THE AXIS
UNIVERSAL & MODULAR
TABLETOP ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM
Open Beta Available
A Word From The Arcane Factory
Welcome, explorers! We're The Arcane Factory, a group of old friends who have been playing roleplaying games since the late 80s and creating indie content for almost as long. This is THE AXIS, our bold endeavor to design a grand, universal, and uniquely modular tabletop RPG system. We're glad to have you join us at this stage of development, helping us improve the game and grow our community.
This is an open beta version. We invite everyone to play, comment on, criticize, and send us feedback. Be on the lookout for promos and special announcements, which will get increasingly more interesting as we approach an official release of the game.
Join our community at Discord, where we host online RPG sessions in a wide variety of genres and settings, answer questions, break down rules & mechanics, run playtests, engage in discussions, and much more. https://discord.gg/Pu8DNWzr3H
▬ OPEN CALL: Until July 2025, we're extending an invitation to experienced Game Masters from anywhere in the world who are interested in collaborating with us at this point in our journey. Contact us!
A Quick Intro To THE AXIS
"A colossal system that never gets in the way of storytelling."
What is THE AXIS?
Developed over the last decade by a group of oldschoolers, THE AXIS is a universal and entirely modular traditional table-top RPG system built around the ambitious concept of near-limitless character customization for any gaming genre, with flexible rules allowing it to fit any style of play. It can be made very light for more fast-paced, action-oriented games, as well as meticulously detailed, for games in which more realistic elements can make a difference.
THE AXIS’ mechanics are entirely new and original; nonetheless, the system doesn't attempt to reinvent the wheel, also building upon tried and true principles found in the titans of the field, which we’ve known and loved for over 35 years.
Some features of the system:
Universal
Play any RPG genre and setting, or cross over from one to another.
Entirely modular
Choose rulesets, mechanics, and even character features that best fit your game, making it practical or realistic, simple or detailed, casual or ambitious... or anywhere in-between.
Multifaceted
It combines a point-based system for character creation and development with an optional level system for character evolution in more fantastic, heroic, or similar genres.
Compatible with any universe
Use modular features to faithfully adapt characters from your favorite franchises in movies, series, comic books, literature, animes, videogames, and others.
All-encompassing
Scalable tiers and orders of magnitude, from the minuscule, to the human level, to colossal, planetary, and astronomical levels of power and ability.
World-building
Geographic outlines, social and economic stations, cosmological ladders for world-building: ecology, civilization, technology, magic, divinity, space-time, and others.
Limitless character customization
Create characters freely, choosing among numerous species and archetypes, hundreds of skills, talents, hindrances, social assets and handicaps, background options, special abilities, magical spells, divine miracles, psionic powers, super-heroic powers, cybernetic implants, and more. Gear-up by accessing extensive lists of combat equipment such as weapons and armors from different eras, firearms with caliber-specific details and real world references, explosives, siege engines, combat vehicles, futuristic weapons of all kinds, and more.
This is a beta version. Where we're at:
At this point, the system already has pretty much everything needed to run any game in most genres and settings. However, in addition to some necessary revisions, there are still a few things under development:
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Some species and archetypes listed are not yet available.
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Skills are still without a description (though their names are mostly self-explanatory). The only Skills that have a thorough description are the ones with direct effects in game mechanics.
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Equipment lists are still divided broadly in “Earlier”, for medieval and pre-medieval settings; and “Later”, for modern, contemporary, and futuristic settings. Not only are we expanding these lists, but we're also categorizing them by specific eras (Iron Age, Middle Age, Early Modern…).
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The Psionic system is still being developed.
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The Magic system (arcane supernatural) and the Divinity system (numinous supernatural) are mostly finished, however, only a few spells, magic surges, and miracle are available, with most still being created. The same is true for Superpowers.
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THE AXIS’ official Bestiary is underway. It’s being devised as a separate book, however, we intend to include a few creatures and sample NPCs in the Core Rulebook, as an aid to GMs.
Tutorials
(under development)
Getting Started
SOON
Modulating The System
SOON
Creating a Character
SOON
"The absolute best system to adapt anything into tabletop RPG."
DISCLAIMERS
All the images herein were generated using artificial intelligence, later treated with some of our own changes to make them unique and exclusive. We regret not yet having the funds to commission artists, whom we immensely respect not only as professionals, but as creators of real Art, undoubtedly one of the grandest endeavors a person can undertake. As an independent project, THE AXIS took many years of hard, unpaid work, demanding a lot, all the while giving back only the satisfaction of knowing we were creating something of value. In essence, it’s not a low budget project, but a “no budget” project; all it has is the support from our families, friends, collaborators, and, as of late, from the community that's quickly growing around it. Once THE AXIS can stand on its own legs and some of our goals are achieved, we certainly intend to comission real artists and enrich our game with actual pieces of Art.
Having said all of that, we can appreciate these images for what they are, acknowledging the benefits of technology. Note: unlike the images, not a single line of text in 'THE AXIS - Core Rulebook' was written through AI of any kind.
This work is still in development. It already has more than enough material to efficiently and smoothly run games in mostly any genre, however some sections haven’t yet been finished. Further, aside from the general revisions of rules and mechanics done during countless hours of playtests, this work hasn’t yet gone through a proper revision of its content, so forgive any eventual errors. We welcome ALL corrections, suggestions, and feedback from our community, at any point.
For the upcoming months, The Arcane Factory extends a limited invitation to join us! Currently, this goes to synergic content creators, visual artists, web developers, and last but definitely not least, seasoned Game Masters from all nationalities and backgrounds. Contact us at thearcanefactory@gmail.com.