22 Panels... No More!: DIE rpg Episode Zero - Persona Generation

22 Panels... No More!

DIE rpg Episode Zero

Persona Generation

Hello hello, kind readers, as we set off on the first of (hopefully) many sessions playing DIE RPG for your amusement, horror, and everything in between! Eagle-eared listeners will remember our one-off/test session last summer; now, after fighting the most nefarious of foes to stare down would-be adventurers (scheduling conflicts) we are back with the start of a brand-new ongoing adventure!

Now, as we are first and foremost a Comic Book Podcast (of the Elevated variety), the word "ongoing" certainly seems to have a loaded meaning here. Seeing as we're fresh off a post-event reboot (we're playing different characters here than we did previously, with no shared continuity), you might be thinking "oh, I'm sure you mean maxiseries, naturally -- " BUT NO!!!

We are full-on flying by the seat of our pants, and hope to keep playing for as long as we're all still having fun -- and we might shake things up along the way to keep that fun fresh and exciting! Additionally (and thematically consistent with the foreboding nature of "Event Comics") we'll eventually be on the lookout for guest-stars and cameos to join us as their able. We've got big (non-)plans, and we're excited to bring them to life for you! (and for us -- everyone at the table is the "first audience", of sorts)

Now, with that bit of preamble out of the way -- what exactly are we playing, again? It's not DnD -- it's DIE; based on the comic of the same name by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, and Clayton Cowels, it's an RPG about a group of old friends who reunite to play an RPG... and get sucked into another fantastical world through playing. Described eloquently as "Goth Jumanji" by Gillen, the graphic novel is absolutely fantastic and well worth your time and money. The RPG -- which is purported to be not a game set in the world of the book, but the actual game that the characters played in the book, does so much more than simply recreate the same story we'd already read. Now, we get to make it our own -- to build a world from scratch with all of the obsessions, oddities, and occult secrets we could ever want!

But before we get there, we have to start the same way most (if not all) RPGs start -- by building our characters! DIE is a bit different in that we play as "Personas" -- flawed real-world people who used to play games together, but have drifted apart, and are now reuniting to play a different game. (While this is the "standard" scenario, known as Rituals in the game manual, it's far from the only option for playing DIE, as the game is meant to be quite flexible for whatever kinds of worlds and stories might draw you in.) Once transported to the fantasy world, those Personas use one of six shapes of dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, or d20, depending on the class) to become "Paragons" -- one of six different classes of adventurer that wield incredible powers that play on the "typical" expectations of RPG classes.

A quick rundown: 

The Dictator -- d4 -- has the power known as "The Voice" the supernatural ability to perform as an artist to manipulate the emotions of others to influence, control, or even kill. To quote the manual, they're like Bards, if everyone was fucking terrified of Bards. 

The Fool -- d6 -- is something between a rogue and all the kinds of people who want to play as a rogue. By not taking things too seriously, The Fool is able to exploit otherworldly luck (that might not extend to their friends!) for as long as they can smile through the chaos.

Emotion Knight(s) -- d8 -- are one of eight possible orders of knights, each based on a theory of 8 different emotions -- and as long as they can tap into and experience that emotion, they can become the most powerful warrior to walk the land.

The Neo -- d10 -- is a bit of an oddity. A cyberpunk anachronism powered by "Fair Gold", a substance that must be found each day to power the Neo's near-magical technology. Guns! Force Fields! Teleporters! We're getting pretty crazy here, folks!

The Godbinder -- d12 -- is a cleric by way of demonologist (another line ripped right from the manual) that is able to bargain with Gods for miraculous favors. Quite literally, they use a mechanic known as "God Debt" to keep track of which deities the need to repay for anything from healing a comrade to flooding an enemy encampment. (The game lays out 12 Gods to choose from -- another class that can vary wildly between players based on options taken.)

And finally,

The Master -- d20 -- is a bit like an old-fashioned Wizard, except they manipulate the very rules of the game to create their various spells. A class typically reserved for the GM, there are actually quite extensive mechanics for building your own spells out of various effects... unless you'd rather just cheat. (Yes, they have mechanics for how to cheat as the Master.)

Hopefully all this blathering has gotten you excited to hear what we cook up, or to get started wrangling your own friends to play along at home!

Roll on!!

--Phil Uebbing

01.27.25