Homebrew Borderline Chaos, featuring the Chaos System

[Nth Dimension Games]

Good afternoon,

I'm new here so I'm going to introduce myself. I'm the owner of Nth Dimension Games. I'm currently nearing the pre alpha stage of my first TTRPG game, Borderline Chaos. I'm going to need to start play testing soon, so it's time to get into the community to find my audience.

If you want a little background about me, check out my profiles About Me section.

So what is Borderline Chaos and why should you care to learn yet another TTRPG system when Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons dominate? Well, let me tell you:

Borderline Chaos is a tabletop RPG about making decisions under pressure, where hesitation costs you everything.

It runs on the Chaos System, a framework built on simultaneous planning, committed actions, and rapid resolution. Every participant acts with intent at the same time, locking in their decisions before the outcome unfolds. The result is not randomness, but controlled unpredictability, where even well-made plans can collide, fail, or cascade into something unexpected.

There are no classes telling you what to be. If you can justify an approach and build for it, it’s yours. Combat, social play, and adventuring all operate as interconnected systems, giving you multiple ways to solve problems, but once you commit, the world moves with or without you.

Combat is fast, simultaneous, and unforgiving. Everyone plans at once, locks in their intent, and then watches it unfold in real time. If you misread the battlefield, hesitate, or overcomplicate your plan, you don’t just fail, you fall behind while everything keeps moving. The result is a game that feels less like taking turns and more like surviving an unfolding situation.

Outside of combat, the same philosophy applies. Skills, disciplines, and character builds don’t define your role, they expand your options. Success comes from how you apply them, not just how big your numbers are. This is a system designed to create pressure, force decisions, and turn every encounter into a story worth telling.

I look forward to sharing more with the community on how all this will be pulled off (if it even can be pulled off). The amount I share will probably be based on community involvement. I hope I can garner your attention.

In the mean time, I'll probably be pestering you in the other threads offering my unsolicited advice and takes.

 

[Nth Dimension Games]

So let's get the ball rolling. This is a summary of some of my elements contained in my Chapter 0: Overview. I've left out the meta-lore and just stuck with the "universal" system.

The Chaos System uses these core components to handle combat and adventure obstacles. Most groups will want duplicates of some items since power scales off your base dice.

• Polyhedral Dice Set (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20): Rolls resolve uncertain actions using standard notation (e.g., 1d6 or 2d6).
• Hexagonal Game Board: Each hex = 5-foot space (corner to corner). Miniatures mark positions of PCs, NPCs, walls, and obstacles. Keep the board updated for clear positioning and decision-making. Hexlines (straight lines from hex centers) determine lines of sight, movement, and area effects (cones in 60° increments).
• Character Miniatures: Visual aids for PCs and NPCs on the hex board (centered in a hex, or multiple for large creatures). Numbered to match cards. Face them toward the primary target for clarity (orientation is approximate).
• Hero & NPC Cards: Central trackers showing current targets, active effects, stance (optional), and a numbering spot to link with miniatures. Status cards sit underneath the card.
• Target Tokens: Represent limited attention in battle.
  • Primary Target Token (one only): Focus for attacks, defenses, and area abilities. You can't defend against non-targeted foes.
  • Secondary Target Tokens (gain with levels): Allow defense against additional threats.
• Stance Tokens (optional, double-sided): Aggressive (default, proactive) or Defensive (reactive). Placed on the Hero/NPC card.

Combat Cards & Deck Building (This is necessary to manage the Combat system, trust me)
Combat Cards form the heart of actions. Each includes:

• Name (customizable, e.g., "Melee Attack" -> "Cleave" or "Thrust")
• Category (determines rules, color-coding, and compatible augments, red for basic attacks, green for movement)
• Illustration (representative artwork, not literal)
• Basic Information (short reminder of what it does; full rules in the book)

Cards are color-coded by category, with lighter shades for augmentations. A Combat Deck is built from these cards to fit your character's role (keep it focused to avoid slowdowns). Add/remove cards freely as long as the character can actually perform the action. Blank cards handle custom or rare actions.

Combat Flow: The Stack

During the Planning Phase (Everyone does this at the same time. Planning Phase ends when the Moderator has finished building their NPC's Stacks whether you're ready or not.), arrange selected cards into a Combat Stack.:

• Top card = Primary Action (most committed)
• Next = Secondary Action (setup or backup)

In the Execution Phase in order of Action Speed (there's a lot of nuance here):

• Primary action resolves in Pass 1 (or hold for Pass 2).
• Secondary (and any held primary) resolve in Pass 2.

Each Combat Round simulates approximately 2 seconds of time. This creates committed, tactical decisions that I hope feels like real combat pressure while allowing strategic timing.

Character Sheets tie everything together, defining available actions, special abilities, stats, and what cards belong in your deck.

Overall, the system emphasizes clear visuals (hex board + miniatures), limited attention (targets), and pre-planned action order for dynamic yet manageable battles. Perfect (that's the hope anyway) for groups who enjoy tactical depth without excessive bookkeeping!

I could keep going and make like 50 posts on elements of the game but I'd like to go slowly and get the community's thoughts/feelings before revealing more.