DIE: The Roleplaying Game

DIE is a tabletop roleplaying game about fantasy versus reality, and poses the question of why we play games at all. The comic it’s based upon is occasionally jokingly described as “goth Jumanji”; DIE the RPG is designed from the ground up to let a group of players make their own personal version of the comic. In DIE you play a group of authentically flawed people from the real world who gather together to play an RPG and are dragged into a fantasy realm. They then have to find their way home… or not. DIE begins on Earth, as the players create flawed, unique real-world Personas who gather together to play a roleplaying game. These obsessions are mined and externalised when on their involuntary adventure into the world of DIE. They’re not just going to a fantasy world - they're going to their fantasy world, twisting their shame and frustration back at them. What do you do when the dragon speaks to you in the voice of your angry, long-dead father? What happens when the orcs taunt you with the same insults as your childhood bullies, now you’re armed with a greatsword? When your beloved ex-partner returns to you in the form of an emotion-draining vampire, will you resist them? Make your version of the iconic characters of the comic, each of whom is a weird riff on the classic RPG classes: Dictators are artistic diplomats who manipulate emotions with horrific magical words. Fools are swashbucklers, rushing into danger and relying on their supernatural luck to survive. Emotion Knights are warriors who feed one sacred emotion into their arcane, sentient weapons to devastating effect. Neos are techno-magical rogues, stealing elusive Fair Gold to power their cybernetic gifts. Godbinders are clerics who bargain with their pantheon of gods to get miracles at the best possible rate. Masters (played by the GM) are reality-warping metatextual wizards who exert their control over space and time through the medium of dangerous magic or, if that fails, cheating. Each of the six classes have ownership of one of the dice in the game. Only the Godbinder gets to touch the D12, the Neo gets the D10 and so on. Each is the heart of their classes’ ability. Step-by-step processes to build a group of difficult, flawed Personas and a nightmare world from which they must attempt to escape. Beautiful art from one of the most sought-after cover artists in comics, Stephanie Hans. Rules and guidance on playing short punchy campaigns, long campaigns with political maneuvering and advanced character progression, and simple convention-ready one-shots. Designed from scratch by the creator of the comic with support and advice from a wide team of experienced and award-winning RPG authors and editors. Plus: every single game played with DIE is canon to the comic. This is quite literally your chance to be part of DIE’s universe. MECHANICS The DIE RPG uses an original rules system written by Kieron Gillen designed from the ground up to power emotional stories and pulp action. It's been playtested for five years and refined by the experts at Rowan, Rook and Decard to make it into the ultimate expression of DIE. The core mechanic consists of building a pool of six-sided dice - the better you are at something, the more dice you roll - and those that show 4 or more are successes. The more successes you roll, the better you do. Dice that show 6 or higher are Specials, which in addition to being successes allow you to trigger unusual benefits defined by your class, your abilities or the situation itself. Each character class gets exclusive ownership of one of the iconic dice - D4, D6, D8 and so on - and can add them to their dice pool when they tap into their unique powers.