How it Works

The Basics

In Utopia, you will:

create a character;
determine their short and long term goals;
tell the story of how they accomplish, or fail to accomplish, those goals

Whether your characters goals are to form a crime syndicate, become a famous pop singer, negotiate peace among the cities of Utopia or raise themself up out of poverty, it is your characters drive to pursue these goals that will drive the story forward.

As your character approaches each new challenge, they will gather their advantages and use dice rolls based on their skills and knowledge to measure their successes and failures. With each new goal achieved, your character will become more skilled so they can set themselves ever-loftier goals.

Solo, Group or GM'd Play

Utopia can be played either solo or in a group; with or without a game master (GM). The basic systems of the game remain the same in each instance, with a few key differences:

In SOLO PLAY, you will pursue your characters goals, using the newsfeed roll tables to help guide the events happening in the city. and determining difficulty of tasks based on the danger and determination systems.
In GM-LESS GROUP PLAY you will utilize the same mechanisms as solo play, but share a common newsfeed with the other players. You can choose to either work with the other players to accomplish common goals, against the other players, or have your own adventures happening in tandem.
In GM'D PLAY, Utopia functions closer to other RPGs you might have played, with the GM determining what events are happening in your city, voicing NPCs you meet and choosing complications to throw your way. The GM may also choose whether to use the danger and determination systems to determine the difficulty of tasks or set the difficulty themself.

You can learn more about the systems of Utopia, including the dice, newsfeed, danger and determination systems on the system page.