Now a Nebula finalist, with coauthor Marie Brennan, for Game Writing!

NINEFOX GAMBIT RPG is a tabletop roleplaying game of heresy and hard choices set in the tyrannical interstellar empire known as the Hexarchate.

YOU belong to one of the Hexarchate’s six factions. YOU are entangled with a regime that can change the very laws of physics—at the cost of human sacrifice.

Will you…

– CONFRONT your leaders, at the risk of being labeled a heretic and hunted down?
– CHANGE the system from within, despite the chance that you’ll be crushed by it instead?
– COLLABORATE to preserve what you can, at the cost of your principles?

Assimilation is a fate worse than death.

Designed by Yoon Ha Lee and based on his Hugo-nominated Machineries of Empire space opera series (Ninefox Gambit, Raven Stratagem, Revenant Gun, Hexarchate Stories). Included are three starter scenarios by Marie Brennan, author of The Memoirs of Lady Trent and, with Alyc C. Helms as M. A. Carrick, the Rook and Rose epic fantasy trilogy.

Mechanics inspired by Fate and Dog Eat Dog, plus an all-new clock/assimilation push-your-luck system in which players balance the chance of success against risk of assimilation by their tyrannical government. Appendices include additional setting information, optional rules for a seventh heretical faction (the Liozh), and pregenerated characters from each faction, including notable figures from the books such as Kel Cheris, Shuos Jedao, and Nirai Kujen.

– Preorder the ebook (epub, $9.99 USD).
– Preorder the paperback print version ($19.99 USD).
– Preorder the special hardcover edition, featuring splash art ($44.99 USD).
– itch.io PDF version ($9.99 USD).

Cover art by Stephanie Folse (larger version).

For more information, contact Yoon Ha Lee (deuceofgearsart@gmail.com).

Photographer: Caleb Bourque; full-resolution version available here [4.6 MB].

Cheat sheet/quick start guide now available: PDF, epub, and RTF.