Tabletop Role Playing Games by Joel Salda

CHRONO ILLOGICAL
- Top 10 in Button Shy's 18 Card RPG Contest -

Chrono Illogical is an 18 card, tabletop roleplaying game about unwilling time travelers, sent to a random time to fix a problem they know nothing about, and trying not to mess up the time line further before they can return home. The game requires 1 to 5 players that takes about 1-2 hours. The game is GM-less and requires the players to build a communal narrative through imagination, role playing, answering card prompts, and dice rolling. The game encourages players to research the time that their characters are from and the time they are in for the game.

GAME SUMMARY

Far in the ruined future, desperate scientists searched for a way to fix their ruined civilization. They discovered an imperfect form of time travel. Points in the past could be identified as instances in the timeline that had become corrupted. The problem was they could not send one of their own. Scientists could only send random individuals from the past in an attempt to uncover and fix the problem. This process of sending unknown travelers to solve a problem they know nothing about in an unfamiliar time became known as Chrono Illogical. The risks are high but this process was the only hope to save the future and restore the past.


Prompt Driven Play

Organic Character Sheets

Printable Cards

Different City Layouts

18 Cards and a Twist on a Familiar Mechanic

The mechanics use a twist on Powered by the Apocalypse system. The 7-9 result on your 2d6 is the perfect result. Roll too low, you fail and reveal that you are from a different time in small ways. Roll too high, you succeed but you raise suspicions potentially endangering the time line and encounter another complication. Players can gamble to use their stats to assist but must spend all their points to reach a perfect result. The stat points must be spent even if the perfect result is not reached.

Every time and city you travel to is a unique arrangement of 18 cards that have prompts for your character to engage with. With a modular map, there are innumerable places for your travelers to explore. The arrangement of the prompts and the variety of travelers you can make will provide you will countless misadventures through time.

Chosen as 10 Top in ButtonShy's 18 Card RPG Contest

The origin version of Chrono Illogical was created and entered as part of ButtonShy's 18 Card RPG Contest. The contest had over 70 entries and Chrono Illogical was featured in their Top 10 Picks video. After the contest, the game was released with updated rules and art.

Chrono Illogical can be downloaded for free on The Big Tabletop itch page.

Questions?

Contact joelsalda@gmail.com to get more information any of these games.