Distemper: Quickstart
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Distemper is a post-apocalyptic¸ survival/horror table-top roleplaying game that takes place a few months after the Dog Flu wiped out 90% of humanity.
Players assume the roles of characters who are ordinary people living in extraordinary times as they navigate a world where everything is either broken or is well on the way to breaking¸ and where anything of value will draw unwanted attention.
Based on the Distemper comic-book stories from Blood Moon Comics¸ this survival/horror sandbox is set very much in the real world. There are no zombies¸ no aliens¸ and no mutants¸ there is just gnawing hunger¸ biting cold¸ and the constant threat of other¸ desperate people to contend with.
Distemper is a sandbox game where players are free to decide the type of stories they wish to collaboratively tell.
For some groups¸ this might be a game about conquering the day-to-day struggle of subsisting in a harsh and dangerous world and where securing essential supplies like food¸ water¸ and ammunition are going to be key to your very survival.
Perhaps they will remain mobile¸ scavenging like buzzards along their way¸ or perhaps they will secure a large enough base of operations for their group to sleep¸ hide out¸ and defend themselves from other survivors while they establish a working farm to meet their needs.
Some groups might choose to restore a semblance of civilization by leveraging Distemper's Community and Territory rules to recruit Cohorts of NPCs to help with their efforts. bringing together other survivors to form a loose collective that farms¸ trades¸ and works towards the common good.
Or perhaps the players will want to take a more grandiose approach to survival in a world with roughly a billion people left by becoming warlords¸ taking control of a region by force and pressganging NPCs into Conscription as a private army that they use to secure territory and resources.
They might even choose to establish their own religious sect¸ converting NPCs to their cause and building a church and Convert a congregation to a group of fanatics¸ dedicated to carrying out their bidding.
Several campaign settings are in development that will facilitate diverse storytelling experiences¸ in addition to a steady stream of modular encounters and other content that can easily be incorporated into an existing game. Some of the content will be directly related to¸ or set against the backdrop of events shown in the Distemper comic book series. While the possibilities are endless and players have the freedom to shape the story as they want¸ with more than 60 million survivors in North America alone¸ one thing is for certain - players are going to have to be smart about what they do¸ if they plan to get by.
This Quickstart contains a condensed version of the core rules with everything a GM and group of players need to get started¸ including:
A timeline of the Dog Flu and enough background on the current state¸ of the world for a group to orient themselves and start telling stories
Dice checks - a simple but flexible 2d6+Modifiers mechanic with gradations of success which allows for quick resolution while incorporating narrative elements Character Creation - this includes the Backstory Generation life-path system where players allocate points to attributes and skills during the various stages of their character's lives¸ allowing them to build the exact concept they have in mind 16 Paradigms that allow a player to pick a familiar trope or stereotype and start playing with minimal customization¸ including Biker¸ EMT¸ Mayor¸ Preacher¸ Rural Sheriff¸ Semi-Pro Athlete¸ and more A brutally realistic Combat system that matches the world the players find themselves in and in which characters are unlikely to survive multiple attacks As the smart move is often avoiding direct conflict¸ Distemper includes mechanics such as Gut Instincts¸ First Impressions¸ and Negotiations to provide social mechanisms for problem solving
As a companion to this Quickstart¸ Chased is an accompanying encounter that a group can use to tell a stand-alone story over a session or two but which also contains enough information for a GM to build a campaign from. Chased will be available in Q2 2023 and a beta-copy is available upon request.
Also available for download¸ Empty is a Jumpstart encounter originally designed as a playtest guide. This document contains an even more streamlined version of the rules and guides a new GM and group through a single-scene encounter¸ teaching them the basics of the game as they become relevant to the story. Empty opens with a 6-page comic-book short-story to set the stage for the GM.
The Distemper TTRPG is set against the backdrop of stories told in the Distemper Comic Books¸ published by Blood Moon Comics¸ and this Quickstart contains art from Hernan Gonzalez¸ Nenad Cviticanin¸ and Carlos Angeli.
Additional Distemper comic-book stories that are intended to help set the tone for the group¸ as well as providing backstory and lore for the world can be found at GlobalComix or the DistemperVerse website.
The Distemper Core Rulebook is currently in beta-testing¸ with a projected launch in Q4 2023. It will expand on rules included in the Quickstart¸ as well as provide a broader and more robust toolset for world-building and survival. A beta-testing copy is available upon request.
Visit the DistemperVerse website for more details¸ join our Discord and follow along at Twitter on @XeroSumGames