An Orwellian TTRPG made by Johan C Eriksson

“April 4th, 2084.” is written in unstable and un-

practiced handwriting on the illegally acquired
notebook paper.

They turned off their newsfeed and went into dark

mode on their holo unit. A feeling of utter void
and helplessness crept up on them. Since the
introduction of the post-LibDem calendar, it was
impossible to be completely certain of the year,
assuming that they were 39 years old it seemed
reasonable that the year would be 2084.

Suddenly a thought struck them; who would ever read

this offline confessional? They decided it was for
the future, for the unborn. Their mind focused for
a while on the date at the top of the page. The
magnitude of their undertaking came into focus
and chilled them to the bone. How would they ever
be able to communicate with the future?

It was of its nature impossible. Either the future would

resemble the present, in which case it would not
listen to them: or it would be different from it, and
their predicament would be meaningless.
 CONTENT WARNINGS & the tools that suit your gaming
SAFETY TOOLS group from the TTRPG Safety
Toolkit, the toolkit was compiled
Oceania 2084 is a game where
by Kienna Shaw and Lauren
you might encounter morally
Bryant-Monk. The TTRPG Safety
challenging and/or traumatic
Toolkit is a living resource, and is
scenarios. It is a game about
therefore frequently updated.
exploring resistance to oppression,
and as such oppression is part of “The TTRPG Safety Toolkit is a
the narratives you will undoubtedly
CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS OCEANIA 2084?
resource co-curated by Kienna
Shaw and Lauren Bryant-Monk.
explore. Situations will be unjust,
The TTRPG Safety Toolkit is a
unfair, dark and possibly triggering. compilation of safety tools that
have been designed by members
In order for the game to still be
of the tabletop roleplaying
enjoyable by everyone around games community for use by
This is a tabletop roleplaying what would classically be called the table there needs to be some players and GMs at the table.
game set in a world based on the a campaign. A short campaign in common ground around what
You can find it at
bit.ly/ttrpgsafety toolkit.”
dystopia as imagined by George Oceania 2084 is around 4-6 ses- themes or topics that the group
Orwell in the book “1984”, built sions long and a long campaign does not want to explore, and it
with the “Control” system, a system can be as long as you like. As one is always good to have some
that is aimed at portraying the of the Resistance Players you will limitations on how gruesome
struggle of hiding one’s true emo- play several player characters other topics are allowed to
tions that was published as a work over the course of a campaign. become.
in progress by Jocher Symbolic The game is for 3 - 8 players To facilitate this ongoing
Systems in 2021. and one player will be taking the negotiation, the game uses
At its core, this game is about role of Big Brother, effectively an integrated system named
rebellion in spite of unimaginably being the enemy, or antagonist, DEVIATIONS; it helps the group to
bad odds. It is about organizing of the game. You will need several define what oppressions
against totalitarian governments. printed out character and class to explore.
It is about love and humanity sheets per player and at least one
in spite of overwhelming set of polyhedral dice of various
Additional tools
oppression and antagonism. types.
In addition to this scaffolding
The game is meant to be
mechanic I also recommend using
played over several sessions, in
CORE PRINCIPLES THE PRINCIPLES traitors are erased from history, all 6. Physical conflict is a very
that matters is to leave a trace. rare and often brutal occur-
1. True liberation of the world EXPLAINED rence, violence on the other
is not possible within 4. It is the friendships and hand is not that uncommon.
1. True liberation of the world moments of true connection
the scope of the game. is not possible within the that truly challenge power and
The power relations of the
scope of the game. make resistance possible. world in Oceania 2084 are not
2. As a player, you are not play-
The regime is too powerful, the When there is no possibility equal. The clear antagonists are
ing to win, but to explore.
resistance is too scattered. While to organize, all we have is each incredibly overpowered, the
3. We are what we
there is a definite chance of the other. To survive we rely on each Thought Police both outnumber
leave behind.
resistance movement posing a other, our survival is based on and overpower the player char-
4. It is the friendships and real nuisance to the Party and Big acters so any open conflict with
the trust, love, and care of our
moments of true con- Brother, actually toppling them them will lead to the downfall of
comrades.
nection that truly chal- is an unachievable goal. This in the player characters. The other
lenge power and make 5. To portray dystopia we do
turn means that only the most not have to describe every gory citizens, the NPC’s of the world,
resistance possible. idealistic of characters tend to detail. are not combatants and will
5. To portray dystopia we aim for this. Instead, resistance is It is fairly easy to fall into the seldomly put up a fight, violence
do not have to describe found in the personal, the small, trap of always narrating all the in this setting is almost always
every gory detail. and the secret. horrible abuse that people are one-directional and oppressive.
6. Physical conflict is a very 2. As a player, you are not subjugated to when portraying 7. Big Brother sees you.
rare and often brutal occur- playing to win, but to explore. a horrible world. This however
No matter where you are, you
