ECH0
A downloadable tabletop RPG
Peace. Kids playing in mech wreckage. A ghost.
One last journey across an ancient battleground to find a pilot's final resting place.
- A GM-less storytelling and map-drawing game for 3 or more players.*
- About how we remember war, how we forget, and all that remains when the echoes fade.
- 1-3 hours to play (usually 2+ hours if more than 4 players).
- 4 pages (excluding cover and hex map).
- 3 random tables for creating an advanced or low-tech landscape littered with destroyed mechs from the last great war.
- An optional blank hex map is also available to download and print.
- You will need to bring your own pencils or crayons for drawing the map, and a 6-sided die would be useful, but not necessary.
* 1-on-1 play is also possible. See ECH0_1-on-1.txt.
This game was inspired by the wreckage of a downed Japanese Zero fighter I came across in the Sabah countryside when I was a kid. The stripped fuselage had been lying there for nearly 40 years. A lonely, fallen engine of destruction.
Once, a pilot depended upon the machine for his life. I wonder what conversation I might have had with his ghost. I wonder if the wreck is still there.
Also available in French along with The Ech0 Consultation!
Also available as a free Korean-language demo thanks to ttrprsn666! See below!
As heard on Friends at the Table: The Road to PARTIZAN!
Reviewed by Chell and Kat on the Games, Actually podcast!
Play report from the UCLA Game Lab!
We recorded a 1-on-1 Actual Play of our micro-RPG Ech0!
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Game Jam | Emotional Mecha Jam
Game Design | Kai Poh (@tunkaipoh)
Graphic Design & Layout | Elisha Rusli (@elisharusli)
Photo | Emjeii Beattie (@emjeiiamira)
Website | www.roleoverplaydead.com
Social Media | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
"Ech0 by Kai Poh stole my heart and I will always shout my love for it from the rooftops. It's gmless, pick up and play, and short though provides a really beautiful story that I'm still thinking about. It's just a great game." - Rachelle Dube
"A very whimsical RPG. If you ever need to add character, humanity or background material to a more serious Mecha RPG, this would be it. But it's also nice as a standalone." - zenai2020
"love looking back at maps made from previous sessions of this game and remembering those stories! i particularly enjoy the chance to see a world through lenses of the now (the children) and the past (the pilot)." - justinquirit
"Ce jeu est un jeu profond au sens qu'il propose de convoquer à la table d'intenses émotions." - fery31251826
"Today I picked up ECHO by @tunkaipoh. A haunting game about children who find the ghost of a mecha pilot among piles of wreckage. The presentation of this game is so lovely highly recommend!" - Hannah Shaffer
"This is a wonderful elegia; this is what happens at the end of a sci-fi movie, a calm walkabout through a long forgotten field of ruins. I loved strolling through this game and you will too." - Emojk
Purchase
In order to download this tabletop RPG you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- Korean-language Ech0, and #OurShores!Feb 07, 2021
- La traduction de Ech0!Sep 30, 2020
- 2020 bundles and other business...Jul 26, 2020
- What's The Ech0 Consultation?Aug 21, 2019
- ECH0 1-on-1May 05, 2019
- Final V2 Update, and the future...Mar 28, 2019
- Final V1 update, and Thanks!Feb 23, 2019
Comments
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Got this in the Bundle for Racial Justice & Equality ages ago and just finished my first session with a lump in my throat. An excellent little one session experience that carries a fantastic balance between light-hearted dumb kid stuff and a pilot trying to make sense of a world long past. Bought it again to support the creators!
Just played our first game of this with a couple friends last week! Leaned hard into the kid aspect of it, got completely blindsided by the intensity of feelings when that kid began to realize that oh, right, this person is kinda dead and also literally dying right now. Absolutely spent the ending of the game in tears. It was really really good.
We played this on the actual play podcast Hope's Hearth and it was so much fun! We played with Erin and Jupiter from The Hades Project.
Let it be said that we on Hope's Hearth always have a blast playing children, and ECH0 was no exception to this. Making the map, going through all of the mechs, and the bittersweet end of the game had all of us hooked into the story we were telling to the point that I cried.
10/10
Thank you for playing and for the kind comments! I'll check out that podcast...
