Hitobito no Hikari

This project is part of the #RPGLATAM collection!

Hitobito no Hikari is a loose storytelling TTRPG modeled after PS2 survival horror classics like Haunting Ground and Clocktower.

The PDF is 2 pages, presented in trifold, and has a pleasant, well-organized, and maybe lightly occult aesthetic. It's easy to read and visually interesting.

Contents-wise, the PCs play as girls who are exploring an isolated gothic environment looking for their classmate. The GM plays dangers in the environment---and several roaming Stalkers---who seek to hinder them.

Mechanically, Hikari isn't interested in crunch. However, it still has a complex and satisfying resolution system. When something threatens a character, they can either spend an item to resolve the danger immediately, or roll with a 50% chance of avoiding consequences. Consequences can include slowly taking mental damage, getting captured, losing items, or marking progress towards the end of the game.

Hikari tracks the flow of gameplay with a Fate clock. When the clock fills, the scenario ends and the game resolves based on how much progress the PCs were able to make.

Overall, Hikari feels like a little bit of a stone soup. If your players love the premise, engage actively with the genre, and lean into the atmosphere, it'll be great.

I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who loved Clocktower and Haunting Ground, or who likes the giallo and gothic genres and wants a TTRPG that's easy to pick up and run, short on prep, but heavy on atmosphere.

Minor Issues:

-Every time I write one of these sections, I'm like "truly, this is my most insignificant quibble," but I've sunk to new lows here: I'm not sure the title feels compelling. Demento and Clocktower leaned into their giallo themes with their titles, and English language titles are in general pretty abundant across PS2 survival horror: Biohazard, Demento, Silent Hill, Siren, etc. Weirdly, Hitobito no Hikari feels less like one of those games through its use of a Japanese title, but doesn't feel like it vibes with the VN horror movement either (Higurashi, etc.) Hitobito no Hikari as a title also kinda feels plain in terms of what it's saying---just Hikari by itself might be stronger. However, again, this is an extremely minor quibble. And also, crucially, I'm real bad at Japanese. Someone who's more comfortable with the language might be able to give better feedback on the title.

-The clock of fate sections are different from the Fate you accumulate, right? I couldn't confirm this, and the similarity of the words feels a little bit confusing.

-Strength feels the most clearly mechanical of the skills. The others are definitely useful if the GM leans into making them work, but Psychic Power seems to just be a better version of Sharpness.