GamesRadar+ Verdict
From the sleek dice-pool systems, to simple tracking, and boatloads of roleplay-based mechanics, The Electric State Roleplaying Game is a TTRPG that almost plays itself. It's geared toward more creative players than those with a penchant for number-crunching, and seeks to inspire with oodles of roll tables and gorgeous post-apocalyptic illustrations. While the hand-waving rulebook might frustrate some, it's a pointed, cinematic experience for those looking to get deep in the technological uncanny valley.
Pros
- +
Interpersonal roleplay inducing mechanics
- +
Rules light and cinematically inclined
- +
Gloriously uncanny Simon Stålenhag illustrations
- +
Simple, sleek rolling system
Cons
- -
Missing a trick with the alt '90s timeline
- -
Run-of-the-mill archetypes
- -
Rules can be a little vague
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Saturated in '90s nostalgia, The Electric State Roleplaying Game brings an intimate, heartfelt road-trip vibe to an alternate history America. Throughout the 219-page rulebook, Simon Stålenhag's haunting, retro futuristic artwork breathes life into a story of survival, companionship, and atonement for a spotted past. One that will challenge even the most seasoned tabletop player to set powerful scenes that draw out the drama in order to advance.
Here, players strive toward deeply personal dreams and goals as they meander their way across the fractured nation of Pacifica (prev. California), in the wake of a nine-year civil war. Unlike The Electric State movie, which pits humanity against robot kind, the tabletop game reflects the aftermath of devastating human infighting that paved the way for one megacorporation's rise to dominance. It's a story that pokes at humanity's flaws, while navigating wild tales of ghosts in the machine. In other words, it's exactly what the best tabletop RPGs should be.
The Electric State Roleplaying Game features & design
- Quick and easy to kick off, but a little more prep than you might expect
- Roleplay-based mechanics and minimal tracking lighten load on GM
- Vague rulebook can be frustrating
The Electric State Roleplaying Game is the quintessential road trip movie turned TTPRG, and set in an alternative '90s post-apocalyptia. While that means the character archetypes can feel a little played out, with cookie-cutter reskinned Veteran and investigator characters both featuring, there's plenty of room for creative types to subvert more harmful tropes that might emerge, and make a character their own.
Based on the Year Zero tabletop system – the same as Free League's own Alien RPG – The Electric State takes cues from Storypath and Powered By The Apocalypse systems. It zeroes in on a player character's dreams and goals, and causes oodles of interpersonal drama which plays out without much input from the GM. In order to recover a player character's hope stat, players can set a scene to work things through. These pivotal moments reduce tension between characters and replenish hope, which is crucial to avoid break-downs and potential rolls on the mental trauma table (an optional rule).
With its minimal-stat playbooks, standard six-sided dice pools, and roleplay-dependent character advancement, it focuses more on thematic engagement than numbers, making it a supremely easy system to learn and play. What that does mean, is that sticklers for the rules may find all the "GM has the last say" hand-waving a little frustrating. And while the rulebook is vague enough to allow the 'rule of cool' to reign, the single-six-success dice pool system means it can be a little difficult to keep pacing and cinematics with an always-visible difficulty class pinned to every roll. That said, everyone knowing the stakes takes a lot of the weight off the Game Master, which is really where the system shines.
There are plenty of roll tables to support play, and I was often flipping back and forth between pages since the book can be hard to reference in a frenzied moment. It's well-laid out and in an order that doesn't feel front-loaded, but I was a fool to think the starter scenarios would detail everything I needed. There's a little more prep needed than you might expect if you don't want to be rolling on random tables every five minutes.
Gameplay
- Tension and hope loop is fascinating
- Well balanced with easy to mod values
- Countdowns are a fantastic way to keep things moving
The Electric State puts a real emphasis on the ebb and flow of tension between player characters. Once players get a handle on their trajectory, it's beautiful to witness the heroes in constant flux with one another. With mechanics that encourage roleplay to the max, every session is a cacophony of interpersonal conflict, which really works to support the theme and underlying message The Electric State tries to deliver. And when the players are doing most of the work for you it's far easier to allow things to unfold organically than a lot of systems I've played. Just be ready to wrangle your players and skip the boring bits if you want to actually get what the book calls a 'oneshot' into a single session.
Still, with small values and little to track other than unseen countdowns for each scenario and player character, the GM can kick back as the drama unfolds, interjecting only to propel the timeline or spotlight a quiet player's take.
There are also some fantastic attempts to balance the game, especially for those rolling badly. These include failed stat improvement rolls that wield new talents instead, and the ability to push a roll at the expense of hope. Both make the low success rate far more palatable, and while it's still a high-stakes system that can be brutal at times, there are plenty of ways for players to spring back into action.
Should you buy The Electric State Roleplaying Game?
Packed with drama and catharsis, The Electric State is one for the roleplay-inclined, as opposed to the number crunchers. All those action-packed moments in which you're face-to-face with a ten-foot robot in all its uncanny glory are interspersed with intimate moments of growth and redemption that would be diminished by a numbers-heavy system. If you want to get ahead, you have to lean into your character's dreams and act for your supper.
Since the system hinges on players' willingness to engage with one another's characters on a meaningful level – causing and relieving drama ad nauseum between fights – it's not a TTRPG that's meant for your average killbilly. Those with a penchant for social ping-pong will have a great time playing… as long as they don't mind facing the inevitable heat of failure, or a depression spiral from too much Neurocasting.
Ratings
Category | Notes | Score |
|---|---|---|
Game mechanics | Cinematics are difficult to achieve with known difficulty, but otherwise the rules-light, roleplay-inducing mechanics are smashing. | 5/5 |
Accessibility | The modded Year Zero engine is easy to learn and teach, but the book and starter adventures might be too vague for some. | 4/5 |
Replayability | There's so much potential for new adventures to spring up, and players get super invested in their characters. | 5/5 |
Setup & pack down | Getting a session going is super easy: gather loads of six-sided dice and a character sheet, and you're ready to go. | 5/5 |
Component quality | The Electric State boasts a well-laid out rulebook, though it's not as easy to reference as some. The artwork and print quality are great. | 5/5 |
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
How we tested The Electric State Roleplaying Game
This review was conducted using a copy of the game provided by the publisher.
After reading the core rulebook in full and examining the included adventures, our reviewer played a session of the game as Game Master to see it in action. They then compared the experience to other tabletop RPGs in their collection.
For a broader overview of our process, see the GamesRadar+ reviews policy.
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