Set in the trenches of World War One, Never Going Home is an RPG set in the mass violence of the conflict and when soldiers begin to hear whispers.
Powered by the +One System, the tabletop game already has some campaign dossiers to play through, and the latest Kickstarter offers two more. The funding target has been met, and you can see progress from the pitch page.
Each of the two campaigns features one particular horrific theatre of conflict in the Great War, offering new character options and threats for Narrators. Each campaign is made of six interlinked Missions.
Bile in the Streets is designed by Steven Wu.
1914 Balkans Serbia, enlarged after the Second Balkan War of 1913, wanted more territory from its imperial neighbours. The Serbian military is now causing trouble inside the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbian partisans, veterans of the last war and recruits to the new secret war will play. Covertly transport people and supplies across borders. What can you know about closed-door meetings? Who runs this? How far will spy masters go to succeed? Why is a critical imperial figure visiting Sarajevo relevant? Contains an Alarm system for taming magical strangeness before the Veil was torn, a list of Grimories characters who can teach Whispers and profiles of some of the factions behind the scenes.
Spit in the Dirty is designed by Vlad Bratovich
France, Belgium, 1918 Americans arrived! They bring new energy to the conflict but also their own issues. As the fighting intensifies again, play as the Americans as they see Europe in ruins and see their own fear and anger reflected back at them. Will they survive the Atlantic crossing to the end of the war? What price? New equipment and how to build it, Nightmare rules that drive characters madder, and two Whisper Paths that offer Rage or Conviction as war solutions.
Never Going Home is powered by a simple and easy to learn rules set, the +One System. Players roll a number of D6 equal to skill proficiency and manipulate die results a number of times based on Attributes. A 5 or 6 on the die is a success and players must meet or exceed the Target Number of successes to succeed on a roll. Each roll can be manipulated to raise or reroll a die, but also to add dice to a roll, or even to roll a skill you may not have. The higher an Attribute is, the more a character can manipulate the roll, but each attribute is also a marker of their health and as a character is damaged, options and proficiency are also reduced.
There’s also the companion (ish) to the Book of Whispers with From Beyond the Veil.
Backers get access to the Pledge Manager with just a $1 pledge and the PDFs of Bile in the Streets, Spit in the Dirt, From Beyond the Veil in PDF and all the digital stretch goals at $25.
Print copies of the new books, complete with PDF copies, are the $50 reward, and that comes with digital stretch goals as well.
If you want to buy into the back issues and in PDF, then the $75 is tempting. That includes the Never Going Home RPG and supplements like the Book of Whispers and Tome of Corrupted Beasts.
Alternatively, $75 could also get the new books in print and PDF, rot dice, journey playing cards and digital stretch goals.
$175 backers get all the books in print and PDF, and $200 adds the accessories.
Wet Ink Games estimate delivery of November 2023 for most of the tiers, and I suspect the July 2023 tier is a typo.
What do you think? Measured observations are welcome and you can leave them in the comment section below.
