Hopes & Dreams
A downloadable tabletop rpg
Hopes & Dreams is a rules-lite tabletop role-playing game where you play as young adults who want to make a difference in a world that won’t let them. Government officials are corrupted, your leaders are broken, and the future looks bleak.
Play in this original grunge industrial fantasy setting where you and your friends haven’t abandoned hope yet. You still have dreams of what life could be, and are willing to fight for it.
Come talk about Hopes & Dreams on our forum and on Discord.
Features
Inspired by Arcane, The Name of the Wind, Hunger Games, and Overwatch, this game offers:
◆ A beautifully laid out +70 pages long PDF.
◆ An original, aspect-based, resolution mechanic.
◆ 5 kits for the players to choose from.
◆ A progression system that focuses on the group's dream.
◆ A way for PCs to perform powerful stunts ignited by their hope.
◆ A stylish character sheet and rules reference pamphlet.
◆ Details about a grunge fantasy city full of opportunities and districts to explore.
◆ and more...
SRD
The core rules are available for free in the game's SRD, which also includes a design commentary and numerous guidelines on how to hack the system to make your next game Ignited by Hopes & Dreams.
➤ Read the SRD for free here
What Folks Are Saying...
As I read Hopes and Dreams, I was struck by the teenage feeling of it.
Not that you’re supposed to play with a teenager, you’re not. It’s a matter of spirit.
The layout is the first to convey this feeling - it’s daring and beautiful - but this is just the first layer. Titles are exciting, and the information they draw attention to is agile and direct.
Skills, Tracks, Payoffs, and all the gears and knobs every role-playing game has, are so clear and direct they scream “immediate reward”. We want FUN and we want it NOW! And Hopes and Dreams delivers that.
In this game, the characters won’t have the future placed in their hands like a heavenly gift. The struggle will be real. But they will have their hopes and dreams to push them forward.
What else could we, players, ask for?
As something that is brand new, Hopes and Dreams is overflowing with life. As a system, it has laid down solid roots, and it will obviously bear many fruits.
And I’m eager to savor them.
- BruBruGeek / Opal Breeze Games
HOPES & DREAMS is a beautifully designed and well thought out game. The mechanics - from the abilities skills to dice rolls to the playbooks and Payoffs - reinforce the overall theme: The knowledge that your hopes and dreams can change the world for the better. I cannot wait to jump into the industrial city of Ansbach and fight to make it a better place.
Hopes and Dreams make me feel a camaraderie that other games can’t even begin to understand. Instantly it stroke me like a game in which everything could be possible. I know that most TTRPGs are played by a party, but here this feeling was twined into the very mechanics in a minimalistic and effective way. The cool kits, the set of skills, the clean mechanics, and the superb layout assemble an amazing game. Can’t wait for the game to be complete and go around dreaming of a better world.
Reading this game in our current political landscape speaks directly to my soul. From the moment you see the cover, Hopes & Dreams hits you with the vibes it's about to immerse you in. This is a grungy, dirty world, with systemic corruption, a broken populace, and an inescapable choking fog that decends from the mountains. However, it also emphasizes a prevailing mood: hope. The citizens are beaten down, but you and your allies aren't afraid to get your hands dirty, to fight for the people. The art demonstrates each of these themes beautifully. Even the system serves to highlight the core conflict, pitting player rolls versus GM rolls, where your allies and your own hopes are the best way to beat the system. RP is a genius game designer, and Hopes & Dreams is perhaps his most thematic and beautiful game to date.
Hopes & Dreams is what would happen if you threw Arcane, Blades in the Dark, and RWBY into a blender, made that into a Netflix original series, and then made a TTRPG based off of it. Every class has cool, unique abilities that define them, and working together with your allies to accomplish your Dream - and the changes that happen after you do - feels like playing through a season of some long-forgotten show from your childhood.
Medias
Status | Released |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (31 total ratings) |
Author | Fari RPGs (René-Pier Deshaies) |
Tags | Dystopian, Fantasy, Itch Funding, roleplay, Steampunk, Tabletop role-playing game, zimo, zimo2022, zine, zine-month |
Mentions | New Cover + Banner Art! Stretch Goal Hit..., Update: We Reached $250!, Reaching 300$ and the SRD, Update 4 Additions & Olivia Hill Rule |
Purchase
In order to download this tabletop rpg you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $15 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community Copies
Support this tabletop rpg at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Grab a Community Copy
If you can't justify spending money on the game right now for whatever reason, feel free to claim a community copy.
If you do so, please consider leaving a comment on the game's page to help spread the word, it would mean the world to me.
Enjoy!
Development log
- v1.3 Update - Typos and Physical VersionMay 26, 2023
- v1.2 Update - Design OverhaulDec 16, 2022
- v1.1 Update - Layout and Kit AbilitiesNov 16, 2022
- Final Version Now Available!Nov 15, 2022
- New Rules Reference and Character Sheet PamphletAug 01, 2022
- Time to Finish ThisJul 12, 2022
- I got all the art!Apr 09, 2022
- Reaching 300$ and the SRDFeb 21, 2022
Comments
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Well, I already said most of what I had to say up there (I'm Harper Jay :D), but I will add this -
I'm excited to make my own H&D game soon. This system and vibe are too excellent to pass up.
Oh man, this looks great. I have some questions though. Is the game based on some existing system like PbtA or FitD or is it an original system? How many pages will approximately be in the final version of the game? And will there be a print version of it eventually?
Thank you so much! For you questions:
1. The game is inspired by PBtA and FitD, but it has its own system (which is available as an SRD here).
2. The game currently sits at around +70 pages now!
3. I designed the game knowing I would eventually send it to a printer! I've already gotten quotes, so once the game is complete and edited, I'll for sure order printed copies. Now, I just need to find a good way to manage the purchase of physical copies!
Hope you like the game!
/RP