About the Game
Imagine it's 1941: a year described by the British as "not entirely tip-top." Now imagine, on top of the looming, existential dread of the Nazi war machine, that every myth and fairy tale you've ever heard has rather more truth to it than anyone imagined. That's our setting.
Ministry is a tabletop roleplay game intended for 2-6 players. It usually features investigation, horror, and action (often in that order, too).
Steady on old chap, what's a roleplay game?
Roleplaying is collaborative, improvised storytelling. It’s like playing one of the viewpoint characters in a live radio play. It’s called a game because you’ll use rules and dice to add chance, suspense and structure to the story—a story which you will be imagining in your mind’s eye throughout. In reality, you will be sitting around a table with your friends munching biscuits.
What's Ministry like compared to other RPGs?
The setting: almost no prior knowledge needed.
An advantage of Ministry’s setting is that it’s set in the real world with fantastical elements laid over the top, so anyone with a basic idea of what life was like in the first half of the 20th Century, and specifically Britain during the Second World War, already knows everything they need to. As your character is about to learn, there’s just one slight difference: every fairy tale, myth, and horror story have rather more truth to them than the public realise.
Dear sir, I have absolutely no idea what life was like in 1940s Britain!
Quite understandable. We do provide a little context in The World of Ministry. In the main, we reasoned that the internet will do a much better job of describing British culture in that period than we could ever hope to. Of course, there's nothing to stop you setting your story elsewhere with a similar level of technology, or even making alterations to do something completely different!
Intuitive rules
There are elements of the ruleset that experienced gamers will find quite streamlined, and other areas where we've tried to provide satisfying crunch. So far we've found that new players pick up the system very quickly compared to more old-school games.
Action-horror hybrid
Action in the monster-filled world of Ministry is fun but intentionally lethal. Combat will be as frightening as it is exhilarating, and this is because the players are not equipped with slabs of plot armour. Indeed, there are no hit points in Ministry. If you get shot it is probably going to result in a serious injury, although rest assured it’s perfectly possible for a character to survive to the story’s end if they are careful. Or lucky. Or both.
Few restrictions and no character classes: create whoever you want
Ministry is free of the restrictions on character creation that are a staple of many RPGs. There are no character classes or careers; you are free to create your character exactly as you envisage, be they a jack of all trades or a dedicated specialist.
What should I read next?
If you're curious about the game itself, then head over to the Game Downloads section and download The Rules and The World of Ministry. Alternatively, you could head over to the sample characters to get a feel for what sort of person you could play in this game.