Molotov College, an Umbrella Academy inspired TTRPG, has a new update!
A Belonging Outside Belonging game about messy superhero drama is getting new playbook and artwork.
Molotov College by W.H. Arthur is a superhero TTRPG inspired by The Umbrella Academy. Players take on the roles of the alumni of a superhero school, having to deal with villains, ghosts, the authorities and the impending apocalypse, while confronting their past trauma and overcoming their differences.
The game uses the Belonging Outside Belonging system by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum. It is a GMless system that uses a token economy instead of dice. A player character can gain a token by getting into trouble, and they can spend a token to do something cool. The role of the GM is broken down into a number of environment playbooks, which is shared by all the players. The mechanics are well suited in emulating superhero media, especially those about a superhero team, in which each superhero faces setbacks to earn their triumphant moments, and the main cast share the spotlight regardless of their "power level".
Molotov College was first released digitally in 2022, with a physical zine release in 2023, and has been continuously updated with new content. Guest playbooks have been written by prominent writers in the TTRPG space, and they are the Tower by Rae Nedjadi, the High Priestess by Charlie Etheridge-Nunn, Death by Chloe Montgomery and the Hermit by Josh Fox. The latest update brings the Magician playbook by Erin Tierney and new character art by Xrystina Marcos.
The Magician card in tarot symbolises resourcefulness and manifestation in its upright position, and manipulation and untapped talent in its reversed position. The Magician in Molotov College is someone with the ability to create wonder, but is easily manipulated by the others. Inspired by characters like Wiccan from Young Avengers, Meggan from Excalibur and Djinn from Teen Titans, the Magician's will can shape the world around them, but others will try to tell the Magician who they are and use the Magician's power to further their own interests.
New character art is created for Death and the Hermit, two of the existing playbooks. Death is a shapeshifter, and the art captures them shifting between two forms; a feminine form with long flowing hair and a masculine form in a 3-piece suit and a beard. The Hermit is a hero whose intelligence is both their strength and downfall, and the art portrays a scientist looking proudly at her experiment in a test tube.
Check out Molotov College if you are into messy superhero drama, resisting the doomed future and GMless roleplaying.
