The table is open

Let it be known in every parish and at every crossroads shrine: the table is laid, the candles are lit, and there are empty chairs.

An open alpha

The Sacrament RPG Table is now in alpha, and we are taking on playtesters. You can run a whole session on it today: a GM sets the scene, players join with a link, and the dice, turns, Hearts and the Looming Horror all work. But it is early. The rules are still being tested, things will change from week to week, and something may break in the middle of a fight. That is what playtesting is for.

Why build another table

I have spent thousands of hours on other virtual tabletops. Every one of them has its strengths and its weaknesses, but as a GM I kept coming back to the same thing: too many tabs open, too many screens, too many ways to find the one thing I need. It is tiring, and it shows at the table. There is nothing worse than a player who starts checking the football scores because the GM is saying wait a minute, wait a minute while they hunt for a monster's stats.

Around a real table that pause is not so bad. Online it is different, and attention drifts faster. So the aim of this table comes down to one word: friction. The less of it, the better.

• For the GM: one screen. Maps, tokens, cards, dice, turns, Hearts, loot and the Looming Horror are meant to sit at your fingertips, so you can run the whole night without leaving the table or remembering where things are hidden.
• For players: any screen. A player on the move can play from a phone, and comfortably from an iPad. Everything is built for touch: you drag your token and your cards with a finger. A big screen is still the best seat, but nobody has to miss the session.

I am always looking for ways to make it smoother, and that is where you come in.

A debt acknowledged

Sacrament is built on the spine of another game: the Index Card RPG, by Hankerin Ferinale of Runehammer Games. Its way of rolling against a single Target, of counting Effort, of keeping play quick and the GM's hands free, is the frame this game stands in. Within that frame we have hung our own things: the Looming Horror that magic tempts, the dark and the Church above it, and a table made to carry it all. We owe him a debt, and we are glad to say so. A candle is lit in his name.

How to join

Open the table, make a table, and send the invitation link to your players. Nothing to install, no account to make.

How to send word

Use the feedback form to report a bug, share an idea or tell us what you like. No account or email address is needed.

The most useful reports say:

• what you were doing, and on what (phone, tablet or computer, and which browser),
• what you expected to happen, and what happened instead,
• and, for GMs, any moment you had to leave the table or go looking for something.

The chairs are empty. Come and sit.