[NOTE: this is a work-in-progress, and may change without notice.  Mechanics
 are a variant on my Toolkit (TM) System.  Please contact me at
 dvandom@eyrie.org with any comments or questions.  Last updated: 8/24/99]


                         The Akiko Role-Playing Game
                               copyright 1999
                             by Dave Van Domelen
                  based on properties created by Mark Crilley
                      additional inspiration by Tony Pi

               Recommended for players 10 and older (there's some
                  math and stuff), and for the young at heart.


     What is a roleplaying game?  Well, despite the computer game industry's
appropriation of the term, a roleplaying game involves people getting
together to tell a story.  One of those people, who we'll call the Referee,
is in charge of knowing the rules, keeping things going, and providing the
background for the story.  The Referee will also play the parts of anyone not
being played by the rest of the people, such as a farmer you meet on the road
or the dastardly villain of the story.
     To play, you'll need pencil and paper, plus some six-sided dice.  You
can get by with three of them total, although it's nice if every player has
at least two to keep on hand.

     Each player will need to create a character, or use one that the Referee
has written up.  The main characters from Akiko are included in these rules,
although you can always tell the adventures of some other people in the wild
and wooly world Mark Crilley has created.
     The Referee's job is harder.  He or she will need to come up with a plot
for the story, as well as any people, places and things the players will run
into along the way.  The Referee also has to make judgement calls along the
way, since these rules don't try to cover every little detail...that wouldn't
be fun anyway.  But don't worry!  You don't have to be perfect the first
time, or at all.  As long as you have fun, it's okay to make some mistakes as
you learn your way around.

                              THE RULES
     
     First we'll cover the basics of making a character, the Nature, Traits
and Wounds.  Then you'll learn how characters can do things, plus what skills
you can take for your character.  Finally, some optional rules on how to
improve your character will be presented, and write-ups of Akiko and the
gang. 

NATURE:

     What's your character like?  Try to describe him, her or it in a few
words before going on with the rest of the rules.  The character's Nature
will help decide what kinds of Traits and Skills you'll want.
     For example, Mr. Beeba is a bookish man, somewhat flustered by new
situations and not one to get into a brawl.  So you know he's going to want
lots of thinking skills and no fighting skills, except maybe the ability to
run away from a fight.


TRAITS:

     Traits are things that set the character apart from the run of the
mill.  A totally average person has no Traits, since they're well, average.
Most characters in the Akiko RPG will start with one or two Traits from the
following set.  If they take the same Trait twice, then it's written down as,
for example, Strongx2.  Three times would be Strongx3.  And so on.

     Strong: Pretty much what it says.  Someone with this Trait is pretty
strong, able to hit hard and lift heavy stuff.  Generally good in a fight or
a tough scrape.  While not covered in big muscles, Spuckler is Strong.

     Tough: Hard to hurt, usually harder to hurt than a human being.  Robots
and big aliens often have this Trait.

     Versatile: Not necessarily very good at any one thing, but always seems
to have something up their sleeve.  Gax is a good example of someone who is
Versatile, since he always seems to have something inside him that will help.

     Smart: Lotsa book learning, but not necessarily wisdom.  Mr. Beeba is
definitely Smart, probably Smartx2.

     Spirited: The character has a strong will, a lot of spunk, or even
mystical powers of some sort.  Akiko has Spirit, and Poog has Spiritx3 or
more.  Only characters with Spirit can effectively use Magic, although Smart
characters can learn about it and maybe cast a few spells.

     Fast: Agile, quick, dextrous, you get the picture.  Fast characters
aren't just good runners, they're good at dodging and generally good at
athletic stuff, aside from things that need strength.


