SYSTEM REFERENCE DOCUMENT
LAST TRANSMISSION RPG V.1.1 is licensed under CC-BY-SA (text only).
This game is inspired by extraordinary titles such as Jason Tocci’s Orbital Decay (2400 Series), Jesse Ross’s Trophy RPG, and René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas’s Boundless RPG.
Written and Designed by Mario - La Esquina del Rol GAMES.
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT THE GAME
ELEVATOR PITCH
Last transmission is a space-horror TTRPG centered on the inevitable collapse of a crew. Here, victory is not found in survival, but in the collaborative forging of a haunting story that echoes through the void.
CORE MECHANICS
You only need two six-sided dice (1 Light d6, 1 Dark d6). Rolls are reserved for conflicts, not mundane tasks. When making a Check, the highest die determines success based on your Position, and its color reveals the Success Gradient.
CHARACTERS
CHARACTERS CREATIONS
▶Write your name.
▶You begin with 1 Rust and 1 Ruin.
▶Roll a 1d6 for your Role and dive in.
STATS
► Rust. Represents the total physical damage sustained through violence or other forms of trauma.
► Ruin. Represents the total stress damage suffered from unfathomable and uncanny situations.
You begin with 1 Rust and 1 Ruin. Upon reaching 6 Rust, your character dies. At 6 Ruin, your character is lost forever, becoming an NPC.
ROLE
Your Role represents the collective knowledge, skills, and equipment your character has mastered. Checks associated with your Role are always performed from a Controlled Position.
1-2 Teamster
3-4 Marine
5 Scientist
6 Android
Androids are incapable of fear or panic, but phenomena that defy logic cause system-wide programming failures. Upon reaching 6 Ruin, their systems suffer total corruption.
Scars
Scars act as tags that affect your next checks. You acquire tags by increasing stats after a failed check or through the fiction (e.g., a Success with a Cost).
▶Permanent: These last for the entire Incursion. Examples: Maimed, Paranoia, etc.
▶Temporary: These last between 1 and 2 scenes. Examples: Nausea, Confusion, etc
HOW TO PLAY
BASIC RULES
CHECKS
Checks are reserved for resolving conflicts, not routine tasks. Success and Failure are determined by the Success Range associated with the character’s Position:
Position - Success Range
Controlled - 4-6
Risky - 5-6
Desperate - 6
On a Failure, mark 1 point on the Stat (Gain a Scar). On a Success, consult the highest die and its color. The color dictates the Success Gradient.
Die Color - Success Gradient
Light - Full Success
Dark - Success at Cost
If both dice show the same result, the Dark die is always treated as the highest die.
SAVES
▶ Rust Save. When an environmental hazard is triggered, roll a 1d6 to react and avoid physical damage or bodily trauma. If the result exceeds your current Rust score, it is a Failure; take 1 point of physical damage and a Scar. Otherwise, it is a Success and you avoid the damage
▶ Ruin Save. If you suffer or witness something unsettling in the environment, roll a 1d6 to avoid the resulting stress damage. If the result exceeds your current Ruin score, it is a Failure; take 1 point of stress damage and a Scar. Otherwise, it is a Success and you avoid the stress damage.
RECOVERY
If any Stat reaches 5, you may reduce it by 1 point. This requires finding a safe and quiet location and either having a capable person treat your wounds or injuries, or performing an activity to lower your stress, such as relaxing or consuming substances. Narrate your actions in the scene and make a Fortune Check. On a success, reduce the relevant Stat by 1 point.
ASSIST AN ALLY
If you wish to Assist an Ally, you may do so as long as you are nearby and the fiction permits. Narrate your assistance and make a Fortune Check. On a success, you improve your ally’s Position for their Check by one level. If the ally fails their Check, both of you suffer the consequences of the Failure.
LAST TRANSMISSION
If you reach 6 points in any Stat, the collapse is total and irreversible. However, the player may activate the character's Last Transmission to perform one desperate action. This can be anything (an act of heroism, even breaking a rule of the fiction if warranted, etc.). This action requires no Check and is considered a Full Success. This is the character’s moment of greatest lucidity and competence before their end. While performing this act, the character broadcasts their final words to the group. The character’s act allows all other players to remove 1 point from any Stat of their choice.
Upon losing a character in the fiction, you may take control of another member of the accompanying crew. When creating the new character, roll the Light d6 (for Rust) and the Dark d6 (for Ruin). The results determine the number of marks on each track. If the result is a 1, 5, or 6, reroll the die. Your Scars are assigned by the Warden or by the table.
VIOLENCE
The Void is a hostile and strange place, filled with horrors that can inflict physical and stress damage on characters. Void Horrors are divided into two groups:
▶ Enemies. These can be eliminated. Doing so requires a Full Success on a Check. A Success at a Cost weakens them narratively and grants you a better Position during the violence. Each Failure results in 1 point to the relevant Stat and a Scar.
▶ Entities. These cannot be eliminated. Attacks against them only serve to buy time to escape; make a Check to determine the outcome. Each Failure results in 1 point to the relevant Stat and a Scar.
FORTUNE CHECKS
If you wish to determine anything randomly or are playing solo, make a Fortune Check to see what happens in the fiction. Ask your question and determine your Position:
▶ Controlled: Likely, range: 4–6.
▶ Risky: 50/50 probability, range: 5–6.
▶ Desperate: Unlikely, range: 6.
Next, roll the Light d6 and Dark d6 and interpret the results as follows:
▶ Full Success: Yes.
▶ Success at a Cost: Yes, but...
▶ Failure: No, and something worse happens.
HOW TO RUN
MISSION DIRECTIVES
PLAYERS
At the start of a session, explain the following mission directives to your players:
▶ Collaborate with everyone at the table to tell the best space horror story possible.
▶ Play to lose; the goal of the game is not to survive or defeat the Void Horrors.
▶ Play to find out what happens.
▶ Explore how Scars change the character.
WARDEN
▶ Involve the players in world-building: ask about their characters' fears and incorporate their answers into the story.
▶ Play to find out what happens.
▶ Make the world a character in itself.
▶ Be direct and honest about the world.
▶ Failure must always drive the story forward.
▶ Leverage character Scars.
INCURSIONS
Incursions are the game’s exploration and investigation scenarios. They can take place in locations such as (1) abandoned commercial freighters, (2) orbital research stations, (3) frontier mining colonies, (4) drifting generation ships, (5) unexplored celestial bodies, or (6) alien ruins. During these missions, characters may investigate (1) a distress beacon, (2) recover a black box or AI core, (3) secure a specimen or artifact, (4) perform critical repairs against the clock, (5) extract VIP personnel, or (6) execute quarantine and purge protocols. Additionally, any space horror adventure from other games in the genre can be adapted and played using these rules.
ENEMIES AND ENTITIES
Enemies and Entities in this game are described through six elements:
▶ Name, the creature’s designation;
▶ Omens, what characters perceive before being attacked;
▶ Motive, what drives the creature;
▶ Vulnerability, which determines the weakness required to eliminate an Enemy;
▶ Moves, unique abilities or behaviors used in an attack; and
▶ Scar, the specific physical or stress damage the creature can inflict through its attacks.