The ESPER Files Collectible Horror TTRPG

Welcome to the ESPER Files Collectible Mini-Zine TTRPG!

This system is designed to make it extremely easy to play tabletop RPG adventures about paranormal, supernatural, and occult investigations.

It was created for the September 2024 8-Page Pocket RPG Jam (https://itch.io/jam/8-page-pocket-jam), although I didn't see the theme... I was just excited by the prospect of a self-contained RPG in mini-zine format.

For thirty years, I've been trying to develop my ESPER/Wizard's Tales Universal RPG Engine to be as simple as possible, so anybody can just pick up from anywhere and start playing!

This Jam inspired me not only to make a game, but to remake my entire system into something you could play with just a character sheet, and here it is. The Game Wizard's Reference Card gives you the basic rules you need to play, and the other booklets build up the world in such a way that you can mix and match them to create grand adventures into the paranormal, quick random one-shots, or anything in between. Each booklet clarifies another part of the world for you, and the easy-to-understand rules with verbal ranking system makes it easy to understand how to reconcile any action the players may try to take.

The GAME WIZARD REFERENCE CARD gives you the basic rules you need to play. Essentially, every roll is 1d6. The attributes and different descriptors about your character show you how many additional times you can roll. Every time you roll a 4, you get 1 success. A 5 gets you 2 successes. A 6 gets you 3. The number of successes you get indicates your Success Rank, which both gives the Wizard a verbal clue as to how successful or not the action was, and a numerical modifier (-3 to +3) that can be applied... for example, an EXCELLENT injury to the arm will make all rolls requiring that arm receive a -2 penalty.

CHARACTER CARDS give you the stats of an ESPER investigator you can play as, or you can follow the template to make your own. LOCATION CARDS tell you about a location in the world where missions may take place. CASE FILE CARDS give you the details of a mission to run the characters through. CREATURE CARDS give you the stats for monsters to pit your players against, and NPC CARDS detail some of the people you might find in the world.

Please enjoy, and remember this is only the Jam version of the game. I will be releasing a FULL FREE version of the introductory pack, THE HOUSE ON THE HILL.

Also, please keep this in mind: The ESPER Files is being released under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0, which means you can add to it and sell whatever you make given the correct attribution. Please join in the horror, and if you get your pants scared off, please consider taking part in carving out the ESPER universe!

The ESPER Files © 2024 by The Wandering Wizard Simon Kalimanus is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0