Rogue 2E
A downloadable game
Rogue Second Edition:
As if OSR & Storygames had a baby.
A while back, I wrote a game called Rogue. But then, that game levelled up. Now it's known as Rogue Second Edition. Our little game's all grown up and ready to play.
PC Features
- Pick Lists, Not Stats: Rather than stats, players select a custom list of 12 actions that they can perform at any time.
- Automatic Successes: Performing actions from your pick list allows you to succeeed automatically, unless the GM issues a challenge.
- Real-Time Refreshes: You can overcome ANY challenge by using your character's personal Ace (a phrase detailing your character's core powers), which refreshes every 15 minutes in real-time.
- Crises, Not Hit Points: Rather than using abstract HP totals, PCs manage a list of crises, such as injury, exhaustion, and incapacitation. So long as they have less than four, they are alive.
GM Features
- Hard & Soft Events: You can cause anything to happen at any time by using the GM Events table, and interpreting the results as you see fit.
- Intiative-less Combat: Combat is dynamic and relies upon the GM following the logical narrative flow, rather than an artificial turn-based system.
- Narrative-Based Monsters: Monsters are composed of a list of events, a list of overwhelming powers, and a list of weaknesses that can be exploited.
- Rulings, Not Rules: Everything from monsters to events to crises to situational bonuses and penalties is designed to provide maximum support for GMs interested in running the game with important OSR principles.
Sound good? Okay, let’s get started! Have fun!
(If you're interested, download the sheets! You'll definitely be able to get a feel for the game that way. If you like what you see, please consider buying!)
9447 words, 32 pages.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $6 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- SRD Created & Base Game RevisedNov 30, 2020
Comments
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Hey! This is probably not the best way to report this, but there's a typo in the PDF - on page 18, in the last paragraph on the bottom right, it's misspelled as "Editoin", instead of "Edition".
This game is truly creative and refreshing. I look forward to trying it in play. I'm especially taken with the rules for crises and the clear descriptions of the Powers. Thank you for making this!
Just out of curiosity, what lead you to moving back to d20 for the second edition of the game?
Awesome and can't wait to play, but is anyone else having trouble printing page 4? I've tried a couple of times and the bottom 3rd part of the page ends up blurred.
Can't stop, won't stop, reading this and dreaming of running or playing it. I have been reading all kinds of RPGs for over a year, and trying to write my own, but after finding this I archived all those gdocs and put the other games aside. This is just marvelous, thank you.
This is really good. Thanks for creating it.
I also have a question about how damage wagers are meant to work. Do you give up one bonus die for each wage reducing the total bonus pool until you're down to 2d6? Or do you trade 2d6 for the wager each time?
Do overwhelming penalty dice stack or do you take the highest value like with bonus dice?
Why is there no XP (or other kind) of reward when a player withdraws in a Power challenge. Mechanically it feels like you should always take the roll and the XP. Given that a failed roll may also generate XP it feels more logical that the XP reward should be for withdrawing. I'm curious about the rationale here.
Can you give an example of the Damage Wager?
Hello I have finished the free Portuguese translation of the SRD demo of this game, can I send it to you here?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZPlHr3SZSe7PScfU6IT87u7Ck81AHZ6q/view?usp=shari...
This is exactly what I've been looking for and trying to create myself! I absolutely adore this game! It's fluid enough to make anything while not ending up minimalistic! Thank you so much.
I played a couple of sessions and love it. A campign setting is too much to ask?
where is the zine?
This looks promising. Too bad I cannot afford them as of now. Is it possible for you to give me a free copy of this? If you don't want to, then it's okay.
What a cool game! Lots of great mechanical ideas in a concise and easy to read package. Very excited to try it out!
This game takes everything I like from systems like Apocalypse World and Tech Noir and turns it into a streamlined, rules-light system.
Brilliant stuff.
I'm a sucker for the OSR and I'm loving it!