DHARMA The Totally Unofficial Role-Playing Game by James D.
Hargrove
What This Is
Dharma is a simple roleplaying game
of cosmic weirdness set in a world of neon
lights and rain-slicked streets, punctuated by
obligatory voice overs.
In order to play, you will need two
six-sided dice, an index card (or sheet of
paper) for every player, pencils, and a basic
understanding of role-playing games.
Creating a Character
All characters, whether controlled by
the referee or the other players, are created
the same way in games of Dharma – the
player creating the character chooses five
words to define their character.
Nationality
There are 30,000,000 citizens who
call the naked city home. You are only one
of them. Your first chosen word should be
your nationality. Are you Chinese? English?
French? Your character’s chosen nationality
informs the other players of what languages
you likely speak, your observed customs,
and cultural heritage.
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Adjectives
Adjectives are broad descriptors that
can potentially aid you in a great number of
situations that arise during play.
Examples of adjectives that you may
choose from are listed below.
Agile, Athletic, Charming, Curt, Dainty, Educated,
Elegant, Handsome, Honest, Intimidating, Intuitive,
Persuasive, Psychedelic, Smart, Stealthy, Streetwise,
Strong, Unflappable, Wealthy, Wiry, etc.
Occupations and Skills
There are many occupations in the
naked city and many skills in high demand.
While occupations and skills aren’t broadly
applicable like adjectives are, they represent
expertise that grants a greater mechanical
advantage in actual play.
Some of the skills and occupations
you can choose from when creating your
character are listed directly below.
Appraisal, Archivist, Bargaining, Brawling, Detective,
Chanting, Driving, Fence, Hacker, Karma Cop, Knife
Fighting, Legionnaire, Pharmacology, Piloting, Rogue
Guru, Shooting, Street Rat, etc.
Psionic Powers
Not everybody in the naked city has
the ability to wield psionic power, but many
third eyes were opened during the years of
the great karmic awakening.
If you want your character to be able
to call upon a psychic power, it must be
explicitly represented by a word. If your
character doesn’t have a word representing
such a power, they can’t use it.
Examples of different psychic powers
are listed on the next page.
Aura Reading, Clairvoyance, Divination, Levitation,
Mental Energy Blast, Psychic Shield, Psychokinesis,
Psychometry, Pyrokinesis, Scrying, Telepathy, etc.
Equipment
Your character begins play with any
equipment appropriate for your character
concept. Hackers start with a computer (or
access to one), detectives start with a pistol
and a badge, legionnaires begin play with a
rifle, and so forth. Pieces of equipment are
not counted as being words (they fill a
different role, explained later).
The Karma Pool
Finally, all characters begin play with
a pool of five karma points. The role these
points play is discussed later.
Playing the Game
Whenever a character wishes to do
something risky, their player rolls 2d6 and
adds +2 to the roll result for each skill or
occupation their character possesses that is
related to the action being resolved. A +1 is
added to the roll result for other words the
character possesses (e.g. psionic powers,
nationality, adjectives, etc.) that are related
to the action being resolved.
On a roll result of 10+, the character
is successful in attaining their goal. On a roll
result of 7-9, they succeed but with a minor
complication. On a roll result of six or less,
they fail to attain their goal and suffer from
a severe complication.
Complications can be whatever the
referee and the other players determine is
appropriate for the narrative (injuries, for
example, are a common complication).
The Narration Rule
When narrating action attempts, the
players other than the referee must speak in
the first person, past-tense, as if delivering a
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voice over for their character in a classic
film noir mystery thriller. For example:
“Surrounded, like a rat caught in a
trap, I lifted my zap gun and got ready to
shoot my way out of that dark alley.”
If they don’t do so, they suffer a -2
penalty to their roll result when resolving
the action they just narrated.
What About Equipment?
In order to take action that requires
a specific piece of equipment, the character
must actually have said piece of equipment
in their possession.
