intro
amnesia is a lightweight ttrpg – somewhere between DND and a one shot/one page ttrpg. the world building happens mostly in-game, with the intent of taking some of the storytelling pressure off the DM.
it’s intent is to be a collective storytelling experience that is accessible and easy to pick up – even without prior ttrpg experience.
flavor
in 5 seconds, you will wake up in a PREDICAMENT, you will be unaware of your surroundings, and, breifly, unable to remember who you are or what your skills are. But that doesn’t mean you will have no HALP. Regain your bearings, act quickly, and for the love of god, stay on the move. The rest of your team is out there, and you need to find them before anyone else does. The world is on the edge of destruction, and just because you don’t remember why doesn’t mean it’s not still your job to stop it.
meta
this game begins in media res with each payer beginning in a different location with a different predicament. players generate stats and develop their characters as they go as if they were rediscovering themselves after a brief bout of amnesia. In each location, the players will discover a different object that gives them a clue about why the world is about to end and how they can stop it.
DM note: the goal of this game is collective storytelling and the players have a lot of agency in game to collectively build the world, so players discover clues, make sure to ask them and encourage them to describe how each fits into the world and the story.
set up game
roll for location of each clue (tome, “weapon”, and plan)
these are story blocks that drive the narrative forward and keep the players on track.
set up the scenarios for each player as described below.
clues
the tome – the tome is your bible, the informational source that provide the details and history of this post-apocalyptic world. a knowledge roll will give you more information or clues on how to navigate this brave new world.
the weapon – the weapon is the key to stopping the ongoing apocalypse, the ace up your sleeve so to speak.
the plan – the plan is the template for how to stop the apocalypse, the formula that brings together all the other elements, the call-to-action for our characters.
Roll once for each clue to determine its locations. The location of the weapon determines the nature of the disaster that created the apocalypse. (Described below in the location tables).
set up scenarios
Roll for player order: each player rolls a die (d12 maybe so there are no repeats but any die is fine) to determine player order, highest number goes first.
each player rolls for PREDICAMENT and HALP (see below tables) and take their first turn (first turn described below)
dm note: each time a PREDICAMENT or HALP is rolled by a player, cross it off so it can’t be rolled again and re-roll if the inactive scenario was rolled.
roll 1d6 for [PREDICAMENT]
you wake up…
1…in the middle of a desert completely naked
2…in a sewer covered in rats
3…drowning in a vat of toxic waste
4…in the bed of a foriegn ambassador, you remember nothing from last night, they are making you pancakes
5…in a cryochamber, slowly, painfuly defrosting, you’re definitely from the past but, like 5 minutes ago was also the past
6…surrounded by 5 robocops, they want something you have but they are not great at communicating
roll 1d6 for [HALP]
1…maybe this flare gun will be useful
2…clutched to your chest is your beloved copy of “Flowers for Algernon”
3…it’s a good thing you’re wearing flippers and your snorkel
4…and you have one extra condom
5…in your hand is a letter from a long-dead realative
6…crowbar
first turns
Once you describe the PREDICAMENT and HALP for a player, simply ask, “what do you do?”
Answer any questions about the situation players may have (more info found in location descriptions) but let them respond as naturally as possible.
Once they talk it through, decide together on an action you can roll on, and as a dm, you decide which stat (stats listed below) is most relevant. You will be rolling against a 4 and this stat will be the player’s “I got this bro” stat with a value of 4.
(This same assignment method is used to assign the stats for the next skill used)
Repeat for each player
REGULAR TURNS
stat blocks
Stat numbers (skill levels): “I got this bro” 4, “I manage” 3, “I’m good at other things, get off my back mom” 2
Success: Stat number or lower, failure: higher than stat number
fuck off (fight/phyisical skills)
wait wait don’t tell me (think/mental skills)
you could charm the pants off a snake (charm/social skills)
moving
when you choose you move, you’ll roll 1d6 to see if you can reach your chosen destination.
You can either choose to move to a specific location – your roll determining how fast you get there, or you can choose to move to a random location (locations table below).
