the last of us

a ttrpg by Liv Merryman

1
Acknowledgments

Special thanks to René-Pier, the original designer of Breathless, for reaching out over Twitter about
the #BreathlessJam. This has been an exciting experience, and I’m so happy to share one of my
favorite franchises with the TTRPG community via such a fantastic base as Breathless. Shoutout to
Self-Promo Saturday on TTRPG Twitter!

Special thanks also to the Fari RPGs Discord, who let me bounce ideas around about how to tweak
the source game best for this setting, read my drafts, and gave me motivation to keep writing
around my full-time job. Y’all are rockstars.

Finally, special thanks to the cast and crew of ICTV’s Game Over, who piqued my interest in
playing the original game in the first place; and my friend Leah, whose Monster of the Week
character made me actually put the game in my PS4. It is now near and dear to my heart, so thank
you for imparting it to me, if indirectly.

—
This work is based on Breathless, a product of Fari RPGs (https://farirpgs.com/), developed and
authored by René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

This work is a fan work based on The Last of Us, to which we do not own the rights. While this
game does not directly take any characters or story beats from that game and is thus
transformative, the inspiration for this game belongs to Naughty Dog.

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Table of Contents
Before We Start 4

The Setting 5

Building Your Own Context -

Playing the Game 6

Making Checks -

Catch Your Breath -

Scavenging 7

Crafting -

Stress 9

Press Your Luck -

Combat -

Building Survivors 10

Skills -

Survivor Build Tables -

CHARACTER SHEET 12

Threats 13

The Infected -

The Hunters -

Infected Stats 14

Session Plotting Tips 16

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Before We Start
Content Warning: Death, Blood, Zombies, Apocalypse, Illness, Fungus, Guns.

Survival horror is a dark genre. A lot of crap happens, and as cool as twists are, we need to be
prepared for it. Attached is a TTRPG consent form. I highly recommend that Masterminds
distribute this to your players and have an open conversation about boundaries that should not
be crossed in your game. If at any point anyone is uncomfortable with the course of the story,
pause and rewind. The safety and fun of all involved are key.

Key: ⬥ = okay, go for it ⬥ = okay if you ask/warn me first ⬥ = hard line, never okay

Mental Health / Abuse Violence ⬦ Romance

⬦ Anxiety ⬦ Blood ________________________________
⬦ Depression ⬦ Gore ________________________________
⬦ Torture ________________________________
⬦ Suicide
⬦ Genocide
⬦ Eating Disorders
⬦ Death ⬦ Sex
⬦ Self-Harm ________________________________
⬦ Animal Death
⬦ Abuse ________________________________
⬦ Child Death
⬦ Domestic Abuse ________________________________
⬦ Parent Death
⬦ Child Abuse
⬦ Sibling Death
⬦ Sexual Abuse
⬦ Murder Social/Cultural Issues
⬦ Gaslighting
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ Racism
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ Homophobia
⬦ ____________________________
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ Transphobia
⬦ ____________________________
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ Hate Crimes
⬦ Religion / Religious Trauma
Phobias ⬦ Sexism
Other Triggering Topics ⬦ Bugs ⬦ Specific Cultural Issues
⬦ Rats ________________________________
⬦ Alcohol
________________________________
⬦ Drugs ⬦ Demons
________________________________
⬦ Guns ⬦ Spiders
⬦ Natural Disasters ⬦ Enclosed Spaces
⬦ Terrorism ⬦ Drowning Add your own!
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ Paralysis ⬦ ____________________________
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ ____________________________
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ ____________________________
⬦ ____________________________ ⬦ ____________________________
⬦ ____________________________

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The Setting
In 2013, the end of the world happened. A virus appeared in Texas, seemingly without cause or
cure, and started filling up hospitals. Patients became aggressive and tended to attack people,
their bodies degrading over time, and eventually sprouting spores. Eventually, it was determined
that this was a fungal infection. Scientists know it as Cordyceps, but most people just call those
who have it Infected. It’s highly contagious, and ends most lives within two days. Well… if you can
call death of the human consciousness “the end.”