A character can’t, for example, hack
a computer network without access to some
kind of computer. They can’t shoot without
a suitably shoot-y weapon in hand. They
can’t make a sandwich without bread.
If a character doesn’t have the right
equipment at hand to perform and action,
then they simply can’t do it.
When Not To Roll
In the absence of risk and assuming
the possession of appropriate equipment,
don’t roll dice. If a character wants to do
something that isn’t risky, they just do it.
Simply narrate the scene as appropriate.
The Total Bullshit Caveat
The caveat to the previous rules is
that, if a player wants their character to do
a thing that the rest of the group feels is
total bullshit (e.g. walking atop flying bullets
to deliver a killing blow to the gunman),
then they don’t just do it.
Gaining and Losing Karma
Whenever a character performs a
good deed of significance during the game,
they lose a point of karma from their karma
pool. When they perform a significantly bad
deed, they gain a point of karma.
Karma shackles characters to their
physical bodies and keeps them trapped in
a cycle of never-ending death and rebirth
until their karma is shed – at which point
they become God realized and are freed
from the karmic wheel.
In the world of Dharma it is believed
that nobody has yet achieved this state and
it is uncertain exactly what will happen
when somebody finally does.
When Do Characters Die?
When it is dramatically appropriate
per the narrative. Death is, in the terms of
mechanics, a severe complication. In play,
death should only be on the table when the
consequences of a failed action make it a
likely outcome. For example:
Flint wants to run from behind pillar
to pillar in the burned out shell of the auto
factory, drawing fire from his compatriots as
they make good their escape.
Flint’s player rolls 2d6 and scores a
final roll result of 3. A failure, with a severe
complication. Given the risks, Flint’s player
agrees that Flint’s death is appropriate in
this situation, given the narrative.
.
Death is just a natural consequence
of lethal risk overtaking a character when
action is being resolved. That said, unlike in
many games, the player of the character
who has died narrates the character’s death.
For example:
Flint’s player states that Flint takes a
bullet to the shoulder during his heroic run
that spins him around on his feet in midair.
The Karma Cops seize the moment to
unload the rest of their bullets into him,
shuffling him off the mortal coil.
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About Reincarnation
Should a character have any karma
points left in their karma pool when they
die, then they are reincarnated. What or
who they are reincarnated as is up to the
player controlling them.
Typically, a reincarnated individual
is reborn in the most literal sense of the
word – if human, they’re reborn into the
world as an infant, for example. This really
doesn’t lend itself to a role-playing game,
though, so some liberties are taken here.
There is a lot of spiritual weirdness
going on in the world of Dharma and it is
not at all uncommon for a spiritual body or
consciousness to be displaced. The vacated
physical vessels of these unfortunate souls
are, as a result, left open to be inhabited by
other spiritual bodies.
Reincarnated characters are created
as normal, simply with the chosen words
describing a vessel that already exists and
that the previous character’s spiritual body
is simply being re-homed into it. The one
difference is that the starting karma pool of
the new character is equal to that of the old
character at the time of their death.
What About The Displaced?
Good question! Being thrust out of
your home and returning later only to find
it occupied by somebody else is likely to
upset you, right?
Displaced spiritual bodies can serve
as powerful antagonists or unlikely allies in
a game of Dharma – perhaps both, based
on how the narrative unfolds.
Displaced spiritual bodies are beings
of pure energy – but they’re still trapped on
the karmic wheel and are created just like
any other character is (you’re going to be
using different words, however).
When creating a displaced spiritual
being in Dharma, use only adjectives and
psychic powers to define them.
And What About Ascension?
In the event that you die with no
karma to hold you back, you become God
realized and... well, nobody is quite sure
what happens. This is something that all of
the players should discuss with the referee
prior to actual play.
Freedom from the karmic wheel is
ultimately what everybody is striving for.
What does it mean for your character?
What does it mean to them to become God
realized? Unlimited power? Omniscience?
Wealth beyond the measure of mortals?
