Thread by @ulsairi

Kedamono Opera is a narrative, dark fairy tale TRPG by Ikefukuro Ryoma, main art by Nagabe. Published by Shikigensha. The game focuses on immortal, soul-eating Kedamono (henceforth Beasts) who get involved with humans in distress, and we see what story emerges between them.

You can visit the game's website at and see all the lovely art there. If you can read Japanese, they offer a trial set of the rules, as well as full character sheets for all the Beasts. It lacks setting and GM info, but it's more or less runnable.operarpg.jp

The main Kedamono Opera twitter account is at @\opera_rpg
Ikefukuro Ryoma's twitter is @\Alba_gard
Nagabe's twitter is @\mucknagabe

All right, now that that's out of the way...

This game is for 2-3 players, including the GM. In this, the GM is not the Beast--the player (or players) are. After all, the ones capable of change are the Beasts, and they, being powerful creatures, get to decide the fate of all involved. Humans can only hope.

The setting of Opera is variable, but generally it's middle ages Europe-ish, suitable for a fairy tale. There's one God, worshipped by humans, and then the Beasts--the creatures living in the Dark Forest. Beasts are viewed with uncertainty by humans. Are they calamity or saviors?

In the sample scenario provide, the Beast encounters a nun who is in search of a holy grail, which is said to be able to cure sickness. Her village is beset by a plague, and she too has the sickness. The Beast saves her from wild animals in the forest... why? We play to find out.

I should've posted these last two arts slightly in higher order, so let's just enjoy this one, huh?

Beasts, as a unique trait, all possess an "additional limb" called their Lure. They look just like humans, and THROUGH those Lures, they can interact with humans, speaking to them as "though" they were humans. When unused, the Lures go inside the Beast, but can still speak.

When a Lure is in use, people cannot perceive the Beast's form, only that of the Lure. Only once the spell is broken, so to speak, can people realize what they are talking to. Therefore, it's entirely possible to go entire stories where you never perceive the Beast's true form.

The mechanics of Opera are simple but deep, focused entirely on narrative. Somewhat PbtA-ish in that sense. Dice rolls are made during Trials (試練) and only then. Roll 2d6, and if you get 10 or more, you gain a success (達成). 9 or less, and gain a Twist (波乱). (love the bear)

Each Trial has a difficulty. If your successes = difficulty (and all involved in the trial agree to end the trial), you tread the Path of Glory. If your twists = difficulty, then you are forcibly made to tread the Path of Peril. This is largely fancy for, you pass or fail it.

You might be going, "Hold up Noelle! 10 or higher on 2d6 is a mighty tall ask!" And you'd be right. Which is why Beasts all possess two tools to help them: skills, and their Authority. The latter of these is easier, so I'll focus on that first.

At creation, you pick 1 Authority from a list of 4: Brutality (暴虐), Cunning (狡猾), Benevolence (慈愛), and Sagacity (叡智). Cunning is more ingenuity or being calculating, while Sagacity is more knowledge and wisdom. Book smarts vs. street smarts, I suppose.

Each Trial you face will have at least one Authority associated with it. If you have that Authority, then on any dice roll you make, you may, once only, invoke the Authority to reroll all of your dice.

Also, if you ever roll 20 or higher, you pick another Authority to gain.

"What, 20?!" Each of the Beasts are like a playbook. They come with 5 skills. The skills are rated C, B, and A, and using them gives you additional dice. C = 1 die, B = 2 dice, A = 3 dice. To use a skill, it must either suit the situation, or make the story more exciting.

By the way, all this art is official from the book, and I'm pairing the Beast with its Lure. So the human form is the Lure form of the Beast. Naturally you can make your Lure look like whatever, it's just sample art.

When a skill is used, you mark it--and then you can't use it anymore (we'll come back to that). And then, in addition, you must pick a Portent (予言). Each skill has at least two Portents. This is where the meat of the system lies... because Portents MUST come true. MUST!

Take the Horned Owl Beast. It has a skill, "Soaring Bird of Prey." This is a C-ranked skill, and is just a swooping attack from the sky. Its two Portents are:

1) The sky was not yours alone.
2) Something fell from the sky.

You mark your choice, and seek to Realize it (実現).

Again, Portents MUST come true! There's rules around them. For example, unless a Portent specifies "you", the Portent can happen to anything or anyone. Players have full narrative control over HOW the Portent happens, though the GM can prohibit them if they'd ruin the story.

Trials have Portents as well. In the story of the nun, these Portents exist, and Twists (波乱) force you to pick one:
1) Teresa's soul looks delicious, and you couldn't help yourself.
2) Teresa becomes terrified at the sight of your Beast form
3) Teresa is injured and can't walk.

Twists have another aspect to them too. In addition to the Portent, you pick one of the dice you rolled. You change the skill with that number to be "Unused", and can erase the Portent you gained from it too. "Soaring Bird of Prey," for example, was skill 1. Why only 1-5? Well...

Pick a 6, and you have two additional options: you can have a fellow player reset a skill to Unused and also erase a skill Portent if they want, OR, you can have them erase *any* Portent at all, even one gained from a Twist in a trial. (yeah man, fuckin shark Beast)

If we go back to the Path of Peril, there's an additional thing that happens if you hit it, on top of the situation revolving unfavorably: you gain Peril equal to the Trial's difficulty. Peril serves as a kind of HP for your Beast, but it's immortal right? Well, gain 5 or more...

Each Beast has 6 skills. The sixth is labeled 0, and is called their Opera. A Beast's Opera is a powerful ability that comes with its own, terrible Portent if used. For example, the Shadow Wolf's Portent is called Moon Eater, and by eating moonlight, they can manipulate time!

But likewise, the Portent is huge... "Your time became different from others, and you were left all alone."

Operas also have a specific condition to their use, Moon Eater's being making an earnest wish under the moonlight.

A horrible fate, but a powerful effect...

Portents are really the meat of the game. I genuinely love how they're phrased past-tense. It sort of makes it feel like you're working to weave a story together rather than trying to overcome obstacles. The game even allows you to elect to gain a Twist, even if you rolled 10+.

And if that wasn't enough, literally just yesterday (Oct 30th), they released a supplement! Called "Rose Bride," the focus of the game shifts from dark fairy tale to Beauty & the Beast. Can love bloom between a creature like a Beast and the human they come across?

There's other mechanical details I'm not mentioning, but I'd be going on forever. Suffice it to say, this game looks incredible both rules-wise and art-wise! Hopefully some day it will be translated into English... but for now, I hope you enjoyed this thread!