Agaku (足掻く) “To paw at the ground; To struggle” Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the God who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle and wonder if we’ll ever have the chance to kill him. 2 Credits Project Manager and Lead Designer ELH Cover Artwork by Drake (Winson) Tsui Special Thanks Tanathica for the original PANTS System The Nier Fandom Wiki 4chan’s /tg/ Board MonMon for the Character Sheet Taro Yoko Version 0.2E Last Update: June 14th, 2020 NieR: Automata is a registered trademark or trademark of Square Enix Co., Ltd. All other trademarks and copyrights are properties of their respective owners. Nier: Agaku is not authorized, approved, licensed, endorsed, sponsored by, nor affiliated with, Square Enix, Platinum Games, Taro Yoko, or any other Nier franchise. It is a non-commercial, fan-made tabletop roleplaying system intended for recreational use. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against Square Enix, Platinum Games, Taro Yoko, or any other legal entity. The aPANTS system is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Any trademarked names are used in a fictional manner; no infringement is intended. This is a work of fiction. Any similarity with actual people and events, past or present, is purely coincidental and unintentional. 3 Table of Contents CH01 – Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Welcome to the Year 11945… .................................................................................................................. 5 Adventures in the Aftermath of Nier ....................................................................................................... 5 What You Will Need ................................................................................................................................... 5 CH02 – Creating Your Android ..................................................................................................................... 7 YoRHa ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 Android Models ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Actions & Styles ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Other Statistics ............................................................................................................................................. 9 Creating a Character ................................................................................................................................... 9 Bringing your Android to “Life” ................................................................................................................. 9 Upgrading your Character ........................................................................................................................ 10 CH03 – The aPANTS System ...................................................................................................................... 11 Criticals ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 Opposing Rolls ............................................................................................................................................ 12 Metacurrency ............................................................................................................................................. 13 Combat ......................................................................................................................................................... 14 CH04 – PODs and You ................................................................................................................................. 16 CH05 – Armory .............................................................................................................................................. 17 CH06 – Flight Units ....................................................................................................................................... 18 CH07 – Gamemasters Only ......................................................................................................................... 20 CH08 – THIS CANNOT CONTINUE ......................................................................................................... 24 Afterword ........................................................................................................................................................ 29 4 CH01 – Introduction people to create a shared story together. They use their imagination and the rules Welcome to the Year 11945… outlined in this book to experience encounters and situations far beyond a From Pod 153, to fans of NieR: Automata traditional board or video game. There is no winning or losing, only a collaborative and [ref &NieR: Agaku] (hopefully) enjoyable experience with friends. QUESTION: What is a tabletop roleplaying game? All games have rules. This book provides such rules that will help everyone involved AFFIRMATIVE: It is hypothesized that this agree on what happens in the story, avoid game is “interesting.” conflicts over individual actions, and HYPOTHESIS: “Interest” is an internal generally ensure everyone is working incentive that allows humans to practice together to weave a story. tolerance. As for Nier: Automata, my best advice is to RECOMMENDATION: To play this game grab it on a Steam Sale or otherwise exploring the world of NieR. experience it for yourself if you have not already. If you are reading this without any FROM POD 153 TO 042: Affirmative. We knowledge what your friend has asked you have concluded executing additional to read, do not worry. All you need to know advertisement duties. will be outlined for you. Just know that, from CH07 onwards, there is a high Adventures in the Aftermath of Nier probability of spoilers from the game. Welcome to Nier: Agaku, where Players take What You Will Need on the roles of YoRHa units during the 14th Machine War. While fighting Mankind’s You will need several things to enjoy Nier: enemies, you develop from a “soulless Agaku with your friends: machine” into an individual. Yet that individuality comes with a price. At some • Time point, YoRHa might take notice and act • Players against you. • A Gamemaster (GM) • Characters To put it briefly, it’s a slow descent into • Dice madness while on a journey of self- • Tokens discovery. Time Chances are that you know both what a All participants in a game must set aside tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) is and some mutual time, commonly referred to as what happens in Nier: Automata. But if not, a “session.” This is typically 3 to 4 hours of allow me to introduce you. gaming, not including travel or setup. Some In simple terms, TTRPGs, such as the groups may run shorter or longer depending popular Dungeons & Dragons, are a way for on both availability and what sort of story 5 the Gamemaster has prepared. Showing up Characters on time and ready to play is crucial to the Every Player (besides the Gamemaster) success of your game. needs a character. CH02 contains all the information Players need to create new Players characters. These Characters are Androids At bare minimum, Nier: Agaku requires two initially working for YoRHa. Players, with one of those Players acting as Gamemaster (See Below). The Dice recommended number of Players is three to It is recommended that each Player six. It is possible to play with more, yet the (including the Gamemaster) have at least more Players there are the less time each one 12-sided dice (referred to as a d12). An Player gets to share the spotlight. ideal amount per Player is 10d12. Gamemaster Tokens Also known as the Dungeon Master, You will need some way to keep track of Storyteller, and many other monikers, a two Metacurrencies: Drive (Players) and Risk Gamemaster is essential to every group. (Gamemaster). This could be poker chips, One Player must take on the role of the beads, or really anything that is easily Gamemaster, while the other Players take grouped and counted at a glance. control of Player Characters (See Below). The Gamemaster is responsible for three major items: • Determining how a Player’s declaration translates to the rules • Deciding if a given rule applies in a given situation, perhaps making or changing a rule to work in the process • Roleplaying and describing the setting and NPCs in a given scene NPCs, or Non-Player Characters, are characters that are not controlled by the Players. The Gamemaster is responsible for roleplaying them in response to the actions of the other Players. They can be just as much a major actor as the Player Characters, but not to the point where they overshadow them! It is recommended that the person assuming the role of the Gamemaster should have at least played or experienced Nier: Automata's full story. 6 CH02 – Creating Your • B – Battler: All-purpose combat unit, a hybrid of the A and G prototype Android models. YoRHa • D – Defender: Focused on defensive tactics such as