Category: Free TTRPG

  • Secrets in the Static: The Ghost Town of Wavelength

    Secrets in the Static: The Ghost Town of Wavelength

    This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Free Games

    Crowdfunding a full release now! Come support the surreal horror.

    A TTRPG idea inspired by Lynchian horror, embodying surreal suburban dread and the unsettling blend of media and reality. Pulled from my playtesting slush pile in memory of David Lynch. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 license. Credit “Rev from Thought Punks”. This was a beta playtest module. The formatting and presentation style reflects that. This also stands out as an example of minimalist worldbuilding.

    Core Concept

    Abandoned vintage TV on a park bench surrounded by greenery, with artistic lens flare effect.

    The town of Wavelength exists in a strange limbo, an idyllic Upstate New York town that vanished from official records and maps in the early 1990s. Its existence has become a half-remembered myth, whispered about on long road trips and crackling through static on AM radio. Some claim to pick up ghostly broadcasts near where Wavelength supposedly stood, hearing fragments of soap operas, weather reports, or personal messages from those who lived there.

    For those inside Wavelength, the town remains suspended in eerie perfection, a postcard-perfect snapshot of 90s small-town life. Quaint diners, artisanal crafts, and warm neighbors project an air of nostalgia… but the town has secrets.

    Recently, televisions and radios have been infected with an omnipresent, enigmatic signal. Cryptic ads interrupt every broadcast, whispering impossible truths and surreal commands. Music swells out of nowhere, quelling any thoughts of leaving the town. Cryptic commercials, haunting soap operas, and surreal PSAs suggest the Static’s growing control. Some residents are even rumored to have vanished, replaced by eerie replicas speaking only in disjointed TV dialogue.

    Players, each tied to the signal in a deeply personal way, must navigate Wavelength’s shifting reality, uncovering its secrets while holding onto their crumbling identities.

    Player Hook

    Each character has a personal connection to the signal, making their investigation deeply intimate. These connections could include:

    • Hearing a lost loved one’s voice in a garbled ad, pleading for help.
    • Seeing impossible depictions of their own future in soap opera snippets.
    • Receiving unsettling, tailored messages through radio jingles.

    The signal lures players in, offering tantalizing truths and supernatural powers. But the closer they get, the more it rewrites their memories, relationships, and even their physical forms.

    Key Themes

    • Identity Erosion: The signal corrupts characters’ self-perception and memories, forcing them to question who they are.
    • Surreal Suburban Dread: Wavelength’s small-town charm contrasts with growing paranoia and uncanny horrors.
    • Media and Reality Bleed: Broadcasts shape reality, and characters must interact with these phenomena to uncover the truth.
    • Ambiguous Agency: Is the signal sentient? Malicious? Or just a reflection of their deepest flaws?

    Gameplay Framework

    Core Mechanic: The 3d6 Roll

    Three red transparent dice stacked on a dark surface, highlighting their reflective surfaces and dots.

    Every action involves rolling 3d6, with each die serving a specific purpose (called “flavors” or dice labels):

    • Degree Die: Measures success (1 = partial success, 6 = overwhelming success).
    • Cost Die: Determines complications or costs (1 = severe, 6 = none).
    • Static Die: Reflects distortion by the signal (1 = surreal, 6 = mundane).

    Modifiers are added based on traits like Nature, Profession, Hobbies, and Quirks. After rolling, apply modifiers and interpret the results based on the fiction.

    Character Creation

    • Hook: What draws you to the Static? What do you see or hear in it?
    • Nature: The core of who you are. Examples: “Survivor,” “Protector,” or “Dreamer.”
      • When in alignment: Add +2 to die of choice after rolling.
      • When in conflict: Add +3 to the Cost Die.
    • Profession: Your role in Wavelength (e.g., librarian, mechanic, bartender).
      • When relevant: After rolling, rearrange the dice in any order.
    • Hobbies (pick 3): Passions or skills unrelated to your profession.
      • When relevant: Add +1 to any one die after rolling.
    • Quirks (pick 2): Unusual traits, some mundane, some supernatural.
      • At the start of a scene, roll 2d6, assigning one die to each Quirk. On a 6, that Quirk activates (examples: eerie theme music plays, your body distorts to walk on all fours, or you compulsively spout jingles).
    • Background Details (write 3): Relationships, memories, or personal details grounding your character.

    Mechanics of the Static

    Static Exposure

    When exposed to the signal, the GM determines the intensity of the interaction:

    • Minor Exposure: Roll 1d6.
    • Moderate Exposure: Roll 2d6.
    • Major Exposure: Roll 3d6.

    Gain 1 Static Point for every die that rolls 4 or higher.

    • Minor: Listening to a cryptic ad on the radio or stopping briefly to watch a flickering TV broadcasting surreal images.
    • Moderate: Watching a full broadcast that seems to address your concerns personally or deeply analyzing a broadcast for meaning or clues.
    • Major: Being the focus of the signal’s direct attention, such as being spoken to directly by an anchor on a TV or being caught in a scene that is completed distorted into TV reality by the Static.

    Powers from the Static

    A man in eyeglasses and suit surrounded by floating books in a dramatic, dimly lit setting.

    Characters with Static Points gain access to the hidden signs in the signal. These powers come in minor and major categories, reflecting their risk and scope.

    Minor Powers (2 Dice)

    Minor powers unlock at 3 Static Points. These are small, reality-bending effects that grant brief advantages. Roll 2d6 when using a minor power. Gain 1 Static Point for every die that rolls 4 or higher.

    Examples of Minor Powers:

    • Alter a Small Detail: Change a single object or memory in the immediate area (e.g., a flickering light turns solid red, a door briefly becomes a wall, or someone remembers an argument as a cordial conversation).
    • Daring Insight: By bravely facing the signal with full attention for a second, you can glimpse unnoticed clues, hidden areas, torrid affairs, and other secrets in a location.
    • Eerie Influence: Convince someone to act out of character using subtle, surreal persuasion.

