"You live only once, but if you do it right, once is enough"
— Mae West
Degenesis is a German TTRPG, first published in 2004 by SIXMOREVODKA. In 2014, it got a second, revamped edition tilted Degenesis: Rebirth.
The take takes place in Europe and Northern Africa after a meteor strike destroyed human civilization in 2073, which later became known as the Eshaton. The meteors not only brought destruction, but they also carried something called the Primer. It’s a strange alien organism, which slowly changes the environment, the local fauna flora and people around it. Meanwhile, new cultures emerged from the old ones, and 13 cults became the most influencial in this new world. They range from organised disaster scavengers to neo-gnostic religious fanatics. They are also the playable classes.
The game receveived a fair number of expansions. This include:
- Primal Punk (Lore) and Katharsys (Character creation, gameplay, GM guide), the two part of the base book.
- Artifacts (Extra gameplay and rule options, more lore, and extra items)
- The Righteous Fist (Description of Justitian, the Protectorate's capital, the setting's largest and most important city) and Moloch (A list of important NPCs, divided by cults), these two make up the Justititan sourcebook.
- The Jehammed's Will trilogy (In Thy Blood, The Killing Game, Black Atlantic), a series of interconnected campaign books, which also expands the game's metaplot.
- Various one-shot campaign books (Lex Talionis, Last Watch, Harm's Way, Rising Ravens), although the last one also serves as an Interquel between The Killing Game and Black Atlantic.
- Various Clan Supplements (Clans of the Moloch, Clans of the Frontier, Clans of the Rhone, Pneumancers, Exalters), which expand the lore of the various Clans, making them playable, and the last one also explaining the history of the lost city of Exalt.
- Troika (A small expansion with three pre-made, interconnected characters)
You can also download various other things from the website. This includes pre-made characters for Harm's Way, wallpapers, maps of various cities and other locations in the world, the game's font for fanmade projects, and even a story outline for a potential future movie.
The game uses only six-sided dice. In most case, you have to roll dice equal to your appropriate attribute+skill. 1's, 2's and 3's are considered failures, while 4's, 5's and 6's are successes. The latters are also act as Triggers, which tell you how successful you were. In Combat, Triggers, depending on the weapon, can act as extra damage points, or activate special weapon qualities.
The game has two live-action trailers as well. You can watch them here
and here.
In 2020, they switched to a Free-to-play model, where you can download all of the books from the website for free, but if you want to support the game, you can still buy it with money. Here is the game's page
In october 21st, 2022, Degenesis has officially ceased development, and you can no longer buy the books physically, although you can still download them in PDF form from the site. However Marko, one of the creators of the game has expressed his desire to continue developing the game in the future in some form or an other
In april 18th, 2023, Degenesis Clan Wars, a tabletop game taking place in the same universe has been announced.
Degenesis provides examples of:
- Africa Is a Country: Gameplaywise, Africa is treated as a singular Culture. In the lore, one of the main reason why Africans became united were the Psychovores. They have managed to erase the traditional African languages and replace it with a singular new one, the Warui. The Scourgers see it as a gift from their ancestors.
- The Alternet: Before the Eshaton, it existed the Stream. It was a global network of information, which unified all of the other forms of media and it became the integral part of life for many people. For some, they couldn't even imagine their life outside of it. They were the Streamers. Right before the Eshaton, a Computer Virus hit the Stream, causing a lot of problems, then the meteors destroyed it. Nowadays, the Chroniclers, the descendants of the Streamers, only have ascess to the Static Stream, which pales compared to the original one in many ways. One of the cult's main goal is to restart Stream, and bring back all the lost knowledge.
- "Angry Black Man" Stereotype: The Scourger's ideology has elements of it. They idolize Africa, and view the white man as weak and feeble. They see their enslavement as a fitting punishment for their crimes againts Africa.
- Animal Motifs: The Crow and the Lion. The Crow represents Europe, as they are scavangers living on the ruins of their civilization. The Lion represents Africa, as the Climate change made them prosperous and the Warui unified them, making them a force to be reckoned with. This allegory is most often used in-universe by the latter.
- Barbarian Tribe: Many of the Clans are these.
- City of Adventure: Justitian. Built on the ruins of Dortmund, it is not only the capital of the Protectorate, but also serves as a very important trading hub. Every cult has a presence here, working together in an uneasy peace. It also has organised crime and a frontier full of hostile Clans slowly approaching the city. In short, it is a perfect place for many different types of adventures, from intrigue to combat-heavy ones. Three of the official ones also take place here (Lex Talionis, Harm's way, Last Watch).
- Call a Hit Point a "Smeerp":
- Combat Medic: The spitalians in a nutshell. Not only they are the best healers in the world, but they are also feared fighters.
