1. If anyone is looking to play this game online, I've developed a spreadsheet you can use for your friend group. You can find it and make a copy here. (Shared with permission from Sasha.)
2. A friend I played this with said: "[W]e've played a lot of games, that I love -- I think this might be the best designed 3 player game that we've played." Reader, this friend has played my 3 player exclusive game. And they're completely right. Kenzie's project kicks ass.
I am so excited to play this game! Once I found out, I immediately texted two of my cohort mates to play. What a thrilling -- and slightly horrifying -- concept.
Kenzie's Project is an academic horror game for 3 players. You play as academics haunted by knowledge, racing to complete your project before the subject of study, the management, or a ghost ruin your lives.
Kenzie's Project is a podcast-feeling ttrpg. I'm using that term vaguely, but I think it's appropriate. The contents of any game of Kenzie's Project will always feel like a compelling narrative supernatural podcast.
The PDF is 21 pages, and layed out in a sort of informal, poetry-zine kind of way. It's easily readable, but the text feels kind of like it's being spoken softly. This isn't a bad thing, and it matches the atmosphere.
Gameplay-wise, Kenzie's Project is very tightly scoped. There are three named characters you can play as, and this is a three-player game. There are also three antagonists, and the players step in and out of character and antagonist roles fluidly in exactly the same way as a Belonging Outside Belonging game. It's not exactly true that there's no GM, but the GM role is distributed evenly between the players.
Mechanically, Kenzie's Project uses tokens and Moves that manipulate them. If you have tokens, you can spend them for narrative effect. If you want tokens, you can hinder yourself or your allies to get them. There are also Traits, which are primarily descriptive tags added to things, and some Moves can create and interact with Projects---perilous undertakings that propel the story forward.
Someone who is very new to ttrpgs is probably going to get a little turned around here, but if you've played something like The Quiet Year of Dream Apart you'll absolutely be fine. And if you just automatically lean into "what would a supernatural podcast do right now," you'll also be fine.
Overall, if you're used to ttrpgs with clear goals and mechanical objectives, this isn't that. This is about spinning a compelling drama while barely comprehended forces spiral out of control. However, if you like acting, you have two friends, you're willing to play the game slowly, and you want to go for a heck of a ride, Kenzie's Project is definitely worth checking out.
This is a really rich, interesting game – there are certain absences and ambiguities in the text that nicely mirror the growing uncertainty and surreality of the characters. "The project chooses, not you." *chef's kiss*
← Return to ttrpg
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Two things:
1. If anyone is looking to play this game online, I've developed a spreadsheet you can use for your friend group. You can find it and make a copy here. (Shared with permission from Sasha.)
2. A friend I played this with said: "[W]e've played a lot of games, that I love -- I think this might be the best designed 3 player game that we've played." Reader, this friend has played my 3 player exclusive game. And they're completely right. Kenzie's project kicks ass.
thank you so much for the community copies! i am in academia, and very excited to play this (recruiting my 2 players from my cohort now ...)
exciting!! i would love to hear how it goes! :]
I am so excited to play this game! Once I found out, I immediately texted two of my cohort mates to play. What a thrilling -- and slightly horrifying -- concept.
very glad to hear that!! safe travels!
Kenzie's Project is an academic horror game for 3 players. You play as academics haunted by knowledge, racing to complete your project before the subject of study, the management, or a ghost ruin your lives.
and here's a mirror on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1bpyOBSxzc5xUtTirpCwIH?si=fd77fe3b940a4b48
Kenzie's Project is a podcast-feeling ttrpg. I'm using that term vaguely, but I think it's appropriate. The contents of any game of Kenzie's Project will always feel like a compelling narrative supernatural podcast.
The PDF is 21 pages, and layed out in a sort of informal, poetry-zine kind of way. It's easily readable, but the text feels kind of like it's being spoken softly. This isn't a bad thing, and it matches the atmosphere.
Gameplay-wise, Kenzie's Project is very tightly scoped. There are three named characters you can play as, and this is a three-player game. There are also three antagonists, and the players step in and out of character and antagonist roles fluidly in exactly the same way as a Belonging Outside Belonging game. It's not exactly true that there's no GM, but the GM role is distributed evenly between the players.
Mechanically, Kenzie's Project uses tokens and Moves that manipulate them. If you have tokens, you can spend them for narrative effect. If you want tokens, you can hinder yourself or your allies to get them. There are also Traits, which are primarily descriptive tags added to things, and some Moves can create and interact with Projects---perilous undertakings that propel the story forward.
Someone who is very new to ttrpgs is probably going to get a little turned around here, but if you've played something like The Quiet Year of Dream Apart you'll absolutely be fine. And if you just automatically lean into "what would a supernatural podcast do right now," you'll also be fine.
Overall, if you're used to ttrpgs with clear goals and mechanical objectives, this isn't that. This is about spinning a compelling drama while barely comprehended forces spiral out of control. However, if you like acting, you have two friends, you're willing to play the game slowly, and you want to go for a heck of a ride, Kenzie's Project is definitely worth checking out.
thank you so much for the review!!
This is a really rich, interesting game – there are certain absences and ambiguities in the text that nicely mirror the growing uncertainty and surreality of the characters. "The project chooses, not you." *chef's kiss*