    Major Powers (4 Dice)

    Major powers unlock at 6 Static points. These allow significant manipulations of reality at a cost. Roll 4d6 when using a major power. Gain 1 Static Point for every die that rolls 4 or higher.

    Examples of Major Powers:

    • Rewrite Reality: Change a large element in the environment, like turning a road into a river, erasing or introducing an NPC into a scene, or completely change the dynamic of a family feud.
    • Erase or Implant Memories: Target one person, radically altering their memory of an event or relationship.
    • Surreal Projection: Create a temporary illusion or construct that others perceive as real.

    At 9 Static Points, only roll 1d6 for minor powers and 2d6 for major powers. Also ignore minor exposures and roll one less die for moderate and major exposures. The Static has begun to embrace you and it flows easily, too easily, through you. It constantly whispers in your mind, even far away from any screens or speakers, a portion of the signal finding its way directly to increasingly distorted soul.

    Spending Static Points

    Players can spend Static Points only during interludes between scenes to deliberately rewrite aspects of their character. This process represents an attempt to resist, or embrace, the signal’s influence, but it comes with risks.

    • Determine Spending Limit: Roll 1d6. The result is the maximum number of Static Points you can spend during this interlude.
    • Choose Rewrites: Spend points based on the following costs:
      • 1 Point: Change one Hobby or Quirk.
      • 2 Points: Change your Profession or a Background Detail.
      • Nature: Cannot be changed unless the character hits the Static Limit and is fully rewritten.

    Roll a d6 for each thing chosen to be changed. On 1-3, change it to reflect growing closer to the Static. On 4-6, change it to reflect your personal will or what you think more truly reflects who you were before the Static trapped and rewrote the town. For signal-influenced changes, they are also accompanied by physical changes, initially simple things like hairstyles and clothing choices but eventually escalating into radical differences, almost becoming a different person.

    Static Limit

    If you reach 13 Static Points, you must rewrite your entire character, even your Nature and complete appearance. Everything but one background detail, a tenuous tie to the previous you, is altered. When rewriting your character, change things to what you think the Static wants or what is further away from your true self.

    Assorted Advice

    Spending Static Points

    Treat spending as a chance for characters to direct their transformation. Frame it as a double-edged sword: while they can resist, they can never truly escape the signal’s grip. There is a random chance whether the transformations follow their will or lean into the mysterious goals of the Static. Use rewrites to develop surreal or thematic elements that deepen the story.

    Using Powers

    Encourage players to experiment with powers early, reinforcing the temptation to draw on the signal. As powers escalate, introduce moral and narrative consequences. For example, a small illusion might merely confuse a bystander, but a major reality shift could incidentally rewrite someone else’s identity entirely.

    Exposure Rolls

    Use exposure rolls to emphasize the dangers of interacting with the signal. Minor exposure should feel subtle and unnerving, while major exposure should be dramatic and unrelenting.

    Dynamic Worldbuilding

    The town of Wavelength evolves alongside the characters’ investigations. GMs should introduce surreal events tied to the signal’s influence, such as:

    • The Laugh Track Incident: Characters hear sitcom laugh tracks during conversations, even in empty spaces.
    • The Soap Opera Shift: Players reenact scenes from the signal’s broadcasts, with scripted lines and actions.
    • The Product That Doesn’t Exist: A commercial compels a resident to build or sell a nonsensical item.
    • The Uncanny Broadcast: A news anchor appears on every screen, reading out the characters’ secrets.
    • The Repetition Effect: Players relive the same scene repeatedly, each iteration growing more distorted.

    Collaboration and Mystery

    Encourage players to work together to piece together clues, but introduce conflicting memories and perspectives to create tension. The truth should remain ambiguous, with players shaping its interpretation through their actions.

    Gameplay Toolkit

    This is a toolkit to help you craft a surreal, Lynchian experience in Wavelength. It includes templates for the town’s evolution, pacing advice, key events, escalating exposure scenes, and sample NPCs. Use this to guide the play through the town’s eerie descent into the unknown.

    Templates for Wavelength’s Evolution

    Wavelength begins as a nostalgic, picturesque town, but as the Static’s influence grows, it fractures into a surreal nightmare. Use the following phases to structure its progression.

    Phase 1: Postcard Perfection

    • Tone: Idyllic and welcoming with subtle undercurrents of unease.
    • Environment: Pristine sidewalks, smiling neighbors, cheerful radio hosts.
    • Signal Presence: Minor and eerie, like brief ads with strange phrasing, static interruptions.
    • NPC Behavior: Friendly but slightly off, as if reading from a script.

    Event Examples:

    • A TV plays an old soap opera where one character eerily resembles a player.
    • A commercial for a product the players owned as children plays on every screen in a diner.
    • An NPC starts speaking only in television and radio quotes.

    Phase 2: Fractured Reality

    • Tone: The charm cracks; paranoia grows.
    • Environment: Familiar locations subtly shift, streets curve impossibly, clocks show contradictory times.
    • Signal Presence: More pervasive, NPCs speak in advertising jingles or reenact full scenes from TV.
    • NPC Behavior: Neighbors act erratically, forgetting recent events or treating strangers as family.

    Event Examples:

    • A pedestrian repeatedly crosses the same intersection in different outfits.
    • A weather report describes exact player actions happening as it airs.
    • Reality’s color become over-saturated and everyone is dressed like a 50s sitcom.

    Phase 3: Full Static Takeover

    • Tone: The town becomes a surreal, shifting maze.
    • Environment: Familiar landmarks melt into distorted landscapes, streets loop infinitely, diners stretch into hallways.
    • Signal Presence: Ubiquitous, broadcasts directly interact with players and reshape reality.
    • NPC Behavior: Most NPCs behave like TV archetypes, repeating lines or freezing when not “on screen.”

    Event Examples:

    • A sitcom laugh track loudly plays during a tense argument.
    • An anchorperson on every screen reveals players’ private thoughts.
    • The “channel changes” and the scene abrupt shifts completely in location, action, and tone.