WOUNDS:

     This is not a game about fighting, but fighting (and general accidents)
will happen.  Fights never progress past a few cuts and scrapes, however, so
there's no rules for broken bones or (heaven forbid) death.  Serious injuries
should be planned as part of the story, not thrown in randomly by the dice.
     There's two type of wound, Little and Big.  A Little wound hurts, and
usually represents a bruise or a scrape or something.  A Big wound may
involve bleeding, and it usually hurts enough that the person needs help to
get around.  Sprains, pulled muscles...anything that can really get in the
way but doesn't need an immediate trip to the hospital.
     All characters can take 3 Little wounds before running out.  Any other
Little wounds after that are treated as Big wounds, since you can only get
banged up so much before it really hurts.  
     Each character can take 1 Big wound before falling unconscious.  A
second Big wound automatically causes the character to be knocked out, and
require rest and some first aid before they can move again.

     However, certain Traits help a character last a little longer.  The
effects of these add up, so if you're Strong and Tough you get a lot of extra
wounds.  Also, if you have the same Trait more than once, you get the
benefits more than once.

     Strong characters can take an extra 2 Little wounds, plus an extra 1 Big
wound.  
     Tough characters can take an extra 2 Little wounds, an extra 2 Big
wounds, and can stay awake after running out of Big wounds.  They still can't
move, but they can talk.  Hey, they're tough.
     Spirited characters can take an extra 1 Big wound and, like Tough
characters, can still talk after taking all their Big wounds.
     Fast characters can take an extra 1 Little wound on the grounds that
they're a little better at rolling with the punches and scooting around the
brambles.  

     So, for example, Akiko is Fast and Spirited.  She can take 4 Little
wounds before it starts to really hurt, and it takes 2 Big wounds before she
can't go on.  She's plucky.

     Any time someone takes a Big wound, they lose their next action.  Hey,
it hurts, give 'em a chance to get over it!


DOING STUFF:

     Normally, you just tell the Referee what you're doing and it happens.
This is for simple stuff, like walking, talking, packing your toothbrush, and
so forth.  Also, if you can convince the Referee your character can do
something automatically, it happens.  Usually this is how you do stuff with
the Referee's characters...don't roll to see if you can convince the
gatekeeper to let you in, just play the part of your character trying to
convince the gatekeeper.
     However, sometimes your character will be able to do things you can't
(Beeba is smarter than any mere player!), or which you can't play out (sorry,
no spacecraft available for you to fly).  For that, we roll dice to see if it
works out.  Ordinary six sided dice like you'll find in a board game.
     If you have no skill and your Traits don't seem to help, then you roll
one die.  If you have an appropriate skill OR a Trait that helps, you roll
two dice.  If you have both the skill and the Trait, roll three dice.
     You'll always get to roll at least one die, and never get to roll more
than three dice.

     Everything you want to do has a difficulty:

     Easy: You might fail, but even someone with no skill can do this.
     Hard: You better know what you're doing.
     Very Hard: Are you sure you want to try this?
     Impossible: Good luck.  You'll need it.

     Each difficulty has a number to beat:

     Easy - 2
     Hard - 4
     Very Hard - 6
     Impossible - 8

     Yes, 8.  And you're using six-sided dice.  It IS called "Impossible" for
a reason.  

     When you roll your dice, if all your dice are under that number, you
have failed.  If all your dice are ones and it wasn't an Easy task, you fail
spectacularly.  
     If your highest die equals that number, you kinda succeeded.  Maybe you
only fixed the ship well enough to get it to the next planet, or you opened
the door but tripped an alarm.
     If your highest die is over that number, you succeed.  If your highest
die is over that number and another of your dice is a one, you succeed
spectacularly.  So, rolling ones usually means something weird happens, good
or bad.
     If you get more than one six, each additional six adds one to your
roll.  So, getting three sixes would mean your result is 8.

     For example, Akiko is trying to sneak around in a castle.  She doesn't
have a Sneaky skill, but she's Fast, so that probably helps.  The floor is
covered in creaky wooden boards, making it Hard to sneak around.  She rolls
two dice and needs to get at least a 4 on one of them.  She rolls a 1 and a
5, which is an astounding success...she sneaks right by a guard without being
seen!

