No Pen No Paper is a beginner-friendly alternative to traditional pen and paper games. The game’s system is deep and versatile with only few fixed cornerstones giving players lots of freedom over the content. From items and characters to skills and stats to whole adventure books and universes everything is customizable. Despite its range of editing features the game also remains very accessible to everyone who just wants to play a quick round. No Pen No Paper facilitates the genre of pen and paper RPGs by shifting the focus away from dull extensive calculations and 500-page rulebooks to fast-paced undistracted roleplaying. Players access their character sheet and the game log via an own mobile device while the game master leads them through the adventure which can also be done via mobile but a larger (touch) device is recommended. A physical 20-sided dice determines the fate of player and NPC characters alike.
The first universe created for the game is a fantasy universe called The Golden Chronicles telling the story of its inhabitants – the Fey the K’thar and the Lynx. The provided adventure book within is called Distortion. It deals with topics such as systemic racism alteration of the public perception guilt and forgiveness. While in structure it resembles usual starter-adventures the narrative turns away from the more common black and white scheme. A simple quest turns out to be much more complex and blurred than previously assumed.
The current stage of development is a vertical slice in the form of an Android App / Windows PC build that allows for the participation creation and management of play sessions. It has about 10hrs of playtime and is available in English and German.