Introduction

The ever-constant rain lightly taps against the window of a dimly-lit studio in some back corner of the city. Against the far wall, a person sits hunched over a heap of twisted metal. Sparks fly as they weld, lighting the room as though the storm’s lightning was striking indoors. Maybe it was. A knock at the door startles the subject of our attention, who halts for a moment before ignoring the knocking and resuming work.

"U.I.U., open up!”, calls a voice from the other side of the door.

The person stiffens, dropping their tools to the table. In a flash, they tear away their welding mask revealing a scarred, semi-robotic face twisted in a scowl. They grab a backpack off the bed as they race for the back door. There’s one group no Anartist wants to deal with, and they’re currently banging at the door.

Warped World is a standalone tabletop RPG which takes place in the warped, darkly magical world(s) of the SCP body of fiction. This ruleset is designed to be fairly flexible in order to be able to support games in a myriad of different possible settings the SCP 'multiverse' can provide, whether the desire is to run a dungeon-crawl campaign following a Foundation mobile task force, to an Anartist gang causing chaos for the U.I.U. and so much more.

This book is provided for free, forever, online at warpedworldrpg.com/. The source for this book is open to collaboration and can be found at github.com/lcyvin/warped-world-rpg.

This book is a non-commercial passion project started by Lucy Vin, who can be found at lucyvin.com/.

Content Warning

This book contains themes relating to distortion of reality, and mental manipulation.

Attribution

Content relating to the SCP Foundation, including the SCP Foundation logo, is licensed under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0 and all concepts originate from www.scp-wiki.wikidot.com and its authors. Warped World, being derived from this content, is hereby also released under Creative Commons Sharealike 3.0.

A full copy of the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license can be viewed at github.com/lcyvin/warped-world-rpg/blob/main/LICENSE.

Before You Play

Before you can begin a game of Warped World, you will need a few items on-hand (or virtually) to facilitate basic game functions. Additionally, due to the nature of the kind of content possible within an SCP-derived setting, this chapter also provides some guidance on player safety and comfort.

A note on the SCP setting and Roleplaying Games

The SCP universe is inherently without a concrete canon. It assumes that all multiverses are equally correct, simply reflecting different realities. This book uses a version of Three Portlands, and a version of the Broken Mask timeline for its campaign starter and setting. This is a roleplaying game that is centered on collaborative storytelling and emergent narratives. Nothing in this book is set in stone, and you are able and encouraged to modify the setting, events, and rules of the world and game to fit your story best.

Stuff You'll Need

Aside from a group of willing players, you will need:

• Dice (at minimum, one full d4-d20 set).
• Pens and paper for note taking
• Character Sheets (TODO)
• This book! Pull it up on your phone, tablet, or laptop. (printable pocket edition will come eventually)

Most of the Warped World RPG is largely narrative-driven, and it is entirely possible to modify the rulesets defined within this book to negate the need for dice, if your player group so desires! See Addendum: Diceless for more.

Player Safety

The SCP universe can be host to horror, whimsy, and fantasy. You are free to explore these elements individually or altogether, but you should keep in mind your players’ comfort when dealing with certain sensitive content. Some SCPs may need to be off-limits, or otherwise certain abilities modified to better suit player comfort. At the start of your session zero, begin by talking with your players about what sort of content and tone they feel comfortable with, and what is off limits.

If a player tells you something is off-limits, it is off limits. You are not entitled to a reason. Make a note of what they told you, and move on.

Tabletop Roleplaying Games should be a safe, fun, and positive experience for everyone. With a little bit of work up-front, and an awareness towards the sensitivities of the others at the table, it can be. In addition to a session-zero comfort check, it is encouraged that you make use of the X-Card system or the Support Flower System in order to provide clear boundaries during play and ensure everyone has a fun and fruitful time.

Responsible Roleplaying

Tabletop Roleplaying Games allow you to play mystical beasts, shapeshifting thieves, and every day humans from a myriad of backgrounds. With this freedom comes some responsibility. If you as a player choose to play a character whose background does not match your own, be mindful of the kind of marginalization people who come from those backgrounds face, and consider how you roleplay your character in response to that. Caricature and stereotype of a background you are not a part of can often be alienating and hostile. You may as a group decide that certain backgrounds are off-limits to players who haven’t experienced them, be that disability, gender identity, or race.

