Chimera RPG - The First Playset

Welcome to Chimera, a Powered by the Apocalypse, tabletop role-playing experience where you blend together multiple genres to tell unique stories in your very own worlds!

What is Chimera?

In Chimera, you and your group select at least 2 Genre Modules to blend into a single experience. You create a world with your friends based on tropes from those genres, and then merge together two character archetypes to create characters

• Chimera is a game designed to be played with 2-5 players including a Genre Moderator (GM).
• Based on the Powered by the Apocalypse framework...
• But with a unique twist to dice system! Pull out your d4's to d10's
• Mix and Match Genres and Micro Genres to your hearts content with 
• A robust worldbuilding toolkit to help you create a unique setting each time you play this game
• Custom mechanics for each genre to help you tell stories within them

What's included with this Playset?

This is the first playset, and is designed to give you the full Chimera experience. While it's still an early access, the game is fully playable as is and has been tested extensively. Specifically:

• The Core Rules for Chimera
• A quickstart guide to help you get setup
• Worldbuilding and Moves for 3 Genres - Fantasy, Superhero, and Magical Girls
• 18 Playbooks - 6 from each genre
• Mechanics for 3 Micro Genres - Horror, Mystery, and *drum roll* MUSICAL!
• Access to all future updates and changes to the above!
• Discounted access to the final core rule book, which will include pre-made settings, some expansions on the rules, and other optional material entirely dependent on the kickstarter.
• Printable Playbooks

18 Playbooks?!?!

That's right! Because of the fact that you need 2 playbooks to make a character, we have a large selection for you to choose from! Here's a taste of what to expect:

Fantasy

• The Bound: You forged a pact with a powerful entity, and now are beholden to it as the cost for your power.
• The Devout: You are devoted to a deity or a cause, and carry it with you wherever you go.
• The Learned: You extensively studied what you know, and juggle the difference between theory and reality.
• The Protector: You always fight for what is right, even if it gets you into trouble
• The Survival: You learned what you can do out of necessity without training, but surviving is all you know.
• The Wanderer: You exist on the fringes of society, always without a home.

Magical Girls

• The Genius: You spent more time with books than friends, and now find your analytical mind on a team of friends.
• The Guardian: Always the protector, you will defend anyone with or without your powers.
• The Heart: You are the heart of the group, always willing to spread love and joy, even if you're a bit selfish about it.
• The Leader: You were destined to lead this group, whether you want to or not. You lean on your magical companion for advice.
• The Mask: You follow the group and swoop in at the right times to help. No one on the team knows your true identities... yet.
• The Spirit: Ritual, meditation, guidance, spirituality. This is what you embody, whether transformed or not.

Superheroes

• The Chosen: You have been chosen by a special Focus which grants you the power to transform yourself into the ideal superhero, along with the responsibilities that come with it.
• The Demigod: You are born from both a mortal and a literal deity, or something close enough, but where will your obligations lie?
• The Hopeful: You weren't born with powers, but somehow you have gained them. Now, you chose to use them responsibly and for good.
• The Innovator: You have innovated your way into the life of the hero.
• The Stranded: You are from another world, time, or dimension, but are now stuck here with a drive to return home.
• The Weapon: You have been created or trained to excel at combat, and must find your place in this world because of, or inspite, of your training.

What's the deal with Micro Genres?

Micro-genres are most notably defined by a lack of playbooks. Rather than being a full story experience that provides you character creation options, they are augmentations to your games, allowing you to add a little extra flavour to the other genres. Say you're already running a Fantasy-Superhero game and you want to go full Galavant and add some Musical to it, or you want to run a spooky session and pull in the Horror module for a bit. That's what they offer. For some peaks at the mechanics:

• Mystery: A unique collaborative system that encourages everyone to create their own questions for how their character approaches snooping information. You then work together by answering them to construct a narrative.
• Horror: Every person has a way they approach that which they fear, and when that fails, they try the next. W ill you have your defences against the terrifying slowly whittled down, or will you overcome them before they overcome you?
• Musical: Song! Dance! Whacky hijinks and I-Wants! This provides rules for passing around the spotlight in a song and rolling to see how great your musical numbers are!

What we have planned*?

*Dependent on crowdfunding.

• 4 More Playbooks 
• Expansions on the safety tools
• More Art. Just, all the Art.
• Further editing, spellchecks, etc.
• Updates to Playbook Move names.
• Re-examining the advancements.
• Re-examining the relationship system.
• Tools to introduce new genre elements to all your other favourite PbtA games
• Tools for helping you build your own genres!

There's also everything we don't have planned! A lot of the changes we make to this system aren't planned out in advance, but if they affect these files you'll have them!

Feedback

To that end, we'd really appreciate any feedback you have on the game. We've playtested a lot and plan to keep doing so as we progress in our development, including some Actual Play Streams (see below for more info), but we're only two people. If you enjoy this game and want to see it get even better, you can leave us feedback in the form of an email at chimerarpg.pbta@gmail.com, chatting with us in our Discord at https://discord.chimerapbta.com, or leaving a comment on this very itch page!

Where is my money going?

For this version of the game, all sales are going directly back into the production of this game, in order to make it the best game possible. Our first order of business is to commission art for the remaining Archetypes for the next version. After that, probably more art commissions that will make it into the final book. This art will be used for the eventual Kickstarter campaign to showcase some of the creativity that can come out of this game. We'll be commissioning from marginalized artists from all over, and getting an interesting array of styles to keep in line with our Chimera motif. We also might be able to hire some people early for some of the work needed to bring the game into its final form! Layout artists, editors, writers, etc. We could get a little head start on those, if possible.

Credits:

• Co-Designed by Ryan Boelter and Amr Ammourazz
• Chimera Logo by Devon George
• Playbook Artwork by Chase
• Logo by Devon George

Actual Plays:

Below, you can find links to the two Chimera AP Campaigns currently available if you're curious to see how the game plays before diving in.