CHUM

CHUM IS A LIGHTWEIGHT ROLL-AND-PLAY SOCIAL TTRPG ABOUT BEING LOST AT SEA, SURVIVING A SHARK ATTACK! THINK OF EVERY SHARK MOVIE YOU’VE EVER SEEN— THIS IS THAT, IN A GAME. PLAYERS TAKE ON ROLES AND TRY TO EITHER GET RESCUED OR KILL THE SHARK, HOWEVER UNLIKELY THAT MAY BE.

CHUM uses our new Urgency Engine game system for fun, tense, snappy one-shots that require zero prep to sit down and play and cater to all levels of RPG experience. You only need two regular six-sided dice, a pencil and a character sheet to play. Only the person running the game needs to be familiar with the game’s rules, everything can be explained to the players including character creation.

Players take on occupations simply by rolling on a table for them. Most occupations will be familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a shark attack movie, such as a grizzled local boat captain or the college athlete on spring break. Players can also roll on the personality quirks table to further frame their role-playing, but there’s an optional twist— the gamemaster can give a player a secret motive instead! Secret motives pit players against one another, adding another layer of tension to the already dire scenario at play.

The Urgency Engine uses a very cool and very simple Hope/Panic mechanic as its core resource for players. Succeed on action rolls and you gain Hope, which is great. Hope may be spent on rolls to make them succeed, and the more you have the less likely you are to be attacked! Fail on action rolls and you lose Hope and gain Panic, which is bad. Sharks love to attack the most panicked person, and if your Panic gets too great it could trigger additional unpleasant consequences.

The game includes six unique scenarios, ranging from the classic, grounded “stranded at sea” to over-the-top science fiction plots involving some wild sharks and even a seafloor laboratory setting. There are 8 unique sharks in the game the gamemaster can choose from or roll for, so players can never get too comfortable even when playing over and over.

CHUM is a blast to play, and a perfect game to introduce newcomers to the world of tabletop RPGs. You can buy the full-color 37-page PDF today, and there is a print run coming soon if you’d prefer a zine copy! Sign up for our newsletter to find out when the imminent print run launches!