rence, violence on the other This is because there is transforms the experience into
are observed. Whether you are
hand is not that uncommon. technically nothing to win, but a something more akin to horror
in your home, your workplace,
7. Big Brother sees you. whole world of consequences and rather than the oppressive, and
or in public someone has their
relationships to explore. All is lost, concrete, dystopia intended
eyes on you. That someone can
besides the character’s individual- in this game. Sometimes it is
be a security camera connected
ity and their spirit. Sometimes we effective to tell about the details,
to the omnipresent AI, an under-
need to sacrifice a lot to keep that. but often the left-out details are
cover Thought Police agent, your
3. We are what we leave behind. what really drive the point home.
neighbor, your coworker, or any
The world does not care other loyal subject of the nation.
whether your characters live or This doesn’t mean your disloyalty
die. Most won’t even notice when will always be noticed, but you
they disappear. In a world where are observed.
THE WORLD world order. And those who are originally made people accept unavailable to you if you do not
old enough to remember will the transition to the fully digitized use any type of AR/VR hardware.
The game is set in a future
not be caught talking about cultural heritage. The other part This includes how your home
where global liberal democracy
their previous lives - that would of the reasoning was the envi- is decorated and aestheticized.
evolved into what is now referred
be considered Thought Crimes, ronmental crisis and the need to This also has been brought about
to as post-LibDem. Post-LibDem
and could end their lives. The leave paper industries behind in by argumenting that there is a
is a collection of authoritarian
Party has fully adopted the ideas favor of allowing forest regrowth need to move away from mate-
dictatorships collaborating in one
around the malleability of reality in order to avoid further carbon rial production in order to allow
big world government. They are
and for the past 50 years almost emissions. This was of course a nature to recuperate and regrow.
publicly in perpetual war with
all records, books, movies cannot sham and has since allowed for There are however still massive
each other, but there are rumors
be found outside of the digitized increased emissions from the amounts of material goods used
that the wars are just part of their
virtual libraries. The contents of metropolitan industrial areas. and produced in the world - it is
efforts to maintain control and
the vast databases of digitized just that it is rationed and access
national unity.
historical documentation have The omnipresent AR/VR is limited. This is naturally also
The whole world has fallen
all been processed by MiniTrue to Another part of the develop- a false line of reasoning and has
victim to perpetual war, omni-
present history the way it really ment of the digitized cultural instead opened up for the military
present government surveillance,
happened, according to the Party. heritage was the introduction of industrial complex to become
historical negationism, and pro-
Revisions are constantly being the omnipresent AR (augmented almost the only big industry
paganda. To maintain social order
worked on. reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) left - with the perpetual wars
and adherence to the very strict
environments - everybody knows destroying the environment at an
dogma of society, the Party uses
The digital it as the UNOVERSE. ever increasing pace.
the Thought Police, the secret
Non-digital materials are to be Most parts of society are now A third reason that the digi-
police monitoring the public and
repored to MiniTrue, who digitizes tization was such an important
dealing with deviants. The Party
them, and destroys the original. project was to allow for the
is led by Big Brother. Big Brother
Access to non digital paper introduction of the Big Brother
is a dictator and has developed
and notetaking materials are AI systems, keeping track of all
an intense cult of personality and
heavily controlled, and surveilled. human activities, monitoring all
myth around him.
Keeping records of current our thoughts, wishes, desires and
Most people have no memory
events in a way that could elude habits.
of how life was before the series
of coups that globally ushered in the censorship of the Party is
the authoritarian Post-LibDem considered a sort of treason. This
line of reasoning is part of what
Devices ally being left unnamed. This is to THE AREAS OF THE CITY Private homes
allow for your imagination to have
All citizens have a personal The city is in many ways not All characters (Resistance and
more room to play with the world
DEVICE. This device is what gives that different from any metropol- non-player characters) have
building.
access to the virtual environments itan area of today. There are a few homes. Homes are wherever they
If you feel like it is hard to
of the world. A citizen is expected noteworthy areas and concepts sleep every night. The homes are
imagine a city, or just want some
to have their device about their in the city that all players should state-supplied and connected
kind of starting point to get your
person at any time of the day. be familiar with. These areas are to one’s work. Homes are often
imagination running, here is a
For more than 50 years the relevant on a mechanical level, barren apartments, with little to
random table of possible atmo-
way society measures the since the different CLASSES can no decorations when someone
spheres of the city. Pick one or
passing of time has gone through control different aspects of the moves into them. All homes
more, roll a die to determine (the
