GOD’S GONNA CUT YOU DOWN
A melancholic Western roleplaying game for one inspired by the traditional folk song
These things you know:
You are mortal, and a sinner.
You follow God’s words, even though sometimes they seem to leave you worse off.
One day you will transgress these words, and God will cut you down.
God's Gonna Cut You Down is a melancholic Western roleplaying game for one inspired by the traditional folk song. You play a salt-of-the-earth type trying to follow God's words in the waning days of the west. Set up the situation by rolling on the included table of 216 verses from the King James Bible. Then roll against your temptation die to see if you abide by the verse. The more you stray from the path, the harder it becomes to walk it, until eventually, God's gonna cut you down.
"It neatly encompasses a whole universe of moral turpitude and mendacious wrongdoing in a spiral of decay and failure that just warms my heart. God's Gonna Cut You Down is simple and direct in its mechanisms, clear in its goals, and terrible in its implications for your character's soul. I highly recommend it!" -Jason Morningstar, designer of Fiasco and Night Witches
“As a Professor of Religious Studies I think a lot about how to integrate TTRPGs into the classroom. God’s Gonna Cut You Down does a really excellent job of providing some insight into how it might feel to live by the rules of a certain religious text in a particular moment in time.” -Dr. Adrian Hermann, Professor of Religion and Society, University of Bonn
"Experience your own personal Fall of Man with this harrowing solo game of failing to be your best self. Being guided by Scripture only makes your ignominious end that much more prophetic." -Jim Crocker, proprietor of Jim Likes Games
Play time: 90 to 120 minutes
Players: One
Materials: Three similar six-sided dice and one unique six-sided die.
A pen and some paper.
Content: Religion, trauma, suffering, powerlessness
Written by Keith Stetson
Edited by Lara Paige Turner
Layout by momatoes, J. Walton, & Kathleen De Smet
Center illustration by Clarissa Baut Stetson
Spot illustrations by Edvard Munch
A5, saddle-stitched zine, 40 beautiful risograph-printed pages.
*PDF will be emailed once the physical item ships.
