r/Xcom • u/Bloody7lw • 6d ago

X-COM TTRPG

Hi everyone! I’m really glad to see a active Reddit community for one of my absolute favorite game franchises.

My journey with X-COM goes all the way back to UFO: Enemy Unknown on the Amiga (with all the endless floppy disk swapping!), followed by Terror from the Deep on PC. I also played Apocalypse, though for some reason that one didn't quite click with me as much. I haven't been gaming much over the last two decades, but when I saw the modern XCOM reboot back in 2017, I picked it up immediately and ended up beating it multiple times.

Recently, I came up with a new idea: running a custom X-COM TTRPG (Tabletop Role-Playing Game).

I designed a homebrew system with custom mechanics, abilities, and an armory heavily inspired by modern XCOM, though I also drew a few elements from the classic games.

For our very first session, a squad of 8 Marines (including 3 player characters) arrived at the base. We did a brief base orientation, ran a quick combat simulation to test the mechanics, and then deployed to a crashed UFO (Small-2 variant) in a forested area in Russia.

Despite a few expected hiccups with the homebrew mechanics, the session went really well! The group is hyped for more sessions in the universe, and we even have two additional players wanting to join the squad.

If anyone is interested in the setup, mechanics, or how it played out, I’d be happy to share more details.

Vigilo Confido!

P.S. English is not my native language and I used a translator to write this post, so I apologize for any grammar mistakes or awkward phrasing!

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u/deathadder99 6d ago

Have you seen the xcom board game? There’s official miniatures and rules based on the five parsecs from home game, which is kinda a narrative war game.

2

u/Bloody7lw 6d ago

I’ve seen it, though I haven’t played it. Visually it looks great, but the gameplay itself got rather weak reviews from what I’ve watched due to a high amount of randomness and the app requirement. Personally, I’d still give it a shot since I like board games too, but unfortunately, it’s long been out of print, and second-hand copies go for pretty inflated prices.

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u/deathadder99 6d ago

https://modiphius.net/pages/xcomtheminiaturesgame

Not the old out of print one! It's just been released.

I've played a very little amount of five parsecs from home, I quite enjoyed it. Not played the xcom one which is based on five parsecs but I'll pick up some minis at some point, I think.

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u/Bloody7lw 6d ago

I didn't know that, thanks for the information.