This game takes place in your hometown
This game takes place in your hometown. To one of you, this is a place once forgotten, to the other, a place you know no other. In this two-player TTRPG, two players work collaboratively to create and explore their hometown in a new light foreign to them both. They are both being hunted now, both the lone survivors.
“This Game Takes Place in Your Hometown” is a captivating two-player horror tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) that intertwines the eerie allure of apocalyptic survival with the intimate familiarity of the players’ own hometowns. Being the first TTRPG I have played without a DM/GM, I found it interesting how the mechanics circumvent these roles. Instead, the game employs a normal deck of cards (minus the jokers), a Jenga block tower (although I played without one), and an X card to create a unique and immersive narrative experience.
An interesting mechanic I found was the use of the X card, which ensures a respectful gaming environment by allowing players to veto content that makes them uncomfortable. This feature is particularly important given some prompts may halt the story you’ve built, make a player uncomfortable, or not apply to your story.
The gameplay mechanics involve drawing cards that prompt storytelling and memory exploration, along with the strategic physical challenge, and stress induction, of pulling blocks from a tower. The game ends either when the tower collapses, signaling the players’ capture, or when the fourth “2” card is drawn, signifying their escape. Unfortunately, we did not have a Jenga tower to play with, so the tension was solely in the heart of the cards. We also changed it to the third “2” card to escape and added the joker cards to signify capture.
The cards are divided into suits, each with its own set of prompts that encourage players to delve into their characters’ pasts, explore their surroundings, and interact with their partner in meaningful ways. These prompts range from reminiscing about a first kiss (which I drew) to deciding whether to take a potentially useful but ominous item. The game’s focus on narrative depth and character development is seen through these varied and thought-provoking scenarios.
I had a lot of fun playing this game. It was innovative and emotionally charged, something which I have never had the fortune of experiencing in a TTRPG. Playing without a GM was another interesting mechanic, as prior to this I was used to playing a sort of reactionary style of play. Straying away from that and wandering towards a far more improvisational and creation-oriented type of play was something I think helped me grow as a TTRPG player. This was also my first in the horror genre, but I felt it was difficult to fear the world we built. However, embodying a character with improvised depth and complexities was super fun and something I would love to experience again.
Dylan Martin