    Pacing Advice

    • Establish Normalcy: Spend time grounding players in Wavelength’s initial perfection. Let them connect with NPCs and locations to make later distortions more impactful.
    • Introduce the Signal Gradually: Begin with brief, eerie phenomena before escalating into more overt reality distortions.
    • Create Interludes: Allow quiet moments between scenes for players to process changes, strategize, and rewrite their characters if desired.
    • Escalate Tension Slowly: Build unease steadily, reserving major distortions for climactic scenes or critical narrative beats.

    Key Events

    Intersperse events like these throughout the campaign to maintain momentum:

    • The First Broadcast: A character hears their name in a commercial or sees an unsettling reflection on TV.
    • The Looping Scene: A day or interaction repeats with small, chilling changes each time.
    • The Uncanny Anchor: A news anchor delivers a message addressed directly to the players, predicting their actions.
    • NPC Vanishing: A well-known NPC disappears, replaced by a scripted replica or a memory gap no one else notices.
    • The Static Ritual: TVs across Wavelength broadcast a synchronized, incomprehensible ceremony.

    Escalating Exposure Scenes

    Use these examples to reflect the growing influence of the Static and its effects on characters.

    Minor Exposure

    • Hearing one’s own voice on the radio, finishing sentences the player hasn’t said yet.
    • A flickering TV shows a childhood memory in grainy black-and-white.
    • Static floods a nearby screen when a player approaches.

    Moderate Exposure

    • A commercial plays, tailored to a player’s fear or desire, offering cryptic advice.
    • A player’s reflection on a blank TV begins mimicking their inner thoughts.
    • An NPC freezes mid-sentence, then resumes, as if nothing happened.

    Major Exposure

    • The signal addresses a player directly, calling them by name or revealing secrets.
    • Time loops, forcing players to repeat actions while the environment changes around them.
    • The characters find themselves in a TV show set, complete with laugh tracks and canned applause.

    Sample NPCs

    Populate Wavelength with eerie, Lynchian characters who evolve alongside the town. Examples:

    Donna Whitfield, the Diner Waitress

    Donna is cheerful, chatty, and knows everyone’s name and favorite dish, even visitors who’ve just arrived in Wavelength. She seems to embody small-town hospitality, always smiling and ready with a pot of coffee. As the signal spreads, her behavior grows increasingly unsettling: she begins repeating phrases verbatim from old sitcoms, her expressions freezing into unnatural, static smiles. When players interact with her late at night, she might serve invisible (but real) food or speak in voices that clearly aren’t hers, like a television switching channels mid-sentence.

    Mr. Stanton, the Radio Host

    With his warm, folksy voice, Mr. Stanton is a constant presence in Wavelength. His AM radio show is equal parts town gossip, classic hits, and quirky commentary, making him beloved by locals. However, as the signal intensifies, his broadcasts take a darker turn. He begins sharing cryptic messages that seem meant specifically for the players, warning them of dangers, revealing their secrets, or hinting at the signal’s origin. Occasionally, his voice is overlaid with static, or the broadcast cuts to chilling advertisements for products that don’t exist. By the time the players uncover more about him, they may realize that no one has ever actually seen Mr. Stanton in person.

    Hank and Betty Rosewood, the Retirees

    The Rosewoods are Wavelength’s quintessential elderly couple: inseparable, amiable, and endlessly curious about others’ lives. They love hosting impromptu garden parties and sharing stories of their travels (despite never leaving town). As the signal grows, the couple becomes increasingly surreal, sometimes speaking in perfect unison or finishing each other’s sentences with eerie precision. Eventually, the players may discover them standing in their living room, completely motionless, as if frozen mid-conversation. Later still, they might encounter them as life-sized mannequins, their features disturbingly lifelike. If “activated” by the signal, they resume speaking, but their dialogue loops unnervingly, repeating old conversations.

    Mrs. Lindley, the School Librarian

    Strict but kind-hearted, Mrs. Lindley always seems to be shelving books when the players enter. As the Static grows, the books in her library start whispering secrets, and she begins to speak in riddles, referencing events that haven’t yet occurred, or that never will. Eventually, she seems to vanish, leaving the library eerily empty, yet somehow always open. However, anyone making too much noise or disrespecting the space will be hushed by a disembodied voice, or worse.

    Caleb Fischer, the Town Drifter

    A quiet man with a perpetual cigarette and a knack for appearing wherever he’s least expected. Caleb knows things he shouldn’t and shares cryptic warnings that feel more like prophecies. As the signal intensifies, Caleb begins to glitch, flickering like an old TV image or speaking in overlapping voices. Eventually he begins to randomly appear and disappear in places, a full staticky flickering image of a man who increasingly ceases to resemble the original Caleb.

    Kelly-Ann Fletcher, the Realtor

    Bright and relentlessly optimistic, Kelly-Ann insists Wavelength is the perfect place to live. She tirelessly promotes homes, even those now clearly abandoned or inexplicably distorted. Over time, her “For Sale” signs start appearing in impossible places (inside locked rooms, floating in midair), and her smile grows unsettlingly wide, as if stretched beyond human capability. She begins to promise “brand new homes” available in “The Hidden Vistas”, with home viewers vanishing with Ms. Fletcher promising with 100 voices of a choir they’re “forever happy in their forever home”.

    Clarifying Endgame Options

    The endgame of Wavelength is deliberately ambiguous, allowing the GM and players to shape the resolution collaboratively. Here are four possible outcomes, each with variations, to inspire meaningful choices while maintaining the surreal tone.

    Escaping Wavelength

    The players discover a way to leave the town, severing their connection to the signal. However, escape comes with heavy consequences:

    • Memory Price: To leave, the players must give up key aspects of their identities, such as memories of loved ones, their professions, or even their Natures. They will need to abandon all their loved ones and any chance of recovering their true self.
    • Reality Divergence: Upon escaping, players realize the world outside Wavelength is subtly wrong: unrecognizable landmarks, altered history, or loved ones who claim the players never existed.
    • Lingering Static: The signal has permanently marked them, manifesting in small, surreal glitches in their lives. They might see brief flashes of Wavelength on their TVs or hear its broadcasts late at night.

