Delta Shift, Reporting for Duty! | Duality TTRPG
Do you like science fiction? Stories set on a ship traveling through the stars towards destinations and discoveries unknown!
Do you like horror? Stories of a different kind of unknown, sometimes from external forces, sometimes the horror is within the characters, and sometimes both!
Speaking of both… why not both?! Recently I was in an actual play “Delta Shift” using the Duality TTRPG system as our intrepid crew played in a game which spanned two worlds: space and horror.
I am not usually a horror girlie, and those who have asked me to be in horror games know that I will have some caveats about it. Generally I’ll opt for being comic relief in the face of horror, whether through wisecracks or simply playing a character that will be unable to acknowledge the more extreme elements.
After our session zero, Matt started assembling the world and the adventure (space/sci-fi was not in the Duality book… yet) as we all started to pick and fall into our roles.
I played First Mate Buddy Nyma, a very dedicated officer who seeks to achieve all mission objectives with a smile, always with a smile. Cassie was ship’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Toci, harboring far more talent… and secrets than anyone might have suspected. Kay played Security Officer Sheldon O’Hara or just Hara, a gruff officer always in need of their coffee but dedicated to keeping the crew safe. And David played Engineering Officer Isaiah Fairbanks, who would be more easily seen as the talented engineer he is, if he didn’t have a penchant for dismantling everything he can get his hands on, just to see how it works.
Our crew was sent by their corporate masters–because sci-fi can also be a horror-filled capitalist landscape–to investigate a rift in space. The rifts represent a physical transition between worlds for those who aren’t able to innately shift between them, and the company is very interested in investigating the rifts’ potential.
All 4 episodes are on YouTube now, in case you missed them live on Twitch.
And for more about Duality, check out the Kickstarter which has just fully funded! (One of the stretch goals is more Delta Shift, just saying…)
Duality TTRPG is a genre-crossing, 2d6 fail-forward system designed to make your characters feel as strong at your table as they are in your mind. With a focus on mutual storytelling, it features a light framework for narrative-driven speedy and descriptive combat.
If you’ve ever tried to do a genre mash-up in an existing TTRPG system, but feel like you can’t really encompass the full fun of both into a single place, the Duality TTRPG is the game for you. You don’t have to limit the setting to one world, your characters have access to both and are usually aware of both genre worlds, so dipping back and forth can be the norm.
The book provides character archetypes for the different genres and explains one of the ways to set your character apart: the Unique Feature. This is that special power or ability that only your character can do. And like any good party, Unique Features work really well “by your powers combined” if you know what I’m saying.
It was a blast to play Buddy–a character type I hadn’t done before–and to help showcase the system in support of the Kickstarter, and as I said, if it hits the first stretch goal “Delta Shift… will return!” But it’s also been nice to see a little behind the scenes not only of the Duality TTRPG but also a really well organized and run Kickstarter.
So check it out, if you like what you see, snag a copy!
It’s been nice, so far, to do “just enough” TTRPG things on stream that I don’t feel overwhelmed or overbooked. Spring is taking its sweet time to fully emerge, the temps outside are still colder than I’d like, so staying inside to stream or record is still nice. But once those sunny warm days hit, I’ma be outside. I can’t wait! 😀
