Spider! The RPG
A downloadable game
Just you, your two besties, and your emotionally entangled partners on a glorious weekend in that “luxury” cabin Kelly found (waaay cheaper than AirBnB). The host insisted on this weird 3-word locator, and finding “MURDERHOUSE-KILL” in the patchy-signal backwoods was rough.
Blew a tire parking, too, so someone’s hiking back later - but the lights work, the jacuzzi’s hot, and the power came back after you reset the breaker in the basement. Why complain?
Weird that the location code was scrawled on the walls down there in red paint, though. And that scream? Probably just Dan. Maybe a spider got in his protein powder and Jessie’s filter made it look massive.
Now everybody’s ready to unwind (even though Althea and Sam have to share a double a day after their breakup). Drinks, playlists, zero supervision; you just need to get the deposit back. What could possibly go wrong?
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Spider! is a GM-ed roleplaying game for 4-6 people, inspired by creature feature horror flicks and maintenance fees in short-term rentals. You are trying to have a fun weekend, but there’s something in the walls - and it’s growing.
Your goals? 1) Survive; 2) defeat the spider, and 3) get your deposit back.
You will need: 2 six-sided dice (2d6), 2 eight-sided dice (2d8), pens and paper.
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Created for the One-Page RPG Jam 2025 as a collaboration project of Indie RPGs Dublin.
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Special thanks to our various playtesters for their valuable feedback!
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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The game seems nice. Thanks for the effort you put into it. I read the various (aparently) balanced and linked mechanics: they all seem to suggest a sort of tabletop studied mechanism built to give a specific experience at the table, but at the end I'm baffled by this:
"The spider will continue to grow and return until its power source is destroyed. The power source has no damage track; how long it takes to destroy is up to the GM. Do what works best for the narrative you have created!"
This part, IMHO, jeopardizes the whole rest of the mechanics, turning the whole game into a sort of railroaded play pulled by the string of the GM. I feel that it's a missed occasion to have an honest game that could have the play to fail, or succeed, thanks to the actions of the players and, of course, to some luck/unluck with the dice.
What do you think?
This is Brilliant! Possibly the best submission I have seen on this Jam.
The rules all reinforce the vibe of Millenial Goofballs meets Horror Movie. My favorite bit is the Fatal Flaw table.
You also take care to explain in detail how the GM should approach running the game.
The interaction of Stress, Relationship and Stress dice and house Condition is really good. The Relationship chart is a great role-playing aid.
If you get a chance to check out one of my submissions and leave a comment, I would be honored!
Thank you so much, that’s very kind of you to say! I’ll be sure to check out your profile.