Uncanny Echo: The Heist (PBtA)
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This game does not explain how to play a Powered by the Apocalypse game; it leverages knowledge of the system to present a rules-light game.
Edit: An Anthology comprised of every Uncanny Echo issue (10 in total) with 45 pages explaining the system and 49 pieces of art is now available in print and PDF formats here.
Issue 0: The Heist
Uncanny Echo is a serialized roleplaying game. It is based in part on the Apocalypse World engine created by D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker. Games using elements of the Apocalypse World engine are often referred to as Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA).
Uncanny Echo's aim is to have small¸ contained stories rooted in mysterious or eerie events that unravel with each issue. Something somewhat normal becomes something else: surreal¸ unearthly...uncanny.
In this Issue¸ the story will be about a bank robbery and is based very loosely on the movie The Town¸ with a twist: not all vaults are meant to contain money. What this one holds is up to you and the other players.
You'll use a stripped-down version of Apocalypse World engine to play this one specific event. Next month will be a different experience within the same game world. With each issue¸ you'll discover how each event relates to the one before it-a process largely determined by you.
Each one shot will be as pick-up-and-play as possible¸ within a system you already know¸ the goal being to form an ongoing serialized narrative that has a meta-narrative external from any given session. The story unfolds in an emergent manner.
These one-shots will sometimes be directly connected to the next issue; other times you will decide how they fit together. They may simulate jump cuts to unrelated events¸ returning later to the circumstances in previous months just as a movie or TV show would from scene to scene or episode to episode. As more are released¸ you may choose to play them in whatever order you choose.
Within these modular experiences¸ each game will differ greatly with player input. Each uncanny story is of your own making. You to play to find out what happens with as little cognitive load as possible.