Bizarre Boroughs

Bizarre Burrows V2.1 (Alpha)

Please note: This is version 2.1 of Bizarre Burrows, a post-first playtest alpha. The current document is a test of the source material and lacks a final layout and design.

What is Bizarre Burrows?

"Bizarre Burrows" is a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) that places you and your friends in a sprawling American metropolis where the mundane and the supernatural are hopelessly intertwined. This isn't a game about epic quests to save the world, but about the "hyper-mundane"—the strange and uncanny adventures of everyday life. As a Player Citizen, you can be a human or one of the many fantastical beings navigating a city where a broken boiler might be a source of ectoplasm, and your neighbor's loud parties are actually nightly demonic rituals. Your stories are driven by your character's personal goals and relationships, as you navigate a world teeming with humans, zombies, demons, wizards, and aliens. The focus is on finding the magic in the mundane and living a normal life in a city that is anything but.

Key Features:

• Your Story, Your Character: In Bizarre Burrows, your character is not a chosen hero—they're just a person trying to make a living in a city that's trying to kill them. Character creation is quick and intuitive, letting you define your PC through their core attributes: Brawn, Finesse, Wits, Presence, and Resolve. Will you be...
  • The World-Weary Plumber with high Brawn and Wits, who thought a career in pipes would be simple, but now spends their days fighting off sewer-dwelling gorgons and fixing drains that lead to other dimensions?
  • The Streetwise Freelance Journalist with high Finesse and Presence, who uses her uncanny ability to talk to anyone—even ghosts—to get the scoop on the city's hidden oddities, all while dodging the eldritch-powered corporate rivals?
  • The Meticulous Librarian with high Wits and Resolve, whose quiet life is a front for their true purpose: archiving forbidden texts and protecting the city's magical secrets from a cult of reality-warping academics?
• Beyond Human: Creature Citizens: The city is a melting pot, and not just for humans. You can also play as one of the many supernatural residents trying to blend in with the daily grind.
  • The Zombie Delivery Driver, whose shambling gait and high Brawn make them perfect for hauling heavy packages, so long as they can control their hunger for brains on the job.
  • The Fae Barista, with high Finesse and Presence, who uses their glamour to create the perfect latte and deal with grumpy customers, all while avoiding the Iron Law and the city's ruthless bureaucracy.
  • The Golem Construction Worker, a being of pure Resolve and Brawn, whose quiet strength is invaluable on the job site—and whose literal-mindedness makes negotiating a union contract a unique challenge.
• Relationships and the Living City: The connections you forge are your lifeline. Every relationship with a Non-Player Citizen (NPC) has a dynamic rating, from -6 (Sworn Enemy) to +6 (Devoted Ally). You might have a great relationship with a friendly neighbor, only to find out they’re a benevolent, time-traveling alien who can get you out of a tight spot. Or, you could be on the wrong side of the city's biggest real estate mogul, a powerful Demonic Lord of Commerce who is intent on buying your apartment complex and turning it into a portal to the abyss. The city is full of strange faces and even stranger favors.
• Your Adventure Begins Here: The weird is always waiting just around the corner. Here are just a few ideas to get your story started:
  • The new coffee shop that just opened has the best lattes you've ever tasted, but the owner is an ancient vampire who feeds on the gossip of their customers.
  • The faulty elevator in your building is a spatial anomaly, dropping people on random floors in other dimensions, and you need to fix it before it swallows the whole building.
  • A neighborhood cat has gone missing, but it was a familiar for a powerful wizard who will stop at nothing to get it back.
  • The mail is being delivered by a flock of sentient pigeons who demand payment in shiny objects and are creating a local pigeon-mafia.
• D6 Success System: The game uses a collaborative, narrative-first approach with a simple yet robust dice pool system. When you attempt an action, you'll roll a number of six-sided dice (D6s) equal to your character's relevant Attribute rating, plus any applicable Profession Skill bonuses. Successes are counted based on the results (a roll of 4 or 5 is one success, a 6 is two successes), which are then compared to a Challenge Rating set by "The Mayor" (Game Master).
• The City as a Character: The game's setting—a New York City-inspired metropolis—is a character in itself. It is a melting pot of different beings and cultures, where the normal and paranormal are intertwined. The city's strange energy and hidden secrets will provide the backdrop for your personal stories.

Expand Your Borough with Supplements

Enhance your game with these official supplements, offering new rules, tools, and ways to play.

• Bizarre Boroughs: The Arcane Ordaining: Magic isn't just for dusty tomes and ivory towers. This supplement introduces the concept of Wizards as a playable species and as an "Ordaining"—a specialized path for any PC to harness arcane power. From dealing with inter-dimensional paperwork to managing a sentient copy machine, this supplement adds a bureaucratic and bizarre layer of magic to your game.
• The Mayor's Toolkit: Sights, Sounds, Smells, and More: Designed for The Mayor, this guide is packed with prompts and ideas to make your city feel alive. Add sensory details to your sessions with bizarre descriptions of the commute, the weather, and your neighbors. Turn the mundane into the hyper-mundane with a single sentence and a strange sight.
• Bizarre Boroughs: Roll Your Destiny Character Creation Method: For players who love a challenge and unexpected character concepts, this is the perfect alternative to the core rulebook's character creation. You roll all your core dice upfront and then build your character around the hand you're dealt. It's a chaotic, unpredictable, and exciting way to truly embody the slice-of-life feel of the game.
• Bizarre Boroughs: Player's Quick Start Guide: A concise, easy-to-read introduction for new players. This guide provides a streamlined overview of the rules, making it simple for anyone to jump in and start playing immediately.

Digital Tools

• Destiny Roller.html: This HTML app is a digital companion for the "Roll Your Destiny" character creation method. It simplifies the process by rolling and ordering your dice for you, allowing you to focus on the fun of seeing what kind of Citizen the city has decided you are.

What You'll Need to Play:

To play, you will need the rulebook, at least two players, a handful of six-sided dice, character sheets, and pencils and paper. Most importantly, you'll need your imagination to bring the bizarre and wonderful world of "Bizarre Burrows" to life.

Get ready to live a normal life in a city that is anything but. Your adventure in the Bizarre Boroughs awaits!