Biophage - Rules-lite Symbiotic Horror TTRPG

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Intro

BIOPHAGE is a rules-light symbiotic horror TTRPG where two players share control of a single character. One player takes the role of the human Host. The other plays the Parasite living inside them.
Investigate strange events, hide your true nature from the people you love, hunt for food, and face other Biophages in a world built on conspiracy, conflict, and control.

Why Back?

🔸 Experience a unique dynamic where cooperation is essential, but conflicting goals can turn your greatest ally into your biggest obstacle.

🔸 Flexible gameplay and rules designed for groups of any size, including a robust solo mode.

🔸 A rules-light system that keeps the focus on horror, storytelling, and the consequences of your decisions.

🔸 Help shape Biophage through Tailor Your Game, our ongoing community challenges and votes where fans help decide what gets added to the game.

🔸 Support a small indie studio from Athens, as we grow and bring our passion project to life.
 

Get the Quickstart

What People Say

The Setting

What's in the Box?

Everything you need to get into the world of BIOPHAGE, all contained within a softcover A5 tome.

🔸 The Basic Rules
🔸 Character Creation
🔸 Mutations & True Forms: Shape the monster you're becoming.
🔸 The Setting: Learn more about the Elite, the Biophages, and the factions operating in the shadows.
🔸 Modes of Play: Rules to play with a friend, a group of friends, or even solo.
🔸 GM's Toolkit: Adventures, GM guidance, safety tools, and more. 

Experience BIOPHAGE from the other side.

A supplementary A5 softcover expansion book where you take the role of a Cleaner, the hunters of Biophages. 

🔹 The Basic Rules to create and play as a Cleaner.
🔹 [REDACTED]: Learn more about the Cleaners and the Cleaner Corps.
🔹 Augments & Tactics: Use powerful cybernetic enhancements and on-field tactics in the name of humanity.
🔹 NERVE: Push yourself beyond human limits while degrading your sanity.
🔹 Cleaner Solo Mode: Lead a squad of Cleaners through multiple missions as their handler in a unique solo mode.
🔹 Mission Report: Exclusive one-shot missions to pick up and play with.

A quad-fold A5 Biophage GM screen.

A Kickstarter-Exclusive double-sided enamel challenge coin you can flip instead of rolling dice to decide who takes control.

A Kickstarter-Exclusive set of enamel pins to help keep track of each player's role during gameplay.

A deck of reference cards with all the information about the Mutations available to Biophage players during gameplay.

A deck of reference cards to help players keep track of the advancements their Cleaners gain throughout the campaign.

A set of tokens that players can gain or lose to keep track of their Influence during gameplay.

A set of 3d6 in the colors of Biophage and Cleaners, plus an additional black-and-white die that can be used as the Effect Die.

A set of 30 printed character sheets for Biophage (Host and Parasite sheets) and for Cleaners!

The System

Solo Mode

Both games come with their own isolated Solo Mode, allowing players to tell different tales in the world of Biophage from both the side of the humans and the monsters.

In Biophage, each solo mode game follows a single Biophage's story as they record their day-to-day life, balancing their human and inhuman needs while also trying to maintain a low profile.

In Cleaners, you assume the role of a Handler who's leading a Cleaner Cell, with your mission being to make sure they complete their missions by any means necessary, with every success letting you learn more about the Cleaners you lead and their connections to the world and people around them.

The Visual Novel

Alongside the TTRPG, we also have Biophage: Jaeger, a visual novel in development whose alpha build of the first chapter you can play right now for free on Itch.io!
What started as a small experiment is gradually growing into a full visual novel.

Play as Weiss, the Parasite in the body of Otto or Alice, a young adult who must take care of their younger sister while also shielding her from the dangers that come with being a Biophage. 

Ultra Pledge backers will receive alpha access to the chapters of the visual novel as they are released periodically, helping us improve it through feedback and playtesting. 
Please note that the game is still in development, and the complete experience will not be available immediately.

Pledge Over Time

The Pledges

The Add-Ons

With each unlocked stretch goal that includes in-game content, we will give backers the chance to vote about one aspect of it, such as, for example, what animal we'll use for the animal Biophage art for the first stretch goal.

Production Status

Most of the content for Biophage and Cleaners has already been developed and playtested. We're now working on the remaining artwork, additional content we'd like to include, and the final stages of editing and proofreading to make both books the best they can be.

We aim to complete both books and deliver their digital editions by May 2027.
Printing and manufacturing of the physical books and additional rewards will follow. We've set October 2027 as our estimated delivery date for physical rewards, allowing extra time for production, quality checks, and shipping.

We'll keep our backers updated throughout the process!

The Team

And a million thanks to all the players, GMs, and playtesters who read and tested out Biophage, whom without we could have never improved the game with.

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No AI

The monsters you'll be playing as may not be human, but everything from the art to the writing has been and will continue to be fully human-made.

Studio Hex is strictly anti-AI, choosing to incorporate only human-made assets in our work and avoiding using AI in our workflow.

Shipping Costs

All shipping costs listed are estimates only and may change based on final package weight, destination, carrier rates, and other factors. Shipping fees and applicable VAT/taxes are not included in your pledge. They will be calculated and collected after the campaign through our pledge manager, where you'll also confirm your shipping details.

We will do our best to keep shipping costs as close to the estimates as possible. However, final charges may vary. Any applicable customs duties, import fees, or additional taxes not collected through the pledge manager may be the backer's responsibility. Depending on the number of backers, we will explore customs-friendly fulfillment options.