BRUTES

BRUTES is a little experiment. A two pages solo RPG about war.

In his excellent video essay, The Lies of Heroism, Tom van der Linden tries to see if making an anti-war movie is even possible. How do you do it without gloryfing war, sacrifice, heroism, by giving a meaning to something so blatantly absurd?

BRUTES is me trying to find an answer in the field of roleplaying games. In the spirit of COME AND SEE, Elem Klimov masterpiece and based on my own experience I wrote a game that doesn't aim to be pretty, fun or even remotely entertaining, with a dash of absurdity thrown in. There are no metaphors, no cute fantastic elements to make it more sexy or palatable or, god forbid, poetic.

It's raw, it's dry, and based on my limited experience of a soldier's life in a warzone, it's about boredom, fear and death. 

Take care of yourself and your loved ones, and remember Dalton Trumbo's words in Johnny Got His Gun:

There's no word worth your life.