The government has slowly been crumbling ever since the initial infection event but has ushered
everyone into quarantine zones to protect those still healthy. This is the world in which Survivors
operate. The best you can do is stay in your quarantine zone, follow the rules, and stay alive… until
your quarantine zone collapses, or you choose to leave.

Building Your Own Context

While the above is the fundamental premise for The Last of Us, beyond that, the specifics are up
to the Mastermind. The events of the original video game, where Joel and Ellie make the trek
across the country, take place 20 years after the original infection event in Texas. You can choose
to set your story at any point before, during, or after Joel and Ellie’s adventure. Here are some
things to keep in mind:
- The original game takes place in the United States, but yours absolutely doesn’t have to.
Texas can become anywhere near a border in the country you choose to set it in, and the
groups at play and quarantined cities can exist anywhere.

- Decide how decayed your government is at the time your game is set. If it’s only 5 years
after the initial infection event, there may still be some operations of government. The
further out you get from the initial event, the more reliant authority structures will be on
soldiers and martial law structures.

- Decide what groups are actively working in the time you choose. Have the Fireflies
(revolutionaries fighting for democracy and looking for a cure) developed, and how
prevalent are they? Are there other groups you want to create as part of your story?

- Are you going to focus on one or two major locations or travel across the country? See my
Session Plotting Tips at the end of this booklet for how you might go about
traveling if you’re stuck on where to go next.

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Playing the Game
First, let’s define some terms by which you’ll enjoy The Last of Us.

The person running your game is known as the Mastermind. They are responsible for running
the game, presenting threats, deciding when checks need to be made for certain actions, and
determining the overall course of the story. Be a fan of your players, and be sure to ask them
questions to guide them through your story, and fill the world with their answers.

The players are known as Survivors. They must work together to tackle threats the Mastermind
throws at the party, make checks for risky or difficult tasks, and fill the world with their ideas.
Narrate what your characters do, and do your best to work together and give everyone their time
to shine. Nobody survives an apocalypse alone.

Making Checks
When there’s a challenge that needs to be overcome, you make a check to see what happens by
rolling dice that correspond with the relevant skill, or stat. The Mastermind will inform you of the
risk of your action, and you decide together what skill is best for the check.

If someone helps you, they make a check with the same skill but share the same risk. Take the
highest die between you and interpret the results.

- On a 1-2, you fail, and something wrong happens.

- On a 3-4, you succeed, but at a cost.
- On a 5+, you succeed. The higher the result, the better the effect.

Surviving isn’t easy, though. Everyone who fails a check reduces the rating of the skill they rolled
by one level: d12 -> d10 -> d8 -> d6 -> d4. Skills cannot go lower than a d4.

Catch Your Breath

To reset all of your skills to their original dice ratings, you can tell your Mastermind you intend to
catch your breath. This is a break in tension where you can let down your guard. You can catch
your breath any time you are not in a combat scenario (which is when you are actively fighting,
sneaking, or have been spotted by an enemy).

When a Survivor catches their breath, the Mastermind looks at the scene and introduces a new
complication for the group.

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Scavenging
When you’re not in a combat scenario, you can scavenge for materials in your environment to find
crafting materials, healing items, and ammunition. For best results with your Mastermind, declare
specifically what you are looking for.

To do a scavenging check, roll a d20.

- On a 1, something bad happens.

- On a 13-15, you find small amounts of cloth, alcohol, adhesive, blades, shroud, or
explosives, but not a full amount of any item.
- Small amounts from different scavenging checks can be combined to a full amount.
- On a 16-18, you find a full amount of cloth, alcohol, adhesive, blade, shroud, or explosive.
- On a 19-20, you find a complete crafted item, or a professional medkit (which has one use,
but will lower 1 Survivor’s Stress to 0).

Your Mastermind may choose to lower these margins based on your environment, but materials
are scarce and Survivors won’t find things in most places they look. Make every shot count, and
don’t use materials until you absolutely know what their best uses are.

Crafting
Once you have some scavenging materials, you can craft useful materials you’ll need to survive.
You can carry up to three crafted items at once, in your backpack. In appropriate situations, they
can be used in place of your skills in order to make checks. They each get a die rating, which
reduces just like skill checks, but after each use instead of each failure. Once they reach the d4
tier, the item breaks, is lost, or otherwise disappears from the story.