    Confronting the Signal

    The players pursue the source of the signal, uncovering its true nature. This ending offers closure, or deeper mystery. Possible natures of the broadcast to discover and confront:

    • Government Experiment: A covert project designed to manipulate reality via media went out of control.
    • Sentient Broadcast: The signal is alive, seeking to reshape the world in its image.
    • Forbidden Family Ritual: The signal stems from an ancient, familial pact to preserve Wavelength at the cost of its residents’ humanity.
    • The Incomprehensible: The signal is a manifestation of reality’s underlying fragility or some unknowable Thing From Beyond, offering no clear answers.

    The Choice:

    • Shut It Down: Attempt to destroy the signal, but at the cost of their own existence or trapping others in the process.
    • Fuse With It: Embrace the signal, merging with it to become its new stewards, spreading its influence further.
    • Compromise: Negotiate with the signal to stabilize Wavelength, but allow its continued existence at the edges of reality.

    Embracing Transformation

    The players give in to the signal, allowing it to fully rewrite them and their environment.

    • Sublime Union: The characters become one with the signal, losing their original identities but gaining a surreal, godlike understanding of reality.
    • Wavelength Rewritten: The town stabilizes under the signal’s control, transformed into a surreal utopia or dystopia.
    • Sacrifice for Others: The players stay behind, fully consumed by the signal, but in doing so, they protect the rest of the world from its spread.

    Bodhisattva Vow

    The players discover their true original identities and a way to escape Wavelength, but instead, they choose to remain in the town to awaken and free others from the Static’s grip. This choice comes with significant consequences:

    • Self-Sacrifice: The players give up their chance to escape, staying behind to help those trapped by the signal. Their own identities and memories begin to erode further as they fight to free others, risking becoming part of the Static forever.
    • Transformative Struggle: As they try to awaken others, they face increasing distortions to their reality and personal selves, potentially losing their original essence in the process.
    • Lingering Hope: Despite the risks, their actions might lead to moments of clarity or breakthroughs, where some residents momentarily escape the signal’s control, but at the cost of their own stability.

    Additional Guidance for GMs

    Establish early on what motivates each character to engage with the signal (finding a loved one, escaping Wavelength, or uncovering the truth). Use these motivations to shape the endgame conflicts.

    Introduce dilemmas that force players to weigh personal goals against collective outcomes. For example, escaping may require sacrificing an NPC who is too deeply tied to the signal.

    Keep the truth about the signal flexible until late in the campaign. Allow players’ theories and actions to shape the final reveal.

    Offer answers that resolve immediate questions but introduce new mysteries. For example, players might destroy a device broadcasting the signal but find evidence of a second, more sinister source.

    Encourage players to discuss their goals and weigh the consequences of their choices as a group. Use interludes to highlight individual transformations and their impact on the team.

    Present multiple paths in the final session, but make it clear that every choice carries irreversible consequences.

    The endgame should feel surreal and emotionally charged. Use shifting environments, cryptic NPCs, and nonlinear events to heighten the tension. Allow scenes to loop, merge, or collapse into chaos as the signal reaches its peak, creating a dreamlike sense of inevitability.

    The endgame of Wavelength is less about providing closure and more about forcing players to grapple with transformation, sacrifice, and ambiguity. Regardless of the chosen ending, leave enough unanswered questions for players to linger on the experience long after the final scene fades to static.

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  • Free Christmas TTRPG: Holiday Anomalies Division (HAD)

    Free Christmas TTRPG: Holiday Anomalies Division (HAD)

    This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Free Games

    Happy holidays! For the season, I’ve dug up another unfinished tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) from my slush pile to share with you all. Like others, it’s playable as-is. So have fun! And it’s released under a Creative Commons Attribution license, so feel free to hack away or even flat out flesh out and finish the game if you want!

    Welcome to the Division, Merry Agent

    Three businessmen in Santa hats exchanging gifts and toasting at a holiday party indoors.

    The holidays are supposed to be magical, but when things go wrong, it’s up to the Holiday Anomalies Division (HAD) to restore balance. Whether it’s rogue magic, runaway cheer, or traditions gone haywire, HAD agents are on the front lines, armed with festive gadgets, quick thinking, and a healthy dose of improvisation.

    In this game, you’ll face off against bizarre holiday crises, like out-of-control snowstorms, sentient ornaments, or time-warping New Year’s Eve balls. Your team of holiday protectors must use their wits, their gadgets, and each other to bring order to the chaos. Expect creative problem-solving, hilarious mishaps, and moments of unexpected brilliance as you save the season, one anomaly at a time.

    Get ready for a wild ride filled with absurd challenges and holiday magic. The season’s chaos is just beginning… are you ready to step in and save it?

    Core Gameplay

    Mission Stages

    Each mission unfolds in three stages, ensuring every scenario is packed with humor, action, and heartwarming resolutions:

    1. Investigation: Explore the environment, gather clues, and piece together the source of the anomaly.
      Example: “The local snow globe collection is projecting a blizzard into real life. Let’s interview the toy store owner and see what’s going on.”
    2. Containment: Use your skills, gadgets, and creative thinking to stabilize or neutralize the anomaly. Expect to deploy wild plans, sometimes on the fly!
      Example: “We’ll use the Christmas tree stand as a containment circle and trick the animated ornaments into it with carols.”
    3. Aftermath: Wrap up any lingering consequences, smooth things over with the public, and report back to headquarters.
      Example: “Well, we stopped the giant mutant gingerbread man, but now the city smells like burnt cookies. We might need an apology card.”

    Stats and Motif Rolls

    Stats

    Each agent assigns values to their stats: 0, 1, and 2. These stats define your agent’s strengths:

    • Contain: For wrangling, neutralizing, or redirecting chaotic forces.
    • Connect: For negotiations, teamwork, or emotional appeals.
    • Improvise: For creating plans, blustering off the top of your head, or finding unexpected solutions.

