Posted November 10, 2022 by Jocher Symbolic Systems
#playtest #playtesting #dystopia #orwellian #ttrpg #roleplaying #anti-authoritarian #political #storytelling
I am currently searching for playtesters who would be into exploring an Orwellian game of stealth, fighting oppression, resisting authoritarians, and relational drama.
The game is named OCEANIA 2084, and it is based on the book "Nineteen eighty-four" written by George Orwell. This is the third external playtesting phase, so the game is right now very close to a final ruleset. It is important to note that the rules available on the itch page of the project is highly outdated.
WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
rief game description: The game is in traditional terms GM-less, and the core of the game is an asymmetrical adversarial game, with player characters on one side of the conflict and one player taking the role of the state, called "Big Brother" effectively being the antagonist of the game. The actions of one side enable actions from the other side, according to a rule-based point system. There is no traditional conflict resolution system, where you roll a die to achieve something. Instead, you succeed with whatever you try provided that the other players do not intervene. The game is balanced through a system of risk and reward and strategic usage of resources. This doesn't mean that you will not be rolling dice, there are a lot of situations and rules that use and rely on die rolling. Over the course of a campaign, you will play several characters, and death is expected.
Game type: Pen and paper roleplaying game. It works well to play over for example discord.
Themes: tension, social dystopia, difficult choices, resistance, bad odds, oppression.
Session length: 2-4 hours
Number of players: 2-6 players. You are asked to set up your own playgroup and plan your own sessions.
System: it is an original system, inspired by rogue-likes, Vampire the Masquerade, PbtA, A Thousand Year Old Vampire, and Paranoia, among other things.
Link to instructions for playtesters (including how to sign up for it and get access to the updated rules): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JnM0MelEsrwMqsL577sjo76b4lFi9kgEEe3I3orRLr8/edit?usp=sharing