When a couple of teens first discovered they could use their hoverboards to open portals to other dimensions, they had no idea it was the beginning of a cultural phenomenon: Slugblasting. It's an action sport, a youth subculture, a movement, a big business, a moral panic—and the coolest thing ever. Young slugblasters customize their gear, hack their tech, circuit-bend their rayguns, and go on extradimensional adventures after school. Burn through zones of thin reality to other worlds, run from alien monsters, film a demo reel of new tricks, salvage lost tech from higher planes, hit up a huge party, and get home before your parents get mad at you—or you get caught by the interdimensional authorities.
Slugblaster casts players as a teenage friend group that has formed a crew to seek fame and fortune, gain rep and renown, and just maybe make it big. They'll go on runs to vibrant and dangerous other worlds to accomplish goals, getting into trouble and taking slams when things go wrong. Get style points by doing tricks, and try to make it back home without bringing trouble with you. All the while, your crew grows closer together, gains a reputation, makes friends, makes enemies, rises up in the fast-paced world of slugblasting, and perhaps even grows up.
The game runs on a streamlined version of the Forged in the Dark dice pool system, and blends lighthearted gonzo sci-fi with the bittersweet slice-of-life stories of a coming-of-age tale. Slugblaster is an exuberant game about the roller coaster of being a teenager, searching for an identity, and becoming who you are. Oh, and blasting alien slugs with a laser gun. Duh.
Categories
Imaginative
Wacky
Modern
Sci-fi
Mechanics
D6 System
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How to Play Slugblaster
In Slugblaster, players form a crew of radical teens who use their souped-up hoverboards to open portals into other dimensions, go on dangerous "runs" to accomplish their goals and earn style points, return to their home lives to rest, improve their skills and gear, and deal with their troubles, then do it all over again. The core mechanic is the action roll; whenever a character does something risky, they roll one or more six-sided dice and take the highest result. On a 6, they succeed, on a 4 or 5, they succeed at a cost, and on a 1-3, they fail and take the consequences. Players have a pool of resources called boost and kick to spend on dice rolls; boost adds bonus dice, and kick makes actions more effective (blowing up an alien monster rather than merely wounding it, for example). Players can also raise the stakes on any action by saying "check it!" and doing a trick in addition to anything else they're attempting; if they succeed, they earn style points, but any consequences they suffer are worse.
It's not all bad though; slugblasters can always avoid consequences by saying "nope!" and marking their trouble track instead. At the end of the run, characters roll dice based on how much trouble they have marked to learn how much fallout from their actions follows them home. Runs accomplish goals like finding components to build and improve their gear, entering a competition to catch the eye of sponsors, finding a chill spot to do tricks for extra style, or showing face at a cool party only popular kids could get to. When the characters return home, they play out downtime beats like doing chores, working in the lab, dealing with their parents and teen angst, and a special arc unique to their character personality. As you play, your crew will face challenges from inside and out, grow in fame and style, and eventually, grow up. At the end of the campaign, you'll roll an epilogue based on your character's legacy and doom they accumulated, to learn the crew's ultimate fate.
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Personalities
The Chill
Chill is effortlessness, zen, and going with the flow. You do stuff by feel, press buttons to see what happens, and somehow make even the simplest hoverboard tricks look steezey. Maybe you’re lucky, maybe you just notice what everyone else is too busy to.
The Grit
You have focus, patience, and resilience. You’ve spent hours practicing the same hoverboard trick over and over until it’s perfect, and your gear is organized, well-maintained, and as durable as you are. You don’t expect things to be easy. Sometimes the only way is the hard way, and when everyone else has gone home, you’re just getting started.
The Guts
You’ve got confidence, boldness, sass, and chutzpah. You bet on yourself, challenge convention, throw caution to the wind, and go for broke. Your hoverboard tricks are fast, big, and unnecessarily dangerous. Your hacks are souped-up, overclocked, and absolutely a fire hazard. Hey, if you’re too scared of doing something wrong, you’ll never do anything great, right?
The Heart
Slugblasting is your life. You have integrity, intuition, passion, and empathy, and you rep your crew harder than anyone. Your gear is well-loved and highly personalized, and when you hoverboard people can tell you’re giving it all you got and loving every single moment.
The Smarts
It’s not about intelligence. It’s about curiosity, love-of-learning, a fascination with the world and how it works, and a willingness to think about things from different angles. Your hoverboard tricks are creative and outside-the-box, your hacks are experimental and complex, and everything around you is a problem to be solved.
help
Frequently Asked Questions
What dice do I need to play Slugblaster?
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Slugblaster uses exclusively six-sided dice, and you'll rarely need more than four or five at a time.
Can I play Slugblaster solo?
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Yes, Slugblaster includes solo rules. Players can play as a lone slugger going on runs and trying to make it big in the wild world of slugblasting!
Is Slugblaster appropriate for kids?
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Yes, Slugblaster, as a game about being a teenager, is great for kids 12 and up. It does deal with themes like violence, romance, and trouble at home, among other real-world problems teens can expect to face beyond the onslaught of alien monsters and the dangers of interdimensional portal generation.
Does Slugblaster take place on Earth?
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Slugblaster's default setting is in a boring suburb in a world not unlike our own, except interdimensional travel is broadly possible (though dangerous). The book includes numerous alternate settings, as well as a collection of other dimensions players can open portals to.
How long is a Slugblaster campaign?
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Slugblaster is designed to complete a campaign in about 8-12 sessions, wrapping up with an epilogue based on your character's legacy. It's possible to keep playing the same crew for longer, but you may need to reset their fame, representing moving to a new place or a higher tier of competition and danger.