May your 2023 be peaceful with wondrous discoveries for your child within.
ECHO is one of these games that comes up frequently - and rightfully so!
You should get it, too!
5 Stars!
What an absolutely lovely game. Read our review here: https://podofblunders.com/2021/03/19/ech0/
I played ech0 to introduce our Beamsaber group. It is SO quick and gets people warmed up so quickly, we needed a break just because everyone was teary-eyed after. I don't know another game that can do this, and at this pace.
Elisha says we've been making a lot of people cry (for the right reasons) lately! Thank you for the kind words!!! Hope the Beam Saber game goes great!
Got this in a bundle and played it online with some guys. We had a good time. The world-building was mostly smooth and the map-drawing was an interesting feature. In the end the mech-pilot diverted from the intended ending, but together we made the different ending work.
Glad to hear you made a good session out of it!
Thanks for supporting the bundle!
I'm inspired to try this solo sometime.
Weirdly, this doesn't show in any of the search results when I search for "echo", but if you found this page too, it's a really cool 3+ player storytelling game. It's quiet and sad and hopeful, dealing with war memory and youth, and it's got beautiful, easy to read layout and simple directions.
Basically, if you like the Miyazaki movies that have a little more bite to them, or the parts of Gundam that aren't about geopolitics and giant robots, or if you like stories that make children think and adults cry, this is one for you.
It's not challenge-based. You don't succeed or fail based on dice rolls, or anything like that. However, it is self-contained, and it hits hard.
You could even slot this into another mech game, as an interlude or backstory or epilogue, but you're def going to cry if you do that.
I would strongly recommend this to anyone.
It's really good.
Thank you for the kind comments! I'm wondering if putting "echo" into the tags would make it easier to search for...
In hindsight, the issue might be that it's ech0, not echo, so it doesn't search as echo. Putting 'echo' in the tags might work.
Delightful game that opens the imagination in interesting ways.
Layout design is beautiful and the cover really helped evoke the idea of finding something once lost amongst nature.
Highly recommend
great game! after finding it in the bundle i had to directly use it for an one-off session with my d&d group and we had a great evening!
thank you!
You're very welcome! If you want to explore more offbeat stuff, please check out some of my collections of favourite indie RPGs!
Games of #RPGSEA (Balikbayan and 99c Chamber of Death are in The Bundle!)
Games we have streamed
Kai's Faves from the Bundle
Hey, just wanted to say thank you so much for including this in the Racial Justice Bundle. This is not normally the sort of thing I'd check out but my wife and I had an absolutely fantastic time with it. It's hard to find good tabletop content for just two players, but this really scratched that itch.
Can't wait to check out more of your work!
Elisha and I want to say thanks to both of you for playing! If you like 2-player games you should check out the Party of One podcast by Jeff Stormer, which highlights a lot of 2-player games from diverse creators!
And some of the Games we have streamed are also meant for 2 players!
I would also suggest Monolock and Become One, which are from our #RPGSEA friends who also took part in the Emotional Mecha Jam! Not necessarily 2-player, but other takes on the same themes that inspired Ech0!
Wow, thank you for such a detailed and thoughtful reply! I'll definitely look into these recommendations too!
WOW. Just WOW.
This for me was one of the best surprises in the bundle for Racial Justice and Equality.
I just finished reading it and I want to play it NOW.
Thank you.
May you have a great experience with whoever you play with! Thank you for the kind words!
This is a wonderful elegia; this is what happens at the end of a sci-fi movie, a calm walkabout through a long forgotten field of ruins. I loved strolling through this game and you will too.
Thank you for the kind words! Can I quote you on the game page?
Sure! :)
Hey, seems neat. Check out my own Stranded, I think it could go hand in hand with it.
Can't wait to play this game!
Thank you! Can't wait for you to play either!
Gives one a wondrous, childlike feeling of exploring something beyond your understanding - with the chilling adult understanding of what a forgotten war machine represents. Also looks tight as hell.
Belated thank you! Means a lot.
The setting is remarkable and reminiscent of Iron Giant.
If I have kids would love play this with them.
Thanks, that means a lot! If you find the right kids to play with, that could be great.