So quite randomly, I'm going to talk today about Nechronica, a Japanese TRPG about zombie girls in a world that has ended. It's made by Ryo Kamiya, who you may know from Maid RPG, Dracurouge, Nuekagami, and Golden Sky Stories! However, major CWs before I start. #JTRPGInfo

The CW is for major gore. Like, heavy extreme major gore, and all of it features underage girls. I talk about this game because it's just that good mechanically and thematically, but I strongly advise you do not go looking for art; I won't be posting any. #JTRPGInfo

Like just to hammer this in, the game's art, mechanics, and themes are so distinctive that even after designing Dracurouge and Nuekagami, Kamiya is still known as "the Nechronica guy." Okay, so let's start talking about the game! #JTRPGInfo

At some point, humans discovered a mold that could store information, like computers. Science replicated this and made biological nanomachines. They also discovered the means of storing human consciousness as data, and so immortality was invented! It didn't go well. #JTRPGInfo

Being able to make tireless, replaceable labor led to bad things, and let's just skip to the end: Earth is a blasted hellscape wherein horrifying monstrosities used in warfare now roam free. There are no more humans anymore, only zombies, Necromancers, and their Dolls. #JTRPGInfo

Necromancers might have once been human. They kind of remember humanity. But they're immortal now, they killed the whole world, and now live with the shattered ruins of what once was. So, they make Dolls to entertain and love in twisted, horrible ways. #JTRPGInfo

Dolls of course are the PCs. They differ from normal undead because whereas a normal zombie can get by with a basic set of murder skills, a Doll is a whole ass personality uploaded to their meat bodies. Their memories are fragmented, but they're "human." In this world. #JTRPGInfo

Imagine how fucked up it would be to wake up in an immortal meat suit, not knowing who or what you are, surrounded by horrifying nightmare creatures and the knowledge the world is Ended, it's Done. This is the core tension at the heart of Nechronica. #JTRPGInfo

Oh right, before I continue, another CW: this game uses some language that is easily found ableist. You'll see terms like madness, broken, shattered, and things like that. These are things from a now very old fan translation, and a modern translation could do better. #JTRPGInfo

So each Doll PC has "Fetters" (未練). These represent what the Doll leans on to not succumb to the terror of her surroundings. Each Fetter is for something, typically other PCs, but NPCs or places could work too. They're all named for emotions too: Devoted, Hatred, etc #JTRPGInfo

Each Fetter can be affected by Madness (狂気), and can go up to 4 Madness for each Fetter. Madness is accumulated quickly in combat, and can come from witnessing horrible scenes, or from the Doll straining herself by attempting to defy the fate of this hell world. #JTRPGInfo

When a Fetter hits 4 Madness, it becomes Broken (発狂), which gives the Doll a certain effect. Hateful Fetters, for example, will make any failed attacks your Doll does automatically hit the target of the Fetter (assuming they're in range). #JTRPGInfo

These effects persist until the Fetter is no longer Broken. Madness is healed in a few ways, but the primary method is... talking to the other PCs. Literally just talking to them. If everyone agrees a scene was significant enough, you roll conversation checks. #JTRPGInfo

If you pass the check, you remove 1 Madness from any Fetter. You can also critically succeed, wherein you give bonuses to your sisters in the same scene, or critically fail, where the nature of the Fetter towards one of your sisters changes. #JTRPGInfo

Each Doll also has a Treasure, an item that they possess that they are dependent on, that comforts them. A broken comb, or a tattered and dirty child's picture book for example. You have a Fetter to your Treasure like anything, but there's two extra things... #JTRPGInfo

First off, we'll be discussing it later, but Treasures count as a "Part" which means it can be destroyed, easily in fact. If your Treasure is destroyed, you immediately take a point of Madness on the Treasure Fetter. #JTRPGInfo

At the end of a battle however, each Treasure you possess can be used to remove 1 point of Madness each. You can have many Treasures, but only one Fetter for them all collectively. Treasures are rare anyway, and should hold meaning to what I'm about to discuss next! #JTRPGInfo

Each Doll starts play with two Memory Fragments--snippets of their past lives that they remember vaguely. A mother's hands, someone's smile, a blue sky unlike the current ashen gray. The # of memory fragments = # of Madness that can be removed per phase of gameplay. #JTRPGInfo

Also, a Doll becomes Shattered if all of their Fetters become Broken. They basically die in the only way that matters for them, and you need to make a new PC. And... Dolls start play with 3 Madness on all of their Fetters! Ha ha... yeah, the world's fucked, so. #JTRPGInfo

So basically the core of the game is managing your character's stress and having significant conversations with the other PCs to prevent giving up in the face of overwhelming hopelessness and terror. But also, because it's a game, there's combat! It's brutal. #JTRPGInfo

A small correction: Shattered/Broken-Hearted Dolls can still be around, but their sisters cannot take comfort in their presence. But they can still be comforted. Dying only happens if all PCs are Shattered, so TPKs only. https://twitter.com/SquireGrooktook/status/1284410146840440832

So to begin with, Nechronica's perhaps most defining mechanic is the way it handles "Hit Points." Essentially, each Doll has... Parts. Some are basic, some are "reinforced." Basic parts are things like, brain, heart, eyes, fist, entrails, etc. #JTRPGInfo

Each part belongs to one of four locations: Legs, Torso, Arms, Head. When a location is hit in combat, a Doll loses a number of parts in that location equal to the damage dealt. So 2 points of damage to the Head may destroy your Eyes and your Jaw. #JTRPGInfo

What makes it even more unique is that nearly every part has some kind of mechanical function. Jaw for example can be used to attack. This might be your -only- weapon eventually as your parts get whittled down! #JTRPGInfo

