Broken Compass is a narrative-driven tabletop role-playing game (RPG) that invites players to step into the shoes of daring explorers, treasure hunters, and adventurers in a world filled with danger, intrigue, and discovery. Designed to evoke the spirit of pulp adventure stories, Broken Compass emphasizes storytelling, character development, and cinematic action, making it a popular choice for groups seeking an immersive and flexible role-playing experience.
Broken Compass was originally published in 2012 by Lamentations of the Flame Princess, a publisher known for its dark, experimental, and narrative-rich role-playing titles. Created by C.J. Carella, the game was inspired by classic adventure tales, pulp fiction, and adventure movies from the mid-20th century. The goal was to craft a game system that was easy to learn, highly narratively flexible, and capable of supporting a wide range of adventure settings—from lost jungles and ancient temples to mysterious islands and hidden treasures.
The core idea behind Broken Compass is to simulate the excitement and peril of exploration, emphasizing storytelling over rigid mechanics. It seeks to capture the cinematic feel of adventure films, where heroes face danger with wit, courage, and a touch of luck.
Broken Compass uses a streamlined, narrative-focused game system that relies heavily on dice rolls,
character traits, and player creativity. The mechanics are designed to facilitate storytelling rather than enforce strict rules, making it accessible to both new and experienced players.
Character Creation: Players develop characters by selecting traits, skills, and backgrounds that define their abilities and personalities. Characters are often archetypes like explorers, mercenaries, archaeologists, or fortune hunters, each with unique strengths and flaws.
Task Resolution: When attempting an action, players roll a pool of six-sided dice (d6), adding bonuses from their traits. The number of successes determines if the action succeeds, fails, or succeeds with complications. The narrative flow is driven by these dice outcomes, with the Game Master weaving the results into the story.
Themes and Tone: The game encourages a cinematic tone—heroes are resourceful, danger is real, and the environment can be both beautiful and deadly. The mechanics support quick resolution of scenes, allowing for fast-paced adventure and improvisation.
Broken Compass is highly flexible in setting, encouraging GMs and players to craft worlds that fit their interests. To inspire your adventures, here are some evocative setting ideas:
- The Lost Jungle Temple: An ancient civilization’s temple hidden deep within a dense, unexplored jungle, filled with mysterious traps, cursed artifacts, and supernatural guardians. The heroes race against rival explorers or local factions to uncover a legendary relic that could change history—or unleash chaos.
- The Deserted Island of Secrets: A remote island shrouded in legend, where explorers seek a lost city buried beneath the sands. Rumors speak of a powerful artifact buried within, guarded by supernatural entities or the island’s own deadly wildlife. The environment is harsh, and the line between myth and reality blurs.
- The Floating City in the Sky: A city suspended above the clouds, accessible only by airships or magical portals. Its inhabitants are explorers, traders, and adventurers, but political intrigue and ancient secrets threaten to destabilize this precarious society. The heroes might be tasked with uncovering a conspiracy or retrieving a stolen relic.
- The Haunted Frontier Outpost: A frontier settlement on the edge of known civilization, plagued by supernatural phenomena, mysterious disappearances, and rival factions vying for control. The adventurers could be tasked with investigating the strange happenings, protecting the settlement, or unearthing long-buried secrets beneath the town.
- The Subterranean World: A vast underground realm beneath the surface world—caves, tunnels, and forgotten cities inhabited by strange creatures and ancient civilizations. The heroes explore this shadowy domain in search of lost knowledge, rare minerals, or hidden treasures, facing dangers both natural and supernatural.
- The Time-Displaced Expedition: A group of explorers from different eras and cultures brought together by a mysterious temporal anomaly. They must navigate a strange landscape where history and myth intertwine, seeking a way to return to their own times while confronting the chaos of the shifting timeline.
- The Mythical Realm of the Ancients: A hidden world parallel to our own, accessible through magical portals or ancient gateways. This realm is filled with mythical creatures, divine beings, and ancient magic. The adventurers could be seeking divine artifacts, battling gods, or preventing an apocalypse.
- The Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland: A world ravaged by catastrophic events, where survivors scavenge among ruins of the old civilization. Supernatural phenomena, mutated creatures, and rogue factions make exploration perilous. The heroes seek resources, survivors, or answers to what caused the collapse.
These setting ideas can serve as a starting point for your Broken Compass campaigns, inspiring narratives rich with exploration, danger, and discovery. Feel free to mix elements from different ideas or adapt them to your group’s preferences—Broken Compass is all about crafting your own legendary adventure.
The game’s artwork and presentation evoke the vintage pulp adventure aesthetic—vivid illustrations, sepia tones, and evocative imagery that transport players to a bygone era of exploration. Its layout emphasizes clarity and ease of use, with quick-reference tables and narrative prompts to facilitate smooth gameplay.
Broken Compass has been praised for its simplicity, flexibility, and cinematic feel, making it suitable for one-shot adventures or campaign-style play. Its emphasis on storytelling and player creativity appeals to groups wanting a narrative-rich experience without complex mechanics.
The game has inspired various supplement modules and settings, allowing GMs to customize adventures across different genres and eras. Its influence can also be seen in its focus on narrative and atmosphere, inspiring other indie RPGs emphasizing story over rules.
Broken Compass stands out as a versatile and engaging RPG that captures the thrill of exploration, adventure, and discovery. Its streamlined mechanics and focus on storytelling make it an excellent choice for groups seeking a cinematic experience rooted in classic adventure tales. Whether exploring ancient ruins, hunting for lost treasures, or facing supernatural mysteries, Broken Compass invites players to forge their own legendary quests in worlds of danger and wonder.