massive reforms - establishing various areas. have a wall mounted DEVICE in
method does not really matter as
the post-LibDem calendar. each room - the DEVICE provides
long as you benefit from it)
The structure of the system is Workplaces the regular newscasts and any
specifically designed to make the All characters have workplaces. emergency broadcasts from Big
The City’s personality &
previous system incompatible, so A workplace is where a character Brother and serve as the home
aesthetic (D10)
that any historical observations spends time each day, working entertainment systems.
become obscure and difficult 1. Bustling, hectic, rude.
with whatever they must do
to compare. This new temporal 2. Silent, empty, solemn The public prole quarters
in order to live. The workplace
system has the day cycle as the 3. Eclectic, cultural, loud of a character is limited to the There are several city blocks
only constant. The Party declares 4. Hi-tech, business environment where they do their that are called the prole quarters.
when a new era is entered into, of- minded, cold actual work - in the case of an Mostly concerned with housing,
ten based around when a conflict, office worker it is the room where low end consumer goods and
5. Violent, pungent, scared
a new reform or a new industrial their cubicle is, in the case of a retail in the form of rationed
initiative is started. 6. Proper, articulate, distant
contractor it might be their work stores. This is where you’ll find
7. Ecological, spa- the occasional pub or tea house,
car and their office, in the case of
cious, paranoid mega malls, food courts and
a bureaucrat at MiniPax it might
THE CITY
8. Brutal, concrete, religious be the floor of their office or their repurposed theatres (now only
The game takes place within
9. Nervous, pent up, smiling part of the building where they serving as propaganda tools of
“the City” - the City is intention-
10. Grandiose, com- have daily access to. Big Brother).
mercial, private
Impoverished places The public parts Low-security government
The slums of the City are areas of government Most areas of government
almost off the map, underground Some parts of government are are out of reach for proles and
and secret. It is where the public facing. This is for example even to most bureaucrats. The
workless and the powerless the reception desks of various low-security government areas
gather to survive by the scraps of offices, and waiting rooms. are for example the movie sets of
society. These areas are heavily the ministry of truth, the archives
oppressed, life is almost unbear- The social services of the different ministries, the
able and the Thought Police often The public service of the City in hallways of various bureaucracy
make arrests and nightraids in 2084 are for example the employ- facilities.
order to locate undocumented ment services, where one goes
citizens, defectors or refugees. to apply for transfers between High-security
Whenever an impoverished positions at one’s current trust government
hideout is found by Big Brother its levels and where promotions and High security government
existence ends not long after. Due demotions interviews happen. refers to the areas that are off
to the questionable legal status Another example of a social limits to almost everyone. It is
of many in these areas getting service of Oceania is the different for example the ministries inner
caught in this area is always institutions of child care and sanctums, the offices of the
considered a thought crime. support. thought police, the abodes of
the inner party members. Almost
Upper Class businesses nothing is known about how life
This type of area includes any is in these places. They are secret,
type of exclusive club, luxury out of reach, and highly surveilled
retailers, most spa and relaxation and guarded.
services. These are also areas
where Proles are not allowed
in without specific permits or
purposes. This is where one can
expect to mingle with the upper
echelons of society.
RATIONED GOODS, citizens, Services are not. This is Private Vehicle from the car pool”, is not really exploring the scifi
PRODUCE & SERVICES referred to as trickle down trade. after for example surviving an aspects of imagining a future with
It is up to your gaming group to interrogation. new and cool technology. On the
Under the regime access to
decide how the various Produce other hand it is an inevitable part
material resources and services
and Services actually work in your Health insurance of any contemporary exploration
are regulated through a rationing
version of Oceania. A small note on the services of possible futures, so it must be
system, where your current Trust
Everything below and at your called “Insurance”, these are tied included in how authority exerts
level defines what you are enti-
current TRUST LEVEL is available to the injury note system. Having power and controls subordinates.
tled to. The table contains a list
to you, there is no choice in- insurance for Critical injuries
of all acquirable Produce (P) and
volved, you receive your fair share means that you can visit any
Services (S) available in the City,
of the things you are rationed to health facility and get help with
and the TRUST LEVELS needed
have access to. This also means your critical injury. If you do not
to get them. All items on the list
that you might one day wake have the insurance for the type
below are of course approved
up and have a message on your of injury you have received you’ll
and/or censored by the Ministries
device stating that “you can pick have to heal it in some other way,
before being fit for consumption.
up your designated often by visiting an unlicensed
Produce are traded amongst
physician, veterinarian or get
creative about it in some way.

