Killing Time - Ashcan Edition

Killing Time is an existential duet TTRPG, designed as an experience for exactly two players. One will facilitate the game as Father Time, the literal personified incarnation of time's passage. The other plays as the foolish hero destined to kill him.

The game is played across four in-game seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, each with their own themes, rules, and live 40-minute timer. Gameplay can run through each season in one session, or split them into multiple sessions. Playing the entire game in a single session is about 3 to 3 1/2 hours of play, including character creation and safety tool debrief.

In Spring, the foolish hero is establishing their motivations and conversing with Time as they search the realms for a weapon powerful enough to slay the god of time. To represent this task, the foolish hero's player physically searches through a deck of tarot cards, addressing prompts along the way.

Summer brings maximalist, tactical combat, as the foolish hero faces down with Time. This is a multi-stage boss battle on a grid with simple, but tactically interesting rules. Expect to defend against Time's iconic scythe, as well as a handful of other tricks.

In Autumn, Time has been injured, and scatters the foolish hero's mind between the past and an impossible future. Mechanics here are reminiscent of a childhood game and a memory test. The foolish hero must return to the present and deal the final blow.

In Winter, Father Time has been mortally wounded, and all that remains is to wait out the end. Rules fall into abstraction and the game mostly becomes a conversation. With dozens of ending conversation keys, largely written by the incredible Kyle Tam. The foolish hero must reckon with what they've done, and Time must grapple with the end of their immortal reign.

This is the Ashcan Edition, a sort of extended beta of the game. Contains 34 pages of text. All the game is functional and playtested, but the layout, art, and possibly some mechanics, are not finalized. Purchasing this version will give you future access to the complete release.

Two Players
3 to 3.5 hours
Recommended Age 16+

Required Materials:

• A 78-card tarot deck
• A way to keep time
• A coin
• A 12x12 square grid (or larger)
• 9 miniatures or representative tokens scaled to your grid
• 7 six-sided dice
• A twelve-sided die
• 6-10 tokens, like casino chips or small stones
• Paper
• Pencils