Surreal survival fiction, decided by dice and table banter.
Sine is a tabletop actual-play campaign in which a Handler narrates and four players steer their characters through surreal, dice-decided fights. Strength rolls and luck rolls are called out loud, and the players joke freely between battles that do not always end with everyone alive.
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Sine is a tabletop actual-play campaign, with Julian Frid as the Handler and Kristi Boulton, Jonathan Sconza, Stefan Till and Louisa Zhu playing the characters. Its world is a southern Ontario turned dystopian, and it is not a safe place. Much of the tension lives in combat. The mechanics stay audible throughout: the Handler calls initiative, names a strength roll for a charging tackle, and asks a player whether to answer defensively or offensively. In one fight, a version of Swift grabs a character by the leg and drags them toward the shadows. Electrocuted and acting at disadvantage, that character still lands a shot on a 13. Luck rolls settle Sarah's biggest, most consequential actions, and inspiration lets the roll happen again with either result kept. When the Handler loses track of how much inspiration Sarah has, the Handler admits it and settles on two. Good storytelling earns something too. After a player describes Fenril snapping back into the world, seeing Sarah fall, and carrying her into the shadows to heal her, the Handler offers a stamina point or inspiration for the moment. The player's reasoning is plain: the priority has always been Sarah. The images get strange. Shepherd grows taller and stretches out, more cartoonish and almost rectangular, more monstrous by the moment. Elsewhere, a character writes something small in her own script, and the pen rips a seam through inky blackness, opening onto a forest floor at nightfall and Sarah in worn, torn gear, a helm of six dots on her face with silver tendrils snaking into the dark. The Handler builds these pictures in real time, reaching for the right phrase and correcting course, at one point pausing to ask exactly where a gunshot is aimed. Conflicts turn personal. When a character tells Breaker that the man he once knew protected people and cared, the word 'cared' sets him off, and he lunges. Losses stick, too; the players count Trinity and Miles among the dead and speak of a season that has not passed without heartbreak. Then there is the other register, the one between rolls. Louisa's sandwich nickname mutates into 'Sandwicha', and a round of name puns ends up at Bill Nye. Episode titles keep to single, compact images: 'Petrichor', 'Kaiju', 'Paper cuts', 'Old book', 'Black cat', 'Armata'. Episodes carry the Fable & Folly Network tag alongside promos for other fiction podcasts.
Made for: Suits a listener who likes actual play with the rules left audible, from strength and luck rolls to inspiration earned by good description. It also suits someone who can take grim, strange fights and character deaths broken up by loose table jokes.
What sets it apart: Sine keeps both the mechanics and the imagination on the recording: a Handler rewards vivid narration with inspiration or stamina and builds surreal pictures on the fly, from a monster stretching toward the rectangular to a pen that cuts a seam through the dark. Not every character survives the campaign.
Follow a squad of survivors of a dystopian yet colourful version of southern Ontario where they must face a myriad of dangers while protecting a very special young woman. Featuring Julian Frid as the Handler, and Kristi Boulton, Jonathan Sconza, Stefan Till and Louisa Zhu as the Players. The fate of their characters is up to their decisions and the dice... Learn more at sine-rpg.com
Sarah gets whisked into shadow for safekeeping; your blood pressure did not get the memo.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A frozen Beetle mystery turns into a Shadowrun standoff, then a prickly Stuffer Shack night shift.
The episode starts on Beavermount Lake, where a frozen ritual has gone wrong: a scrap VW Beetle has sunk after a rainstorm, an adult-sized mitten is left floating, and Greg Sullivan is found dead when the car is pulled back out.
Fenril's rescue of Sarah gives the battle its strongest emotional center.
Fenril gives the fight its cleanest emotional turn by stepping out of the shadows, lifting Sarah, and carrying her away from danger. It is a simple rescue, but the episode lets it land because Sarah's safety has been Fenril's priority all along.
A brutal rescue attempt turns tabletop mechanics into a tense fight for survival.
The episode moves straight into the season's most dangerous territory, as the attempt to save Sarah Dorn runs into power, heartbreak, and a terrible encounter with a version of Swift.
A luck roll opens onto a monstrous Shepherd, Esper's helm, and Jonas's shadow turning to face the threat.
A quasi-seer confrontation turns a luck-driven beat into a strange kaiju clash. Shepherd stretches into a monstrous, almost rectangular shape while Sarah watches, Esper's helm glinting near Shepherd's sternum like someone may be wearing it inside the larger body.
Sarah's casual tear in the dark reveals her changed form and leaves Rescue facing what the future has already decided.
A black seam in the dark becomes the episode's clearest image: Sarah writes in a small script, and a narrow space opens onto the forest floor. Her clothes and gear look worn down by use, and the helm marked with six dots sends silver tendrils into the black around her.
Dice, divine mysteries, and the trouble with good intentions.
Sarah Dorn fires her father's gun at Shepherd, and the silver shot tears through reality before snapping back toward her through the same metal.
Sine's episode "Kaiju" opens with Deep Space Radio aboard the STS-45 Cloud Breather, where Colin Gossel frames a colony ship, a weekday broadcast, and a warning about sentient programs and a metal pyramid conduit.
Sine's "Paper cuts" drops Rescue and Alexi into a black-book battle space built around Shepard, Swift, and Hope.
Sine's Old book drops Rescue, Fenril, Alexi, and Sarah into a black-book trap after Shepherd says, "I've reserved a page" and grows into a towering silver-and-charcoal shape.
["A black cat made of Shepherd's voice enters Sarah Dorn's shadow space as Fenril, Rescue, and Alexi try to reach her.", "John, Christy, Louise, and Stefan drive the table play, with John shaping Shepherd, Christy moving Fenril, Louise pressing Rescue, and Stefan credited for the roll that let Sarah enter the space.", "Esper's pen writes 'calm breathe ground and center' and 'open,' then the scene turns on Sarah's argument about control, revenge on Jonas's killer, and Rescue's 'bridge of hope.'", "The confrontation escalates when Rescue fires at the cat form, the shadows break, and Sarah answers by drawing a revolver at Fenril."]
In Sine’s “Cabin in the woods,” Alexi, Rescue, and Fenreel enter a forest where a wooden cabin appears beside impossible water and rain.
A flaming metal titan crashes into the group’s SUV as Rescue decides to enter the woods for Sarah.
Sine’s “Second chance” resumes Alexi and Fenrill’s campaign after they leave the Cornerstone inn to pursue Sarah.
A group of survivors in a dystopian southern Ontario protect a special young woman, with their fates decided by dice rolls and player choices.
A group of survivors in a dystopian southern Ontario protect a special young woman, with their fates decided by dice rolls and player choices.
A group of survivors in a dystopian southern Ontario protect a special young woman, with their fates decided by dice rolls and player choices.
A group of survivors in a dystopian southern Ontario protect a special young woman, with their fates decided by dice and decisions.