If rolling for speed, simply use the stat blocks described above.
locations
the 6 locations correspond to the six predicaments
1 – a really cool cactus in the middle of the desert
2 – the city sewer
3 – a questionably ethical powerplant
4 – the foriegn embassy
5 – the cryobank
6 – a weird alley in a sketchy part of town
location descriptions
1 – a really cool cactus in the middle of the desert
It’s a strange-looking cactus, like none you’ve ever seen, the only visible landmark for miles.
Disaster: plant uprising because of climate change
2 – the city sewer
Dripping with bio waste and crawling with failed experiments, the refuge and rejects from a city that long ago discarded traditional morality.
Disaster: a failed experiment threatening to make its way into the city
3 – the questionably ethical power plant
Dilapidated and abandoned, left in a state of disrepair with no one around to tell you which broken button might cause another nuclear meltdown.
Disaster: a Chernobyl style meltdown
4 – the foriegn embassy
The foreign embassy is the only well-kept structure for miles, edged with gold foil and finery with as much luxury as this post-apocalyptic world will allow.
Disaster: War
5 – the cryobank
The once magnificent state-of-the art cryobank had fallen into a state of disrepair. Cryo pods broken, damaged, random blinking lights with no known origin, and long-forgotten frozen bodies of dignitaries old and new.
Disaster: Zombies
6 – a weird alley in a sketchy part of town
This alley, a hub of illegal activity and black market deals is also a favorite spot of the city’s fleet of robocops to set up sting operations and drug busts. If that weren’t enough, the toxic rat infestation keeps all denizens on their toes. Beware: dangers abound.
Disaster: robot uprising
encountering other PCs
for the first turn or two, players will be in separate locations, but when you do encounter another player (either on purpose or by accident) you will roll using the below rules to figure out how your characters know each other.
the player whose turn it with will make the rolls.
you know you’ve met this person before, you’d know [roll 1d6 for body part] anywhere
1 – that left ankle
2 – those toenails
3 – that nose
4 – those eyelashes
5 – that Tuches
6 – that snakebite
but you can’t see to remember how…
active player rolls wait, wait, don’t tell me
on a success, they remember how they know this person and you can ask them how), on a failure, the other person will have to remind them
running the game
the players are collaboraitely building the world and their characters (as if re-remebering themselves for the first time)
the world building (beyond the initial parameters) is mostly up to the players with the dm providing scaffolding and guidance along the way as they see fit.
once the scenario for each player is set up (you have rolled for predicament and halp), turns continue as normal with each turn being one roll.
rolls determine if a player is successul or not, but the player decides what that means and what happens, aka how they succeed or fail.
so after each roll, you as the dm will say tell the player if the roll was success, then ask the player how they succeed or failed.
building stats
in this game, stat-building happens as you go. so the characters start off with no stats and gain them when they take action. the first type of action will determine the highest stat, etc., etc.
A critical success (rolling a 1) or a critical failure (rolling a 6) will give you a special skill or a special weakness, so on a player’s first critical success or failure, make down the special skill or weakness in their character sheet. in the future, this means the player will automatically succeed or fail the relevant skill roll.
character sheets
character name: (optional)
Stats (circle skill level)
fuck off (fight/phyisical skills): 2 3 4
wait wait don’t tell me (think/mental skills): 2 3 4
you could charm the pants off a snake (charm/social skills): 2 3 4
Special skill: [critical success]
Secret weakness: [critical failure]
npc’s
the soothsayer: the soothsayer is the wise man (or woman) of this wasteland world, they hold the esoteric wisdom that you will need to understand the trouble your find yourselves in.
the ambassador: the ambassador holds the keys to the political system of this world, only they will understand the power structures and key players you will need to leverage to get yourselves out of this mess.
dm notes
as a dm, your job is to keep the story moving and keep the players engaged.
you will need to keep track of which players and game elements are in which location as well as character stats and roll. I recommend keeping a personal copy of players’ character sheets to make things easier on yourself.
Nihilistic Porcupine 