THE REAL THING RPG

Synopsis

The Real Thing RPG is an action drama TTRPG based loosely on the music of Faith No More. The game was designed in partnership with the band. It employs the simple and much-loved Powered-by-the-Apocalypse system, making for lightweight play that is driven largely by the players’ decisions.

The Real Thing comes with a self-contained story based on the music of Faith No More. Specifically, we have drawn significant story elements and inspiration from Faith No More’s album from 1989 entitled The Real Thing. It was groundbreaking at the time and remains one of the best albums ever created, in our humble opinions. More to the point, however, is that many of the songs revolve around similar themes and ideas, making it a perfect album around which to craft a concept role-playing game (RPG).

Much like the album upon which it is based, this game contains adult themes, discussed in detail in the Story & Themes section. The experience is meant to be exploratory, both physically and mentally. Players should enter the game with a mindset of openness, empathy, and a willingness to “play along.”

The Real Thing story is intended to take between ten and fifteen hours of play. This can vary wildly depending on the choices made by the group and how deeply they choose to delve into the story and their characters. The story shines when players take center stage, feeling the drive and permission to craft their characters and the world as they play.

The story draws on styles and themes from a number of exceptional titles including The World of Darkness by White Wolf and Urban Shadows by Magpie Games. These games should give players a sense of the feel and content of the story they are about to experience. This is not a heroic adventure, but the characters can commit heroic acts. This is not a tragedy, per se, but there are tragic elements. This is not a survival game, but survival is not guaranteed.