In A World That Hates and Fears You, Living Becomes an Act of Rebellion.

Exceptionals is a game inspired by x-men about and for the spaces and communities marginalized peoples make for themselves. Play as a Geno, one of little less than 0.5% percent of the population that has gone through a mysterious process called Claremont-Simonson mutation, as you try to navigate a world that won’t make room for you. Exceptionals is a game about what the mutant metaphor means to you and the different lenses through which we view it. Punch back and build something of worth together in this narrative tag-driven tabletop role playing game.

Features

• Open-Ended Character Creation
  Mix and Match between (23) open-ended but guided protocols. Answer questions to create high concept and unique super powered characters where the only real limit is your imagination. Get invested in who you make as a whole person, and not just a set of powers.
•  Build a Community
  Create a living and dynamic community space full of colorful characters. Grow your base as an anchor for other geno and help fill it with the resources they and you need. Understand how your actions effect others and gain trust through the bonds mechanic. It’s a game where you get stronger by growing your community and heal by being part of it. 
• Comic Book Storytelling
  Play as a creative team of writers and editors working to tell the best version of the story you can over time and storyline-based experience to model changes of the status quo and creative direction. Enjoy panel based action pacing and the ability of characters of all power levels to coexist and carry the same amount of story weight.
•  Not Pain Tourism
  While Exceptionals offers a number of places to push back, we understand and recognize that the most important part of a punching bag is that you choose to hit it, even if it’s not at all. We recognize not everyone gets to set the issues that the mutant metaphor is used to talk about down when they leave the table and offer many ways to tell stories outside of a lens defined by pain. We also put an emphasis and mechanical weight on the importance of joy and celebration.

KUDOS
-As featured on; io9/Gizmodo, Kotaku, Listen to Theses Nerds, Team-Up Moves, Yes Indie'd Pod, Team-Up Moves, The  Queer XP, and The Voice of Dog,
-#1 Best Seller and Popular on Itch.io in both Analog & RPG Games, Sept 2021
-#5 on the top 8 superhero TTRPGs on The Gamer

Listen to the Team-Up Moves AP Here!: https://teamupmoves.com/runs/exceptionals

"Exceptionals is a beautiful, brilliantly designed superhero RPG. It's truly a masterpiece, and if you haven't checked it out, do yourself a favor." -@PartyOfOnePod

"This thing COOKS, Sahoni doesn't just tap into the queer/minority readings of mutants, but also ties in the weirdness that really gets my mind racing when it comes to X books." -@froondingloom 

 "A refreshingly different game, that strikes a good balance between unlimited player freedom and solid guiding handrails. Really gets at the full potential of what the ;mutant outcast heroes' genre should be about: found family, building communities, and lives lived to the fullest despite being lived in defiance." -@guywhowrotethis 

 "The whole game oozes love for its inspiration while also going further than they dared...." -@Phoenix24Femme

"Astonishing! Uncanny! All-New! And all other X-Adjectives available.

This book gets why one would want to play the Mutant Metaphor in an RPG. It cleverly weaves the power fantasy of powerful individuals with the drive to do good for one's community. It's well-researched, well-written and, well, so much fun to play!

This is the superpowered game I've been wanting for a long, long time. I can't wait to tell an Exceptional story of my own!" -@Kokiteno

Credits

Written and Designed by: Gar Atkins
Edited by: Gar Atkins
Cover by: Gar Atkins and David Fernandez
Icons on pages (54, 58, 62, 66, 70, 74, 78, 82, 86, 92, 96, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124,128. 132, 136, 140, 144), DNA boarder, and X-Logo by: David Fernandez
Interior Art on pages (28, 44, 45, 148-150, 158, 168, 188, 198, 214) by: Gar Atkins, (240) by: Alexis Royce
Posters on page (96, 104) by Luke Herr
Poster pictures provided by: (70) Camilo Jimenez (92) Sam Moqadam, (112) Brett Jordan, The Creative Exchange, Abhay Padikar (120) Hrayr Movsisyan (128) Edward Howell, Noah Smith (132) Dieny Portinanni, Science in HD, (140) Jonathan Tomas

Corkboard bg: Josephine Bredehoft (54, 58, 62, 66, 70, 74, 78, 82, 86, 92, 96, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124,128. 132, 136, 140, 144, 215)
Additional Contributions: Enku, Kenneth Hyman, I. Aronson, Heather Rusk

Interactive Character Sheets by https://twitter.com/Occoris

Special Thanks: This game wasn’t made on a budget of 0 dollars. The supplies, computers, programs, and fonts that went into this were because of a loving community that believed in me and what I was making. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. All I can do is give you words. So take these words and know that I poured just as much love back into them.

Wado, Sahoni

Copyright © 2019-2021 Garrett Atkins