Absurdia
A downloadable game
Absurdia is an absurdist modern fantasy roleplaying game about the inane hilarity and understated horror of everyday life. Inspired by works of absurd humor, surreal horror, and literary nonsense like Welcome to Night Vale, Alice in Wonderland, Gravity Falls, and the Twilight Zone, Absurdia is an opportunity to indulge in the surreal and outlandish while subverting the absurdity of modern society.
When you play this game, you’ll play people trapped in a suburban town unmoored from space and time, wracked by the surreal entropy of chaos. You’ll contend with arcane bureaucracy, sentient machines, maniacal PTAs, malevolent garden flora, and the occasional cosmic horror as you attempt to survive, overcome, and perhaps even escape the darkly idyllic community. Absurdia's game mechanics are Powered by the Apocalypse.
The game includes:
- A 145 page core rulebook that contains everything you need to begin exploring your own strange and surreal town
- 9 unique playbook and character sheets
- 2 page player and GM reference sheets for easy reading during play
- Low-ink, limited image version of all documents
Press
Actual Plays
- Monster Hour (season two)
- Don't Wreck Yourself: Part 1, Part 2
- Dungeons and Pop
- International Podcast Month
- The Monster's Playbook
- One Shot Mondays: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
- Party of One
- Shrimp & Crits: Whimsy World
- SeroRPG
- Telling Tales: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
- $2 Creature Feature
Reviews and Interviews
Credits
- Writing and Design: Quinn Majeski
- Editing: Cindy Butor
- Illustration: Kaylee Rowena
- Graphic Design: Jon Merchant
- Playbook Layout: Tim Devine
Updated | 9 days ago |
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (50 total ratings) |
Author | Quinn Majeski |
Tags | absurd, Fantasy, PbtA, supernatural, Surreal, Tabletop, Tabletop role-playing game |
Average session | A few hours |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $20 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Exclusive content
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies
Each sale of Absurdia adds a Community Copy, which is available for any member of the community for whom the listed price would be a financial burden. If you're unable to purchase a copy of the game, please claim one of these community copies, no questions asked.
Development log
- Post 1.0: News, Playtest Opportunity, Print Run?9 days ago
- Absurdia 1.0 Available Now!Aug 07, 2024
- Absurdia 1.0 coming August 7!Aug 02, 2024
- One Year Anniversary and 1.0 UpdateJun 14, 2023
- Playbook Sheet HotfixJul 08, 2022
- Absurdia is Fully Funded!Jun 26, 2022
- First Goal Reached!Jun 21, 2022
- Hotfix Update, Goals Update, 50% Funded!Jun 18, 2022
Comments
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I love this game for how it flips the normal "your just normal guys surviving freaky things" energy other games have for " YOUR WEIRD, EVERYTHING IS WILD, DO WEIRD THINGS TO STOP THE FREAKY STUFF" energy and its wonderful, i love the game and the pod it was a great learning tool, thank you very much.
Incredible summary of Absurdia’s vibe - very glad you’re enjoying it!
Small typo: the playbooks all say "Advancedment," rather than "Advancement."
Thanks for flagging! Expect an update with various minor fixes in the next couple weeks
Congrats on 1.0! Hoping for a print version <3
It's on my list of goals now that the 1.0 version is out!
Been looking forward to reading this all day :) Congrats on the 1.0 release!
Big congrats for the version 1.0 release, Quinn and team!
This seems awesome! Any chance of adding more community copies for us folks on the global south?
I plan to add a big batch of community copies alongside the 1.0 release on Wednesday!
Will the new playbooks the Newcomer, the Animated and the Suit be added soon? Very eager to use them and they sounded great in the playthrough!
Hey there! I've been focused recently on finishing the 1.0 update, which is very close to complete! Once that's done I plan to do some additional playtesting on the new playbooks, and once they're in a good spot I'll release them as a free update.
Can I ask what the quick pitch is on these?
They're still in development and playtesting to be released at a future date, but the current concepts in brief are:
That's exciting stuff! I love the sound of The Urban Legend, and it'll be fun to compare/contrast The Suit with The Bureaumancer.
Congrats on 1.0!
I'm trying to get an ongoing game running for this system... It's like pulling teeth to get players. *sigh*
i've been running a campaign of this for the past 6 months and it has facilitated some of the most wonderful roleplaying experiences i've ever had. the game encourages such a beautiful balance of humor and horror of the mundane, and still opens itself up to intense emotions within those spaces. it's the best system i've ever played for telling weird stories about weird little towns and i've loved every moment of it
Just started a session with my friends, one is a depressed Bureaumancer working at an SCP facility being masked as a Staples, and the other is a Zeitgeist running a diner with a bunch of ADHD addled minds trying to work together, albeit poorly. They loved what they've done so far, investigating a section of a college campus that took them to a glimpse of the past and discovering the dark history of the town. The mechanics you've built make is so easy to improv, while providing a strong basis for structured play when necessary. I really want to see more from you, keep up the great work.
Amazing game, On point!
I just ran my first session last night and had a blast with it. Everyone loved the character creation process and the gameplay was weird, wacky fun. I cannot wait to see what content you add in the future.
Hilarious, adventurous, on-point. What else is there to do with the farce and inanity of every day living then turn it into a game?
This is really fantastic, captures the feel of the source material so well. Cannot wait to run it!
Quinn is a brilliant creator, and I can't wait to run this with my TTRPG group.
Super excited to bring this to my table. The playbooks are evocative and sparked my imagination immediately. Also refreshing to find a game that knows it's strong enough to not lean on combat for its tension and sense of danger. Excellent game. Highly recommend.
Absurdia is so much fun! I have been lucky enough to play a few times while the game was in development and absolutely loved it. The setting and playbooks are dripping with inspiration which makes telling exciting and whacky stories come so easily.
I left a rating and review, but I wanted to make sure I left one somewhere everyone could see:
Possibly one of my favorite PBTA games that I've ever played, as a playtester I have been looking forward to this release with much anticipation. As an enormous fan of Gravity Falls, if you've ever wanted to play a game that revels in the absurdity, horror, and banality of every day life, but with a fantastical twist--this is the game for you. I mean, name me any other game where you can play what is essentially an office wizard?
If you're not convinced, let me paint you a word picture. In my playthrough, I played as Hal Beardson, a Curio cursed to both attract the very same eldritch objects that had caused many the sudden and absurd death of their family members. As one my curios, I chose The Burnt Feather of Icarus. To distract the agents of the strange funhouse-mirror horror show mall we'd found ourselves in, Hal activated the power of flight with the feather...only for me to roll quite poorly. And so, Hal Beardson flew too close to the overhead LED sun--er, lights--and their beautiful feather wings melted as they fell to the floor.
This was just one of the many hilarious and absurd things that we experienced playing through this game. The gameplay is incredibly fun and intuitive, the playbooks absolutely RULE, and the vibes are immaculate. Give it a chance! You won't be disappointed.
I have play tested Absurdia and cannot recommend it enough!
This game sounds so cool! Adding it to my wishlist now!