     Now, Impossible tasks may seem totally impossible, but you can get a
benefit to your dice when you take a Trait or Skill more than once.  Every
extra time you take a Trait or Skill, you can add one to your highest die, or
subtract one from your lowest (this lets you turn a success into a really
good success), and you can decide on this after you roll.

     For instance, Mr. Beeba is Smart x2 and has Books x2 as a skill.  He can
add two to his dice when trying to do the impossible with books.  Finding the
lost chapter of a legendary book would qualify as Impossible, and Beeba
managed to get a mixed success out of that adventure...he found it, but
couldn't keep it.


SKILLS:

     There's no set skill list, although a few common ones will be
suggested.  Basically, the broader the skill the harder it will be do to
specific things with it.  "Piloting" lets you pilot anything, but "Pilot
Hovercycles" means you can probably do a lot more with Hovercycles.
     Beginning characters start with 4 Skills.  If they have a really good
reason to need more, they can try to convince the Referee to let them have
more.  

Fighting skills:  

     Note that the difficulties listed here are also for when unskilled
people try to fight.

     Fight: You've learned how to fight.  It's Hard to hit someone and do a
Little wound, Very Hard to do a Big wound.  If you have a weapon, like a
sword or a club, it becomes Easy to do a Little wound and Hard to do a Big
wound.  
     Example: Spucker's in a bar fight, but doesn't really wanna hurt
anyone.  He picks up a stool and hits a big ugly bruiser over the head with
it, going for a Little Wound.  Because he has a weapon, it's an Easy roll.
Because he's Strong and has Fight, he rolls 3 dice.  I think he hits.

     Dodge: You've learned how to not get hit.  Anyone trying to hit you
loses a die for every time you've taken this skill, but they always get at
least one die.
     Example: The big bruiser's surprisingly quick, and has Dodge x2.
Spuckler actually only gets to roll one die to hit.  Probably still hits,
though. 

     Shoot/Throw: Hitting someone far away.  You need something to shoot or
throw.  It's Hard to do a Little wound, Very Hard to do a Big wound.
     Example: The bruiser picks up his own stool and throws it at Spuckler.
He's angry, so he goes for a Big Wound.  He's Strong but doesn't have
Shoot/Throw, so he rolls two dice.

     Grab: Good for capturing people or keeping them from hitting you.  Pick
a difficulty level when you Grab someone, they have to roll against one level
higher to get out.  If you don't have the Grab skill, they only need to roll
the same difficulty to get out.  Grabbed people can't do anything that might
involve moving, duh.
     Example: The bruiser missed with the stool, so he decides to throw
Spuckler instead.  He is Strong and has Grab, so he gets to roll three dice
when grabbing.  He decides to grab Spuckler at Very Hard level, and
succeeds.  Spuckler is now up in the air.

     Run Away: Well, not actually a fighting skill, but really useful in a
fight.  Pick a difficulty.  If you succeed, then anyone who wants to chase
you has to roll against one higher difficulty to catch up to you.  If you
don't have the Run Away skill, they only need to roll the same difficulty to
catch you.
     Example: Spuckler has now been thrown through the window, which the
Referee decides is a Little wound.  Spuckler wants no more of this particular
fight, and high-tails it out of there.  Since he's pretty sure no one
specific is chasing him, he just goes for an Easy Roll.  Anyone who wants to
chase him will need an Easy roll to catch up, since Spuckler doesn't have the
Run Away skill...he usually wins these fights, after all.

Non-Fighting Skills:

     Art: The ability to create beauty.  This covers not just painting and
sculpture, but also poetry, singing, dancing and so forth.  Spirited people
tend to have a natural affinity for Art.
     Example: Snodwoggle the Troll won't let anyone over his bridge without
an original poem.  Akiko doesn't have the Art skill, but she's Spirited,
which helps.  She gets two dice in her attempt to compose a poem for
Snodwoggle.  She rolls a 6 and a 3, getting a poem that may not be
technically great, but it has heart.  Snodwoggle lets her pass.

