Strange Times RPG

STORY PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
 

Strange Times is a mystery horror RPG that sees its players explore the dark corners of their world in search of the terrors hiding in the shadows. Utilizing a flexible d100 system that emphasizes player agency, gameplay is fast, dramatic, and intuitive, naturally increasing in tension and constantly putting characters under threat. The setting can be anything from a neolithic tribe investigating a passageway to the center of the earth, to modern day podcasters that don’t have the best sense of safety. So long as there are dangers lurking in the darkness, Strange Times can accommodate.

Strange Times has been under active development for 2 years and is now written and formatted. This Kickstarter is to fund editting, additional art, and printing cost. 

CORE MECHANICS:

Strange Times uses a D100 Roll Low System. Players have 6 Traits (Strength, Speed, Intellect, Knowledge, Instinct, and Empathy) and 3 Saves (Body, Mind, and Spirit) as their core attributes. Whenever a player wishes to perform an action, the player will attempt to roll under the relevant Trait to succeed. If a player has an applicable Skill to the action, the player can add it to the Trait before the roll. Unlike similar games, Skills are written in by players and thus can cover an infinitely diverse range of character archetypes. When a character needs to react to something, they will attempt to roll under their Save. Skills cannot be added to Save rolls.

UNIQUE MECHANICS:

Saves as a Resource

Each Save has 2 corresponding Traits connected to it. When a player fails a Trait Roll, they can choose to spend some of their Save to succeed instead by paying the difference between what they rolled and what they needed to roll (a mechanic called Pushing). For example, if someone was lying to a police officer about the alien they have in the trunk and failed the Empathy roll by 8, they could lose 8 from their Spirit Save to succeed instead.

Progressive Consequences

Whenever a character fails a Save, they receive a consequence based on the number rolled. The lower the failed roll was, the worse the outcome. Failing with a 100-71 is a Minor Consequence, a 70-41 is a Major Consequence, a 40-11 is a Severe Consequence, and a 10-1 is Fatal. This means that, as Saves get lower, the characters are in greater danger. The worst consequence that can happen to a Character with a 50 Body Save is a Major Consequence at a 20% chance, but as they Push rolls and take damage, they make it more and more likely for a worse outcome to occur.

Flexible Conditions

A common consequence that the GM can use is giving a character a condition. Conditions, at their most simple, are negative Skills that can be used against a player. For example, if a monster was chasing a character and they were making a Speed roll to get away, they might have a -10 “Twist Ankle” Condition affecting them. However, Conditions leave room for a lot of mechanical creativity outside of just being negative modifiers. A Condition can also represent an Infection ticking down until it takes hold, a chemical effect making the character more prone to risked based behavior, or a ghostly procession leeching away their life force.

The book has all the rules needed to play Strange Times including character creation and campaign rules. There will also be a detailed section on running the game, creating mysteries, eliciting horror, and crafting settings. In the back will be 6 episodic mysteries that can be either played as single experiences, or can be strung together into a dynamic, time-hoping campaign.