Synanthropes Lite

Humanity has abandoned the Earth. They left ages ago, although where they went, why they went, and if they physically abandoned the planet or just died out one day... that's not clear. What is clear is what they left behind: their trash. 

The world was inherited by vermin: rats, roaches, crows, cane toads, raccoons and geckos. They evolved to live in human homes and feed off humanity's leavings. They flourished, becoming intelligent species in their own right, curious about the world they grew up in.

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Synanthropes Lite is a very light story game set in a post-human world. Players will each portray a different species of Synanthrope—creatures that evolved to live on humanity's periphery. Together, they will discover a piece of trash that the humans left behind, an Artifact, and wonder just what it really is.

Synanthropes Lite can be played in fifteen minutes. It's meant for three to six players, and has no GM or advanced preparation. The only items you'll need are the cards and a Human Artifact, which can be anything at all, from a key ring you pull out of your pocket, to an empty coffee cup you fish out of the trash. You'll each get a card the gives you background information about a different species of Synanthrope, which will be the lens through which you discuss the Artifact. It's an exercise in applied anthropology, as you experience a familiar object through inhuman eyes (or ears, hands, feelers, whatever the case may be).

This download includes both a PDF of the illustrated game cards, as well as visually stripped-down edition meant to be printed on business card paper (e.g.: Avery 8820). 

(Note that Synanthropes Lite, as the name might imply, is intended to be a demo of sorts for a larger and more ambitious game called Synanthropes. While this is still nominally "in development," it's also well on the back burner with no particular plans to complete at this time. Fortunately, Lite stands well on its own.)