SPAR [Beta v0.3]

SPAR IS CURRENTLY A 64-PAGE BETA RELEASE. This means SPAR is fully playable but might have some tweaks and fine-tuning remaining. This also means that there may be incomplete, unfinalized, or absent artwork and supplemental materials (such as extra GM tools and tables).

Funds from this beta will be put towards cover and internal art, as well as print publication efforts.

As time passes, you will receive updates and new, expanded release versions of SPAR right here. To follow development and release progress, keep up with the Development Logs on this page, and follow @BAMMAXGAMES on Twitter.

The characters, names, and events in these documents are fictional. Any resemblance or similarity to any actual events---or to any entities or persons (living, dead, or otherwise)---is entirely coincidental unless explicitly noted.

The following documents and any field missions played may include a multitude of potentially disturbing themes, most notably including mortal peril and violence. Please utilize any safety tools at your discretion, and discuss themes to avoid before any game play occurs at your table. Participant discretion is advised.

The legends withstood the merciless march of time; the fables endured the butchery of tongue and terra. Creatures in the dark corners of the woods and the sands, of the shallows and the deep. Worlds unknown, weird and occupied and hungry. The mythic. The supernatural. The bizarre.

We heeded them as allegories and admonition. They were only stories.

Were.

Private journal entry of Silas Whistler,
Deputy Director of Field Operations, APB

SPAR launches Chris McDowall’s Mark of the Odd framework into the golden age of thrilling danger, impossible odds, and groan-inducing one-liners, encouraging players to straddle the line between explosive cinema and dramatic theater. At the intersection of the action/adventure and science fiction genres, SPAR draws heavy inspiration from campy 1980’s and 1990’s action sci-fi greats like Alien, Predator, DOOM, Total Recall, Universal Soldier, The Terminator, and many, many more.

Under the guidance of an Operator, a squad of 2-5 Assets will enter the field of play. The Operator prepares missions, guides Assets through their response to bizarre and otherwise inexplicable events across the globe, and portrays any non-player characters (NPCs) the Assets encounter. Assets will need imagination, wit, and gumption to complete their missions and get back in one piece!

Because SPAR is in beta, the following is subject to change and expansion. With your purchase, you will get the most recent 64-page SPAR beta version in both singles and spreads, featuring:

• Asset creation and progression rules, including 20 unique Asset specializations called Disciplines
  
• Core gameplay rules for taking missions and engagements
• Loads of gear and weapons, including 20 advanced Sci-Ops prototypes called Experimentals
  
• 27 anomalous hostiles to engage in the field
• A first look at the Service Record, optional long-term play achievements that give players AND GMs extra capabilities and advantages over time
• ...An admitted lack of art -- it's the beta version, we're trying to fund that!

As game development progresses, this page will be updated with the most recent release version.

Want to play online? There's an Asset sheet for Role! You can save the sheet to your library here.

Brutally stylish and obsessively thematic, SPAR threads the needle of campy action roleplaying.
- CRAB DOMINION, author of Memory. and The Devil Game

SPAR is fantastic. I really love the bit of beefiness it adds to the Into the Odd framework - gives it some tactical meat that really excites me as GM. Vibe and ludo-narrative are really important to me and this really snaps! And although setting is clearly a pastiche of the era, it has some really cool and subtle world building in the text which makes if feel very unique without bogging me down with lore.
- JACK PANIC

The writing is sharp and pithy, the layout is clean but intentional, and the art supports not only the vibe you want the players to feel but also the layout of the text. Everything is supported by everything else and it’s all intentional, which makes the product really fantastic. The intentionally behind everything is something I really love.
- JORDAN H.

Got an idea for a new anomalous hostile? Wish a Loadout had a certain item with it? Think there's a rule that could use clarification?

Please leave any feedback on on the beta version's respective Development Log post! Feedback can be anything - questions, clarifications, comments, suggestions, and more! Leaving feedback on the respective Development Log post allows me to better track responses and write/edit accordingly.

Non-exhaustive lists of SPAR's mechanical and thematic influences.

Into the Odd by Chris McDowall (Bastionland Press)
Isle of Ixx by skullfungus
FIST by CLAYMORE
Extraction from Demon-Fucked Cleveland 1996 by Logan Dean
CY_BORG by Stockholm Kartell
Death in Space by Stockholm Kartell
The Mecha Hack by Absolute Tabletop
Tales from the Loop by Nils Hintze, Simon Stålenhag, and Free League Publishing
Liminal Horror by Goblin Archives
Star Wars RPG by Fantasy Flight Games

Short stories by Philip K. Dick (1951-1982)
Alien (1979)
Escape from New York (1981)
Terminator (1984)
Commando (1985)
Predator (1987)
Total Recall (1990)
Universal Soldier (1992)
DOOM (game 1993, film 2005)
The X-Files (1993-2002)
Eraser (1996)
Escape from LA (1996)
Independence Day (1996)
Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007)
Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy (1998)
The One (2001)
The Expendables (2010)

You may create third-party content compatible with SPAR freely, so long as the following text is included in the legal text, somewhere visible in the product, and on the website or storefront where you promote the product.

[PRODUCT’S NAME] is an independent production by [PRODUCER’S NAME] and is not affiliated with Bammax Games. It is published under the APB Independent Contractor License. SPAR is © Bammax Games.

With no exception, you may not produce homophobic, transphobic, sexist, racist, classist, or otherwise bigoted, harmful, or hateful content with this license in any way.