Outlaw Hearts: Playtest

Outlaw Hearts is a Tabletop RPG that channel  the classic style of the 90's and early 2000's anime and manga. Taking inspiration from sources like One Piece, Outlaw Star, Cowboy Bebop, and Samurai Champloo, Outlaw Hearts takes a band of Outlaws across the Cosmos fighting authority, finding adventure, and maybe (just maybe) finding a place to belong.

Outlaw Hearts is currently in open Playtesting and is not a full product. Please keep this in mind when reviewing its contents and be aware that content may change over its playtesting period. If you'd like to give us feedback, you can find our contact information within the PDF! We'd love to hear from you, and have you be part of the process!

What's In the Playtest Document

Chapter One: The Introduction and details of the setting for Outlaw Hearts. The Cosmos is a wild and wide place where Outlaws prowl the Dragon Veins, vast tracks that wind through Cosmos where the wish granting Cosmic Heart beats. Hoping to stymie the spread of these Outlaws and preserve order at any cost, the Cosmic Authority rules with an iron fist at the behest of the Allied Government.

Chapter Two: The Basic Moves, Mechanics, and details on how to run Outlaw Hearts. Outlaw Hearts is a statless game where Outlaws must lean on their Hearts to improve rolls and win the day. These Hearts  Beat with an Outlaw's desires, goals, and fundamental narrative hooks that define and push an Outlaw to live free and seek out adventure. By following these Drives, an Outlaw an earn Ambition to spend to improve their rolls.

Chapter Three: Character Creation detailing both an Outlaw's Role as part of the Crew of their very own Star Engine as as well as their Playbooks. The Playtest material provides 5 of 10 Crew Roles.

• The Captain: Outlaws are an unruly and chaotic bunch, the Captain provides a tent pole for the Crew to rally around. Not all Captains are truly reliable, or even more put together than a typical Outlaw, but when the going gets tough as it often does, they're there to see their Crew through the worst of it.
• The Navigator: Travel across the Cosmic Plane is dangerous, fraught, and complicated. The Navigator sees their Star Engine through wild Cosmic Storms and other threats the rest of the Crew could never dream of.
• The Combatant: The Cosmos is dangerous and every Crew of Outlaws need someone whose sole job it is to keep them safe. The Combatant is the vanguard of an Outlaw's Crew.
• The Provisoner: Outlaws travel on their stomachs and a Provisoner sees to it that those stomachs remain full on healthy and hearty meals. The Provisoner is the proverbial heart of the Crew.
• The Doctor:  Vital for any long term expedition out into the Cosmos, a Doctor patches up their Crewmates and keeps them healthy enough to explore another day.

Alongside these five Crew Roles, the Quickstart provides six of ten Playbooks for the Outlaws to choose from, provided in a separate PDF for easy printing and use as Character Sheets.

• The Liberated: All peoples of the Cosmos are born with the desire to be free. You merely take this to the extreme, taking to the Cosmos to live untethered by authority and rules, and helping others break their chains along the way. Others may see you as unruly, chaotic, and directionless but you know better. Freedom is its own destination. 
• The Rapacious: There is treasure in the Cosmos. Scattered out across the Islands of the Cosmic Plane there is booty to be found, lost treasures to discover, and of course the greatest treasure to claim for oneself. The Cosmic Heart. What you won’t tell others is that you’ve already found your true treasure.
• The Hunter: The Cosmos is a crucible. It takes the weak and fearful and either forges them into the strong or makes kindling out of those unable to survive. You seek to be the strongest of all, to challenge ever greater threats, all to see your name said as the strongest. 
• The  Confident: The Cosmos is a wondrous and mysterious place filled with amazing history and far flung islands filled with adventure. You’ve taken to the life of an Outlaw as it’s the only true way to see all there is to see, but perhaps you’re not as ready for the challenges as you thought. After all, Outlaws are a rough and tumble lot.
• The Castaway: Something happened, long ago, that lost you your home. Perhaps you learned something the Allied Nations deem as forbidden. Perhaps a powerful Outlaw took over your home, forcing you into the life of an Outlaw. Regardless, you’ve been on your own for a long time. Can you come to truly trust the Crew and rely on them when you know that those who cast you out are hunting for you?
• The Turncoat: You served the Allied Government for years, became an upstanding Officer, had the trust of many, perhaps even your own Star Engine to command. It was all going so well, before you saw the depths of corruption and cruelty that the Allied Government was capable of. Sure you tried to stop it but what did that get you? Now you’re an Outlaw, whether you like it or not. It’s not all bad though, now you can actually help the people who need it most. What do you have to lose you haven’t already lost?

Chapter Four: The GM's Chapter with rules on how to build NPC crewmates and VIPs, important NPCs who travel with the crew for a shorter duration than actual Crew members. This chapter also outlines how to create Islands, the main backdrop for the game, as well as the GM's Agenda, Principles, and an outline on Complications and Consequences.