- The Everyman: Unlike other Cults, the Clanners don't represent a singular organisation. Rather, they can represent any large group of people living togerher, or working towards a common goal. From stone-age level primitives, wandering nomads, sedentary farmers, or an advaced settlement built on a ruins of an old bunker. Katharsys even gives a guide on how to create your own Clan.
- Fan Disservice: Most Psychonausts don't wear any clothes. However they are often mutated in horrifying ways. Like how the Pheromancers have insect hives on them, or some Pschokinetics are colossally bloated with fat.
- Fanservice: The gamebook is not afraid showing nudity and lewd content, be it male or female. The Apocalyptics often wear rather seductive clothes, while the pictures for some of the Clans is straight nubile savage. But it doesn't stop there. One official adventure (Black Atlantic) has a moment when a girl forces herself on a player, combined with a graphic description and illustration. No wonder someone on 4chan called the game “That kraut porn RPG”.
- Fantastic Drug:
- Frontier Doctor: The Village Doctor rank of the Spitalians is essentially this. The Spital, in exchange for food, oil, craftsmen or mercenaries, rents doctors to foreign villages and cities. Many Spitalians consider working amongst the uneducated, vulgar savages a form of punishment, and they do their best to avoid getting this position. However, some of them consider it a honorable position, where they can help the people of the wastes.
- Future Imperfect: For the vast majority of humanity, the world before the Eshaton is an enigma. Since over 500 years since then, many generations have come and gone, and many everyday knowledge have been lost. The event itself have become a source of new myths and religious metaphors for many. Even the Chroniclers, the most advanced Cult is having problems understanding it completely. Only a handful of people is truly aware humanity's past glory.
- Gasoline Lasts Forever: Averted. One of the main source of power for the Africans is their near monopoly on the still working Oil Rigs. This ensures that their Surge Tanks and Koms will always have enough fuel.
- Gratuitous Latin: The Judges, espcially the Advocates faction, have a habit of using latin expressions in their speeches. Like calling the Supreme Judge "Primus inter pares", the public trial "Coram publicio", ending their final sentence with "Punctum!" (That's it!) etc. Even the Protectors' Battle Cry is Per Aspera ad Astra (through hardships, to the stars)
- Global Currency: In Europe, the Chronicler Drafts is used, while in Africa, the Dinars are the main currency. However, the exchange rate between them is 1:1, so both of them can be used on either side of the Mediterranean.
- Grim Up North: Few years after the impact, the Earth cooled down and the climate turned for the worse in the Scandinavian countries. The blizzards pushed the locals to their limits, who then fled down south. Nowadays there is a big ice wall, which slowly advances down south a few meters every year.
- The Hedonist: The Apocalyptics are made of these. They entire philosophy is based on living for the today and not holding themselves back when it comes to pleasure or anything else.
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople): Many cities and regions have different names now. For example, the territory of what France was now known as Franka.
- La Résistance: Is the name of a Clan with Franka. They hold the history and culture of pre-Eshaton France in high regard, and they want to restore it. They represent one of the main force that stands against the Pheromancers.
- MegaCorp: The Recombination Group was a pre-Eshaton pharmaceutical corporation with a surprisingly large amount of money. Not only did they build the bunkers the Palers are from, but in one official adventure, they even had a freaking nuclear submarine!
- Meta Plot: As more and more book got released, the metaplot slowly became more clear as well. The Jehammed's Will trilogy also advanced it. Although with the game stopping development, time will tell how will it end, if it will end at all.
- Nano Machines: Katharsys revealed that the Sleepers’ regenerative powers and the Marauder’s immortality is thanks to this.
- Player Archetypes: Katharsys has a segment, where it talks about the various types of player types you might encounter, and how can you make sure that they enjoy the game.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Many cults fit the category, but special mention goes to the Hellvetics. Their are often act as hired guns, they hold their main weapon, the Trailblazer in high regard, and they have a reputation of great warriors. Justified, since they are the direct continuation of the Swiss Army.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: ZigZagged. The regular revolver only does one extra damage compared to the regular 9mm pistol. However, revolvers have a big advantage: their .357 ammo costs half as much as the 9mm ammo. And in general, you will have an easier time finding merchants who sell .357 than 9mm.
- Scary Black Man: The Scourgers have it as their game mechanics. Two of their ranks (Hondo and Simba) get a bonus for social interactions based on Psyche, but a penalty for social actions based on Charisma outside of Africa.
- Synthetic Plague: Turns out that the HIVE virus was created by the Recombination Group.
- Technology Levels: The game differentiates 6 levels of technlogy, assinged to every item and settlement, with Tech I represents stone-age level and Tech V being the transhuman technology of the Bygones. Tech VI items are those strange, weird, highly developed artifacts, which even the Chroniclers struggle to comprehend. Many of them have the logo of Project Free Spirit...
