Lucid City RPG

The world is a dream. Once you realized that, you were never able to sleep again. Now you and your fellow oneironauts, people who can Alter reality at great personal risk, team up to rid the city of Nightmares, block by block.

Lucid City is a rules lite one-page TTRPG inspired by movies like Dark City, Inception, The Matrix, Jacob's Ladder, Final Destination, and The City of Lost Children.

CORE RULES

This is a blackjack-style d20 roll-under system. Roll high, but not over. When a player attempts something risky, the GM will ask them to roll a d20 to make an appropriate skill check. 

If the result is...

• Over the skill: They fail.
• Equal to the skill: Jackpot! Succeed and Alter for free, without raising Doom.
• Under skill, over Doom: Succeed.
• Equal or under Doom: Fail and raise Doom by 1 (a doomed roll).

Example: King dives to avoid falling debris. They roll a 7 on a Move skill check. Their Move is 8 and their Doom is 4. Success!

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

“We don’t know. Some of us believe it’s all a dream, or a nightmare. Others say we’re trapped in purgatory. Maybe the City is an illusion or a simulation. The one thing we can agree on is, when you’re gone, you’re gone. There’s no coming back.”
— Jaquelyn Threadbare, oneironaut.

Credits

Special thanks to Jesse Ross and Violet Hargrave for their feedback and guidance. Layout by Jesse Ross. Art by Aroderick.