    Motif Roll System

    Whenever agents take action, they describe their effort, ask about how they effort turns out, and roll 2d6:

    • Answer Die: The first die answers the question about your effort. Your relevant stat adds to this die.
      • 1-3: No
      • 4-6: Yes
    • Wrinkle Die: The second die adds a twist or extra flavor.
      • 1-2: But
      • 3-4: Plain answer
      • 5-6: And
    Example Outcomes
    • “Yes and” (6, 6): Your success snowballs into even greater outcomes, but it may get hilariously out of hand.
    • “No but” (3, 1): You fail, but something mitigates the consequences or sets you up for future success.
    • “Yes plain” (4, 3): A straightforward success, nothing fancy but it gets the job done.
    Special Outcomes
    • Double 6s: Over-the-top success. You succeed so well that the action spirals into chaos in unexpected ways.
    • Double 1s: A catastrophic failure that introduces hilarious and humiliating consequences.

    Interpreting Rolls

    This is a game of chaotic fun and anarchic joy, even as the character strive to solve problems. Failures should not be punitive or simply stop the action. Failures and complications should introduce interesting consequences or simply move the story forward. There is intentionally no health system to this game. The results of actions and outcomes follow the fiction. Use common sense and the flow of the emerging story.

    Chaos Meter

    During the Investigation and Containment phases, the Chaos Meter tracks the growing instability of the anomaly, starting at 0 and maxing out at 10. Each failure (No result) adds 1 to the meter. If you roll a “No and” result, add an additional +1 (for a total gain of 2). The Chaos Meter resets to 0 at the start of each phase.

    Escalating Chaos
    • Reduction: Successfully helping civilians escape danger or making significant steps toward containing or calming the situation reduces the meter by 1.
    • Weirdness Die: As the meter rises, the world becomes more bizarre:
      • Chaos 3: Add a third Weirdness die to all actions to measure how surreal things are getting.
      • Chaos 5: Add +1 to the Weirdness die rolls.
      • Chaos 7: Add +2 to the Weirdness die rolls.
      • Chaos 10: Crisis Peak! The situation reaches its boiling point, and the team must make a desperate attempt to resolve the chaos before it goes critical.
    Weirdness Die

    Rolled as a third die on actions when Chaos 3 is reached. Measures how the world bends under the strain of chaos as the characters act:

    • 1: Normal and mundane.
    • 2: Slightly odd or unusual.
    • 3-4: Notably awkward or somewhat surreal.
    • 5: Outright strange and surreal.
    • 6: Reality is bleeding, expect total holiday mayhem.

    Gadget Invention and Use

    Creativity is key to resolving the holiday-themed anomalies, and agents can invent or tweak gadgets to aid in their missions.

    • Invention Rolls: When agents create new gadgets, they roll 2d6 with no modifiers. They use whatever random holiday items are on hand or around in the scene as the core of their invention.
    • Use Rolls: Using gadgets involves another 2d6 roll with no modifiers. The outcome is determined by the Motif system and failure could lead to hilarious malfunctions.

    Example Invention

    “I rigged this Rudolph-nose flashlight to repel candy cane bats. It works, more or less, except now it attracts sentient mistletoe!”

    Example Use

    “The snow globe containment device worked perfectly… until it started projecting disco lights into the blizzard.”

    Holiday-Related Goals

    Each agent has a personal holiday-related goal they’re working toward, perhaps a long-lost tradition, an unfulfilled wish, or simply a desire to make the season brighter. If it fits the situation, agents can rearrange their die after rolling to help achieve their goal.

    Tone and Focus

    This game is about embracing the chaos of the holidays with a heavy dose of humor, absurdity, and spontaneous creativity. Each mission is a wild ride, and players are encouraged to think outside the box, improvise, and roll with whatever unexpected twists come their way. The focus is on fun, the chaos of the holiday season, and keeping things light and entertaining.

    Mission Variety

    HAD deals with all sorts of absurd holiday crises, including but not limited to:

    • Recovery Missions: Retrieve or contain rogue holiday artifacts.
    • Containment Missions: Stabilize out-of-control magical events.
    • Negotiation Missions: Convince sentient holiday creatures to play nice.
    • Multi-Stage Anomalies: Tackle layered events, like a New Year’s ball countdown that creates a bubble of time and additional weird effects with each second counted.

    Each mission should be treated like a holiday adventure, with bizarre problems and off-the-wall solutions that keep everyone laughing and on their toes.

    Mission Loop: Building Your Holiday Adventure

    Cute gnome figurine skiing in snowy landscape, adding charm to winter decorations.

    The Mission Loop is the heartbeat of your holiday-themed adventures in Holiday Anomalies Division (HAD). Each mission unfolds in three key stages—Investigation, Containment, and Aftermath—ensuring that your game stays dynamic, fun, and full of surprises. In this section, we’ll guide you through how to create and run your missions, with advice on pacing, setting the scene, and a few tools to spark your creativity.

    Investigation: Unravel the Mystery

    The investigation phase is where your agents get to explore the weirdness surrounding the holiday anomaly. It’s time to gather clues, interview NPCs, and piece together what caused the problem in the first place. This is where the mystery unfolds and the tone is set.

    Tips for Investigation

    • Setting the Scene: Introduce a holiday setting that’s been turned upside down. A toy store filled with rogue, talking ornaments. A Christmas market under siege by malfunctioning reindeer. Let your players discover how far things have gone awry.
    • What to Do: Encourage players to investigate with a mix of asking questions, gathering physical clues, and talking to quirky NPCs. They may need to use their “Connect” stat to get information from a nervous shopkeeper or “Improvise” to find hidden clues.
    • Rewards: If the player successfully uncover helpful information and/or the root cause of the problem, all of their first actions in the next phase gain +2 on both dice.
    • Consequences: If players fail too hard and too much, causing the Chaos Meter to rise too high to 10, reality completely melts down in a surreal dream-like scene. The fundamental cause or main responsible figure will be revealed. The character them suddenly find themselves waking up in res media in the Containment phase, with the Chaos Meter reset to 0.

