VIRTUOUS SERVICE.
A downloadable game
Virtuous Service is a GMless, diceless tabletop game for three players and 3-4 hours of play about war, body horror, loss of self, death, and transfiguration.
Against the backdrop of an endless conflict, you'll explore the relationship between the Machine, a sentient mech, ancient almost beyond understanding; the Pilot that keeps it leashed to its cause; and the Revenant, the ghosts of all of the mech's former pilots, eager to add its current pilot to their number.
You'll build these characters and their war together, then play out the pilot's slow consumption, literal or metaphorical, by their machine--but how do they get there? What will they sacrifice? Will it have mattered, in the end?
A hack of Caroline Hobbs's Downfall, written for the Emotional Mecha Jam.
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $12 USD. You will get access to the following files:
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Just played a truly wonderful game of this with my partner and a dear friend, to flesh out one ancient mech in a sci-fi setting I've been running other games in for years now. VIRTUOUS SERVICE rules! The tragedy and horror of trying to do good and make things last as it all crumbles was a joy at the table.
Thank you for making this! I've been wanting to get it to the table for years now; it felt great to finally do so.
Virtuous Service is a hack of Caroline Hobbs’ Downfall with a unique twist: instead of playing separate characters observing the collapse of their society you embody a single war machine. This embodiment is split into three facets that function both in tandem and opposition—The Machine, The Pilot, and The Revenant. As the game progresses, The Pilot fights a war from within The Machine, and is slowly consumed by The Revenant. A very personal take on the traditional societal-level stakes of Downfall. The game is less about why we would fight a war, and more about what it takes from us.