Party First Overview

by Kennon

Party First is a dark, alternate universe RPG, but what does that mean more specifically?

Mechanically, Party First is a d6 based roll and keep style system designed for narrative storytelling in a pulp horror world. It is inspired by a variety of 80s classics and modern hits including, but not limited to Red Dawn, Rocky IV, From Russia With Love, Ice Station Zebra, The Thing, Poltergeist, The Fly, and Stranger Things.

Here in the TWILIGHT WORLD of Party First, however, your perspective has shifted. Here, players take on the roll of various citizens of the USRA (United Socialist Republic Alliance), the continent spanning communist nation of this world. In the TWILIGHT WORLD, history has played out as though a dark mirror of our own. Events may be similar. People may echo those you’ve heard of. But this is not our world. Here, the monsters are real.

In Party First, the players must not only navigate the murky political waters of a 1980s where the Long War that devastated Europa and toppled the empire of the Rus to bring the USRA to power and the decades long Twilight War still rages, but they must also do so while surviving the onslaught of eldritch horrors, cruel experiments, and atomic abominations that hover at the fringes of the known world. In this world, bureaucracy may be as deadly as the monsters.

Are you a true believer? PARTY FIRST!

Highlights of Party First:

Roll and Keep: In Party First, players assemble a pool of d6 according to their skills plus their attributes and rolls these dice, while selecting two from the rolled dice to use as their result. This result is then compared against the GM’s roll or the Tension Pool.

Party Skill and Party Points: However, there’s a twist! Thanks to the USRA’s red tape, players are by default only able to use the Party’s Skill in any particular situation. This is equal to the lowest value in that skill possessed by any player character in the game. In times of need, however, players are able to increase their chances and use their character’s personal skill value by spending Party Points. Party Points may also be spent to activate some character abilities and advantages.

But don’t do so too often, because pushing the envelope tends to create even more tension about what might happen next.

Tension Points and Tension Pool: Game Masters have the Tension Points resource to spend on various enemy abilities. Additionally, the total number of Tension Points are tracked as the Tension Pool. If this ever hits a multiple of 10, it explodes, causing semi-random chaos and horrifying events to unfold upon the player characters.

Classes and Advantages: Player characters may be fully customized, not only with allocation of points to Attributes and Skills, but also by selecting from one of 8 classes which provide a variety of story hooks, stat boosts, and unique abilities. Players may also select from a pool of Advantages to further customize their characters and give them more tempting ways to spend their Party Points.

One Shot and Campaign: While Party First is generally designed for one shot scenarios to offer a glimpse into life in the USRA, optional advancement rules are also included so that the same characters can grow and change over the course of a campaign.

Cold and Radiation: The core rulebook also includes two one shot scenarios for players to get a taste of the world and mechanics, The Research Station and Radiation Spike.

There’s much more to the world and the game, as you will see in the full document, available soon through DriveThruRPG.

We’re excited about the possibilities of this game and look forward to many more adventures there.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

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