The most important questions about O.D.I.N. in brief.
O.D.I.N. (Occult Dynamics Intelligence Network) is a tabletop roleplaying game by David Ger. The players are agents of an organisation without a name that has kept the rifts closed since 1977, the rifts through which something comes into our world. The game combines modern investigation, occult horror and espionage.
Nothing. All books, the character generator and the Foundry VTT system are free, with no sign-up. The PDFs are on the Books page, and also on DriveThruRPG and itch.io.
Yes. The game was written in German, and the English editions are on the Books page. New titles appear in German first.
You roll six-sided dice in two colours. White dice come from the attribute and succeed on 5 or 6, coloured dice come from the skill and succeed on 4 or higher. Training is therefore more reliable than raw talent. Whoever rolls risks not only wounds but also strain and trauma. At the table you need eight white and eight coloured d6.
A cell has three to six agents, plus a Game Master. With the solo book “Lone Operative” you can also play alone.
There are six classes, called branches in O.D.I.N., each with five subclasses. On top of wounds, strain and trauma, every class pays its own price for its abilities:
| Class | What it is about | Price of the class |
|---|---|---|
| Psion | The Choir. Psi powers, shielded by a helmet of Alloy S. | Resonance |
| Thaumaturge | The Collegium. Crystals, spells and rituals. | Whisper |
| Soldier | The Hammer of O.D.I.N. Combat, ash silver and the arsenal. | Echo |
| Agent | Legends and cover identities, infiltration and deception. | Fade |
| Scientist | The Institute in the tunnels near Bern. Prototypes and technology. | Contamination |
| Investigator | The trace readers. The Wall, open files and threads. | Suspicion |
With the Quickstart: the world, short rules, four ready-made agents and the mission “The House by the Reservoir” for one evening. It needs no other book. After that, chapters I to III of the Core Rulebook are enough to get started. Game Masters continue with the Game Master’s Book and the campaign “The Door”.
Yes. The solo book “Lone Operative: Alone in the Field” is written for one player without a Game Master. It requires the Core Rulebook.
Yes. There is a full game system for Foundry VTT (version 14 and later) with sheets, dice, class trees, compendiums and all adventures. Install it with the manifest URL on the Virtual Tabletops page. A Roll20 character sheet is finished and will be tested in the Roll20 sandbox before release.
Yes. The character generator runs in the browser, on phones too. It walks you through character creation question by question and gives you a finished character sheet as a PDF. After every mission you enter your XP there and advance your agent.
The mission “The House by the Reservoir” in the Quickstart, the campaign “The Door” with handouts, the campaign “Nordlicht 1977” and the Grey Files with eight missions. There are also the Random Files with tables for the Game Master and Holds of the World with nine bases as locations.
For groups who enjoy investigations with handouts and case files, as in horror RPGs like Call of Cthulhu, and who want characters who know what their abilities cost them and keep going anyway.
Yes. Rules, world and text are by David Ger; the illustrations are AI-generated.
Yes. The books may be used privately, printed and passed on, as long as they stay unchanged and are not sold.