Below are some craftables, as well as their uses. You’ll be able to keep track of the amounts of
each scavenging material you have on your character sheet.

DIY Medkit
Materials: 1 Alcohol, 1 Cloth
This removes 2 Stress from 1 Survivor’s Stress meter. Starting rating of d10.

Upgraded Weapon
Materials: 1 Adhesive, 1 Blade, 1 Melee Weapon
Melee weapons can be planks, baseball bats, etc. that you find. Starting rating of d8.
Shiv

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Materials: 1 Adhesive, 1 Blade
This can be used to kill an Infected or another enemy without being noticed. Can also be used to
pick locks. Starting rating of d8.

Explosives are in their own category, as they are effective but can only be used once. The rating of
these items decreases immediately to a d4 once used, destroying them.

Nail Bomb
Materials: 1 Blade, 1 Explosive
A can of blades that can do serious damage to a group of enemies. Rating of d10.

Smoke Bomb
Materials: 1 Shroud, 1 Explosive
A Shroud can be sugar, flour, or anything that creates a mist upon explosion. Can be used to aid in
stealth, or to disorient enemies. Rating of d8.

Molotov Cocktail
Materials: 1 Alcohol, 1 Cloth
Requires fire to light. Can do damage to a group of enemies, and creates an area of fire in the
environment. Rating of d10.

Aside from these items, you may figure out other things you can craft with the stuff you find
scavenging. For example, you could use 1 Adhesive with some planks you find to build a ladder or
bridge, or 1 Adhesive and 1 Explosive to make a trap grenade. Decide between Survivor and
Mastermind what the rating of the item is, as well as its function. Improvisation is encouraged!

Stress
When you face a consequence as a result of one of your actions, or are attacked by an enemy, the
GM can decide that you take 1 Stress. If your character reaches 4 Stress, they become
“vulnerable”. When vulnerable, failing a skill check could mean being taken out or sudden death.
You can use a medkit to reduce your Stress: a professional one will reduce Stress to 0, while a DIY
one will reduce it by 2. You can also lay low for a while in a safe place to reduce your Stress by 1.

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Press Your Luck
When you want to do something particularly risky, cool, or that requires an extra bit of luck, roll a
d12 to make your skill check. The same pass and fail rules apply. Once this ability has been used
once, you’ll need to catch your breath to use it again.

Combat
Because of the nature of Stress in Breathless, combat is quite nebulous when it comes to taking
and dealing damage. Generally speaking, Survivors will roll a HIT check to deal damage unarmed
(such as punches or grappling), or roll the die rank of whatever gear they plan to use, whether that
be their gear weapon or any crafted combat materials.

Threats have a number of successes that must be achieved before they can be killed in open
combat. The Mastermind can determine how many this is, but there are suggested numbers in the
Threats section if you get stuck. Particularly good HIT checks may count as headshots, or do
more damage than other successes. In this event, the Mastermind can cross off more than one
success scored on the creature.

If they are dealing damage while in stealth, Survivors may choose to roll a SNEAK check instead of
a HIT check to incapacitate an enemy and remain in stealth. Not all enemies can be incapacitated
via stealth: some will require the use of a Shiv, like Clickers, or are too big or strong to be
approached in stealth, like Bloaters. Use your best judgement when approaching a new combat
situation. If a Survivor makes a strong enough check on a Threat that can be incapacitated, they
will circumvent the usual number of successes taken to subdue that Threat.

Note that catching your breath and scavenging are both not available during active combat,
unless you manage to put enough distance between you and the threat that they do not have your
scent (thus taking you out of active combat).

9
Building Survivors

Skills
First, it’s important to know what your skills actually are when building your Survivor. In this game,
players have 6 skills:
- Buff - physical strength
- Quick - dexterity in athletics
- Sneak - staying hidden
- Hit - attacking unarmed, or without other gear
- Shrewd - analyzing a situation, tracking enemies
- Wink - convincing people, lying

Each skill has a d4 rating by default. Pick three of these stats that you think your character is good
at, and assign each with one of a d10, a d8, and a d6.

You also get one d10 rating item in your backpack at the start. Decide what that is between the
Survivor and the Mastermind.

