Oceania 2084 - the orwellian TTRPG

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These are the opening words of the game Oceania 2084. A game that is a spiritual successor to George Orwell's book 1984. The Austere Edition, as in the free version, which is a text-only/minimal visual design version of the game. It is released as a pay-what-you-want PDF download and is the full rule set together with all the different sheets that are needed to play the game.

What is Oceania 2084? 

In gamer-lingo, the game is an asymmetric, adversarial storytelling game with a heavy focus on social gameplay and stealth. The game is designed for 3-8 players. It is a game about resistance despite unimaginably bad odds and finding small glimmers of hope even when things seem impossibly bleak.

Said about the game

"Oceania 2084 provides a masterful tabletop game design for confronting abstract concepts of truth, manipulation of beliefs and agency. A tabletop RPG influenced by concepts from 1984 by George Orwell. Some juicy thoughts for serious tabletop exercising and an excellent master's thesis!"
- Dr Dan Epstein, The Long Game Project

"I am always amazed at his ability to translate complex social interactions and literary styles in his work, and this is no different. Having played it, I can say the game is challenging in a great many ways. But also can be played in a great many ways."
- Josephine Baird, Lecturer and Researcher at Department of Game Design - Uppsala University. Game designer and Consultant. Podcaster. Writer, presenter, and actor

"The brilliance of the system's asymmetrical gameplay can be found in the freedom of player agency taken when providing future characters with hope that they may one day break free from Big Brother's grasp. My players became invested in the stories of their resistance members and created a complex web of family and friends for them to swap to in the event that their character was executed by Big Brother. This game provides truly some of the strongest TTRPG storytelling elements I've ever seen." 
- Heart II Soul Studios

The Setting

The game is heavily inspired by the book "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1949) by George Orwell, which is a dystopian illustration of the life of Winston Smith under totalitarian bureaucracy and a world that does not allow for individualism. It also takes some inspiration from "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley and "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Instead of trying to make a game that is an imitation of Orwell's vision the game takes place in The City which is left unnamed and largely undefined. The City will be yours to create, collectively imagine, and explore. What is defined are what types of areas exist in all versions of The City, and a way to determine the personality of the city.

Directly inspired by Orwell are the existing state structures: the Ministries, Big Brother,  and the Party. These will play a big part in all sessions of the game as they are integral parts of the rules for the Big Brother player.  

Mechanics and systems

An unconventional take on collaborative storytelling.  The game is an asymmetrical adversarial game, with player characters on one side of the conflict and one player taking the role of "Big Brother" effectively being the antagonist of the game.  The actions of one side enable actions from the other side, according to a rule-based point system. There is no traditional conflict resolution system, where you roll a die to achieve something. Instead, the game is balanced through a system of risk and reward and strategic usage of resources.  This doesn't mean that you will not be rolling dice, there are a lot of situations and rules that use and rely on die rolling. 

The game is inspired by rogue-likes, Red Carnations on a black grave, Lasers & Feelings, Vampire the Masquerade, PbtA, A Thousand Year Old Vampire, and Paranoia among other things.

The curated Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/0Vu9Ovtex6UcEK2SCfbUGo?utm_source=generator&theme=0