Disclaimer: The publisher provided the prototype copy of The Structure: RPG Lite – Survival Horror Tabletop Game. The opinions expressed in the review are completely my own.

Review:

The Structure is a Sci-fi horror RPG by Matt Burkes. It takes place in a derelict megastructure full of mystery and danger. Your character is a scavenger trying to survive in this hostile environment, and must accomplish missions and solve mysteries to improve their chances of survival. I played the rules-lite version, which is compatible with the Mork Borg system. It is a rules lite d20 framework that will be intuitive to anyone familiar with d20 TTRPGs. There are some added resource management and sanity point rules that work well to make your character feel like a scavenger in a horrific alien environment. 

As with other Mork Borg based games, the primary offering with this book is the setting, character options and artwork. The majority of rules are pretty standard for what you would expect from this genre of TTRPG.

The setting is very cool. I was immediately sucked into the idea of scavenging through an endless and mysterious structure.The GM is provided with tables to flesh out the parts of the structure being explored each session. Areas within the structure are divided into different colored “Zones” that indicate both the danger level of each area and the types of events that might occur. These event tables make prepping for the session super quick and painless. There are also mission and mystery tables that are used to give the characters goals and objectives for each session. 

The character options are very thematic, each class represents a distinct kind of character with very unique abilities. They fit in well with the rest of the setting and the abilities seem to support the fantasy of each character concept. My only complaint with the character creation, at least in the lite version is that your “race” or the type of creature you are, whether more mechanical or 

more human or monstrous, is determined entirely by your class. A Slugger is a mechanical being while a Dust Runner is a human. While this is nice for creating character quickly, it does limit players choices in designing their ideal character to roleplay.

The artwork is very fun and thematic. It has a comic book feel similar to the Borderlands games, but a bit darker and grittier. And there is a lot of art for such a small book. Each page is not only stylized, but most feature full artwork. I will say that the pages of the lite version are much more 

simpler than you would see in a typical Mork Borg book, and by that I mean that the text is actually legible. I find many Mork Borg books to be over stylized to the point of impacting readability. That is not the case here, the artwork is either full page or distinct from the text styling.

Overall I think that if you like the idea of the theme, this game would be great for a One Shot or short campaign. It is procedurally generated with little character progression, so I don’t think it lends itself to long ongoing campaigns. But It seems like a fun game to break out for last minute one shots as it requires very little prep. The rules were easy to read and understand. I felt like I was able to pick up the game and start playing almost right away. Like I mentioned before, I love the artwork. I am excited to see what the author does in the extended “Dark” version if this game meets its kickstarter goal. I personally hope to see this fund.

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