     Books: An all-purpose academic skill, the ability to find things in
books, or to find the book you need.  This also covers knowing all sorts of
languages.  Most people speak English, but most of the really interesting old
books always seem to be written in other languages.  Smart people often have
this skill.
     Example: Mr. Beeba isn't very confident in his ability to make up a new
poem for Snodwoggle, but he's pretty sure he can remember one obscure enough
that the troll hasn't heard of it.  He uses his Books skill and Smarts Trait
to remember the Ode on a Grecian Urn, by that great Smoovian poet
Throckmorton.  He gets three dice to remember the exact words, and because he
has Books x2 and Smart x2, he can modify his dice rolls by 2.  He gets a 5, 4
and 2.  He decides to add one to the 5 and subtract one from the 2, so he
gets a spectacular success.  He doesn't miss a beat.

     Fixing People: From simple first aid to major surgery or magical
healing.  The more injured the person, the harder the roll.  Usually this
will just speed up healing, but magical cures can be instantaneous.
     Example: Snodwoggle not only had heard Ode on a Grecian Urn, he knew the
real Terran author (Snodwoggle has Poetry x2, see specialization below).  He
dumps Mr. Beeba in the river, causing a Little Wound.  Spuckler pulls a few
long blades of river grass and uses them to bandage the cuts Mr. Beeba
suffered.  He has no particular skill, so he only gets one die to try and fix
things up.  He could use his Luck (see below), but doesn't feel like it.
It's just a scratch, after all.

     Fixing Stuff: A lot of this will be up to the Referee.  Fixing something
familiar is usually easier than fixing something new.  For instance, Spuckler
can fix most of Gax's problems on an Easy roll, but might have a Very Hard
time fixing another robot.  Versatile people tend to take this skill.
     Example: Gax lost a wheel helping pull Mr. Beeba out of the river.  This
is an Easy repair most of the time, but for Spuckler it doesn't even require
a roll, since he's done it so many times before.

     Luck: Not really a skill as much as a talent.  Luck gives you an extra
die you can add to any roll.  However, if you fail on that roll, you can't
use your Luck again until the next game, since your luck as run out.  Taking
Luck more than once does not give a plus to the dice rolls.  Instead, it
increases the number of times you can fail before your luck runs out.  In
other words, if you have Luckx3, then you need to fail three times while
using your extra Luck die before your luck runs out.  Keep in mind that you
can't ever get more than three dice, so there's no reason to add in your Luck
when you have a Trait and a Skill that help already.
     Example: In the dark woods on the other side of the river, Akiko gets
separated from the others while running from an Ursasaurus.  Now she's good
and lost.  She decides to pick a direction and start walking, hoping she hits
a trail or finds her friends.  She gets to add a die for Luck, for a total of
two dice.  Unfortunately, she fails, and now her luck has really run out...
the Ursasaurus is coming back her way!

     Magic: Magic in Akiko's world is very personal and rarely takes the form
of specific spells, although there are certain powerful words one can learn
to say.  You don't need this skill to say powerful words, but you do need
this skill to know what those words will do.  The uses and effects of magic
will be very much up to the Referee, and will almost never be trivial.
Tooglians all have this skill, often multiple times.  As a result, Tooglians
should rarely be allowed as player characters.  Characters who are not
Spirited are generally incapable of performing Magic, but Smart characters
might learn a few powerful words.
     Example: The others have been looking for Akiko for several minutes,
without success.  Then they hear the Ursasaurus in the distance, chasing
something.  Poog suspects it may be Akiko.  He uses a quiet magic to figure
out which way she is.  He gets three dice, since he's also Spirited, and can
add up to four to his highest die, since he's so good at magic.  A quick word
to Beeba, and the heroes are on their way!

