Brothers In Arms

The Game

In Brothers in Arms, you are a squadron of constructed soldiers fighting for a Nation that does not care about you against a Threat you do not understand.  You were created to serve under a strange magical Commander who will lead you into the conflict. If you want, you can die like this - a nameless soldier thrown into the meat grinder, serving alongside your fellow Constructs, as the Nation dictates. But if you're willing to take some risks and accept some consequences, there might just be a future for you beyond the battlefield.

This is a game about war, and playing strategically and carefully to survive the armed conflict you're being forced into. It is also a game about reckoning with your own personhood, resisting authority, and forming relationships even when tragedy is inevitable. Brothers In Arms tries to interrogate dynamics between the characters and systems of the world - the Constructs and their Commander, the Commander and their Nation, the Nation and the Threat, the Threat and the Constructs, and, of course, the Constructs and each other.

The Constructs might be anything - clone soldiers, robots, arcane elementals, etc. What's important is that they have been told who they are and what they can do. They've been given a destiny and a battlefield to die on. But there are cracks in the system  that can let them escape that destiny, at the cost of harming themselves or others.

Brothers in Arms is a Forged in the Dark game, with some significant departures from the traditional FitD structure. It gives the GM additional opportunities to introduce mechanical constraints and consequences for character actions, and gives the players mechanical opportunities to defy almost anything the GM proposes. It forces characters to work together by offering shared dice pools instead of stats, and makes extra resources contingent on teamwork or letting their Commander lead. It also introduces an inscrutable Nation that gives impossible orders and harsh punishments, and a Threat that wants all of you dead. So, how many dice are you rolling?

The Setting

There is no established setting for Brothers in Arms. It's intended to be flexible so that you can convert it to your own personal setting. That said, there are a couple consistent truths that are core to the game:

1. THE NATION is a powerful group fighting a war through the use of Commanders and Constructs that they consider expendable.
2. THE THREAT is the powerful group the Nation is at war with, using a flood of basic troops to try to overwhelm the Nation's soldiers.
3. THE COMMANDERS are powerful and strange, members of an order revered by the citizens of the Nation.
4. THE CONSTRUCTS are created to be soldiers in this war, and are expected to die in it.

The game comes equipped with five pre-made settings to choose from if you don't want to make your own setting. If you do, however, there's rules near the beginning of the book about how to make your own setting, and what details you need to have established from the start.

Fight The War

One of the core parts of the game are Missions. The GM receives an order by drawing a card from a deck, and then uses given prompts to put together a mission plan on the fly. The Constructs conduct the mission using resources the Nation has given them - as well as a few of their own. They're offered opportunities to go AWOL and fulfill their own interests, or to complete the mission as instructed in exchange for rewards. Ideally, no one dies. Most missions are not ideal.

Resist Authority

The Constructs can always feel the breath of their Nation down their necks in the form of their Commander. The Commander is a character played by the GM who has powerful abilities and absolute authority over the Constructs. They're capable of helping Constructs on missions - but they'll also prove an obstacle to the Constructs' personal hopes and dreams. It's the Construct's job to gauge how they feel about their Commander - and figure out the best way to defy their rules.

Form Connections

You are never alone in this war. In addition to the domineering eye of their Commander, the Constructs are constantly surrounded by those who are just like them. They may see them as their "brothers", who they are bound to through shared fraternal love. They may see them as rivals, or enemies. Or perhaps they view each other as parts of a war machine, where personality is a liability. Whatever the case, they'll form bonds with other characters - and convert those bonds into exploitable memories as their fellow soldiers do what they do best: die.

Be Your Own Construct

At the end of the day, though, it's not about the Threat, the Nation, the Commander or your other Constructs. It's about you. What makes you unique, when every face you can identify with is the same as yours? Do you value being your own person? And what can you expect at the end of all this? Play to find the answers to these questions - multiple times. After all, the war is big, and new Constructs are produced every day. When one's story ends, that's just an opportunity for you to answer those questions for the next one.

Alpha Edition

Brothers in Arms is currently in the alpha edition, which is the first version available for general playtest. It is absolutely playable, but is by no means finished or in its final form. You're welcome to download it for free, and I ask that you please give me any feedback you have about the experience of playing!

What's In The Alpha Edition?

• A 113 page playbook with detailed breakdowns of all the core mechanics
• A shorter "Basics" document that goes over all the mechanics in less detail
• A quick reference guide for all reference material like tables and lists
• Character sheets for Commanders and Constructs
• A setting sheet for your personal setting
• A playtest document asking for specific feedback!
• 6 Commander classes
  • The Trainee - An inexperienced upstart to grow alongside.
  • The Rebel - A principled radical to give a different perspective.
  • The Sympathetic - A friendly face that you can manipulate.
  • The Elder - A bitter old warrior that can teach you the ropes.
  • The Famous - A beloved icon who is gonna make you famous.
  • The Traitor - A strange being that the Nation doesn’t trust.
• 25 Construct Specialties, split into 5 categories:
  • Thrillseeker abilities – take risks, get hurt!
  • Survivor abilities – last longer, survive miraculously!
  • Ambitious abilities – be selfish, advance your goals!
  • Support abilities – help your friends, die a hero!
  • Unique abilities – be special, stand out from the crowd!
• 5 Pre-Made Settings:
  • Conflict! In Space! - a war between the Organic Theocracy's clones and the Machine Collective's robots for control of the galaxy!
  • The Immortal Kingdom of Rhodania - The Eternal Lords use arcane constructs to protect their immortality from the evil Dark Lord!
  • The Defense of New Metropolis - Mighty superheroes use reprogrammed Deathbots to protect New Metropolis from the evil Dr. Konstantine!
  • Industry Reigns - The Royal Extraction Company hires fantasy adventurers to lead living constructs of wood and metal in a war against the Earth Itself!
  • Play by Play - mech athletes command armies of cloned celebrities against the demon army of a rival nation, all televised for your entertainment!
• A section to help the GM run the game
• Alternate versions of all documents with better screen reader compatibility (marked as "No Tables")

What's Not In The Alpha Edition?

• Examples of play - these are still being worked on as playtests continue!
• Formatting and layout - it's primarily black text on a white background, with a table of contents and some internal links.
• Art - besides the incredible logo by Alida Horsley!
• Outside editing and sensitivity reading - no one has formally given feedback on the writing or content of the game yet.
• Other alternative formats - but they can be made on request!
• Finalized mechanics or balancing - everything in this book is subject to change.

Give Your Input

Your questions, concerns and feedback are so valuable to me! Please feel free to email weepingrobotgames@gmail.com with anything you're unsure about or that you think I should know!