DEADWEIGHT combines the narrative playstyle of PbtA and Forged In The Dark games with dwindling odds mechanisms inspired by iconic RPGs like Dread and Ten Candles. The result is a rules lite, vibes heavy TTRPG that emulates your favorite horror movies.
"What's your favorite scary movie?" -Ghostface, Scream (1996)
DEADWEIGHT is a survival horror RPG that combines the fiction-first narrative playstyle of Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged In The Dark games, with dwindling odds mechanisms inspired by iconic RPGs like Dread and Ten Candles. Rules-lite and vibes-heavy, it’s perfect for 1-3 session stories about facing your worst fears.
Core stats, or Vitals, are measured in dice sizes, from d4 to d10. When taking a Risk, or a dangerous action, you roll the Vital linked to the Risk you are taking. Vitals can be Boosted or Cut by bonuses or penalties, increasing or decreasing them by one Size. When you suffer harm, your Vitals are permanently Cut, making it harder to succeed and survive.
When a dangerous element enters a Scene, a Scale Activates. Players have to take Risks on their turns to Progress the Task, Shifting the Scale to its highest Value. They must also take Risks on the Peril's turn to Escape, or else the Scale Shifts backwards towards zero. This tug-of-war mechanism simulates the "do or die" moments crucial to horror, where failure to run, fight, or solve a problem at hand means certain death for the characters.
An easy-to-learn, setting-agnostic rules system that can be used to facilitate any flavor of horror story
Instructions for creating your own character, including eight genre-evoking Archetypes and narrative Confessions that intimately link them to the story
A modular list of Optional Rules that can be applied to accommodate a wide range of horror subgenres and mechanical weight preferences
Guidelines for writing your own Scenarios, along with three that are ready to play: a college slasher, a found-footage haunted house, and a zombie apocalypse
Since releasing the first version of the game in November 2025, it has undergone continued playtesting, feedback, and tweaks. This campaign will crowdfund a physical print run of the updated game, with added clarifications to rules text, layout improvements, and even a handful of completely new Optional Rules.
This campaign will also fund the development of SPLATTERHOUSE, an expansion zine to give players and Game Makers new options for all their favorite flavors of horror. The expansion will include:
New Archetypes for players to choose from, including The Mutant, The Alumni, The Local, and more
Subgenre-specific Tools and Tags to better prepare PCs for the horrors ahead
New Optional Rules for character advancement to support long-term campaign play
New Scenario Outlines: a creature feature, a cosmic space nightmare, a slasher sequel, and more
[Cover Art Not Final]
I'm hoping to raise $150 with this campaign, so that I can produce the best quality prints possible. If the full goal is not met, I still intend to fulfill pledges. The core game is a couple formatting adjustments away from being fully finished, and preliminary outlines are already done on the expansion. This has been a 2 year long passion project, and I'm in too deep at this point to not make it happen even if it's just for me.
![DEADWEIGHT - [analog_survival_horror.rpg]](https://images.backerkit.com/active_storage/backerkit_production/blob/frf6238hax6wikfhl968f6o2xpxv?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&auto=compress%2Cformat&cs=srgb&lossless=true&ar=16%3A9&fit=crop&w=896)