     Piloting: Easy to operate any vehicle.  Riding animals count as vehicles
for purposes of this skill.  Very Hard to do anything tricky, like evade
pursuit or jump a ravine.  Fast characters make good pilots.
     Example: Spuckler decides running is too slow, and jumps on a
Runaroundus he spots in a clearing.  It's not broken for riding, so it's Hard
to get it going in the right direction.  He normally gets two dice here,
plus one because he has Piloting x2.  However, he decides to push his Luck,
and goes up to three dice.  Tally Ho!

     Talking: No, not just being able to speak.  This covers anything where
you have to argue a point or inspire someone or generally get a result out of
talking.  Only take this skill if your character is much more eloquent than
you are, of course.  Smart and Spirited characters do well at Talking, but in
different ways.
     Example: The Ursasaurus has Akiko cornered against a cliff, and roars
loudly.  Having nothing to lose, Akiko tries to scold it into going away.
This is definitely a Spirited use of Talking, so Akiko gets all three dice.
However, the Ursasaurus is very big and knows it, so it's a Very Hard roll.
Akiko manages to roll one six, so she gets it to pause in confusion, although
it doesn't run away.  If she'd rolled two sixes, that would have been a total
of seven, and it would have run away crying.

     Tracking: Knowing your way around the area, plus being able to follow
someone.  Easy to keep from getting lost in a familiar area, Hard to get
somewhere you don't know by road, Very Hard to find a place in the wilderness
or track someone who's not deliberately leaving signs for you to follow.
     Example: Spuckler's riding along as fast as he can to get to Akiko, and
he has the Tracking skill, plus he knows the right general direction.  But
he's going awfully fast, so the Referee decides he needs to make a Hard roll
in order to get to Akiko without wasting time.  He adds his Luck to his
Tracking, and gets three dice to roll.  Rolling a 5, 3 and 1, he gets a
spectacular success and arrives just in time to see Akiko telling the
Ursasaurus what for!  Confused and seeing the arrival of a determined-looking
Spuckler, the Ursasaurus runs away.


     It's possible to take a more specific skill if you want, which generally
means you're better at one thing, but not any good outside that area.
Examples would include only being able to pilot Earth cars, or only being
good with languages.  Everything's a degree easier, but your skill won't add
its die outside the specific area.
     For instance, Kell isn't exactly what you'd call a book-hound, but he
does have some skill with other languages.  So he'd take a skill in languages
to represent how he's learned a lot of tongues in his travels.  He's still
lost in a library, but he can talk to people and be understood.  His
Languages skill would serve him better in knowing how to say things than a
Books skill would.

     Sometimes a specialty could be part of more than one skill.  Since this
can make a difference in how you use the skill, write down what bigger skill
it's a part of.
     For example, Snodwoggle the troll is an expert in poetry, so he has
Poetry x2.  Because he can't make his own poems (the reason he asks travelers
for their own), this is a specialty on Books, not on Art.  The Referee would
write down "Poetry (Books) x2" on Snodwoggle's character sheet.

     One thing to keep in mind is that Skills represent fairly major
abilities, or big groups of abilities.  If you want to be able to make
origami flowers or ride a bike, you don't need to spend a Skill on just
that.  If you want to be a master of origami, or be able to ride a dirtbike
over any sort of ground, that might be a Skill, though.


GETTING BETTER:

     Characters in the Akiko RPG are already pretty exceptional to start
with, so they're not likely to get a whole lot better very quickly.  Traits
will generally not change or improve unless something REALLY important and
powerful happens.  Skills, however, can improve a little, and characters can
learn the occasional new skill.

     If a character wants to learn a new skill, it has to be one that seems
to fit his or her (or its) Nature.  The bookish Mr. Beeba is probably not
going to pick up the Fight skill, no matter how much his player wants to be
able to join in on the occasional dustup.  Nor is a kid like Akiko going to
be learning how to repair starships.
     Assuming the skill is one the character might want to learn and be able
to learn, they need to be in a position to learn it.  You don't learn Books
skill while out in the middle of the forest alone, and you don't learn
Tracking while in a library with Mr. Beeba.  You simply may not be able to
find a teacher willing to help you learn.
     If you can find a way to learn it, and your character would be able to
learn it, then the Referee should figure out how long it'll take for you to
pick up the skill.  It might be something that can be done between
adventures, or even during one.  But the Referee should keep players from
asking for too many skills too quickly.  You can only learn so fast, after
all.

