Embers of Humanity launches open playtesting
It's not won any awards, the authors aren't particularly notable and you've never heard of the artist, but something about the setting sticks in your head and makes you go "Hey, maybe I should run this"
Embers of Humanity launched the open play test of their brand new post-apocalyptic TTRPG, offering this early version of the game entirely free to the community for the rest of the year.
A TTRPG that is easy to pick up and play, Embers of Humanity explores the lives of regular people after the world has ended. One day, electricity suddenly stopped working, , no-one came to the rescue and the whole world fell apart.
Lacking any explanation, the survivors eke out a meagre existence, living off the land, with the impotent ruins of modern society slowly rusting around them. The game begins with a small group of survivors banding together in order to survive, they establish a settlement and begin to rebuild in the embers of civilisation.
The settlement will grow from a burnt out ruin, into an flickering ember, and then, hopefully, a roaring fire.
As the settlement grows and develops, the survivors are joined by others, until they have a thriving town. But, as the town grows, so do the needs of its people. Survivors must head out again & again into the wasteland in order to scavenger or discover what they need for their settlement to thrive.
In amidst all of this is the Weird. A phenomenon without explanation. One day, electronics blanked out into useless scraps of metal and time became unpredictable. No-one can explain it. Other bubbles of oddness can be found out in the wasteland, making it a far more dangerous place to explore than you'd first imagine.
Early reviews talk of the feeling of hope and resilience inherent in the game. Others mention that, far more than other RPGs, Embers seemed to follow them home and stick in their thoughts days and weeks after playing.
"Even though it's about the end of the world as we know it, it's a game with a great deal of hope. My takeaway is that it was as much about resilience, and the ability of humans to begin again after losing everything as it was about the end of the old world. I 100% recommend it!"
Embers of Humanity Starter set is a 35 page pdf using the BRP ruleset under the ORC license. The free PDF contains all the information required to run the game. It is presently free to download on itch.io.
