
desert
A downloadable game
The year is 2070. For decades nation states, megacorporations and tech-elites have sunk billions into networked metropoles that promised jobs to workers, solutions to the world and unabashed capitalism to investors. It was, after all, an easier sell than boundless resource wars, unmitigated climate change and sharp inequality, all hurried along by their smart cities.
In desert, you play people who live off of this pretend- future. You steal corporate secrets, leak sensitive information, manipulate government officials, sabotage social movements and halt billion euro production lines. But whether state-sponsored hackers or dissidents, cybercriminals or corporate insiders – break things once too often and you become a risk the authorities are not willing to take.
—
desert is a GMless near future roleplaying game. The game is currently 42 pages and in playtesting. desert offers...
- GMless campaign play in the age of mass surveillance.
- City generation down to the level of individual buildings.
- Fast lifepath character creation for player and non-player characters.
- Rules for preparing and running hacks, operations and manipulation.
- A detailed faction system.
- Point-based security, conflict and mission economies.
| Updated | 1 day ago |
| Status | In development |
| Category | Physical game |
| Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (8 total ratings) |
| Author | Julian |
| Genre | Role Playing |
| Tags | Cyberpunk, GM-Less, Sandbox, Sci-fi |
Development log
- Update! desert v3.31 day ago
- Update! desert v3.22Sep 05, 2025
- Update! desert v3.21Aug 08, 2025
- Update! desert v3.20Aug 05, 2025
- Update! desert v3.12Jun 12, 2025
- Update! desert v3.11May 24, 2025
- Update! desert v3.10May 08, 2025
- Update! desert v3.09Mar 21, 2025




Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
The timelines for how a nation/city developed are really cool! Though, they are a bit confusing with how they are laid out. Could you add an example like you have with the Projects?
Thank you for the feedback! I'll add an example for timeline creation in the next update.