Deadly Weapons

It’ll feel cold and heavy, and bark at your touch,
It’ll plant a kiss on your forehead wet with heat,
It’ll hold you at night and lay you to sleep,
It’ll paint reds and yellow and purples and fears,
It’s a stranger, it’s a ghost, it’s a lover, it’s a killer,
They only say the name in whispers and lies

IT’S A GUN IT’S A GUN IT’S A GUN

Deadly Weapons is about power, gender, desire, trauma, and hope. It is set in an urban fantasy world very similar to our own, but where underneath the surface Demons prowl and Avatars hunt. Players will create these Avatars, girls who one day had a gun arrive in their possession. A gun that cries in their dreams and never leaves their side. A gun which whispers in their ear that they must hunt and kill Demons. Demons are all around the Avatars, existing as classmates, bosses, or even romantic interests. But whether an Avatar fires their gun is up to them.

Deadly Weapons is a tabletop roleplaying game for about 2 to 6 players, including a guide. It is a hack of the [BXLLET> system by Rathayibacter Toxicus, with a focus on atmospheric and narrative play. The game uses no dice or other randomizers. Instead, characters willingly take on various risks represented by the Avatars gaining Dooms and suffering fallout over the course of play.

Deadly Weapons is also a collage piece, made using at least 75% recycled or secondhand physical materials. The art, rules text, poetry, and fiction contained within this 32 page digital zine serves to inform your play.

Game and Words by Adira Slattery

Art and Layout by Fen Slattery

Deadly Weapons includes discussions of violence, gender, sexual themes, power imbalances, blood, and monstrousness. 

Deadly Weapons is also about guns and what they represent. It is not, however, a game about good guys with guns stopping bad ones. Guns are not the solution to society’s problems.

Want to print a copy of Deadly Weapons for personal use? Go right ahead! This is designed for US Letter sized paper (8.5x11), A4 should work just fine scaled down.

We recommend you print the pdf in greyscale, not full color. Then, grab some of your favorite art tools to add your own flair. Add color to Fen's collages, add some doodles, take notes, slap in some stickers, whatever! We'd personally try gel pens and highlighters, what will you use?