Odd Jobs

WINNER UK GAMES EXPO AWARD FOR BEST ROLEPLAYING GAME ADVENTURE 2022

ENNIE NOMINEE FOR BEST ADVENTURE AND BEST PRODUCT

Odd Jobs is currently nominated for two Ennies and voting is open now! If you like it, please consider voting for it here.

ENNIES SALE! Currently 25% off standard price of $20.00

Welcome to your new career! Odd Jobs is a collection of fun, bizarre and dynamic system-neutral settings to be used in tabletop roleplaying. Each puts the players in a strange profession, with fascinating bite-sized worlds demanding to be explored!

• 11 characterful micro-settings, from magical ancient Rome to surreal post-apocalyptic psychoscape.
• Short, manageable campaigns of 3-4 sessions, plus plenty of extras.
• System neutral design for use with whatever RPG system you like.

So grab some friends, some dice and get stuck into some weird and wonderful roleplaying worlds. 

GHOST SHIP

There are few things deadlier than space. From the first moments humanity hurled itself out into the dark, people have died in that cold and lonely void. But there is no rest to be found among the stars. Beyond the edges of our planet, spirits cannot pass on, and the spectres of explorers past now haunt every corner of the solar system. That’s where you come in. It’s your job to find these ghosts: to contain them and bring them home to Earth. It’s dirty, thankless work filled with danger and more than a few ghosters find themselves joining their quarry. Still, it’s a living.

TWISTED RAILS

No-one knows how it started or what went wrong, but a generation ago something broke in reality. The world stopped making sense, replaced by a swirling chaos where nothing is anything without straining to be something else. The Twist. The best way to survive is to stay in the bubbles: tiny pockets of stability where humanity just about hangs on. And there’s only one way to travel between bubbles: riding the turning, shifting rails in heavily-modified armoured trains, designed to push through the worst the Twist has to offer. Trains like yours.

NOT FAR TO BERMUDA

Welcome to the WANDERLUST, Neptune Holiday’s largest cruise ship yet. We hope you’re enjoying our inaugural Atlantic Islands cruise. It’s currently day 294 since we set sail and we’ll be arriving at Bermuda very soon. Any day now. In the meantime, you’re welcome to enjoy the many amenities we have on board to make your holiday with us memorable. Whether sunbathing by our top-deck pool, enjoying a game of quoits on our sports deck, relaxing in our on-board spa or simply whiling away a few hours in the Sunset Lounge, this is your time to unwind and de-stress. It’s not far to Bermuda.

—Message to passengers from Captain Smollett of the Wanderlust.

GUARDIANS

Being a nun isn’t easy. And you should know: you’ve made your share of mistakes. So many, in fact, that you’ve been sent to a tiny, remote convent in the South of France, far away from temptation. Your job, officially, is to guard ‘la Fosse de l’Enfer’ – an apparently bottomless hole that folklore claims leads straight to Hell. Watching over a big pit certainly sounds easy enough, but it’s becoming rapidly apparent that nobody actually left any instructions regarding what to do if it starts to wake up...

ATLANTIS CITY

Atlantis. The Big Oyster. Tales are still told of the magical wonders of the city before the Calamity sent it below the waves, but these days folks have bigger things on their mind – like hitting the jackpot on the whirlpool. On the ocean floor, Atlantis has found a second life: calling the weird and outlandish denizens of the deep with the promise of gambling and vice. The casinos run everything in this city, but running the casinos is no easy task...

DUSKHOLLOW P.D.

Some miles north of Arkham lies a large town most maps overlook. By road, it’s a little way past Nightvale, just before the turning to Silent Hill, and most days there’s a direct train from Twin Peaks. However you get there, you’ll know you’re in Duskhollow when the rain starts to fall. The residents are weird and the crimes are gruesome. The phones are rotary, the internet is dial-up and your car’s a 1956 Ford. This is your home, working for Duskhollow Private Detectives, a bunch of hard-boiled P.I.s investigating murderers, malefactors and the occasional malignant colour. You don’t remember getting the job, and you’re not leaving anytime soon.

MIX: MISSING IN X-MAS

‘Tis the night before Christmas, and all through the house... Santa’s vanished! The Grotto lost contact with him somewhere over Germany, and he hasn’t re-emerged. No-one knows what’s going on: there’s no sign of St Nick, no sleigh wreckage, no reports of red-nosed reindeer falling from the sky. It’s a crisis of Yuletide proportions and Mrs Claus has stepped up to take charge. She’s got a mission for you: bring back Father Christmas, whatever the cost. And make sure not a single child misses their present.

PRIMETIME COLOSSEUM

Blood on the sand, the roar of the crowd, honour and glory: all these could be yours... except that The Crimson Centurion is supposed to chop your head off in the next match. ‘Uncle’ Gaius says your rivalry needs some more heat, so he’s scripted a brutal beheading. Urgh, reviving from decapitation is the worst. When you signed up to be a gladiator, this wasn’t quite what you imagined, but you haven’t given up on your dreams just yet. One of these days, you’ll hit the big time.

WIZARD'S STAFF

The grand sorcerer Balphior is known throughout the land: a dark enchanter of blasphemous arcana and arguably the most powerful wizard in the kingdom. And you are his minions, his loyal retainers, familiars and creations. You assist in his experiments and look after his tower. It’s a pretty cushy gig, all told, and will no doubt remain so for the rest of your boss’s life. Unfortunately, he’s just fallen out of a window and died.

START-UP CULTURE

Another hard day's grind: a quick shower, a cup of coffee, and time to check the god market. Looks like your sect's taken another dive overnight, and the High Priest is not going to be happy about it. You've sacrificed a lot for Protelius, the God of Reluctant Teamwork, and if he loses any more followers, he won't have enough power to make it worth your while. It'll take a miracle to fix this...

FIXER UPPER

Designation:

Location: 0,0 from Land Site, J-1M

Purpose: (I) Confirm J-1M is a suitable candidate for terraformation; (II) If (I) = true, transform J1-M to environment compatible with human survival.

Activation status...