly fall.
– I hold on to the hatch opening!
– Okay... but now...
And so on. That's much the way SANTIAGO JOE

should now play. Now let's see if I can do the
content listing and write one more example
somewhere.
Jaap de Goede
Amsterdam, June 29 2009
Frack! Missed my bus stop!

– 49 –
AFTERWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There I am a week later, in public transport

again, typing and piecing together the last parts
of the (more) complete version of SANTIAGO JOE.
There is a lot more in here, like examples,
tables with ideas in the back, optional rules,
quite some artwork, and a revised set of
commandments. Figure that, would there be a 24-
hour bible with another set of ten?
For extended acknowledgements, thanks to my wife

for listening to snippets of this while I wrote,
and the kids on the block for play testing. And
many thanks to the inventors of theatre sports,
and those of brainstorming, from which two this
game borrows a few of its principles.
I hope you enjoy playing SANTIAGO JOE like I did

writing it. It should play almost anywhere, as
you don't need dice or extensive rulebooks. You
don't even need pen and paper, or it should be to
doodle and jot notes while you play in a somewhat
bigger team of players. And as role playing games
go, it's probably more suited to playing with
just two than most others. I now played the game
in an amended version with my 6-year old and one
of her friends a few times, and it works well
enough. They squished my giant squid with a
tennis racket and started to jump physically
about the room. That felt good :-) Have fun!
Somewhere in a train, July 6 2009

– 50 –
– 51 –
Santiago Joe
a fast paced Role Playing Game
Where you are the movie STARS
and the WRITER-DIRECTOR
Of the many Adventure B-Movies of Oblivion
Movies that never were, but that you would have

loved to see.
Enjoy them during college, your

coffee break, when you can't
sleep on the phone, while you're
on the bus, or just when there's
nothing on TV.
Santiago dodged the arrow and aimed for

the Native Apache King's eye. “It will be
the end of you now, even if I don't like
to kill people, you of all people
definitely deserved it.”
He pulled the trigger.
Klick.

– 52 –

Santiagojoe

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And the Treasures of Oblivion

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or

It is advised that the user checks whether copyright

A copy of the Creative Commons license

fonts Rough Typewriter & Adventure from dafont.com,

This document was prepared on an Asus EEE PC

Version 07-07-09 22:55:13

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

SANTIAGO was running for his life. Again.

And then the MAN IN BLACK appeared. His eyes hidden in

SANTIAGO darted to the first door on the left.

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

Open. A big room full of old statues and artwork.

Made it. But the window was barred. Heavy footsteps

SANTIAGO reached for his own gun.

Errr... Time was short. Five seconds... four...

The MAN IN BLACK entered the room, his gun cautiously

It was too late when he noticed the darting eyes

“That's one” SANTIAGO thought. And then THE OTHER MAN

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

In SANTIAGO JOE you are the writer-director and

SANTIAGO JOE is especially designed to be played

So how does it play? If you read the last two

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

To play SANTIAGO JOE, you have to be with at

All others players are the STARS. They play just

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

Before you can start you

Important is that you can never, never deny what

You have to work on three things together.

– A. You have to name the movie

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

First thing you'll probably want to do is name

So let's make that title then.

The STAR who feels most like it names the MAIN

Lets say our working title is:

Santiago Joe and the Treasures of Oblivion

Now we have a title. Let's hope it's catchy and

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

The WRITER sets off by

And then the player tells how his or her

Then all HEROES must be given their attributes.

– A. What their day job is

Again WRITER and STARS take turns in assigning

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

For example: Mikel plays JACK COOPER, and

Let's have a look at our example adventure-movie-

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

jake goodman as...............Santiago Joe

and also featuring

writer-director rinzl schauerman

And in addition we know, partly from the photo's

SANTIAGO JOE is very good at driving cars, runs a

JACK COOPER is an excellent shot, a dentist who

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands

BOB THE RIPPER is very good at taking blows, is a

MARIAH NEVADA used to be Santiago's girlfriend,

Santiago Joe (cc)2009 Jaap de Goede, Netherlands