One complete fantasy RPG. One deck of cards. Infinite chaos!
The Chaos is a card-based tabletop roleplaying game built for old school adventurers who'd rather be rolling than reading rulebooks. Solo or group play. Zero prep. Pull it from your pocket and watch the chaos unfold!
"Old school inspired, chaos guaranteed. We playtested this and it's exactly what a rules-light RPG should be!" - James Devlin, GM
In every session, your character or party will begin in The Keep, head out on an adventure in The Realm, and if you survive, at the end of the session will return to The Keep, ready to explore another day. So this way, using this old school inspired, rules-light system built for stand-alone sessions, everyone can pop in and out of the game whenever they're available and feel up for adventure. Easy peasy. Just sort a pool of players & GMs or grab your journal, and head out into the wild!
Not sure yet? The full rules are free online. Try a session before you spend a penny. Or use the drop-down and select to get the Digital Files Only.
WHAT'S IN THE DECK?
Everything you need to run a full one-shot session, or the seeds of a longer campaign, is right here in your hands. No three-hundred-page manual. Just a tarot-sized deck of cards.
Your game deck contains:
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Group & Solo Rules - everything you need to understand the system
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Character Creation - roll up a character in minutes
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Session Stuff - all the building blocks you need for a cracking session
- Creature Creation - generate monsters on the fly with minimum effort
- Curiosities - random spark tables to inspire your sessions
WHAT YOU ALSO GET
When you order, you'll get immediate access to:
- the game deck pdf
- a barebones, lighter pdf
- a printable character sheet to use at the table
- a fillable character sheet for online play
- Them Bleedin' Woods - cracking two-page adventure
- a quickstart cheat sheet
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some generic, 8k HD classic old school battle maps for the setting, more of which you can pick up for free here
"This is literally the most accessible OSR rpg in a deck! You can build a character in a couple of minutes! The questions it asks instantly start to add detail to your character. It's nicely laid out, beautifully designed, very nifty monster builder...Highly recommended if you're thinking about getting it, plus I can see this being the key to a surprisingly good, long campaign, narrative driven, simple mechanics! Love it." - Pete Lankston, YT
WHO'S THIS FOR?
If any of these land, this deck belongs in your pocket, and at your table:
- You want a rules-light fantasy RPG you can learn in minutes and play in an evening
- You've been looking for a solo TTRPG that actually feels like a proper adventure
- You run games and want something for zero-prep one-shots when your players show up and you've got nothing
- You're tired of cracking open a different sourcebook every time someone asks what's in the dungeon
- You want a card-based RPG that fits in your pocket and works anywhere
"Told my group we were trying something new. Twenty minutes in, our rascal had accidentally started a cult. He'd rolled badly on a traits check and basically a bunch of randoms in town clocked him as some sort of radical revolutionary. The empath in the group decided the best response was to burn down the tavern and blame it on the rascal and ruin his rep. By the end of the session, the cult was still going, the tavern was ash, and the party's now this feared crime family in town. We'd been going for two hours. I had nothing prepared. Genuinely don't know how it ended up like that, but it was so much fun!! We're playing again next Saturday, so who knows what will happen!" - early playtester of the game
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"Received both decks in the mail and everything is fantastic! My gaming group is very impressed with the quality of the materials and content in the cards. We’ve been playing together for almost 40 years and this is one of the coolest products we’ve seen in a while. We are all primarily old school D&D 1st-5th edition players, but have played just about every sort of system under the Sun. I just wanted to encourage you and your company, it’s great to see creators making unique and usable products like this. This weekend will be our first tryout session and learning the game. The website and generators are outstanding and have made that job so much easier in preparation." - Todd Lofton
PHYSICAL DECK vs FREE RULES
The full rules for The Chaos live on this site, free, always. So why get the deck?
Because there's a difference between having the rules on your phone and slapping a deck of cards on the table. The physical deck is a conversation starter, a quick spark in your hands, and a game system all at once. Hand your players the character creation cards. Lay out the sections you need. Shuffle the curiosities cards and spark your imagination.
The deck is also the most portable version of the game. No phone signal required, no scrolling, no dead batteries mid-session. Just whip the deck from your pocket or bag, wherever you are, and kick off a session right there!
Let's be honest, there's nowt like holding the deck in your hands and unleashing chaos at your table in meat space!
"The core appeal of The Chaos lies in its extreme portability and accessibility. Built for both solo and group play, the system eschews sprawling manuals in favour of a single, tarot-sized deck. It provides mechanics for character creation, session generation, and on-the-fly monster encounters. Players begin in The Keep, venture into The Realm, and return if they survive; a structural loop that deliberately accommodates fluctuating player counts and impromptu gathering. Early reception highlights the unpredictable narrative generation driven by the deck’s spark tables. [For] players fatigued by heavy sourcebooks and extensive session prep." - Geek Native
WORKS WITH VENGER'S DECKS
Already got some of the Venger's Decks encounter cards or battle maps? The Chaos slots right in. The systems are designed to play nicely together. Stack encounter decks, add The Crit for critical hit drama, lay out The Caverns modular map tiles or The Snap deck of dungeon geomorphs, and you've got a full session without touching a laptop.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do I need to know how to play TTRPGs to use this? It helps to have some experience, but The Chaos is designed to be as approachable as old school RPGs get. If you've played any tabletop RPG before, you'll be up and running quickly. If you haven't, the free rules online are a good place to start before you commit.
Is this a standalone game or an expansion? Fully standalone. The Chaos is a complete tabletop RPG in one deck. You don't need any other system or rulebook. That said, it blends well with Venger's Decks or any other OSR systems you like.
Can I really play it solo? Yes. The solo rules are built into the game. The Chaos works as a proper solo TTRPG, not just a single-player afterthought.
What do I need besides the deck? A few friends (or not if you're solo), some d6 dice, something to write on, and a willingness to let things go sideways. The chaos takes care of the rest!
How small is the text on the cards?
The deck is tarot-sized, so the text is compact to fit everything on the cards, similar to what you'd see on a lot of card games. Every order also includes the digital PDFs, so if you'd rather have something you can zoom in on, that's included as standard, and of course all the game's also laid out here on the site.
READY TO ROLL?
The chaos isn't going to unleash itself!