However your big ticket items are your reinforced Parts. They come in three flavors: Armaments, Mutations, and Enhancements. Basically like, weapons, then either biological or mechanical body parts. You get a limited number of these, but they're way more valuable. #JTRPGInfo

Before I move on, I'm going to back up a moment to what else Dolls have: a Position, and two Classes. Their Position represents their social dynamic within the group, literally. For example, an Alice is the "hopeful optimist" that keeps the others going with her smile. #JTRPGInfo

Sorority are those girls who take charge and try to comfort the girls with order and discipline. The Junk is the one who, despite all their losses, still hasn't given up. The Automaton is the one who tries to feel nothing, surviving at all costs, coming off emotionless #JTRPGInfo

Classes define a Doll's combat potential. Even if they never fought in life, a Nechromancer -wants- them to, so they're uploaded with relevant data. The classes are basic things, ranged, melee, quick type, heavy type, etc. They determine what reinforced parts you get. #JTRPGInfo

Position and Classes also come with skills, which function like parts do, except they can't be broken. But for example the Alice will have a lot of conversation check bonuses, while the Thanatos has melee attack supplementing skills. #JTRPGInfo

Checks in this system are made by rolling 1d10. 1-5 is a failure, 6-10 is a success. For a non-combat check, you can declare parts you have help with a check to earn bonus dice. Only one of the dice needs to be a success to win. However, there's some drawbacks... #JTRPGInfo

If you roll a 1 on an action check, you end up breaking a Part. If you roll with multiple dice, if you don't roll any successes and one of the dice is a 1 or less, then you break -every- part that you suggested would help you with the check. #JTRPGInfo

So for example if you claim your Eyes and your, I don't know, Sonar reinforced part would help you search for secret rooms, and you get a critical fail, they both get broken. #JTRPGInfo

In combat, this same basic rule applies, but a little differently. To begin with, you can't get multiple dice, but you can use parts that manipulate the number rolled (a bit more on this in a sec). While a 2-5 is still a failure, 1 will see you attack an ally. #JTRPGInfo

A 6 is a hit, but your target gets to determine location. 7 hits Legs, 8 hits Torso, 9 hits Arms, and 10 hits Head. A 11+ lets you pick which Location you hit, and you get a damage bonus equal to 10 - die roll (so 11 exactly gives you +1 damage). #JTRPGInfo

Combat uses a kind of battle map, but it's the same no matter what the narrative area is. It's five zones, and left to right are named: Eden, Elysium, Tartarus, Hades, and Hell. PCs can be deployed on the left three, enemies on the right. #JTRPGInfo

This counts for range, so for example if you're in Eden and you want to attack someone in Tartarus, you need a range 2 Part. Likewise, any number of people can be in the same zone, so if you want to attack the -same- zone, you need a range 0 weapon. #JTRPGInfo

Finally, we get to the other interesting aspect: Action Points. AP simultaneously handles initiative and also resources. Each PC and NPC has a 'Max AP' total that comes from their Parts. These are put in descending order at the start of a round. #JTRPGInfo

You start at the highest AP, let's say 12. Any character with AP 12 can take an action. If you use a part with a cost of 1, you go down to AP 11. Once all people at AP 12 have acted, you go down to AP 11, and do it again, on down to AP 0. #JTRPGInfo

There are many parts that can be used off-turn. For example the 'Forearm' basic part can be used when anyone within a range of 0 makes a check, and it has the 'Support 1' effect, meaning you can add 1 to that roll. This lets you turn a 5 (miss) into a 6 (hit). #JTRPGInfo

You'll probably have a few parts like this, and most off-turns can only be used once per round, but they contribute to your overall AP drain. For example if you have 12 max AP, and a Chainsaw with Cost 3, you could attack with it 4 times... but ignore support effects. #JTRPGInfo

You can spend past 0 AP, but only if you have above 0 AP. So if you have 1 AP and use something with cost 3 you can use it and go down to -2 AP. When the next round happens, you regain up to your Max in AP, but deduct negatives, so Max 12 becomes 10 AP in the new round #JTRPGInfo

Whew. Finally, Parts themselves have a wide variety of effects. For example that Chainsaw I mentioned. It's a cost 3, range 0 melee weapon. But unlike your Fist, it does 2 damage instead of 1. It also has the 'Dismember' effect. #JTRPGInfo

When you hit with such a weapon, the target has to roll a Dismember check. If they fail, they lose -all- parts in the hit location, regardless of how much damage you actually did! Exciting. Not so exciting when you fumble... I-I may have did this in one session... #JTRPGInfo

(I had Giant Scissors, which imposes a -2 to the dismember check; my friend was in the same zone... she, uh, got cut in half... b-but she was okay!) #JTRPGInfo

There's other parts like the First Aid Kit, which allows you to restore 3 basic parts after a battle. Or "Hole" which is a hole in your body that lets you 'Hinder 1', dropping an incoming attack by 1. Or Patchwork, which when broken, heals itself and another part. #JTRPGInfo

There's a large amount of Parts, ranging from the simple katana, to wild things like scissor hands, to grotesque things like mushroom colonies in your body, extra heads, tentacles, etc. Lots of room to build the perfect zombie girl. #JTRPGInfo

There's also the much-talked about Boy part. Ryo Kamiya insisted that PCs be female so that you could focus on the emotional aspect of the game... which is kind of a bad take! But there it is, you can have a Boy part. I wonder what it is? Do they get pockets? #JTRPGInfo

And that's all I can think of for this game. It's a marvelously unique game with a bunch of potentially uncomfortable loli-guro art. And the thematic aspect of it, about hope and community, is very good. Due to the art however it will never see the light of day here! #JTRPGInfo

Hopefully I'll get the time and gumption to do another game soon, there's at least two that I really want to cover, but learning whole rulesets is hard and takes effort, weh. See you next time, anyway!