RPG Books

Two games of survival horror, often without the survival. Desperation is two small roleplaying games, built on the same dark tone and mechanics, that are truly pick-up-and-play experiences for you and your friends. These dark, lyrical games, Dead House and The Isabel, are steeped in actual history and tell the stories of people pushed far past their limits. Desperation asks you to assume an unusual point of view—instead of deciding what people say and do, you decide who says and does the things that must happen. The sense of dread is palpable with each card reveal, because in these games, the things that must happen are a gradually escalating kaleidoscope of unimaginable horror. If you like card-based roleplaying games like The Quiet Year and For the Queen but have a dark and unmerciful heart, you’ll love Desperation.

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Epitaph is an intimate look at the events that shape a person’s life. During play, you’ll explore the timeline of someone who has died (called the Departed) in order to gain gradual insight into their world, their identity, and their history. Their life is a story that starts at the end, then jumps freely backward and forward to their most important moments. As you create their story, you’ll discover who this person was and what made them special. Explore the life of……a devoted grandmother whose dream of owning her own restaurant came true……a bold captain who married her archrival and became the most infamous pirate in the Viridian Isles……a sensitive soldier in the trenches who didn’t make it home alive……an arrogant wizard who strove to unlock ancient secrets and found more than he bargained for……or anyone else you can imagine. No matter who you create, you’ll come to know them as a unique individual whose life was messy, complicated, and beautiful. Epitaph is GMless and requires no prep before play—just grab your friends around a table or via video chat, open the book, and start creating. The game features a variable level of role-playing commitment: on your turn you can describe a moment in time, create and play a scene with others, or give an interactive monologue as one of the characters from the story. The tone of the game is up to the players—it can be anything from lighthearted and goofy to bittersweet and tragic. Epitaph puts you inside the mind of a very ordinary person and leaves you feeling like you knew them.

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In Downfall, you choose a Flaw you want to explore and build a unique and irredeemably broken world around it. You build your setting together, creating a rich physical and cultural landscape to destroy during play. If you enjoy world-building, you’ll love making a society in Downfall. See how Greed destroys a city, how Loyalty corrupts a kingdom, or how Curiosity betrays a galactic empire. You’ll craft traditions that bring your society to life, then wn.You take turns as each character in the game, so everyone is at the center of the fiction. The decisions you make throughout the game lead to a unique and memorable collapse of a civilization.Even though you fail to save your world, the story you tell of its destruction will remain forever.The game works in any kind of setting, from mythical fantasy to the real world to high-flying science fiction. It’s made to tell a whole story in a single 2-4 hour session and doesn’t require preparation, dice, or a GM.

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Follow is designed to be easy to learn and easy to play. For 3-5 players, no GM and no preparation. All the steps are clearly and carefully laid out to make the game accessible to everyone — even if you’ve never seen a role-playing game before. If you have some people and time, you’re ready to play. Created to be a reliable tool in your arsenal, a game you can pull out and play at a moment’s notice. Play characters working together to achieve a common goal: your quest. The quest you pick decides the kind of game you’ll play. You could start a rebellion, cure a disease, slay a dragon (or a cat), or get your candidate elected. If it’s something people can work together to accomplish, it could be a quest.Pick your quest, assemble your fellowship, and then face the challenges that stand in your way. Can our characters stay united and succeed, or will our differences tear us apart? Do you follow the plan….or follow your heart?

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Eden is a tabletop role-playing game about learning what it means to be human. You’ll collaborate to map the Garden, create the talking animals that live there, and role-play scenes as animals and human characters, ultimately weaving a narrative of exploration, self-discovery, and personal growth.All the players work together to create the Garden, drawing cartographical or symbolic versions of each land on a shared map. When you begin play, you’ll choose a species of animal to be your character’s favorite. This animal will be your friend and companion, a ready source of advice and lessons for your character to access whenever they wish. The human character you’ll create will be innocent and naive, knowing very little of the Garden and how to behave in it. Their interactions with other humans are shaped by their lessons, which are drawn from experiences with their favorite animals and each other.

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