Atheists

Do you believe in the divine? No, this isn’t about your religion, or how steadfast your faith is. I’m asking whether you think the Gods ever really existed, or whether they exist today... Why am I asking? Curiosity. No, not quite. Envy. Because I don’t have the right to ask myself that anymore. I know. It’s like watching a stage magician perform: if you know the trick, you can’t wonder anymore. Funny, isn’t it? They say truth will set you free, but nobody ever mentions the price. If you want the opinion of someone who paid that price, trust me: it ain’t worth it. Yep, that’s right: the Gods exist. All of them. Yes, every single one. All the Myths, all the Legends, all the stories you’ve ever heard and even the many that never reached your ears, they exist and they’re among us. And they all have one thing in common: fear. They’re afraid of people like me.

You know what Atheist means? The popular definition is an individual who believes in no religions, but that’s actually a misunderstanding. The original Greek is ἄθεος and it translates to “Godless”. An Atheist doesn’t just lack faith in the divine: they deny its very existence. That’s why they’re afraid of me, and they’re right to be.

Atheists is a game in which ordinary people are unwittingly thrust into the World of Myth, inhabited by Deities, Legends, and Ideas made flesh. This world fears and tries to push you away, but it only ensnares you deeper into its Weave.

Fate governs all in the World of Myth like the law of gravity, yet you, Atheists, disrupt this order. Your existence breaks the logic of its balance; while you may fit as cogs, you come from a different machine that could shatter the apparatus if integrated.

As alien guests in a reality that rejects you, you encounter legendary and historical figures who fear or disdain you, shaped by Fate's whims. Entering this realm wasn’t your choice, as no Mortal can rip a Gash in the Veil of Maya willingly, yet now you bear the responsibility of using this new awareness sensibly.

Pulling the strings and accepting the consequences

As an Atheist, you can bend reality with a gesture, pulling at the torn Weave revealed before you. This gift, Resonance, allows you to obtain whatever you desire by Pulling Strings. However, the human mind struggles to comprehend Fate's intricacies: an Atheist can choose outcomes but not the paths to them. The cost for your power is Disturbance; the more you manipulate Fate’s strings, the more reality fixates on you, leading to a spiraling of improbable events beyond your control as the world tries to rewrite itself to stop your influence.

The Mages of the World of Epigoni

Atheists is a hack of Epigoni that allows players to embody ordinary people who, for some reason, can access the Weave and use it to produce astonishing effects in reality. Despite lacking divine blood, their ability to alter reality with a snap of their fingers makes them extraordinary and extremely dangerous. Like the Mages of the World of Darkness, their mortal fragility hides abilities that make even gods tremble and turn them into wild cards in the World of Myth.

A fiction-first gaming experience

Atheists employs the CopperHead System, a game engine tailored for speedy, narrative-focused experiences. Drawing inspiration from notable modern frameworks like FATE, Forged in the Dark and Powered By The Apocalypse, Atheists allows you to create a character by selecting words that represent meaningful concepts and objects to you. These words act as "tags” that can be utilized to tackle challenges when applicable. Like other fiction-driven games, Atheists advances the story through the consequences of failures and partial successes. Except for particular specific NPCs abilities, you are responsible for choosing these consequences, granting you the liberty and flexibility to sculpt the narrative according to your preferences.

Atheists is a 65-page digital book that includes the general setting and the specific rules for your mortal characters. Being a hack for Epigoni, it needs Epigoni: Essential for the general rules.

About the author

Epigoni Essential is a project by Oddplan, an indie label and collective run by Nicola Santagostino, designer of the Blood Engine and Copperhead System.  Oddplan is based out of Italy, somewhere between lands. 

Sample art credits: Aurora Braga, Moreno Paissan

Layout credits: Alessia Sagnotti, Filippo Rivaroli