# Double Cross tags: #game/rpg/double-cross ![[Double Cross - Core Rolebook (cover).jpg|600]] **Double Cross** is a Japanese "character-based conspiracy superhero RPG" in which getting stronger is a straight line toward becoming a monster, and the only things that can save you are the people you care about. Designed by **Shunsaku Yano** and [[F.E.A.R.]] (Far East Amusement Research), it's a fixture of the Japanese TTRPG scene where it's widely beloved; the English edition in hand is **Ver. Blue Amusement's** fan translation of the *3rd Edition* (published 2013). The whole game is that tension: you're a superhuman covert operative in dark-modern Japan, and every time you lean on the power that makes you one, you pay a little of your humanity toward the inevitable. ## Setting **Double Cross** opens in "a modern world that is similar but different from the world we know" — present-day Japan (the default **City N** stage), not-distant future, but "the shroud of darkness has gotten blacker," and most of humanity has no idea the world changed. Twenty years ago a plane carrying excavated Middle-Eastern ruins was shot down and an unknown virus it contained spread into the atmosphere, infecting most of the globe. The virus is **Renegade**: usually dormant, but when it activates it grants its host supernatural powers — skin to metal, command of fire or light, superhuman strength and regeneration. Such powered hosts are **Overeds**. Those who overreach lose their sanity and become **Gjaums** (a mangled loanword for "Germs"), impulsive monsters who shed their humanity — and sometimes their very shape. Around this the book spins the game's conspiracy layer. The **Universal Guardian Network (UGN)**, "Humanity's Shield," was founded by the biologist Professor **Alfred J. Caudwell** — himself an Overed — with fellow sane Overeds, to hunt Gjaums without leveling the city. Since his death it's been steered by the **Axis**, a twelve-member central committee, and its branches have drifted toward security enforcement and monitoring Overeds. Opposing them, the **False Hearts** are the hidden terrorist organization of malicious Overeds and Gjaums — some say they *caused* the virus release in the first place — orchestrated from the shadows. The transnational **Lancaster Corporation** bankrolls the UGN. Deeper still lurk the mysterious **Renegade Beings** (the virus given form) and more strains of the virus, threads the book leaves mostly to the GM to unwrap. Player characters are Overeds — usually UGN-aligned — fighting Gjaums and rogue Overeds in the dark on behalf of a world that must never be allowed to know any of it exists. ## Mechanics ### Character Creation Characters run on four **Base Stats** — Body, Sense, Mind, Social — with **Skills** tied to them. An Overed picks one or two of the twelve **Syndromes** (their power set and class): one syndrome makes a **Purebreed**, two a **Crossbreed**. Powers come in Simple and combat varieties that are designed to stack and combine, each with a cost in Encroachment — so the system actively asks you not to fire every trick you've built. Crucially, every character also defines **Loises**, named relationships to other characters in the web — friends, family, lovers, rivals — that are the reasons to stay human. ### Checks Core resolution is d10-based. The GM sets a **Difficulty** (3–5 a simple task, 6–9 average, 10–13 somewhat difficult, 14+ very difficult), then the player rolls a number of **d10 equal to the relevant Stat** (or the Stat the requested Skill is tied to) plus any modifiers. The single highest die is the base of the **Score**; add Skill level and situational modifiers. Score above Difficulty succeeds. A **Fumble** — every die coming up one — is an automatic failure. A **Critical** is a die rolling a **10**: you re-roll it and add ten to the score, chaining while another ten comes up (multiple tens in one roll count as a single critical, but you re-roll each). ### The Encroachment Rate The game's heart and its risk meter. The **Encroachment Rate** is a percentage tracking how active the character's Renegade virus is: it rises when you enter a scene (add 1D10), when you use Powers (their cost), on **Impulse Checks** (add 2D10; fail and you gain Berserk), or deliberate Genetic-Shift. A higher rate fuels stronger powers — there's an Encroachment bonus as you approach the edge. But if a character's rate is **over 100% when the session's Ending hits**, that Overed loses themselves and becomes a **Gjaum**, retired from play and handed to the GM. The only way back down is **Backtracking** through your **Loises**: roll a die per Lois you still hold at the end, and each die you roll can shave the rate back. Characters can hold up to seven Loises but carry only three between sessions; bonds you give up can convert into **Titus**, powerful one-shot relationships that buy real mechanical leverage — so a character who leaves a trail of tragedy behind them is, genuinely, stronger in the short run. The system even *rewards* risking it: you earn more XP the closer you ended the session to losing your character. ### Battle, Powers, and the Scene System Sessions run on a **Scene** structure (Opening, Main, Climax, Ending) with **Pre-Game** and **After-Game** bookkeeping. Combat uses **Minor** and **Major Actions**, Initiative, hit points, and attack data — Atk. Power, Guard, Armor, RNG — with attacks and the situational rules layered over the check system. **Experience points** go to the *players and the GM* rather than the characters, so losing a character is no setback and passing the GM's chair around carries no penalty. The core book ships three full sample scenarios set in City N (Crumbling Days, Armageddon's Youths, Truth or Fiction) plus scenario starters. ## Editions - **Double Cross** (1st Edition, 2001) — the Japanese original from Game Field. *Not in the library.* (Reissued as an e-book for the 25th anniversary in 2026.) - **Double Cross The 2nd Edition** (2003) — the Japanese second edition from Fujimi Shobo. *Not in the library.* - **Double Cross The 3rd Edition** (2009) — the Japanese third edition, and still the current one — F.E.A.R. has kept it supported with supplements ever since rather than shipping a fourth edition. It's the edition the English translation is based on. *Core rulebook in the library (English translation).* - **Double Cross Core Rolebook (English, Ver. Blue Amusement)** (2013) — the fan translation of the 3rd Edition; the library holds the ver5 build. *In the library.* (The image **Scan** of the same core book is kept beside the record.) - **Double Cross The 3rd Edition — Korean Translation** (2024) — DX3 localized into Korean; F.E.A.R. launched it with a **Double Cross collab café** in Seoul. *Not in the library.* ## Supplements - **Double Cross Advanced Rulebook** (Ver. Blue Amusement, 2013) — the companion rulebook that opens the 3rd Edition system up: expanded Powers, more rules and options layered onto the core, introduced with its own original manga prologue. *In the library.* - **Double Cross: Public Enemy** (Ver. Blue Amusement) — the "be the enemy" sourcebook: create **False Hearts** characters and run a story from the villain's perspective, with a **Scenario Crafting System** that rolls the dice to randomly decide the major plot points, plus expanded lore on False Hearts and its inner workings. *In the library.* - **Double Cross: Infinity Code** (Ver. Blue Amusement, 2014) — the next English supplement: it reintroduces the **Ouroboros Syndrome**, a power set built around *stealing and copying* other Syndromes' powers — so characters can mix powers across Syndromes, or the GM can build brutal boss enemies — plus new Trait Loises and Items for all twelve Syndromes, and the **Progressive Check System**, which lets players (and friendly NPCs) support each other's skill checks. *Not in the library.* ## References - [Double Cross Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook — DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/128931/double-cross-roleplaying-game-core-rulebook) - [Double Cross Roleplaying Game Supplement - Infinity Code — DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/141226/double-cross-roleplaying-game-supplement-infinity-code) - [ダブルクロス The 3rd Edition — official F.E.A.R. site](https://www.fear.co.jp/dbx3rd/) - [Double Cross: Part 1 — Review (Panda Gaming Grove)](https://pandagaminggrove.blogspot.com/2013/08/double-cross.html) - [Double Cross RPG (Deeper in the Game)](https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/double-cross-rpg/)