Zero Parades: For Dead Spies

Zero Parades: For Dead Spies is a narrative game about operant Hershel Wilk, alias CASCADE, a brilliant but burnt-out agent haunted by the failure of a mission five years ago. Recalled for a mysterious assignment, Hershel may have a chance to prove himself again. You investigate secrets in the city and in your own mind, navigating a world of potential informants and adversaries.

Investigations and choices

Skill checks help you uncover the people you meet and their motivations. You can approach problems through subterfuge, violence or deduction, and choose among multiple methods as an operant. Your choices and methods shape the consequences, and failure is expected: when the dice go against you, you must improvise and live with what follows.

The city is caught in a three-way struggle for cultural and ideological power. Its inhabitants include international bankers, foreign techno-fascists, psychic doppelgängers, a paranoid TV presenter and a man with a box for a heart. Each has their own agendas, beliefs and secrets, which you can uncover and turn to your ends. The city itself also holds secrets, traumas and miracles.

Conditioning and pressures

Operants undergo years of psychological training to make their minds their greatest weapons. Through Conditioning, you shape deep aspects of Hershel’s identity into abilities, choosing, for example, animal-like reflexes, a philosophical approach or a different cover story for every occasion. Conditioning can unlock new paths and even change the rules of the game.

Pressures represent the physical and psychological toll of working in the field. Exertion can push dice rolls in your favour, but risks your life. Keep Fatigue, Anxiety and Delirium in check to avoid their long-term repercussions.