    Investigation Oracles

    You can use some all flavor (or dice label) oracles to help fill things out and guide the investigation process.

    Clue Shape

    • Visibility: How noticeable is the clue?
    • Condition: Is the clue in good shape?
    • Urgency: Does this clue feel pressing?

    Clue Value

    • Importance: Is this clue significant?
    • Clarity: How easy is it to understand?
    • Connection: Does this point toward the source of the anomaly?

    Clue Examination

    • Strangeness: How weird is the clue?
    • Reliability: How trustworthy is this clue?
    • Relevance: Does it relate directly to the anomaly?

    Clue Result

    • Source: Does the clue have a clear origin?
    • Difficulty: How hard is it to piece together?
    • Direction: Does it lead to more clues?

    Containment: Stabilize the Situation

    Once your agents have gathered enough clues and identified the cause, it’s time to contain or neutralize the anomaly. This is where improvisation, creativity, and quick thinking come into play. Players will need to come up with wild plans, deploy gadgets, and sometimes use their holiday skills to stabilize the situation.

    Tips for Containment

    • Setting the Scene: Now the stakes get high! The anomaly might be growing, so it’s important to make the environment feel tense. Maybe the snowstorm is getting bigger, or the rogue candy canes are multiplying by the minute.
    • What to Do: Players may need to work together to come up with a containment strategy, using their tools and talents. This could involve everything from singing a holiday song to calm down a rabid reindeer to using the Christmas tree stand to trap a rogue snow globe.
    • Rewards: If the players manage to solve the problem before the Chaos Meter caps out, the aftermath will be easier to manage. NPCs will be naturally more forgiving and understanding. The extant of damage or disruption will be less than it could have been. They should also gain a friendly NPC who is grateful for their help, who they may call upon for friendship or even assistance at times.
    • Consequences: The higher the Chaos Meter, the crazier and riskier the containment will be. At 10, the full power and strangeness of the event is unleashed and the characters must face a final showdown. The outcome will depend on their choice of actions and rolls, with no further chances.

    Containment Oracles

    Just like the Investigation phase, this phase also has some example oracles you can use to help flesh out and run the scenes.

    First Impression

    • Control: How easy is it to take charge of the situation?
    • Strength: How powerful is the anomaly?
    • Stability: How stable is the environment?

    Assessment

    • Speed: How fast is the anomaly growing?
    • Disruption: How much damage is the anomaly causing?
    • Intervention: How much can the agents intervene?

    Planning

    • Clarity: How clear is the containment strategy?
    • Resources: How many resources are available for the plan?
    • Consequence: What happens if containment fails?

    Contact With Reality

    • Duration: How long will it take to contain the anomaly?
    • Effectiveness: How well will the containment strategy work?
    • Risk: How risky is the plan?

    Aftermath: The Clean-Up and Consequences

    After the anomaly is contained, it’s time to wrap up. But the aftermath is never as simple as it seems! The town, city, or holiday environment still has to deal with the fallout of the situation, and your agents will have to make things right with the public and report back to headquarters.

    Tips for Aftermath

    • Setting the Scene: The holiday chaos should have left some quirky consequences behind, even in the best outcomes. Maybe the town is now covered in frosting, or there’s a herd of sentient snowmen wandering the streets.
    • What to Do: This phase is about managing the fallout. Players will need to smooth things over with any panicked civilians, undo the effects of the anomaly, and maybe even deal with an unexpected twist (such as an apology tour or media frenzy). The phase should end with a debriefing and review back at headquarters.
    • Rewards: If the aftermath is handled especially well, the Department may offer minor helpers or a less unreliable gadget for use on the next mission. There is also a chance to avoid gaining enemies and develop alliances.
    • Consequences: If the Chaos Meter was high, things won’t be as easily fixed. Maybe there are lingering side effects, like an overabundance of holiday spirit that causes everything to turn ridiculously festive, or the return of an anomaly that wasn’t fully contained. If the phase is badly handled, the team may end up with some persistant enemies or bad PR.

    Aftermath Oracles

    There are also some example all flavor oracles using dice labels for this phase too! Use them to help introduce more surprise and round out details in play.

    Simple Aftermath

    • Public Response: How well do the townsfolk feel about the team?
    • Holiday Spirit: How is the holiday mood affected?
    • Damage Control: How much effort is needed to fix the situation?

    Alternate Aftermath

    • Civic Reaction: What’s the general mood of the crowd?
    • Long-Term Effects: What lasting impact does the anomaly have?
    • PR Recovery: How much does the team need to manage public relations?

    Leftover Mess

    • Clean-Up Effort: How easy is it to restore order?
    • Media Frenzy: How does the media spin the event?
    • Community Impact: How is the community dealing with the aftermath?

    Fallout

    • Reputation: How do the locals view the team post-mission?
    • Festive Echoes: How much does the anomaly affect holiday celebrations?
    • Side Effects: Are there any lingering issues?

    Appendix: Using the All Flavor Oracles

    You ask about how things are or turned out. Roll 3d6 for an answer. Assign the labels in order from left to right or closest to farthest. Each label is interpreted according to its plain meaning, as illustrated by the example question that the flavor answers. Follow the intuitive scale below, judging the weight of the label by how much the flavor comes through or how positive/negative the outcome is.

    Scale

    • 1: Absolute absence or the complete opposite; most negative response
    • 2: Not at all or somewhat the contrary; clear negative response
    • 3: Somewhat or slightly so; mildly negative response
    • 4: Average or mediocre; slightly positive response
    • 5: Above average or notably strong; strongly positive response
    • 6: Peak or overwhelming; most positive response
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  • Free Duo Game: The Immortal’s Affairs

    Free Duo Game: The Immortal’s Affairs

    This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Free Games

    The Immortal’s Affairs – A TTRPG About Legacy and the Passage of Time

    Dug up from my slush pile, inspired by this post about dice labels. I never got around to fully fleshing this out. But it’s quite playable as-is. 

