Imagine that you and your friends are just hanging out having a good time. Maybe you’re playing a TTRPG, maybe you’re watching a movie, but then -- each of you is blinded as a sudden message of doom is transmitted directly into your mind. The harbinger forewarns of your imminent death and the ascension of dark, celestial forces. It’s not a question of if you can survive -- but how long.

The basic premise of the End of the World TTRPG game series is that you and people you know in real life suddenly find yourselves thrust into an apocalyptic event. In the case of Wrath of the Gods, that event is the gods returning to earth bringing about Ragnarok, the Apocalypse, etc., though, if you play one of the other series, aliens, zombies, or sentient machines could be the cause of your imminent demise. Since you’re playing yourselves, you won’t have abilities like casting spells or fighting with swords or running really fast -- you’ll only have your own skills and items to rely on.

Creating a character is fairly easy. Once you decide to play yourself or another similarly mundane character, you determine your characteristics, which include Physical (Dexterity and Vitality), Mental (Logic and Willpower), and Social (Charisma and Empathy). Each of these characteristics have points, the value of which will determine how many dice you roll at any given time and what number you want to roll at or under. Next, you choose features, which are essentially your strengths and weaknesses, then you write down what equipment you might have on you, and finally you record whatever traumas you’re currently suffering from. And then you have a character!

As for actual gameplay, every action that can have a positive or (more likely) negative effect on the game is resolved via a test. These tests have you roll two sets of d6s, which can negate each other, give you added stress, or help you accomplish your test. However, for every test that you run, you’re more likely to get a point of stress, and, if you get too many points of stress, your character will die.

This quick summary makes EotW sound simple, and, honestly, it is, but not if you try to play the rules as written. Characteristics are supposed to be offensive and defensive, but it’s never quite clear how offensive and defensive work since you’re typically not doing a ton of competitive rolls. Likewise, it’s difficult to use all of your characteristics during a game, making it more likely that players will use the same characteristic over and over and over again. Finally, equipment is pretty nebulous and difficult to utilize effectively. Yes, you can use certain equipment to gain an extra d6 to roll, but that doesn’t really help with creative solutions.

Overall, I would say that, while EotW isn’t a bad system, it’s not my favorite either. The rules could use some streamlining and playtesting, and the scenarios aren’t super easy to replicate or run. Mostly, they read like stories where you try to shoehorn players in and do what you want (die). In fact, the whole premise (that you’re going to die) does come off a bit contrived when you actually try to play it.

I did like some bits, especially the stress and trauma mechanic (though I didn’t necessarily like how minor things such as spraining your ankle were initially considered “traumas”). I thought it was cool that stress could turn into resistance, and I appreciated that there was a mechanic for tracking how close someone comes to death. However, I could see this game either going on forever or ending really, really quickly because of this mechanic.

Finally, I did like how easy it was to make NPCs/monsters/villains/etc. You basically just need to ascribe a point value and then give them a few features which don’t necessarily have anything to do with the point value. It makes it possible to have a low stat creature that can still do something really cool.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I’ll ever play this system again, but I’m glad I at least tried it. I liked the premise of you and your friends going through the end of the world, and coming up with a scenario really stretched my GM abilities. Playing was also fun, and I liked seeing how my friends responded to these cataclysmic situations. I’d recommend giving the game a try, though I would also only recommend buying one of the books instead of all four -- you don’t get a lot of difference between the four, and, honestly, once you get the basic mechanics from one book, you can easily run the game for any scenario.