Devices
The digital devices that every
citizen is expected to carry are
intentionally left undefined by
rules and largely undescribed.
Your gaming group will need to
explore these concepts in play.
There are two reasons for this:
on the one hand this game is
not about technology, the book
written by Orwell did not really
care about technology either, it
OCEANIA’S MINISTRIES tries between which the en- The City is the capital of one of naturally, torture is an expression
tire apparatus of government the states of Oceania. In the City, of love of truth and honesty.
“The Ministry of Truth —
was divided. The Ministry
Minitrue, in Newspeak was imposing their grim pyramidal The perpetual wars are man-
of Truth, which concerned
startlingly different from silhouettes, the four governmen- aged by The Ministry of Peace.
itself with news, entertain-
any other object in sight.
ment, education, and the fine tal ministries loom and cast long Lies in the form of propaganda
It was an enormous pyrami- shadows in the evening light. On are created and spread by The
arts. The Ministry of Peace,
dal structure of glittering
which concerned itself with each of the buildings the three Ministry of Truth. Interrogations,
white concrete, soaring up,
war. The Ministry of Love, slogans of the Party are displayed. torture and persecutions of dis-
terrace after terrace, 300
which maintained law and Casting the party slogans, in capi- sidents are done by The Ministry
metres into the air. From
order. And the Ministry of
where Winston stood it was tals, in a cold blue neon light; WAR of Love. The harsh rationing of
Plenty, which was respon-
just possible to read, picked IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY food and materials is run from the
sible for economic affairs.
out on its white face in ele- and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. Ministry of Plenty.
Their names, in Newspeak:
gant lettering, The names of these monolithic Each of the ministries is run
Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv,
the three slogans of the
and Miniplenty. structures are intentionally in a bureaucratic and hierarchal
Party:
obscuring their true function. The fashion. Each ministry is ultimate-
The Ministry of Love was
WAR IS PEACE practice of flipping words and ly under the control of one of the
the really frightening one.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY names of things that are negative four ministers. These ministers
There were no windows in
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
it at all. Winston had never to something positive is referred are out of the public eye, never
been inside the Ministry of to as doublethink; no good seen by the world. The only
The Ministry of Truth con-
Love, nor within half a ki- government would ever commit governmental public figure is Big
tained, it was said, three
lometre of it. It was a place any atrocious acts, therefore, Brother.
thousand rooms above ground
impossible to enter except on
level, and corresponding
official business, and then
ramifications below. Scat-
only by penetrating through
tered about London there
a maze of barbed-wire entan-
were just three other build-
glements, steel doors, and
ings of similar appearance
hidden machine-gun nests.
and size. So completely did
Even the streets leading up
they dwarf the surrounding
to its outer barriers were
architecture that from the
roamed by gorilla-faced
roof of Victory Mansions you
guards in black uniforms,
could see all four of them
armed with jointed trun-
simultaneously. They were
cheons.”
the homes of the four Minis-
Orwell, 1949.
Minipax: Miniplenty:
Ministry of Peace Ministry of Plenty
Minipax of Oceania is ceaseless- living standards of the population. This ministry is concerned increased and that the nation is
ly working with maintaining war The theory behind this line of with controlling the food supply prospering. In reality, it almost
with either of the two other su- reasoning is that with too much and the actual production of always has reduced standard
perstates in the world: Eurasia or access to food and leisure time consumer goods. It is reporting rations, limited availability of
Eastasia. Faced with the problem the proles would revolt and stop back to the population of the last resources and increased the rate
of surplus produce created by the obeying. This tactic of perpetual prosperous progress made on a of production through longer
industrial machine in the late 19th warfare to consume the societal quarterly basis. It always claims shifts at the factories.
century, the Party paved way for surplus is, in true doublethink that the output has increased, In essence this is the ministry
the idea that any successful state manner, recognized and not that the standards of living have of lack.
structure must use up any surplus recognized by the Inner Party.
values produced by the industrial In essence, this is the ministry
machine, without ever raising the of war.