    A man wearing a white suit with angel wings, sitting by an old building outdoors.

    Welcome to The Immortal’s Affairs, a two-player tabletop roleplaying game about a dying immortal and their final journey toward peace. This game invites players to explore themes of time, legacy, and closure, as one immortal, weary from centuries of existence, seeks to settle their affairs before their inevitable passing. The second player assumes the role of Mother Nature, the ancient force of the world itself, who has come to observe the Immortal’s passing and learn from this unique being. Together, you will navigate the challenges and emotions of final goodbyes, unfinished business, and the ultimate acceptance of death.

    Game Overview

    The Immortal is an ancient being who has lived for centuries but is now aging, their time in the world coming to a close. They have come to accept the inevitability of death, finding peace in the idea of rest after so many long years. However, before they can pass, they have five complex, unresolved affairs they wish to settle, matters that, if left unfinished, could weigh on their soul forever.

    Mother Nature is the spirit of the world, the embodiment of the Earth’s cycles and forces. She has witnessed countless lives, but the Immortal stands out. Mother Nature has come to understand the Immortal’s existence, and now seeks to understand why the Immortal was created and why their passing is now inevitable. She inhabits the people and places around the Immortal, observing them, interacting with them, and learning about the Immortal’s journey. Perhaps the Immortal’s passing is not just about death but about something deeper, the meaning of their long life and their eventual end.

    Game Roles

    Those key figures are also the main game roles. Each player takes on one of the roles, while the other player takes the other.

    • The Immortal: One player takes the role of The Immortal. This character is an ancient being nearing the end of their life, filled with wisdom, regrets, and unfinished business. They will use their Approaches to navigate the world and attempt to resolve their five chosen affairs.
    • Mother Nature: The second player becomes Mother Nature, the spirit of the world. You embody the forces of nature, inhabiting the world around the Immortal and learning about their history, their motivations, and their end. You are not just an observer! You interact with the Immortal, guiding them or complicating their journey as you see fit.

    Core Mechanics

    Three red transparent dice stacked on a dark surface, highlighting their reflective surfaces and dots.

    The gameplay is driven by narrative choices, dice rolls, and thematic exploration. Through these mechanics, you will tell the story of the Immortal’s final moments and the legacy they leave behind. Below is an overview of the key mechanics you’ll need to understand.

    Approaches and Dice Rolls

    Approaches: The Immortal character has 6 Approaches to choose from at the beginning of the game. Approaches represent the Immortal’s personality and guiding principles. They can range from qualities like Aggressive and Bold to Humble and Resilient. These approaches shape how the Immortal reacts to challenges, interacts with the world, and solves problems. Each time the Immortal takes an action, they choose three of their Approaches to guide them. The three Approaches are linked to the dice they roll during that action, and each die reflects a different aspect of the action:

    • Low Roll (1-2): The action fails or leads to unintended consequences. The Immortal’s attempt doesn’t align with their intentions and creates complications.
    • Middle Roll (3-4): The action succeeds in some capacity, but it may not be as clean or satisfying as hoped. The Immortal’s approach may feel incomplete or leave room for further work.
    • High Roll (5-6): The action succeeds beautifully. The Immortal’s approach is effective and their intention is realized fully, often beyond their expectations.
    • Weirdness (optional 3rd die): If only two Approaches are chosen, a third die can be rolled that represents the weirdness and surreal aspects of the Immortal’s existence. This die adds unexpected twists and dreamlike elements to the outcome.

    At the beginning of the game, the Immortal selects 6 Approaches from the following list. These approaches will guide their actions throughout the game and shape how they interact with the world: Apathetic, Assertive, Bold, Brave, Calm, Careful, Compassionate, Creative, Curious, Cunning, Decisive, Determined, Dreamer, Friendly, Grateful, Honest, Humble, Honorable, Impulsive, Inventive, Patient, Proud, Reckless, Resilient, Resourceful, Sarcastic, Shrewd, Stoic, Thoughtful, Understanding, Vulnerable

    World Events and Time Pressure

    Classic black analog alarm clock on rustic wooden background, perfect for time and nostalgia themes.

    World Events: The Immortal’s journey is not just about the affairs they are attempting to settle, there is an ever-present, unpredictable element of the world around them. Every time the Immortal rolls for an action, Mother Nature must roll a d6 to determine if a World Event occurs. On a roll of 1, something happens that radically changes the world around the Immortal or complicates one of their affairs. These events can take many forms:

    • A sudden illness or injury affects the Immortal.
    • An ally betrays the Immortal or a new foe appears.
    • The world around the Immortal changes dramatically, shifting the stakes of their affairs.
    • The Immortal learns something surprising or unsettling about themselves or their past.

    If 5 World Events occur, the Immortal’s time runs out, and they begin to die. At this point, they must face the final consequences of their unfinished affairs. The game shifts toward the negative end, leaving the Immortal with unresolved regrets and a legacy left incomplete. The number of World Events keeps both players on their toes, adding a layer of unpredictability and pressure to the Immortal’s quest for closure.

    Settling Affairs

    Choosing Affairs: At the beginning of the game, the Immortal player must choose five complex affairs to resolve before they die. These affairs represent significant emotional, relational, or practical matters that the Immortal must confront in their final moments. The affairs can be as grand or as intimate as the player desires. What is most important is that each affair feels like a key part of the Immortal’s journey toward peace.

    Some examples of affairs might include:

    • Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend: The Immortal must reconcile with someone from their past, perhaps a person they betrayed or neglected.
    • Releasing Control of My Empire: The Immortal may have built an empire, and now they must ensure its future without them.
    • Forgiving a Betrayer: The Immortal must come to terms with a past betrayal that still weighs heavily on them.
    • Finding Peace with My Past: The Immortal may be haunted by past mistakes or regrets and needs to find a way to make peace.
    • Reconciliation with a Loved One: The Immortal must heal a fractured relationship, perhaps with a partner or child.

