Voyager: Tactics playtest (V0.6 Playtest)

“The Old World is no longer, but by our memory it shall remain.”

The Earth was destroyed by the mysterious emergence of the World Tree – and within the roots of the Apocalypse, life was reborn anew. New species of humankind evolved, and magic fills the very air like pollen. 

Inspired from tile-based strategy games like Arknights and Fire Emblem, Voyager: Tactics is a tactics TRPG inspired from anime, video games and mythology. In an idealistic science fantasy setting best described as “Destiny meets RWBY”, where transforming weapons, animal people and gun-toting wizards are commonplace, you are a Voyager: a unique soul of this new world – a rifle-wielding jetpack trooper, a battle-hardened owlman medic, or a blessed warrior wielding an arsenal of floating weapons - charged with exploring this transformed planet and to draw its atlas anew.

Skyscrapers are now derelict spires; shopping malls now sprawling megadungeons; cartoon mascots now appear as strange idols from a bygone religion. The mundane things of Earth have become the wonders and dangers of the post-Emergence world. Young empires and ambitious powers have risen to set these borders in stone - to use these ancient relics to subjugate this world before it has truly defined itself.

Will you help unite this young world as it takes its first crucial steps, and stop others from leaving this new world a worse successor than the last? Pick up the dice, and let your heart roll true.

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Voyager: Tactics is defined by crunchy tile-based mechanics, complemented by minimal bookkeeping and number-tracking. It is focused on spontaneous, anime-style tag-team combat and non-restrictive rules for narrative roleplaying. Everything in the game was made with accessible homebrew in mind – from its visually intuitive action system to its tactical, modular approach to classes and abilities.

This is a free playtest of an ongoing project, containing:

• 290 pages of content
• Dozens of evocative artwork
• All the core rules covering tile-based combat and action system
• Section-by-section character creation
• 10 Factions your Voyager may belong to, from the floating islands of the Shardlands to Skotos, the subterranean realm of the undead.
• 13 playable races called Sapients: from the Original Humans who survived the end of the last world, to the aquatic Ruaya and undead Viemor
• 7 playable classes called Ventures, each crafted to capture a unique player fantasy: from the Heir wielding magical floating weapons, to the Venator that blasts in with a transforming hybrid weapon. Each Venture has 2 subclasses called Specialisations with their own abilities.
• 12 Visages: divine manifestations of mythological concepts like death and vengeance. Have one of them watch over your Voyage and confer blessings and curses upon your battles! (not all are usable in-game yet but are available for lore purposes)

CURRENT VERSION: v0.6 [early testing]

Once finalised, Voyager: Tactics 1.0 will follow a “Try then pay” model. The free version will be close to what you see here and has all the tools to create and play your own Voyager. The complete, full paid V1.0 release is expected to include:

• Full lists for foes and creatures to face
• Maps of the other regions of the Known World
• A complete list of preset Recruits to add to your world and party
• Full lists for weapons, equipment and relics, including exotic weapons and armour with legendary abilities
• A complete list of core Ventures (the full release is expected to have 8-10)
• More lore and setting info
• Basic adventure setups
• More illustrations from a team of banger artists

We need playtesters for Voyager: Tactics! To follow all new updates and meet fellow players, come join us at the Voyager Discord server!

DOWNLOADABLE STUFF

• The latest Playtest PDF
• A basic hex map of the Known World
• A printable character sheet (fillable PDF not yet available)
• A pack of 7 preset Recruit Voyager sheets you can pick up and play right away

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Voyager: Tactics and the Voyager campaign setting is a project by Switchback Worlds, created and illustrated by SYTOkun and a team of other artists with the help of our dedicated supporters.