Alter Moderns

Alterity is an asymmetrical tabletop role-playing game for 5-7 where a team of criminals and misfits work together on jobs against the corporations, governments, mafias and conspirators trying to control social organizing structures to satisfy their own greed. 3-5 players will take roles in a crew against 1 counter-operative with the game refereed and the stage (re)set by 1 Master of Ceremonies (MC). In the meta-half of the game, the powerful organizations will further their agendas in response to the crew’s meddling by bolstering their power, pursuing their vendettas, and stabbing one another in the back.

Co-create your whole story

Players can team up by designing a character to join a crew, create their own counterop character to work against the normal crew and make their friends squirm, fill the glossy shoes as a representive a monolithic organization, or any combination of the above to collaboratively tell a science fiction story of resistance, despair, and difference.

Every player gets a chance to roleplay different perspectives of their shared fiction. Rotate the powerful role of counter-operative to a new player for each job, playing cat to a crew of mice. Just don't overplay your hand: just because your employers can buy off anyone doesn't mean you'll be worth the price. Bookend each session with a system for factions to interact and change the world, letting your shared world take you to unexpected places.

Novel gear system

The crew—as specialists in unusual activities on the margins of legitimate society—work exclusively with unique and custom equipment suited to the stresses of their work. All gear is invented by the PC using it by installing to 6 one-word descriptors, called tags, that elaborate on what that gear is capable of doing, with each tag’s parameters described and agreed upon by the tag’s creator and the MC.

Inspired By

Taking cues from other analogue games like Netrunner, Arkham Horror, and both the "Powered by the Apocalypse" and "Forged in the Dark" series of tabletop rpgs, Alter Moderns aims to let players create their own story by rotating through a main cast of protagonists and recurring antagonists.

The game is also heavily inspired by science-fiction literature from the 1960's until now, and is a tribute to Philip K. Dick, Ursula Le Guin, Octavia Butler, P.D. James, Nalo Hopkinson, Doris Lessing, K. Sello Duiker, Lauren Beukes, Suyi Davies, Tade Thompson and others probably.  Finally, there's plenty of Cowboy Bebop, Final Fantasy, Wachoski Sisters, The Wire and a list that will get well out of control if I let myself continue.

What you'll need to play

-At least 1 six-sided dice (having at least 3 per player would make it easier though)
-A deck of tarot cards
-A deck of standard playing cards
-A digital facsimile of the above

Reaching Out

If you're interested in playing this work-in-progress but aren't sure about certain rules or are confused about how things work, feel free to get in touch with me directly either here on itch.io or through twitter.