    Time Limits: Each affair should be structured to take between 3 and 7 rolls to resolve, and the number of World Events that occur during the game will shorten the time remaining. The Immortal is under time pressure, and though they may wish to take their time, their final moments are always slipping away. Players should balance the Immortal’s need for closure with the unpredictability of the world around them.

    The Empathy Mechanic

    Mother Nature’s Role: As Mother Nature, you are not just a passive observer of the Immortal’s journey. You can actively shape the Immortal’s path. One of the key ways you interact with the Immortal is through dreams and reflections. These moments provide an opportunity for the Immortal and Mother Nature to understand each other better, to share perspectives, and to gain insight into their respective roles in this world.

    Empathy and Understanding: Throughout the game, Mother Nature appears to the Immortal in dreams or moments of reflection.  This happens after each affair is handled. During these conversations, the Immortal and Mother Nature can share their thoughts and feelings, gaining a deeper understanding of each other. If the two come to a full mutual understanding, the Immortal can gain 1 additional completed affair of their choice. If they come to a partial understanding, the Immortal automatically succeeds at their next action. If they reach no understanding, Mother Nature will be difficult or slightly hostile during the next affair settling, frustrated by the lack of needed insight. These moments of emotional connection can significantly influence the Immortal’s ability to resolve their affairs, offering insight into their heart and motivations. It is also a way for Mother Nature to more deeply engage with the events of the game.

    Endgame Resolution

    Close-up portrait of a woman with tears on her face, conveying emotion.

    The story of the Immortal concludes in one of three ways, depending on how well the affairs are settled:

    • Positive Resolution: If the Immortal completes all five affairs in time, they pass away peacefully, their soul at rest, having reconciled with the past and the future. Their death is a moment of calm acceptance and fulfillment.
    • Negative Resolution: If time runs out, the Immortal dies with unfinished business, leaving regrets and a legacy that will never be complete. The end comes with uncertainty, perhaps even sorrow for what could not be done.
    • Mixed Resolution: If the Immortal makes it through all five affairs with some left in a bad state or unfinished, they are rewarded for the completion with an ending that starts like the positive resolution. However, their moments of peace and comfort are interrupted by doubts and regrets about the improperly finished affairs.

    Example of an Affair in Play

    Affair: “Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend”

    • Preceding Actions: The Immortal tried to play it off smoothly, but the friend was put on edge knowing something was up. The friend was convinced to play a parlour game a bit as a distraction, they eventually became suspicious. Desperate for more time to just enjoy their friend’s company, The Immortal proposed an outing to the movies but they put the friend on full alert, who demanded immediate answers. So far, no World Events were rolled. Now the Immortal is making their last attempt.
    • The Immortal’s Roll: The Immortal uses the Approaches Friendly, Resilient, and Inventive.
    • Bad Roll (1, 6, 2): The Immortal tries to express their feelings, but their words fall far short (perhaps even coming across as insulting or demeaning), and their old friend feels distant and confused.
    • Middle Roll (6, 2, 4): The Immortal manages a bittersweet goodbye. Their friendship and love is clear, but the moment is far from ideal, too-clever-by-half word choices and uncontrollable tears leaving both parties with unanswered questions.
    • Good Roll (6, 4, 5): The Immortal shares their feelings fully and insightfully, and their friend understands them completely. While there are a few tears, they part with love and peace, each knowing they are truly understood.

    Mother Nature’s Dream Interaction: After the Immortal has made some progress on their affairs, Mother Nature may appear to them in a dream, where they reflect on the Immortal’s life. They talk about the meaning of friendship and how the goodbye ended and what it means to The Immortal. Mother Nature has a hard time fully grasping the pain, as all things pass in nature. Similarly, The Immortal still feels the pain of loss each time after all these years and cannot understand Mother Nature’s “callous” attitude. But they come to a mutual understanding about fondness and love, as pairing and bonding are common in nature, even if the love of friendship is unique. The Immortal’s first action next affair will automatically succeed.

    Conclusion

    The Immortal’s Affairs is a game about time, legacy, and the search for closure. In the end, the Immortal will either die in peace or with unfinished business, but the journey of completing their affairs and understanding their purpose offers a deep, emotional experience for both players. Through the mechanic of rolling dice, the unpredictability of World Events, and the heart-to-heart conversations between Mother Nature and the Immortal, this game provides an immersive, thoughtful exploration of life’s most poignant moments.

    What do you think of this game? Have you tried to play it? Are you taking any inspiration from it? Are you planning to hack it? I’d love to hear about any of that. Come scream at me on Bluesky about it!

    This game is released under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Just give credit to Rev Casey or Thought Punks as a source.

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  • Motif Oracle Notebook

    Motif Oracle Notebook

    Motif Oracle Notebook

    Motif Oracle Notebook

    Notebook
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    Answer Type
    Modifier
    Context

    Character

    Scene Notes

    Story So Far

    Extra Notes

    Roll History Preview

    About the Motif Oracle Notebook

    Motif Oracle Notebook is a TTRPG storytelling tool designed for solo roleplaying, tracking rolls & character notes during play, and creative writing. It uses a three-die system to generate answers and add nuance to your narrative.

    Notebook Features

    • Oracle: The main oracle interface with roll history and live results
    • Game Rolls: Dice roller for game mechanics
    • Character: A place for character details and development
    • Scene Notes: Track your current scene
    • Story So Far: Record your overall narrative
    • Extra Notes: Space for additional information

    Save Session

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    Are you sure you want to overwrite this save?

    Session saved successfully!

    About the Motif Oracle Notebook

    A woman engaged in tarot reading surrounded by candles and crystals on a table.

    Motif Oracle Notebook is a TTRPG storytelling tool designed for solo roleplaying, tracking rolls & character notes during play, and creative writing. It uses a three-die system to generate answers and add nuance to your narrative.

    Notebook Features

    • Oracle: The main oracle interface with roll history and live results
    • Game Rolls: Dice roller for game mechanics
    • Character: A place for character details and development
    • Scene Notes: Track your current scene
    • Story So Far: Record your overall narrative
    • Extra Notes: Space for additional information
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