Tension is a Tarot based roleplaying game for telling stories like Killing Eve and Hannibal, letting you explore queer experiences in the cat and mouse genre.

Play as an investigator and a killer as they get entangled in each other. You will pursue after another back and forth while everyone in your orbit drops like flies. But it’ll all be worth it, because you’ll be in love. Or dead. Or both maybe? How exciting!

Play

Up to three players will create a full cast of 22 characters, one for each of the Major Arcana. In Tension everyone has a hand of tarot cards they play over a series of scenes, revealing twists and turns as the story progresses between the two main characters. Players might be triggering mood shifts, activating character specific actions, introducing orbiting characters, or even killing people off.

Tension is a "gm-full" game as opposed to "gm-less," with all players involved taking active stock in the progression of the story and the actions of the each of the characters. Players are encouraged to move between actor and director stance fluidly.

When playing with two players, one inhabits the investigator and the other the killer, stepping in to inhabit the orbiting minor characters as the scene calls for. In the three player variant, one player is the Ensemble. They guide the orbiting characters and amp up the drama, able to twist the emotional knife with the two main characters from their outside perspective.

Tension is not a mystery, it’s a dark comedy thriller romance. The killer and the investigator know who the other is, yet they are still inexplicably drawn together.  Hijinks and drama ensue as they are trapped in a complicated web of attraction, lies, and even truth.

Tension can tell tight one shot stories over a few hours, or it can tell a longer season of multiple episodes strung together. Characters might be revealed to have miraculously survived, loyalties can shift, and slow burn secrets can reveal themselves. Whether you just want a single night of fun or weeks of emotional exploration, Tension delivers.

Team

Game by Adira Slattery

Art and Layout by Francita Soto

Editing by Dominique Dickey