Basic Terminology

Tabletop games can be overwhelming with the amount of terminology thrown at new players, and adding a setting like SCP on top of that is a recipe for information overload. This section will discuss some common roleplaying game terms, used in this book. For SCP-specific terminology as referenced by this book, see the glossary.

GM - Game Mediator

This is the person who is running the tabletop game, managing all the behind-the-scenes processes from narrating the world and its non-player characters (NPCs), to mediating in-game actions and conflicts. Traditionally, the term "Game Master" has been used for this abbreviation, however in favor of language more in-line with the collaborative nature of tabletop roleplaying, Warped World uses "Game Mediator". You may also see other games refer to this as a Warden, Arbiter, Dungeon Master, Dungeon Keeper, or Narrator, among others.

NPC - Non-Player Character

An NPC is any character extant within the narrative which is not directly controlled by a player themselves by default. That is, even if a character within the narrative is controlled for a time by a player through one means or another (E.G., mind control, possession, etc.), that state of player control is non-permanent, and the character continues to exist in some form beyond the player's actions.

See also: Player Character

Player Character

Unlike an NPC, a Player Character, or PC is any character within the narrative which is directly and by default controlled by a given player.

Using This Book

Warped World provides the tools necessary to run a roleplaying campaign in an SCP universe setting. The resources provided within should be enough for you to play your very own SCP adventure, but you are also welcome to extend and modify what you see here. As with the universe itself, nothing is set in stone. If you wish to run this game as a playtest, please consider providing feedback via the author’s email, author@warpedworldrpg.com, or submit an issue, pull request, or RFC to the game's source repository on github.

Preparing Your Game

Roleplaying games involve a lot of improvisation and collaboration, but proper preparation will make this experience much more enjoyable, especially for new GMs. Whether you have a storyline planned out or are building off your players’ desires, a session 0 is key to this prep. Before your actual game begins, gather your players and discuss the following:

• What setting do we want to play in? What is the time period?
• What tone do we want to set for this game?
• What important things are happening or have recently happened in our setting?
• What do we hope to see in this game?
• What subjects or topics relevant to the setting or theme should be off-limits or handled with caution? (EG body horror, mental trauma, etc.) [see: Player Safety]
• Who is everyone playing?
• What has brought your specific group of characters together for this adventure?

You may omit some or many of these, but at the very least you should discuss player safety, the player characters who will be participating in the story, and any setting background or information necessary if you’ve already prepared something, in order to bring everyone on the same level.

The list above is a high-level overview of topics to discuss. What follows is a more in-depth guide to discussing these topics in a constructive and useful way, to aid inexperienced players and GMs.

Setting and Time Period

You and your players may have different desires when it comes to the setting and time period of your game. It is important to align everyone's expectations and understanding of the narrative setting ahead of time in order to allow for an easier transition into roleplaying. The SCP body of fiction supports all sorts of settings, from cyberpunk techno-magical neon cities to foreboding ancient castles harboring demonic forces. As an example, the campaign starter from this book is based in a roughly modern-day time period in the "Three Portlands" pocket-dimension.

What Tone Should the Game Have?

The SCP multiverse contains tones and themes ranging the gamut from dark and disturbing to fun and whimsical. We all have our own preferences for a game or piece of fiction's general tone, but some folks may also have hard restrictions on not wanting to play within certain themes, such as grotesque gore. Take a moment to discuss with everyone who will be participating in the game to ensure that your game's tone is as safe, fun, and engaging as it can be!

Important Events and Recent History

In order to help bring the world you all will build to life, establishing a set of important events or notable elements wihin that world is important. Things like broken-masquerade events [glossary], recent anomalous sightings, and even political shake-ups can all serve to add dynamism and flavor to the narrative you will bring to life, and allow the players and GM space to improvise when things inevitably go off the rails.

Desired Plot Points, Characters, Groups, and Events

While discussing the game plans during a session zero, it can be helpful to spend a little bit of time getting to know what each player would like to experience out of the game. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean asking the players for exact plot events, catering your collaborative narrative to incorporate elements that entice players helps to ensure everyone stays engaged and interested. For instance, a player might desire to explore what an interaction between the U.I.U. [glossary] and a group of paratechnology hackers would look like. These desired elements can help the GM flesh out the planned story and its various branches and subplots.