     If you want to improve an existing skill, there's no need to worry about
whether the character should have the skill.  The character may be able to
learn it without a teacher, but that usually only works for the more physical
skills, like fighting or piloting or tracking.  And the better you already
are, the harder it should be to learn more, and the longer it should take.
For instance, for Mr. Beeba to get better at Books than he already is would
take years of study under the greatest masters in the galaxy.
     A good rule of thumb is that having a skill once makes you pretty good
at it, having it twice makes you a master of that ability, and more than that
means you're one of the top users of that skill in the world.  Mind you, with
some skills (like Bropka-herding), it doesn't take much to be the best of the
best.

     All in all, this isn't really a game about becoming more powerful or
more skilled.  It's a game about having adventures and having fun.


AKIKO AND THE GANG:

Name: Akiko
Nature: A 4th-grader.  Brave, smart, full of heart.
Traits: Spirited, Fast
Wounds: 4 Little, 2 Big
Skills: Books, Run Away, Talking, Luck

     Her Books skill represents how she's in school and still not too bad at
looking things up, plus she knows a few languages.  Her use of Talking is
generally not in the form of rational debate, but rather impassioned speeches
and common sense.

Name: Spuckler Boach
Nature: Lovable rogue, but of questionable taste and grooming.
Traits: Strong, Versatile
Wounds: 5 Little, 2 Big
Skills: Piloting x2, Fight, Fixing Stuff, Tracking, Luck x2

     Spuckler's been around the block a few dozen times, so he has more
skills than your average character.  Of course, he gets into trouble so
often, he needs the edge!

Name: Gax
Nature: Humble and loyal robot companion, a bit dented.
Traits: Tough, Versatile
Wounds: 5 Little, 3 Big
Skills: Fixing Stuff, Shoot/Throw, Robot Stuff, Luck

     Gax's Versatility is represented by all the gadgets he carries around
inside himself.  A few of these can be used as makeshift weapons, which he
shoots or throws.  "Robot Stuff" is a specialized version of the Books skill,
which only applies to robotic languages and knowledge.  And anyone who hangs
around Spuckler needs Luck.

Name: Mr. Beeba
Nature: Bookish, easily perturbed by the unexpected, not a fighter, but 
     not really a quitter either.
Traits: Smart x2
Wounds: 3 Little, 1 Big
Skills: Books x2, Map-Reading, Run Away

     Map-Reading is a specialized version of Tracking.  Provided he has the
right maps, Mr. Beeba can get you from point A to point B quite nicely.  Even
if the maps make no sense to anyone else and are written in an ancient
language in mirror image.

Name: Poog of Toog
Nature: Enigmatic and benevolent alien.
Traits: Tough, Spirited x3
Wounds: 5 Little, 6 Big
Skills: Magic x3, Flying, Art (mainly singing), Fixing People x2

     Poog has lots and lots of magic power, but is limited by his own code,
which no one quite knows the logic behind.  Poog is not meant to be a player
character, but rather someone the Referee controls.  Flying isn't a learnable
skill, but represents his facility at his chosen method of travel.  His
curative abilities are magic and work very quickly, but he rarely chooses to
employ them.  In fact, the player characters may not even know he has this
ability.  


                            REFEREE'S SECTION

     Okay, in these rules a lot of burden is being placed on the Referee, who
will hopefully be someone who's at least played a roleplaying game before and
knows how things work.  This is just a minigame, and doesn't have room for a
lot of tips and hints.  Still, here's some things to help a new Referee on
the way.

