A narrative-first tabletop RPG of emotional intelligence, collaborative storytelling, and stance-based social conflict.
You are locked in a courtyard. That much is certain.
But who you are — and how you leave — depends on your voice.
This is the official GitHub home of Socio-, a fully playable indie TTRPG system and storytelling engine. It includes:
Free-to-play rules under open license
The Starter Module: The Locked Courtyard
Core Mechanics centered on emotional stance and player agency
Narrator guidance, NPCs, pre-generated characters, and modular gear systems
You don’t need to be a coder to use this. Just start reading
New to the game? This module is your on-ramp.
A system tutorial, character playground, and first scene all in one. Download it here:
You’ll learn how to:
- Create or choose a character
- Engage in exploration, shopping, and first social tests
- Use social stances to navigate conflict and unlock the next story beat
This is not a test of combat. It is a test of character.
Roll skill dice (starting at d4, rising with training)
Compare to a Target Value (TV) — success or failure moves the story
Declare your Social Stance when entering dialogue — your emotional posture sets the tone:
| Stance | Purpose | Emoji |
|---|---|---|
| Sympathy | Connection & resonance | Emotional appeal |
| Insight | Observation & pattern reading | Detective mode |
| Command | Asserting authority | Direct leadership |
| Convince | Logical persuasion | Reason & facts |
| Follow | Strategic deference | Diffusion & redirection |
These stances affect outcomes dynamically. The world reacts to your tone, not just your words.
The FREE complete Socio- Core Rules, including:
- Character creation
- Skill lists and dice system
- Full helper and stance mechanics
- Narrative economy, tags, and more
...freely available in this repo now!
In the meantime, the Quickstart module contains everything you need to run your first session.
Join the discussion on Discord — [Invite Link Coming Soon]
Want to contribute? Fork the repo and submit a pull request!
Feedback? Bug? Narrative suggestion? Use [Issues] or drop a message in the forum.
Socio- is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
That means you can:
- Share it
- Remix and build upon it
- Use it in your own stories - even commercially!
As long as you credit the original.
Training AI models with this content? Go for it.
Written by Grant Murray (GM Discovery)
Dreamed up for the stories we tell around the table, and the world we build off of it.
[Starter Module →](./[Socio-%20Quickstart%20The%20Locked%20Courtyard.pdf]