MINI
Minitrue: Miniluv:
Ministry of Truth Ministry of Love
In order to uphold the facade in their spare time; what started Managing dissent, rooting out often administered through
of efficiency Miniplenty is sup- out as a sham lottery (that was the lies of the resistance, uncov- torture and “factflooding”. The
ported by the work of Minitrue; only won by people who didn’t ering conspiracies and thought- end goal of any interrogation
the ministry of truth. Minitrue actually exist) has after several crimes. Miniluv keeps a very close is the dissidents cooperation
carefully aligns historical records inventive takes turned into an eye on the population of Oceania, and the subsequent naming of
and redacts facts, to make sure augmented reality gamification of it is the home of the Thought other dissidents. The love for Big
that if anyone consults the the environments of the populace; Police and the developers of Brother and the Party will prevail
information records they verify the Metaverse. Suddenly, the grey the ABB (Artificial Big Brother). and is proved by the hate of the
the quarterly reports made by box of an apartment is reskinna- Dissidents and thought criminals othered.
Miniplenty. Minitrue does this ble, the food more glistening and are brought to the ministry for In essence, this is the ministry
through an ongoing and opaque vibrant in its colors, the city more interrogations and realignment, of hate and torture.
process of forced digitalization palatable; all available as part of
(traditional books are deemed the Prole benefits. The Metaverse
unlawful and confiscated as has all sorts of integrated games
contraband, and depending on to play, information to consume
the content of said book might be and pastimes to engage in.
considered a thoughtcrime) and Minitrue controls all informa-
version control. Already 40 years tion; the news, all entertainment,
after the emergence of the Party all education and all allowed
and it’s totalitarian grip on society artistic expressions.
it became apparent that people In essence, this is the ministry
needed distractions to commit to of propaganda and lies.
THE POLITICS OF THE In Oceania 2084 the actual freedoms. The closer to the party Thought Police, could not
political ideas of the Party are you are the more they keep an eye give them a complete list
PARTY & BIG BROTHER
of members, or any infor-
defined by the players when they on you - so with higher freedom of
In the book of Nineteen mation that would lead them
create their characters through movement and actions the more
Eighty-Four, the Party is formed to a complete list. No such
the mechanics of DEVIATIONS. your actions and movements are list exists. The Brother-
around a political ideology that
This allows for exploring different under scrutiny. hood cannot be wiped out
Orwell names IngSoc - English
variations of authoritarian In other words: The tools of op- because it is not an orga-
Socialism. It was in essence a
oppressions. pression are mostly the same, the nization in the ordinary
warning against authoritarian sense. Nothing holds it to-
Another big part of the politics reasons for oppression changes
socialism, Stalinism and the gether except an idea which
of Big Brother is represented and develops.
oppressive Soviet Regime, and is indestructible. You
by the REACTIONS available
simultaneously a comment on will never have any thing
to the player playing as BIG to sustain you, except the
ideologies that have nothing to THE RESISTANCE
BROTHER, those reactions can idea. You will get no com-
do with socialism claiming the ’You will have heard ru-
for example proclaim words that radeship and no encour-
name for themselves, such as mours of the existence of
will be banned throughout the agement. When finally you
Hitlers “national-socialists”. Rest the Brotherhood. No doubt are caught, you will get
campaign or change how players you have formed your own
