You Awaken in a Strange Place
A downloadable game
You Awaken in a Strange Place is a fully improvised, one-shot TTRPG for 4 players that requires zero preparation and only a few hours of your time.
Follow the game's instructions to determine the Game Master, the setting, the characters, and all the details of world building on the fly! Get right into the good stuff of playing fun characters with your fun friends! It's fun!
Don't be afraid to be silly and stupid; this is a silly and stupid game. The session is considered a success if everyone had fun and wants to play again. Feel free to change or adjust any of the rules to better suit your own playstyle or group dynamic!
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just ran this last night. Ran it for two friends on discord. I have very little experience as a GM and non in a completely improvised setting.
It was a blast! Very silly!
Played recently with my niece (12) & nephew (10) and they had a blast! Such a great way to play a creative game with just about anybody! Highly recommend!
This is really cool and concise. I like how easy it is to remember the main rules and how added complexity is mostly up to the GM & players.
Here's a little hack to try for those who want to:
Instead of everyone creating 4 skill verbs they just create 2 skill verbs, one their character is amazing at(+2) & another they're horrible at(-2). After every player makes their 2 skills, the GM adds 2 more skill verbs they think are missing & fitting for the setting.
Then go around the table again. This time, each player chooses 2 skills from the ones made by the other players & GM; a skill their character is good at(+1) & another they're bad at(-1). (Characters who share skills probably share a history)
Hi Tummy Boy, good work on the really cool game, played and had a blast!
I organise the role playing events for a boardgame cafe and would love to print a copy for in the library, please get in touch and let me know if this would be a problem and I'll remove it straight away.
High school teacher here. Very excited to use this with my students to develop team building skills!
Hey there! I'm a little free library lady. Would you be cool if I printed out some copies of this and included it (with dice!) in little free libraries? I have these cards I had printed up that I write in where to find you. Thanks in advance!
Hi Jacob! I'm writing a bit of chapter content for a compilation of micro-TTRPGs for the classroom and would love to remix YASP (with full accreditation). How may I contact you to discuss permissions?
I just ran a session of this with my wife and some friends. It ended up being a "Zany Rom-Com in the Subway" starring three cousins on their way to a ball in their Regency-style subterranean society of alternate-universe NYC. HP ended up reflecting both physical health and pride. My wife doesn't have much experience with TTRPGs, and she took to the game's mechanics immediately and had a great time. A+ would play again.
Caramba, eu ia traduzir em português do Brasil mas já fizeram isso 😅👌
i found it here and translate that to portuguese and there is the result https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vJG-Esogdy2IltInJRC24AlGOp0IuvKt/view?usp=shari... if someone find some error please talk with me on the email (feumencon@gmail.com)(i'm brazilian)
Eu achei isso aqui e traduzi para português e aqui esta o resutado https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vJG-Esogdy2IltInJRC24AlGOp0IuvKt/view?usp=shari... se alguém achar algum erro por favor falar comigo no email (feumencon@gmail.com) (eu sou brasileiro)
Greetings! I downloaded this for free and I've thoroughly enjoyed it so much that I'm now returning to purchase it! I now host daily games of this on startplaying.games and run it when I've got players absent from my d&d table and I've had wonderful responses from every player I've encountered so far. You've created a fantastic system that is as versatile as it is simple. Thanks so much. I'd love to have you come play it some time! https://startplaying.games/adventure/clepzj0r7000108l6hlxl5g5i
Maybe even make it a charity event where proceeds go to a good cause?
I looked here to find the rules after playing a session with you, nice coincidence seeing your comment!
Everybody should definitely check out his startplaying account, he's a great DM, 10/10!
I got "You Awaken in a Strange Place" for free on Pay What You Like several weeks ago, and have been dying to play it. Last weekend, I finally got to play it with my wife and nieces, and we had so much fun that I decided to go back and buy it again, this time paying money for it. If you're looking for a zero-prep TTRPG that isn't D&D, check it out!
I ran this with my parents, and my sister and brother in law today. I've never DMed anything and my parents have never played an rpg, my sister is a DnD newbie (as am I) and it was the most fun I've had with that specific group of people in ages! it went so far off the rails we couldn't even see them any longer, and I just had to leave a note saying thank you! I'm so glad this exists.
Looks like a fun way to BS a real quick game session. May have to give this a try.
Quick question: Players get 10 HP, but I don't know what HP are used for. Doesn't seem to be a way to lose them.
This is currently my group's regular game! Easy to set up, fun to play, wild to adventure in, and alarmingly flexible for different scenarios :D
Does anyone think that it would be possible to play this with more than four people?
Don't know if you'd still want a response this late, but I've been playing it with five people and it's been very successful! We get the fourth player to give either a Genre or Adjective wildcard to the setting generation, and just play as per usual with the additional skill verbs.
I added an era inspiration setup for my fourth player. But I'm a costume designer and so I knew that would help me add flavor!
i’m so glad this is on itch now! thank you for writing this game, it is so much fun to play :)
This was tremendously fun! We were a bunch of stoner prog rock aliens fighting to win a battle of the bands at a festival designed to celebrate those silly mythical "Hoomans" - it was a blast!
Thanks for making it, definitely recommending it to everyone I know for a fun one-off RPG experience!
Can't wait to make a dumb story with my friends!
Played this with my friend group after y'all first streamed it a while back. We were miners mining Stank at the bottom of the Deepest Hole In The World, and we eventually overthrew the Foreman of the Stank Pits.
5/5 Would rope my friend who's the best out of all of us at improv into GMing this again.
hooray!! Thank you for posting this :)
My friends and I played a while ago and we were rebel space pirates trying to steal the secret herb & spice blend from Galactic Overlord Colonel Sanders and his henchmen the Spice Girls!
Pure chaos, so much fun.