The Axiom System

 

The games of the Unspeakable setting will be designed and published first under the Axiom System. Unlike most RPG systems, Axiom does away with the traditional character sheet in favor of hands of cards. (No pencils or paper required!) When arrayed in front of players, these cards tell them everything they need to have on hand, from Skills to special abilities to setting concerns such as political faction or access to important resources. Under Axiom, cards serve double and triple duty as dice roll influencers and as the measure of a character’s health. As one takes wounds, the player flips cards from the Healthy side to the Hurt. When all of a character’s cards are flipped Hurt, that character is incapacitated. The more powerful the character, the more cards one can have in play, and thus, the more damage one can withstand before going down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Players use and arrange Axiom cards in a play area that’s two rows with three stacks in each. The bottom row is called the Mindset, and it features the Focus, Instinct, and Denial stacks. Only ID cards can go in the Mindset. The top row is the Mythos row, and for Outsiders, it features the Ritual, Sigil, and Relic stacks. Outsider characters can move ID cards from their Mindset to their Sigil stack, thus empowering their Sigil and giving them more Mythos powers. Players can only access Feats (card-based special abilities) they can see, so the order of cards within each stack matters, and moving cards around the play area is a part of playing the game.

While you can make an Axiom System character in minutes, each persona is as compelling and as different from another as you want it to be, with the same cards having the potential to represent different things narratively from character to character. Axiom System games are not only the ultimate pick-up games for roleplaying, but they’re also robust venues for experimentation and improvisation with the hobby itself, as the system allows a given table to pick and choose which Axioms (core rules) everyone wants to play with during that campaign.

What is and is not Axiomatic in your game? You decide!