Hey friends, we’re back today featuring something a little outside or normal coverage. Today we’re going to talk about a new game that’s dear to our hearts because it’s a game we wrote. We Are All Children is a game of young people struggling against existential crises. Set in a surreal world where physics is a suggestion, We Are All Children is a new entry to the fantasy RPG market. Let’s dig a little deeper into the system and show how you things run.
In the City of Children, young people just arrive. Seemingly from nowhere, they spring into the world at about age 5 or 6, and the older children welcome them into the community . Each child hears a different clock ticking, and the story goes that when the clock stops, your time is up? What will you do with that time?
The Children are called out into the world beyond the walls of the city to confront dark things that move about the world. These Long Shadows are primordial things that tear at comfort and wellbeing, but every child must confront them. These are the stories of the children who confront the Long Shadows and the legends they leave behind.
We Are All Children is simple to make a character for (it’ll take about thirty minutes for your first one, and it’ll be easier after that). There aren't any dice in this game. Success or failure is determined by the choices of the players, and the task resolution mechanic supports this.
We Are All Children uses the Power Stone System (Patent Pending, this is a joke) as the primary driver of how the game resolves tasks. Task Resolution is a little different from most RPGs in the execution. The Arbiter (This game’s GM), sets a threshold, or difficulty number, and what type of challenge it is (Ability, Resistance, or Combat). The player gets to choose which of their attributes they wish to use and then explains how they use their attribute and any applicable skill to meet that threshold. Power Stones are the currency that drives the game’s engine forward, and the player spends them to complete the challenge. Sounds complicated? It’s really not.
Example: Dave is presented with a physical challenge to cross a series of islands floating above a lake of lava on his way up the mountain to confront the Long Shadow at the end of the adventure. The Arbiter has set the Threshold at four. Dave has a Body Stat of 3, and the Athletics skill at level 2. Dave spends 2 of his Power Stones (we’ll get into the math later) and hits the Threshold of four. Then Dave gets to explain how his character, Milo gets across floating islands.
The players drive the narrative of how their characters navigate the challenges in front of them. The Arbiter might provide suggestions, but ultimately, it’s up to you, as the player to explain yourself. After each scene, characters can recover health OR Power Stones, so it can be a tricky thing to manage your resources to reach the end of the story. Each Adventure is five or six scenes, and a campaign is approximately 13 adventures long (almost perfect for a once a week game during a semester).
THe Book itself is only about 40 pages long, but it features Character art by Sonya Henar and a cover by Fabrizio Fioretti, We Are All Children is a pdf only release for now. You can find it on Itch.io for 24.99 starting July 5th. The book contains all the rules to play the game, and an introductory adventure and five pregenerated characters. If you’re interested, you can also check out a quick-start adventure from the same page at 2.99.
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