Rise Up is a Journaling Game about Resistance and Togetherness
Play as a collective defending a community from the unfair treatment of faceless owners
In the dead of night, an unexpected email lands in the inboxes of more than five hundred families. It announces the closure of a company that had long been the lifeblood of their community. And yet, work was steady, the numbers were strong, the quality of production unmatched. However, results don’t matter when factories are merely assets to be sold off and people are reduced to mere cells in a spreadsheet. It could be the end, another bitter chapter in a story lived by millions worldwide.
And yet, this time, something is different. A Collective emerges, and it chooses the path of struggle and occupation.
Rise Up! is a journaling tabletop roleplaying game that invites you to tell the story of a year of struggle and hope for this community of workers. It’s not only about defending their dignity, but also about imagining a new industrial, democratic, and social plan, built collectively, from the ground up.
You take on the role of the Collective, telling the story through nine of its members as they face crises and setbacks, constantly walking a fine line between staying true to their ideals and negotiating with those in power.
The mechanics are designed to help you tell a story of real struggle, where every victory requires Herculean effort and everything seems stacked against you.
The Collective must balance Consensus and Influence, public support and political leverage, while keeping Pressure in check, ensuring internal tensions don’t spiral into disasters that could derail their cause.
The heart of the game is a journaling process where players record the “Minutes” of their collective’s assemblies, turning dice rolls into a personal, organic story.
Rise Up! is inspired by the real-world resistance of the GKN Factory Collective, which started a permanent picket in 2021 in response to the announcement of the plant’s closure. Despite unpaid wages and the difficulties of a truly grassroots struggle, the Collective is holding firm, proposing projects for sustainable re-industrialization with a socially integrated factory. The mobilization, which has spread powerfully beyond the factory walls and become a movement joined by the local population, has led to a unique popular share ownership project.
Rise Up! is a digital book that contains everything you need to play, available for purchase on itch.io.
About Oddplan!
Oddplan is an independent label founded by industry veterans, dedicated to developing and publishing digital roleplaying games. Its mission is to make games more accessible through affordable prices and practical formats. Every month, Oddplan provides free material to its subscribers (complete games, system-agnostic modules, one-page games, adventures, and more), ready to be played right away, with everything essential to sit down at the table.
