Nibiru is a science fiction tabletop role playing game set in an ominous space station. It’s focused around the themes of memory, nature and artificiality, and features a rich world (inspired by Ancient Mesopotamia) as well as a quick-to-learn system that builds each player’s persona based on the retelling of their pasts.
Nibiru is a space station submerged in the ocean of debris orbiting the Star of Fomalhaut. A monstrous, steel-clad vulture feeding off of a collection of unborn planets, Nibiru’s purpose is unknown—at least, for those that reside in it. Near the Core of this skyless world, a group of enclosed city-states harbors the majority of the human population.
The characters portrayed by the players are different from the rest of the peoples of Nibiru. They come from strange places called Habitats, each functioning as an archetype that changes not just the backdrop of your memories, but the mechanics of how you recall them. From Dreamlanders—people that only seem to remember the lives of other individuals—to Vagabonds of the Machine—who share the memories prompted by a sentience-inducing computer virus—each of the five habitats holds mysteries of their own, as well as unique mechanics that make them all the more exciting to play.
Nibiru shines not just because of its otherworldly premise, but also due to it’s deeply thematic and creative mechanics. The game features a very simple, skill-less system that makes your character grow as you recover the memories of your past. Each new entry in your Journal contains a narrative bit tied to a bonus (or penalty!) that serves to slowly reveal your character’s strengths and weaknesses.
As the game progresses, your journal grows along with your character, slowly revealing their true potential as well as their hidden past!
The way in which you write your memories has a power of its own. Far from being just narrative justifications for the mechanical development of your character, memories can impact the game via Revelations. Revelations enable you to add new consequences to what you write. Whether by using your memories as a message that can be stored within objects, producing a mind-shattering poison made up of your darkest recollections, getting bonuses for writing in rhyme or for telling an expansive story arc, Revelations allow for interesting tales to unfold not just verbally, but also in written form.
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