Off-Limits Topics and Themes

As discussed in player safety, it is important to discuss with everyone who will be a part of your game what topics and themes should be left out of the game, or handled with care. Later in this chapter there will be an example "session-zero" which will depict what this can look like. Remember to be considerate and empathetic whilst having these discussions. Everyone has their own sensitivities and limits, and being mindful of that can help to ensure a fun and trouble-free game!

Discuss Your Characters or Character Plans

Session zeros can look different from group to group, and players may be just as likely to come to the table with already prepared characters and backstories as they are to show up without even the vaguest hint of the character they want to create. Either of these possibilities can be fine, depending on how the group and GM like to operate. If you wish for everyone to show up to the table with fully ready-to-play characters, make sure to communicate that! However, it can be very helpful to come up with the more concrete character elements together as the group discusses the general 'shape' of the game and the world, especially as relates to how the various player characters know each other and what brings them all into the same mission.

What Brings the Group Together

This goes hand-in-hand with discussing your characters, but discussing how the party has formed within the context of the narrative will help to facilitate a smooth transition into the game's world and story. This might be as simple as all the characters being assigned to the same task force, to a complicated web of interpersonal relationships and motives. Discussing this ahead of time will give players a chance not only to flesh out their own characters and their backstories, but also provide room for players to veto anything they might feel uncomfortable with (for example, someone may suggest that two characters dated in the past, while the other player does not feel comfortable with this).

Glossary

The following Glossary provides summary definitions for SCP-related terminology as used in this book.

Broken Masquerade

Organizations like the Foundation, U.I.U., G.O.C., and others work to maintain a veil of normalcy within the world at large in order to prevent widespread knowledge of the anomalous. These normalcy organizations have described the failure to complete this mission as a "broken masquerade" event, and many if not all have contingency plans in place for these sort of situations.

Global Occult Coalition

The Global Occult Coalition (G.O.C.), known to frequenters and assosciates of the Wanderer's Library as 'Bookburners', are a normalcy organization operated as a secretive function of the United Nations. They have at times cooperated alongside the Foundation and other normalcy orgs, and at other times directly clashed with those same groups. The most frequent and defining differentiation of the G.O.C. from the Foundation is in their approach to the anomalous. Where the foundation generally does not 'neutralize' anomalous entities and objects, preferring often to house and research them; the G.O.C. tends to have much more of a "shoot first, ask questions later" attitude. Their penchant for destroying or killing the anomalies they encounter has earned them a number of enemies within the larger fiction of the SCP multiverse.

SCP Foundation

The SCP Foundation is a secretive, non-government organization dedicated to the maintenance of 'the veil'. Their core missions are to Secure and house (Contain) anomalous entities and objects, and Protect the world at large from the dangers and knowledge of the anomalous (thus leading to the source of the SCP initialism, standing for 'Secure, Contain, Protect'). Known by a number of names to various different groups of interest, the Foundation operates in methodical, often clinical ways to further their mission. Stories about the foundation paint pictures of shadowy antiheros, unknown heros saving the world, and beauracratic insanity, as well as so much else. The foundation looks a little bit different in every author's conception of them, but some elements remain more-or-less the same across the board. Secrecy, the O5 governing council, and a penchant for at time questionable ethics tend to be quite common within the landscape of available fiction.

Unusual Incidents Unit

The Unusual Incidents Unit, or U.I.U., are a secretive branch within the FBI, dedicated to the investigation of crimes committed by or involving the paranormal and anomalous. Depictions of the U.I.U. within the SCP 'multiverse' run the gamut from a bunch of bumbling and underfunded, to scrappy and perservering-against-all-odds cops. Occasionally, the U.I.U. may cooperate with groups like the SCP Foundation, the G.O.C., and others in the interest of handling a case, but often operate on their own and often armed with not much more than their own knowledge and cunning. Unlike employees of the Foundation, for instance, agents of the U.I.U. often have an easier time or a degree of begrudging acceptance within anomalous spaces such as Three Portlands or the Wanderer's Library.