The Pilot Episode: A Quick Guide to Bizarre Boroughs
Bizarre Boroughs: A Quick Guide 📖
Welcome to Bizarre Boroughs: The Endless Grind, a tabletop roleplaying game where the extraordinary hides in plain sight. It’s a game about truly living in a city where the mundane is always on the verge of becoming the bizarre. You'll play as a Player Citizen (PC), navigating your daily life, while the Mayor acts as your game master, storyteller, and the arbiter of the city's strange rules. This isn't about saving the world; it's about finding triumphs, forging unbreakable bonds, and discovering the epic narrative woven into the fabric of everyday urban life.
The core of the game is collaborative storytelling. You and your fellow players will work with the Mayor to bring the metropolis to life, defining your character's place in it and reacting to the bizarre situations that arise. It’s a game for those who appreciate the thrilling highs and lows of the everyday and the surprising drama found in the struggles and triumphs of modern existence.
The Setting: Your game is set in a sprawling, American metropolis—New York City, but with a unique, bizarre twist. Gleaming corporate towers cast long shadows over dilapidated tenements where ancient curses might fester, and the subway system is a labyrinth of forgotten tunnels that might lead to another dimension. Here, the everyday and the hyper-mundane collide. You might find a shambling zombie working the night shift at a fast-food joint, a demon running a suspiciously successful business, or an intelligent plant offering surprisingly good financial advice from a pot on a fire escape. This city is a living, breathing character in your story, filled with forgotten gods, mischievous spirits, and a constant hum of ambition and desperation.
Hyper-Mundane Adventures: The challenges you face are not epic quests to slay dragons, but rather mundane problems with a bizarre twist. That broken appliance isn't just a repair job; it could be a boss battle with a rogue automaton that demands a philosophical debate before it gives up its microchip. Your neighbor's nightly rituals might be demonic, causing your houseplants to wilt, or your overdue bills could be coming from an infernal collection agency that sends minor imps to your door. The real adventure lies in the relentless grind of bills, bad landlords, and bureaucratic red tape, all of which are infused with a fantastical element that makes every small victory feel monumental.
Player-Driven Story: This game emphasizes character-driven stories. Your PC's personal goals, struggles, and relationships are the heart of the narrative. Your choices and actions, not a pre-written plot, will shape the story you tell together. It's a collaborative experience where your character's life feels real, messy, and wonderfully weird. Maybe your PC's goal is to open the city's best coffee shop, only to find the perfect location is already claimed by a territorial coffee elemental. Or perhaps you're trying to get a zoning permit from the Department of Interdimensional Affairs. The game is about finding the hero within the hyper-mundane and writing your own unique saga.
How to Play: The D6 Success System 🎲
Most actions in the game are resolved using a simple yet flexible D6 Success System. When an action has an uncertain outcome—whether it's trying to talk your way out of a parking ticket or outrun a possessed taxicab—the Mayor will call for a "check."
Dice Pool: Your dice pool is determined by one of your five core attributes, each rated from 1 to 5. A higher rating means your PC is naturally more adept in that area.
Brawn: Raw physical power, useful for wrestling a sentient garbage disposal, lifting a magically sealed manhole cover, or enduring a prolonged chase.
Finesse: Agility and coordination, perfect for dodging a flying gargoyle, picking a magically sealed lock, or performing an acrobatic escape from a collapsing building.
Wits: Reasoning and perception, for investigating strange occult markings, deciphering a cryptic message from a talking pigeon, or noticing the subtle details of a supernatural scene.
Presence: Persuasion and social grace, for convincing a goblin shopkeeper to lower their prices, haggling with a spirit for a forgotten memory, or standing your ground against a intimidating entity.
Resolve: Willpower and fortitude, for resisting a demon's influence, enduring the psychological strain of a surreal hallucination, or staying calm under pressure.
Successes: On a D6 roll, a result of 4 or 5 is one success (∙), and a 6 is two successes (∙∙). The total number of successes is your Player Result. The special value of a 6 represents a moment of true brilliance or a stroke of luck that propels you far ahead.
Challenge Rating (CR): The Mayor sets a Challenge Rating, which is the number of successes you need to achieve. If your Player Result meets or exceeds the CR, you succeed!
Critical Glitch: Beware of rolling 1s! A spectacular failure can result in a Critical Glitch if the number of 1s rolled is equal to or greater than your relevant Attribute rating. This can lead to a disastrous, often bizarre, outcome, like your pants suddenly falling down during a tense standoff or your arms temporarily turning into rubbery tentacles after a magical backlash. The Mayor's interpretation of a critical glitch is where some of the most memorable and bizarre moments of the game come from.
Harm Tracks: Your PC has two crucial tracks, Physical and Mental, each with six segments that represent your resilience to the city's pressures. As you take harm, you fill segments, which imposes penalties on your dice rolls. Physical Harm comes from bodily trauma or getting slimed by a sewer monster, while Mental Harm is from stress and psychological strain, like the relentless pressure of overdue bills. These tracks visually represent the toll the city takes on you, reminding you that survival in this metropolis is a constant grind.
Relationships: Your connections with Non-Player Citizens (NPCs) are vital. These are tracked with a -6 to +6 rating, and a strong relationship can provide aid or create new, bizarre problems. A trusted contact can get you a discount on arcane artifacts, but they might also get you involved in a bitter supernatural rivalry. A negative relationship can be just as interesting, as a PC might have to find a way to deal with a resentful ghost or a grumpy gargoyle who holds a grudge.
Life Lessons: You'll earn Life Lessons for completing significant story milestones. These can be used to improve your character, such as gaining a new Profession Skill Bonus or a Unique Talent/Quirk. These are how your Citizen grows and adapts to their bizarre surroundings, becoming a legend of their borough. This mechanic is a direct reflection of your character's journey, showing how they learn from their bizarre experiences and become more resilient and capable.
Finance Rating: Your Finance Rating (-1 to 6) represents your PC's financial situation, from being broke to wealthy. It's not just for buying things; it can affect your daily life in a number of ways, from what kind of apartment you can afford to the type of food you eat. It's used for checks related to your financial well-being, like paying a demonic landlord, affording a ticket to the interdimensional opera, or trying to bribe a bureaucratic imp for a vital permit.
Bizarre Boroughs is a celebration of the small victories and the beautiful weirdness of urban life. It’s an invitation to find the hero within the hyper-mundane and write your own unique saga.
Ready to start your adventure? Grab the rulebook and get started at madlabgames.itch.io!