The referee should take all of your
wishes into consideration when the event
comes to pass (if it comes to pass) and
incorporate them into the narrative.
The World of Dharma
The primary action in Dharma is set
in an impossibly large dystopian city on the
southern edge of the Sahara that is cloaked
in never-ending night and illuminated by a
sea of flickering neon lights.
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The Hierarchy of Power
Power in the naked city is structured
like the mystical pyramid, with the greatest
power concentrated at the top, propped up
by the less powerful who toil below.
At the top of the pyramid is the High
Council of Hipsters, who have accumulated
a large amount of both political and spiritual
power, using it to secure wealth and shed
karma. However, they cede some of their
karmic authority to the Karma Cops.
The Karma Cops are, as the name
suggests, an institutionalized force dedicated
to the policing of karma and, specifically,
nirvana, which is a tightly controlled state of
existence in the naked city.
The Legionnaires are what you
would call the “regular” cops – they enforce
the regular, non-karmic, laws in the naked
city. Often seen as brutal and ineffective,
the Legionnaires aren’t looked upon kindly
by the other citizens of the city.
The gurus (and, by extension, rogue
gurus) are the backbone of the chants and
mantra trade in the city. As such, they wield
significant financial and spiritual power.
 The named cults are big players in
the big city and, while it could be argued
that their reach extends to all other levels of
the power pyramid, most of their members
are perched just above the bottom tier of
said pyramid, which consists of...
Everybody else. The nameless cults,
the reality hackers, the street rats, the back
alley pharmacists, and so on. There are a
lot of other people in the city who are on
their own quests for spiritual enlightenment
or just out of have a good time.
The City Zones
The naked city is divided up into
nearly countless zones. What purpose these
divisions originally served has been lost to
time. Today, some zones are classified due
to the social status of their inhabitants, some
by the nationality of their denizens, others
by the businesses found there, and some
merely by their geography.
Entering and leaving zones requires
one to, at the very least, provide their travel
papers and have them certified by a guard
stationed at the zone border. Depending
upon the zone being entered or departed,
the process may be much more involved,
up to and including full body x-rays.
Citizens of the city are required to
keep their identification papers on hand at
all times, whether traveling between zones
or simply walking the streets of the zone
they call home. Leaving your residence
without your identity papers is punishable
by immediate arrest and imprisonment.
Technology in Dharma
Technology in the naked city is a
strange mix of both high (e.g. computers,
handheld energy blasters, etc) and low (e.g.
telegram services).
Communication and transportation
are very anachronistic – characters still use
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hardwired telephones to place calls and rely
on telegram services when they desire a
more personal touch, while mid-50s style
automobiles, elevated trains, and zeppelins
are common modes of travel.
Some citizens of the city, on the
other hand, have access to things such as
energy pistols and explosives that can be
remotely detonated, while computers are
used in daily commerce and run (among
other things) the city’s vast banking system
and stock market.
When deciding exactly what tech will
be present in your own campaign, look to
classic noir films of the 1950s and 60s for
staples of life and to the present or near
future for weaponry and information tech
used by large corporations.
The Quest for Karma
After the great karmic awakening,
spirituality became a big money business.
From low-fi reality hackers on a Timothy
Leary sort of kick to the mystery cults of
high society, everybody is on some kind of
quest for enlightenment, inner peace, non-
stop mojo, or other spiritual gifts.
Reincarnation is real and achieving
the state of nirvana is possible. Gurus sell
chants, mantras, and mandalas that can be
used to unlock psychic potential, spiritual
awareness, or even aid in the ascension of
one’s spiritual self. These markets are tightly
regulated however, and some folks turn to
dark sources for their karmic fix.
Legal Information
Dharma v3 is Copyright © 2023 by
James D. Hargrove. All rights reserved. The
mandala is public domain artwork. Some
artwork © 2015 Dean Spencer, used with
permission. All rights reserved. Some art
Copyright © 2015 by John Nixon, used
with permission.