Survivor Build Tables

Instead of classes or archetypes, every Survivor gets two Strengths and two Quirks in order to
make each Survivor’s style of play unique. These are like character advantages and disadvantages.

STRENGTHS: Pick two.

Sturdy It’s harder for you to gain Stress from combat.

Fixer Get +1 to WINK rolls for your wily ways.

Nimble Always roll a d8 for ducking into cover when you’re about to be spotted.

Level-Headed Once per session, you can catch your breath during active combat.

Sly Get +1 to incapacitate enemies in stealth.

Mentor Whenever you help someone make a check, you both gain +1 to that check.

Scrapper Once per session, you can declare success on scavenging without rolling.

Intuitive You always know when someone’s lying, even if they’re a stranger.

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QUIRKS: Pick two.

Mouth Breather -1 to SNEAK rolls when your breathing is impaired (by a gas mask, a small
space, high Stress, etc.).

Can’t Swim What it says on the label. For whatever reason, you were never taught how
to swim. You’ll need someone or something to help you float across water.

Inexperienced Take a -1 to SHREWD checks about your surrounding environment.

Trusting People rolling a WINK check on you gain +1.

Flimsy It’s much easier for you to gain Stress from combat.

Deep Sleeper When catching your breath, Threats get +1 to HIT or SNEAK on you.

Picky There is one item that you or a companion absolutely needs to survive.
Unfortunately, that item is super rare. Good luck.

Squeamish Take 1 Stress automatically when in gross surroundings.

Each Survivor also gets a weapon to start with. It sstarts with a d10 rating and decays like skill
checks. Can be refreshed via catching your breath.

GEAR: Pick one.

Knife Simple and quiet, but you’ll have to get in close. Can act in place of a Shiv.

Revolver Can hold more shots than a pistol, but it can be inconveniently slow.

Shotgun Great for blasting enemies up close, but loud as all get-out.

Pistol The standard 9mm. Best for short-range fire.

Hunting Rifle Powerful, and great at long-range, but slow.

Longbow Silent, but not as deadly as some of the other gear.

Feel free to come up with your own, similar-caliber ideas for gear if none of these strike your fancy.

On the next page is a blank character sheet, which every Survivor can fill out and use during play.

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CHARACTER SHEET
Name:
Pronouns:

STRESS: ◯◯◯◯

Strengths Quirks
1. 1.

2. 2.

Gear: Initial Rank: [d ] Current Rank: [d ]

SKILLS BACKPACK
Initial Current Initial Current
Rank Rank Rank Rank

BUFF [d ] [d ] 1. [d ] [d ]

QUICK [d ] [d ] 2. [d ] [d ]

SNEAK [d ] [d ] 3. [d ] [d ]

[d ] [d ]
MEDKIT: ◯
HIT

SHREWD [d ] [d ]

WINK [d ] [d ] PRESS YOUR LUCK: ◯

CRAFTING MATERIALS
Fill these circles as you attain materials from scavenging.
You can carry up to three full amounts of each material.

BLADE: ◯◯◯ CLOTH: ◯◯◯

ALCOHOL: ◯◯◯ ADHESIVE: ◯◯◯

SHROUD: ◯◯◯ EXPLOSIVE: ◯◯◯

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Threats
There are lots of threats in the world, even aside from the Infected. Here’s some guidance on how
to build monsters for combat, and how to equip them with unique abilities to keep things fresh.
Note that Threats must roll HIT to deal damage, just like Survivors do.

The Infected
The biggest threat to survival since the inital infection event, The Infected go by many names that
denote the different stages of the infection. It’s up to the Mastermind, based on how far from the
initial event the campaign is, how much of this information is public.

- The virus has to do with a fungus known as cordyceps that attacks the brain. Before this
mutation, it was mainly found on plants.
- Those who are impacted are called Infected. The army and other survivors have coined
several names for the creatures to come out of the stages of the infection: Runners,
Stalkers, Clickers, and Bloaters are the ones you'll hear most commonly. The body decays
through those stages in that order.
- Runners are the first stage, within the first two days of being infected.
- Stalkers come after the fungus begins to take over the body, anywhere between 2
weeks and 1 year after initial infection.
- Clickers are the first extreme difference in physicality, as the fungus busts through
the skull and covers the victim’s face. This only occurs after over a year of
exposure.
- Finally, Bloaters have their size and shape impacted by large fungal plates, which
act almost like armor. This can only occur after multiple years of exposure to the
cordyceps fungus.
- The first symptoms are scarring, decay, vision loss, and aggression.
- The fungus can be transmitted through mixing body fluids with someone who's been
infected (through bites, most commonly, but other things are also an option), or by
inhaling spores expelled from infected bodies.

