Game Overview
The Electric State RPG is a story-first, rules-light tabletop roleplaying game set in a collapsing alternate-history America. It was designed for a GM and two to five players, each playing a Traveler on a road trip through a dying world.
Setting
The year is 1997 in the nation of Pacifica — what was once California — following a civil war (1975–1984) that shattered the United States. Civilization is in slow-motion freefall. The atmosphere is dark Americana: '90s nostalgia (Nirvana, battered station wagons, Jolt cola) colliding with outlandish neuronic technology.
Neuronics
The defining technology is neuronics — helmet-like neurocasters that connect users to a digital network. Within it lie neuroscapes: virtual worlds more vivid than reality itself. Millions of citizens have become addicted, choosing to stay jacked in until they die, accelerating civilizational collapse.
Drones are the second pillar of neuronics: remote-piloted machines ranging from household units to enormous weapon systems. They fought most of the civil war. The countryside is littered with their wrecked hulks.
Tone & Themes
Six principles govern the game:
- Play to find out — no predetermined outcome; the story emerges from play
- The Travelers are seekers — driven by dreams, engaging with everything they encounter
- The Journey is the goal — reaching the destination fast is not the point
- The world is falling apart — decay and collapse are ever-present
- Neuronics are everywhere — even Travelers must use neurocasters, risking addiction
- It's the '90s, but not — familiar pop culture contrasted with strange, outlandish tech
Core Mechanic
When attempting something difficult, roll a pool of six-sided dice equal to your relevant attribute. You need at least one 6 to succeed. More dice = better odds, but you never add them up — any single 6 is a success.
If you fail and desperately need to succeed, you can Push the roll: reroll all non-6 dice, but doing so costs Hope (your morale/mental health resource). Lose all Hope and your Traveler is broken.
Attributes
Four attributes define every Traveler (rated 2–6):
| Attribute | Covers |
|---|---|
| Strength | Toughness, melee, endurance |
| Agility | Speed, stealth, ranged combat, acrobatics |
| Wits | Intelligence, perception, tech knowledge |
| Empathy | Social, persuasion, charm, manipulation |
Time Units
| Unit | Duration | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|
| Round | 5–10 seconds | Combat |
| Stretch | 5–10 minutes | Neurocasting |
| Shift | 5–10 hours | Travel |
Archetypes (The "Class" System)
There are no classes in the D&D sense. Instead, each Traveler chooses one of 10 Archetypes — a character concept that determines their key attribute, starting Talents (specific abilities), starting gear, a Dream (personal goal), and a Flaw. No two Travelers in the same group should share an archetype.
| Archetype | Key Attribute | Concept |
|---|---|---|
| Artist | Empathy | Compulsive creator hiding fear behind performance |
| Criminal | Strength | Self-made survivor; responds to threats with violence |
| Devotee | Empathy | True believer in a cult, driven to convert others |
| Doctor | Empathy | Disenchanted healer, possibly neurine-addicted |
| Drone Pilot | Wits | Unique: your physical body is comatose elsewhere — you play as a drone |
| Investigator | Wits | Cynical PI who tracks people lost in the neuroscapes |
| Outsider | Agility | Never fit in; distrusts everyone |
| Runaway Kid | Agility | Escaped a bad home; fiercely independent |
| Scientist | Wits | Rationalist clinging to facts as the world burns |
| Veteran | Strength | War survivor haunted by what they did |
The Journey Structure
Each game is organized around a Journey: a road trip from one place (the Starting Point) to a Destination, passing through a series of Stops. Each Stop is a location where the Travelers encounter people, threats, and situations that must be resolved before moving on.
Travelers also carry personal goals and threats that weave into the stops — private story arcs that develop alongside the main journey.
The Neuronic Risk
Entering the neuroscapes is often mechanically necessary but always dangerous. Time spent inside risks Bliss — growing addiction to the virtual world. Push too far and a Traveler may never want to leave, effectively becoming one of the hollow-eyed citizens haunting the background of the setting.