assured that Orwell was in no no help. We never help our
are allowed to interact within the picture of it. You have
way diminishing the horrors of members. At most, when it is
world. imagined, probably, a huge absolutely necessary that
right wing authoritarianism - the
Some things will be similar in underworld of conspira- someone should be silenced,
position is instead whole hearted- tors, meeting secretly in
all play sessions: There are no we are occasionally able to
ly anti-authoritarian - showing the cellars, scribbling messag-
clear laws; there is no crime but smuggle a razor blade into
reader that authoritarianism is es on walls, recognizing a prisoner’s cell. You will
Thought Crime. Thought Crime
oppressive no matter what origins one another by codewords have to get used to living
is the name given to any act or or by special movements of
or ideas it is sprung out of. This without results and without
impulse that is disloyal to the the hand. Nothing of the
is the basis for establishing the hope. You will work for a
Party. A misplaced laugh, crying kind exists. The members while, you will be caught,
politics of the Party in the year of
when someone who was a traitor of the Brotherhood have you will confess, and then
2084. To update it to our current no way of recognizing one
was VAPORIZED, or simply not you will die. Those are the
political landscapes it is referred another, and it is impos-
following orders might make only results that you will
to as Post-LibDem indicating that sible for any one member ever see. There is no pos-
you suspicious in the eyes of the to be aware of the identity
it is about what happens when sibility that any percep-
Party. Your level of freedom is of more than a few others.
Liberal Democracies take a fascist tible change will happen
defined by how trusted you are - Goldstein himself, if he within our own lifetime.
turn.
higher levels of trust grants bigger fell into the hands of the We are the dead. Our only
true life is in the future. any resistance to the Party and
We shall take part in it Big Brother exists as less of a
as handfuls of dust and
movement, and more in the
splinters of bone. But how
chance encounter with someone
far away that future may
be, there is no knowing. It in the cafeteria line, a brief look of
might be a thousand years. recognition, a nod, a wink, and in
At present nothing is the individuals’ unbendable will
possible except to extend to be free.
the area of sanity little All players that are not taking
by little. We cannot act
the role of Big Brother are consid-
collectively. We can only
ered Resistance Players, and they
spread our knowledge out-
wards from individual to will, through play, bring several
individual, generation af- Resistance characters to life. It is
ter generation. In the face the acts of the resistance players
of the Thought Police that will define how the resistance
there is no other way.’
movement will develop.
Orwell, 1949.

The basis of resistance in THE HOPE

Oceania 2084 is per definition “If there is hope, wrote
anti-authoritarian, the resistance Winston, it lies in the pro-
movement opposes the oppres- les.”
sion and force excised on the Orwell, 1949.

population. The personal reasons

There are whispered rumors
for being part of the resistance is
of liberated areas, where people
often not what unifies the move-
are free to express themselves,
ment, instead it is the collective
where you can love who you want
wish of living freely and without
and where you decide what you
oppression that unites and forms
do with your life. This here is text
the backbone of the movement.
that is supposed to be redacted
Due to the risks involved and
and made unreadable in the final
the high levels of repression,
layouted version.
This is a preview of the first chapter, and should be
seen as an early draft of layout and presentation.

The content within the presented chapter is subject to

change, and restructuring.