The Hunters
Other humans, often referred to as Hunters, are just as much of a danger as Infected. Hunters are
just looking to survive and will do anything to do so, often at the expense of others, who they refer
to as ‘tourists’. They’re often sadistic folk, and occasionally cannibals, but they’re always just
survivors with a lot less empathy.

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Infected Stats

The beginning of the Cordyceps infection causes the effect of a

standard shambling zombie. They have not been infected for
long, and are the weakest type. They still have full use of their
eyes.

Scream
At-will or upon death, the screams of Runners can (and will)
Runner attract the attention of other Infected.

Herd Mentality
Runners attack most often (and best) in large groups. If multiple
Runners congregate around a single target, likelihood to gain
Stress is higher.

Infect
Runners have the ability to infect Survivors.

Number of successes to kill: 3-4

Constituting the next stage of the infection, Stalkers have the

eyesight of Runners with the strength of Clickers. They like to
hide and ambush their prey.

Ambush
Stalker Stalkers can hide better than other types of enemies. If the
Stalker attacks before it is noticed, it gains +1 in its SNEAK roll
against its target.

Infect
Stalkers have the ability to infect Survivors.

Number of successes to kill: 6-8

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 The most feared of all the stages of Cordyceps, Clickers are
blind but have insanely good hearing due to their croaking
echolocation, which they use to alert each other and to track
prey. They are also much tougher to kill than their predecessors
and hit a lot harder.

Preternatural Hearing
Clicker Clickers are blind, but they make up for it with an incredible
ability to hear their targets. Gunshots, or anyone not in stealth,
will draw their attention.

Shiv Needed
While Clickers can be incapacitated through stealth, they
cannot be strangled or attacked unarmed, and thus require a
Shiv or knife.

Number of successes to kill: 8-10

The final standard stage of the Cordyceps infection, Bloaters

have been overcome with fungus to the point where their bodies
bloat and the fungus forms armored plates. These monsters are
incredibly tough to kill and deal the strongest hits.

Bloater Spore Bomb

At varying intervals, Bloaters will toss non-infectious spores
onto the battlefield. Potential to deal Stress, but gives -1 to any
affected Survivor’s next attack roll.

Can’t Sneak Up On Me
Bloaters are too big and too covered in fungus to be
incapacitated via stealth or unarmed attacks.

Fungal Armor
The Bloater’s exposure to the fungus has made him particularly
tough. Booming successes to damage them occur at a higher
margin than normal.

Number of successes to kill: 12-16

15
Session Plotting Tips
Depending on how you, as the Mastermind, answered your Setting questions, those answers will
impact how you move session to session. Generally speaking, I recommend an encounter, a plot
hook, and a character-specific beat per Survivor to be planned in advance of every session you
play. Use the Threats section to help you determine encounters, and talk with your Survivors to
figure out where they’re headed next in their character arcs. In terms of plot hooks, the best I can
do to help you is provide location ideas to help get the gears turning!

If you ever get stuck with what environment to head to next, here’s a handy table. Roll a d10:

Dice Roll Location

1 Swamp. Infected prevail, and harder to sneak through.

2 Abandoned downtown cityscape. Could have humans, definitely has Infected.

3 Underground tunnels or sewers. Likely to have Infected.

4 Suburbs. Could have humans, not so many Infected.

5 Cannibal village. Few Infected, but many dangerous humans.

6 Abandoned quarantine zone. Overrun with Infected.

7 Desert, or plains. Pretty empty, but hard to scavenge in.

8 Forest or countryside. May have Infected, likely to have humans.

9 Hospital. Good for materials, may have humans or Infected.

10 Major abandoned landmark (government buildings, museums, etc). Definitely

has Infected, but may be some humans in the area.

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