You will wander the ravaged land and channel the strange power that runs through your hands to unburden the needy, shrive the wayward and rout the corrupt. You will embrace the weirdness of the wasteland, fight heroic battles and risk your life to fulfil the covenants you have sworn.
It's a bit like Ironsworn meets Troika meets Fallout... with an activity sheet.
It's wickedly difficult to build tension and anticipation in a solo RPG, but Lay on Hands knocks it out of the park. It's clever: perhaps the most robust and unique oracle table (or rather, a literal tray) out there — it's challenging: you *will* be desperately shading boxes, adding numbers, and more as a coin spin determines your fate — and delightfully strange. Supported by clear writing and distinctive design, I'm blown away by the quality of work.
— momatoes (ARC, The Magus)
This is a 36 page (covers included) black and white zine, featuring... [toggle to read more]
Instead of rolling dice to check for the success of your character's actions, you will spin a coin and try to complete sections on one of three drawing mini-games before it comes to a stop. The result on the coin also contributes to the outcome of what you're trying to do, adding narrative tension beyond simple "success vs failure". (If that sounds too gimmicky or you are unable to complete the skill tests, the game supports play using two six-sided dice instead.)
Put yourself in the shoes of an unconventional prophet. At the heart of the game is The Oracle, a table of 36 abstract prompts inspired by tarot fortune telling, which helps generate unexpected detail in every part of the heroic story you'll be creating. It also quite neatly doubles up as the tray for spinning your coin in.
The game's rules are condensed into a single page reference so you can get stuck into the good stuff without getting bogged down.
When your character attempts something with an uncertain outcome you take their relevant faculty (Grit, Slip or Wits), subtract any applicable skills and add on the challenge rating of the action to get the score you need to beat.
The game's strewn with gritty, grainy block print illustrations. These are lovingly hand-crafted to evoke the naïve, unstudied style of a society rebuilding itself, creating new myths and meaning.
Play one of several idiosyncratic characters, each dedicated to healing a different thing: flesh, soul, mind, pestilence, creatures or tech. Want more freedom? There's advice for amending them as you see fit or even creating your own archetypes.
One of the first things you'll do is create your own post-apocalyptic world. The game's designed to help you play any scenario you can dream up, in any time period you want. Included is a mantra generator, and a random table of 36 post-apocalyptic world characteristics.
As well as Fallout, in making the game I drew inspiration from The Road by Cormac McCarthy, the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, The Vorrh by B. Catling, the Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer, as well as films like Mad Max and A Boy And His Dog.
Lay On Hands is clever in ways I've never seen done before. It’s tactile, it’s evocative, it’s innovative, it’s immersive. Tons of player freedom and infinite possibilities using a unique system blending chance, dexterity, and interpretation into a whole new way to tell stories at the table.
— Adam Vass (World Champ Game Co)
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The Oracle, Character Sheet and Skill Tests sheet are provided separately below (under 'Download demo') for printing etc.