GameSearch

An AI-Powered Search and Recommendation Engine for Itch.io RPGs

Swansong of Blood and Tears
Twelve weeks (or roughly one cour) ago, humanity had first contact with the evil space empire. Since then, the empire had sent one of its henchman to attack earth every week. Although the earth's mechas managed to fight them off, earth's population and environment have taken a huge toll. To end the invasion once and for all, an elite squadron is sent to sabotage the empire's mecha factory. The problem? Earth only has an experimental one-use teleporter. Once there, you will be deep into enemy territory with no backup. Success or failure, you won't be able to make it back alive. Swansong of Blood and Tears is a tabletop RPG by W.H. Arthur (@Aryl_Ether on Twitter and itch.io), made for #sadmechjam. The game is played with a Jenga tower, by one gamemaster and 2-6 players. The 4-page PDF comes with all the rules you need (in full-colour and printer-friendly versions). Optionally, you can print out the character sheets, where you can doodle your own mecha! SoBaT is inspired by super robot anime such as The King of Braves GaoGaiGar Final and Gurren Lagann. Very often in the finale, the protagonists have to take their fight to the big bad, with odds stacked against them. The good guys would die one by one, often in big heroic sacrifices, and sometimes even the main character bites the dust. The aim of this game is to reproduce those final struggles. I borrowed the action-resolution mechanic from Dread by Epidiah Ravachol. The players pull from a Jenga tower when they make a difficult action, and their character perishes when the tower falls. Every character death comes with a heroic sacrifice, bringing the team closer to its goal. If people like this game, I may write more additional characters and scenarios in the future. P.S. I originally started with a 1d6 system, where success with a cost is the most probable outcome, and the player mechas would make heroic sacrifices when their HP is down to zero. I wanted to get rid of the HP system, and remembered someone telling me
Price:
$0.00
Rating:
5.00 (from 3 reviews)
Published:
These games are similar to Swansong of Blood and Tears ...
My Body is a Cage   - Slice of life drama in the streets, dungeon crawler in the sheets.
Metahumans Rising   - A table top RPG inspired by super powered heroes and their stories.
Punch Town: The Town of Punches   - A block-flinging RPG where punching can solve literally any problem, somehow!
AGON   - Heroic action in the mythic age
.dungeon   - An alternate reality table top roleplaying game.
Scrapyard Junkbots   - A scrappy arcano-tech RPG about robots in the aftermath of the Arcane Apocalypse.
The Sealed Library   - You are the last librarian. What can you save before the fire?
Our Final Gathering: The Dreaded Reflections of the Immortal Soul   - An RPG where the final immortals have gathered to fight to the last.. and to relive the past.
October Rust   - A game about personal fall for the greater stand, set in early modern & gothic cliches.
6e   - This is what it looks like.
Songbirds - Core Rulebook   - The second edition of Songbirds.
Resistance Grows   - an expansion and setting overlay
Swansong of Blood and Tears is similar to...
The Flamekeeper - A Wanderhome Playbook   - You have made sacrifices, and now you burn.
SuperSix   - Faites mieux que lire des comics, jouez les !
SCP: PROTOCOL 4000-ESHU   - An SCP Foundation Dread Scenario
One Day at a Thyme   - A solo journaling game in which you play a cozy cottage witch.
Cryptid Apothecary   - Mix potions to remedy your preternatural patients' mystic ailments.
Homegrown   - An active 2-player game inspired by Korean folklore.
One Night at a Thyme: Spooky Season   - an expansion
Six Edicts   - A small game.
Get In The Fucking Robot   - A mecha Britcom for #sadmechjam.
Masters of Mind-Chess   - A TTRPG of warring internal monologues and anime drama
Adrift   - You're gonna need a bigger boat!
Spy School   - Keep those spy kids busy.
If you like Pastel Paradise check out...
Barrow Keep: Den of Spies   - An old-school fantasy adventure zine of intrigue & romance
The Black Pit   - A Sphere for Troika!
Ten People You Meet In The Undergarden   - A Troika! sphere presented in ten vignettes.
Tiny Beasts in a Vast Forest   - A little Troika! sphere full of little adventures
The Adventures of a Brash Bisexual Balloonist - A Troika Sphere   - A very queer Troika sphere with brash balloonists and moon nazis.
MOTEM: Monuments Of The Electric Monks   - This surreal Troika minizine includes a bizarre setting, encounters, and an npc.
The Steadfast and the Rebellious   - A storytelling RPG where you generate a city and its freedom fighters with a deck of cards
Oniria's Slumber   - A game of dreamy ventures
Boletariat Revolution   - A Pocket Sphere for the Troika! RPG
Sphere? Try Angles   - Spheres are overrated. Try Angles. A Pocket Sphere for Troika!
Slow Sleigh to Plankton Downs   - A journey to the glaciated world of Mora's Misstep
Cyber Explosions   - a zine length cyberpunk setting for Troika! exploding with cartoonish violence
If you like Down We Go check out...
Hungry Gnolls Eat the Rich   - A rules-lite RPG of chaos and community
Oldham Rules   - Rules Light Freeform Tabletop Role-Playing System based on Old School Rules
Heroic Tales   - A rules-lite Fantasy RPG
The Rot King's Sanctum   - An OSR-style  dungeon module  for levels 1-3
SpeedRune   - a rules-lite ancient world fantasy RPG
Hideous Daylight   - A pen-and-paper adventure module of sun-soaked horror. Compatible with Old-School Essentials and Cairn..
TURN   - Contemporary dungeoncrawls
Knave   - A streamlined, elegant OSR RPG system
Caven   - A rules-lite TTRPG
Why Thieves are Anti-OSR, 3 Thieves That Aren't, & why we Love them Anyways   - Three OSR and D&D Compatible Thief Replacements
FORGE   - Old School RPG with GM & Solo Tools
Destroy all Dungeons! Death to all Dragons!   - A game about rebellion, resistance, and revolution
If you like [BXRLIN || 1985] check out...
Changelings   - TTRPG about changelings fighting for a cause
Steamed Hams   - A Game About Excellent Ideas
What's So Cool About Outer Space?   - A tiny game to paste in the front of your favorite notebook so you can carry the galaxy around with you.
FATHOM   - Surreal fantasy in an urban hellscape
[[MXGXZINE//   - A Class and NPC Supplement for the [BXLLET> SXSTEM
Quad   - Class supplement for [BXLLET>
NEKROPOL   - THE FLESH IS WEAK. PERFECTION LIES WITHIN.
At the Monarch's Gate   - A game about the weapons we carry and the stories they hold.
1400 SNEAK   - Lo-Fi Heist-Fantasy RPG.  Part of the 1400 plug-and-play micro-RPG series.
RPG Generator   - Generate ideas for new tabletop RPGs
As the Gods Demand   - TTRPG rules for a level-less divine magic system, gods, and accessory rules
Costume Fairy Adventures   - A tabletop RPG about fairies. In costumes. Having adventures. (Fairies are not good at creative titles.)