Sisterhood is an indie RPG about hardboiled nuns fighting the forces of hell, with nothing to support them but their faith, their sisters, and… well, quite a lot of paramilitary hardware, honestly. For anyone who thought that the Sisters of Battle in Warhammer 40k were just a bit too chill, this is the RPG for you.
To be clear, Sisterhood isn’t a direct homage to Warhammer 40k, but we do think that anyone who’s deep into Sisters of Battle lore should check this out. As will anyone who thought the Exorcist needed more fight scenes, or who is sick and tired of “indie RPG” being synonymous with “chill collaborative world journaling game”. Sisterhood is a game of anti-satanic ultraviolence that would make the Doom Slayer proud.
The game is crowdfunding on Backerkit, and has already passed its funding goal. Pledges start at £12 for a digital core rulebook, or £20 plus shipping to get a hardback copy, and two adventure modules are also available. Importantly, there’s a free quickstart ruleset to check the game out. The Backerkit is live until 2pm PST / 4pm ET / 9pm BST on April 3.
The premise is pretty simple: after the four horsemen of the apocalypse failed to end the world during World War Two, a new, fifth horseman is out to settle things for good. Hell rides with him.
Even worse, fundamentalist angels from heaven think the earth needs a clean slate, and they’re ready to cleanse the world with fire. Humanity’s only hope is “the most troublesome, brave, and downright menacing [nuns] that the convents have to offer”.
The dice system is simple, with players having different sized dice in each of their stats, which they will roll off against the dungeon master when they attempt risky actions. What is unusual is the “Cross and Pentagram” combat system. All battles take place on an abstract diagram of a cross and a pentagram, which is split into different sections that the nuns and their enemies move between.
The spaces on the diagram are used for measuring weapon ranges, like any combat grid. But each space also represents a stance or kind of position a character might occupy in the battle, such as being in a Vantage point that grants them bonuses to attack from, or Hidden from enemy attacks.
Which side of the diagram you’re on matters as well. When a nun is standing in the pentagram, or a devil is in the cross, they’re Cursed, and roll a worse type of die to make tests. But to bring enemies to heel, and particularly to stop the forces of hell from performing a Ritual in the central space of the pentagram, the nuns have to get their habits dirty and cross over to the pentagram side.
Playing this game with a printed cross and pentagram diagram is going to look like a cross between Warhammer and a Ouija board. While we haven’t tested it as a game system, we respect it as an artistic decision: tabletop games are a kind of ritual, and the cross and pentagram makes that explicit, while connecting with the themes of the game.
If the Sisters of Battle are your favorite Warhammer 40k faction and playing as real world nuns won’t scratch your itch, we can suggest a couple of games: Wrath and Glory has SoBS as a core character type, while Dark Heresy added extensive rules for the nuns with guns in the Blood of the Martyrs sourcebook. You can learn more about them in our guide to Warhammer 40k RPGs.
Source: Wargamer
