Escape the City
A downloadable zine
The Zealous Order of Kol Ban Ri has spread its influence in the region surrounding the island city of Wotta Rue. Some have followed the Order willingly, some have been somehow charmed or manipulated into it, and still, others have been frozen in place by a cruel spell. Tonight, Wotta Rue was overrun by frothing zealots on a quest to purify and convert the city for Kol Ban Ri. The four bridges leading out of the city are each guarded by a different mysterious foe.
Can you escape the city?
WHAT IS "ESCAPE THE CITY"?
This zine is a generator that creates a dangerous crawl across a zealot-filled city as you play. As you move, you will learn secrets about the dangerous bridge guards blocking the only bridges out.
FEATURES
- 24-page full-color zine
- Designed for Cairn and 5e. 1-4 players (Level 3 for 5e).
- Supports GMless and solo play
- Uses a standard playing card deck to generate locations and encounters
- Includes unique Secrets mechanic that describes the bridge guard as you play
- Random tables, oracles, bestiary, and NPCs
SOLO/GMLESS PLAY
Using oracles and the card-based location/encounter/secrets system You can play without a scheming game master. Someone still has to keep track of initiative, HP, etc, but the storytelling comes out of the game mechanics.
TEAM
Jim Hall - Writer and Illustrator
A.J. Montague - Copy Editor
Get this game in print on the Brooklet Games Store or the official Cairn Store.
Purchase
In order to download this zine you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $6 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Low-Ink Printable versionNov 22, 2022
Comments
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I am really enjoying playing this solo. Is there a healing mechanic for using 5e? It seems in Cairn you can drink some water to repair hp but then I figure you'd draw another encounter card. Help!
Interesting! You could find healing potions on any card 5 or less. Or spice it up:
Ok only ran through twice so here goes three!
I'm trying to figure out if I need a second card deck. Since the game "mentions" a card deck for secrets, but only says to split ONE deck in to red and white. And then proceeds to say "if you draw a secret card of either black or red color".. Well.. I know exactly what deck is what color. So it can't be random. Therefore I can more or less choose the secret I want. The secret system is very unclear to me.
Oh.. And the example makes it worse.. Saying "because it's a face card".. Man.. What!? That mechanic is only mentioned in the example. Is that a thing in the game that it forgot to mention?
If you draw a Location with a secret, then you draw a card for a secret from the Locations deck. Sorry if that’s unclear.
Here’s someone who played Escape the City if you’re looking for a video example. https://youtu.be/fKvvShsdaWU?si=aVDv_5adQasBg0Qk
Thanks for trying my game!
That video helped, thanx!
The Cairn version of enemies that have an advantage to a save, should not be written "+1 to saves". This is actually a disadvantage.
Advantage would be "-1 to saves" since you want the dice to be equal or lower than the target number.
The 5e version of the enemy has advantage against charm, so I believe that the Cairn one should also have an advantage?
I believe it's just unclear writing again.
Example:
That's a bad thing.
I'm guessing what you mean is:
Easiest fix:
Dark devotion: -1 to will save
Several of the creatures and NPCs lack a STR stat. Is this intentional?
If a stat is missing, it is default 10 (if playing Cairn).
This is the correct answer!
Thank you, Will!
I’m really bummed I just learned about this and it’s sold out at exalted funeral. I prefer to play my rpgs screen free, so without pdfs. Staples is now charging 75 cents per color page. If the author reads this and wants to sell me a print cooy, if possible, let me know. Looks cool.
So glad you’re interested in running it! You can buy copies at BrookletGames.com :)
thanks!
Picked up the print copy from Exalted Funeral, this module is great.
So glad you enjoyed it! I hope to do more books in this style.