ADVENTURES:

     Akiko lives in a world of adventure and fantasy, so most stories will
follow certain common themes.  There will be some kind of goal, some
traveling to do to reach the goal, incidental troubles along the way, and
some major problem to resolve at the end.  Sometimes there will be more than
one major problem, as in the case of Bornstone's Elixir.
     Goals should be fairly clear and important.  Rescue someone, find an
important object, discover a lost land, that sort of thing.  While there may
be a false success as one of the travails, it should be pretty clear when the
goal is actually attained.
     Traveling always seems to go through some rather odd countryside or even
weird worlds.  Let your imagination run wild on this.  It helps to jot down
location ideas on a pad of paper when you're in class or at work or whatever,
so you always have some to draw on.  You may need a few "spare" places to
throw in, since players sometimes find a route you didn't lay down, and you
need something at the end of that route.
     Incidental troubles can be big or small, but all should be surmountable
within one session of play (feel free to introduce the trouble right at the
end of the night, to be solved next time).  Usually these have nothing to do
with the main goal, but in a truly epic game the main villain will probably
know about the characters and be sending out the occasional agents.  Most of
these troubles should be solvable without fighting.  A good way to plan out
your incidental troubles is to look at a list of the strong points your
player characters have.  Give each one a chance to save the day.  The
diplomat can convince the queen to let them pass, the daredevil can distract
the giant monster long enough for everyone to get away, the academic can find
the way out of a giant maze by reading the wall inscriptions...and so forth.
     The major problem at the end may be a villain of some sort, or just
someone who needs to be convinced of the rightness of their cause.  It may
also be an unthinking environmental hazard to be overcome, or a deadline.
However, it should require everyone working together to beat.  It may make
for a good story in the comics when things come down to just Akiko, but in a
roleplaying game you need to make sure everyone has fun.

CHARACTERS:

     As Referee, you'll have to play a lot of different characters that the
players run into.  Try to make them sound and act differently, within your
acting ability.  When the little girl lost in the woods sounds and acts just
like the big bruiser in the bar, it's hard for players to get into things.
If you have an extra player who doesn't have a character yet, or whose
character is wounded and being carried along, recruit him or her to play some
of your extra people.
     You don't need to make full character writeups for everyone you play,
but have some idea of their abilities in case it becomes relevant.  If they
get into a fight, does the Bruiser have any actual fighting skills, or does
he just get by on being Strong?  Does the strange little man in the forest
know magic, or just act like it?  That sort of thing.

PLAYERS:

     Okay, players don't always get along.  Sometimes there can be more
conflict among the players than between the player characters and your bad
guys.  Sometimes this is caused when one character ends up hogging the
spotlight too much, so be careful to spread the attention around.  Other
times the players bring outside problems into the game, and there's not a
whole lot you can do to stop that, but try to keep everyone calm and focus on
having fun.  Being the Referee can mean breaking up fights, but it also means
knowing when canceling the game is the best thing to do.  Go do something
else together until your players cool down.
     It's also a good idea to make sure all the players know what they're in
for before starting to play.  If everyone in your group is a big fan of
Akiko, you're probably okay.  But in a mixed group, you may have players who
are more interested in fighting and power and stuff like that.  These players
tend not to have fun in a game like the Akiko RPG, and they make it less fun
for everyone else.  You might want to have them run non-player characters if
they still want to stick around...with less personal investment in the
character, the player's power-hungry tendencies might not be so bad.  And
maybe he'll clue into what's going on in the process.
     Finally, personality conflicts aside, there's a good chance your group
will have one or more players who can't make it to every game.  Try to work
around this if it happens.  Make room for characters to enter or leave the
story if needed, or just go for short stories that only take one night to
play. 

PACING:

     Finally, a word on story length.  While it was fine for the comic to
start off right into the 18-part Alia Rellapor arc, you'll probably want to
start the game with a few one-session stories, maybe a few shorter arcs.
This way, you get a better feel for the game and for the players before
launching into an epic which they otherwise might derail on day one.  Once
everyone's comfortable with each other, you'll know the kind of giant epic
that's likely to work, presuming they'll work at all with your group.