Back in print!
Kidnapped by the government and transported to a mysterious battleground, 50 high school students are forced to fight to the death in a brutal televised contest called Classroom Deathmatch!
From the creators of Panty Explosion comes the Indie RPG Award winning role playing game that asks tough questions and forces players to make difficult choices. A game of trust, friendship, murder and betrayal.
Welcome to Classroom Deathmatch!
“The goal with Classroom Deathmatch is to offer a really visceral role-playing experience. Abducted by their government and forced into a life or death struggle where only one student will survive, players are forced to make really nasty decisions. Can they betray their friends? Can they kill their fellow students? Do they have the personal strength to refuse to fight? Forcing players to make really difficult choices gives you a platform for some really excellent role-playing. Classroom Deathmatch focuses much more on player versus player conflict then most role playing games. In a game of Classroom Deathmatch only one character survives. The game certainly rewards characters for working together, but it also demands that players work against each other as well.” (From an interview with Jake Richmond on the Finnish gaming site Roolipelaaja)
Classroom Deathmatch is available in two formats: as a fully illustrated 72 page perfect bound book for $16, and as a free 10mb PDF. The PDF version of the game is exactly the same as the print version, and we hope that if you like it you’ll consider purchasing the book. We’ve also released a brand new Student Record PDF, containing an entire class of 50 pre-made characters.
Buy Classroom Deathmatch. Just $16.00!
- Download the Free Classroom Deathmatch PDF
- Download the Student Record pack PDF
Classroom Deathmatch features:
- Narration fueled story gaming that rewards creativity and encourages input from all players!
- 50 pre-made characters. If your student dies, simply pick a new one!
- 100 deadly weapons to choose from, including bear traps, poisonous snakes and grenade launchers!
- 3 pre-made battlegrounds, each with unique dangers and escape routes!
- Brutal, fast paced play designed for 1-4 sessions.
- For 4 or more players.
- Fully illustrated!
- 71 pages, black and white
this sounds a whole lot like battle royale
It is!
What happened to Student #3? (Was she the first to go?) According to the rulebook, there should be 50 student profiles, but there are only 49.
I noticed that when I was re designing the cards yesterday.I have no idea! Her name was Ami, and she was the only member of the photography club. She’ll be making a comeback!
Hey. I notice that the listing linked at celstyle.com shows the old Classroom Deathmatch cover. Can you please confirm that the product itself is the new, revamped edition?
It is the new version, which has the same cover as the old.
[...] night we played a one off game of Classroom Deathmatch by Atarashi Games . It is based on the Japanese property Battle Royale. The basis of both is [...]
Just wanted to say, with all the great rpg’s I own and all the great times I’ve had playing rpg’s- I had my best RPG session ever with this game.
I mean, I love Paranoia XP, I love Lacuna, I love Sorcerer, I love all these games incredibly much.
But this game gives such a visceral and unique experience that I have to give it more than props for you guys creating it. I’m really grateful for all the time put in this game.
It’s not a huge campaignish game and you can only play this type of setting with it if you want the best experience, but I urge people to try it, because it’ll blow your mind. Seriously.
More than happy to have bought the game. Thanks so much!
I hope to play this again soon- as well as PEP, because I really want to try that out asap.
Have a wonderful day.
Thanks Sander. That’s really nice of you to say!
Howdy.
The Classroom Deathmatch corebook says “A game of Classroom
Deathmatch will almost always last about 2-4 sessions, and each
session will probably take 2-3 hours to play”. I was wondering if you had any advice for how to best tweak the game for con play, or similar situations when time constraints tend to be strictly enforced.
Thanks.
Sure. My advice is to either start from the beginning and go as far as you can, or start at the end, with a deck of only 6-10 students. Either way, the important thing is to take your time and not rush yourself. A Classroom Deathmatch game where you only get one or two scenes, but the scenes are dramatic and tense is much better than a game where you rush through and kill all 50 students, but never have time to explore who they are and how the game effects them.
The games leaves a questionable feeling in my stomache. I think it’s really awesome that there is such a simple system, but what if there are problems amongst the group about what is and what isn’t allowed in scene describing between the friend and rival?
The PDF (book) clarifies that it should be worked out and voted on or something… but eh… I’ve seen really bad stuff in a RPG like D&D and that’s a fairly convuluted game, as compared to this where the RPing is pretty much free game.
also, the special techniques, described as “super natural feats” also seem a bit edgy, is this supposed to be a Shonen like Baccano where it’s basically realistic (with the exception of Baccano’s curse) or is it supposed to be like Battle Royale?
Hi Tony.
As to your first concern… when a Best Friend or Rival describes an action, they have complete and total authority. Simply put, it doesn’t matter if there’s disagreement among the group over what they’ve decided. They get the final word. Now of course this can lead to problems. If one player is being completely unreasonable with their descriptions, abusing their narrative power or simply going against the wishes of the rest of the group it can be frustrating. There aren’t any rules for handling this kind of disruptive play for the same reason as their aren’t rules for handling it in D&D, Chess or Monopoly.If one player wants to be a jerk and abuse the game system, there’s not much you can do about it.
What I would suggest is talking about this kind of potential abuse before your game starts and making sure all players are on the same page. If it comes up in game simply stop and work it out.
As far as the Special Techniques go, we introduced them as an optional mechanic in case you wanted to give your game a more shonen feel. I usually leave them out when I’m going for something closer to the feel of the original Battle Royale.They are an optional rule, after all, so don’t feel bad about ditching them if they don’t fit into your game.
[...] all 5 Atarashi Games books for just $50! Get full versions of Panty Explosion Perfect, G x B, Classroom Deathmatch, Ocean and the brand new B x B bundled together for one low price! Save $18! This special bundle [...]
There is no entry for weapon number 88 on p.68
You’re right. I’ll add one in next time I update the document. In the meantime…
88: Hacksaw
As Seung-Uk pointed out, there is no Weapon #88.
Also, every instance of the word, “Permanent” in the Student Record Pack is misspelled. It reads “Permenant” instead.
Thanks. I’ll get around to fixing that at some point.
Hi Jake,
I just bought the Classroom Deathmatch book from Book Depository here in the UK, and am really looking forward to playing. I loved (if that’s the right word) Battle Royale and also enjoyed Hunger Games. Have you seen Hunger Games and what did you think?
Steve
I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m looking forward to it. My niece is a big fan of the books.
[...] Tabletop Game Review: Classroom Deathmatch [...]