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Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?=5Bdicebreaker=5D_La_Desband=C3=A1_1937_offers_a_uniquely?=
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Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2024 10:53:07 +0100
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Source: 
https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/la-desbanda-1937/news/las-desbanda-1937-educational-rpg-based-on-real-life-atrocity


La Desbandá 1937 offers a uniquely human look at war through the lens of 
a real-life atrocity turned RPG

Translated into English ahead of the Málaga-Almería road massacre’s 87th 
anniversary.
In early February 1937, thousands of civilians fleeing the 
Republican-held Spanish city of Málaga were massacred by Franco’s 
Nationalist troops. Newly-translated tabletop RPG La Desbandá 1937 - 
named after the atrocity - aims to honour those killed by offering a 
personal perspective on the real-life events told through a storytelling 
game.

Designer Pablo López’s game offers a distinctly different depiction of 
warfare in comparison to many typical RPGs and tabletop titles, focusing 
on the experiences of the everyday people caught up in one of the 
bloodiest episodes of the Spanish Civil War rather than those fighting 
on its frontline.
La Desbandá 1937 takes place as Málaga falls to the fascist army after 
seven months of resistance, resulting in hundreds of thousands of 
citizens fleeing along a coastal road to the Republican city of Almería 
on February 7th. As they flee, Franco’s forces bombard them from the air 
and sea - a barrage that is estimated to have killed up to 5,000 people 
in reality.

The rules-light game repurposes Graham Walmsley’s Cthulhu Dark system 
for its historical setting and stories of wartime survival in contrast 
to eldritch mysteries. Players roll a six-sided die to resolve tests, 
adding additional dice if their character has a relevant career or 
background as determined during character creation. Those characters 
might include those on either political side of the conflict, as well as 
those who remain neutral, align with Russian Communists supporting the 
Republic, support the Francoists for their own bourgeois gain or 
advocate for an independent Málagan government.

As they experience trauma, characters will roll a six-sided die, aiming 
to roll under their Break value - which begins at one. If they fail, 
their Break increases, symbolising their waning physical and mental 
condition in place of conventional RPG hit points. Reaching a Break 
value of six results in a character succumbing to a ‘breakdown’ - 
whatever form that may take - and the player deciding whether to play a 
new character.

López’s book includes an example scenario centred on their search for 
historical figure Norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor who aided those 
making their way along the besieged Málaga-Almería road and recorded the 
atrocities firsthand. The short campaign spans six days of the week-long 
conflict and includes other NPCs based on real people, including 
Bethune’s fellow aid workers, journalists and Anselmo Vilar, a 
lighthouse keeper who thwarted the Francoists by extinguishing its light.

Originally released in its native Spanish, La Desbandá 1937 was recently 
translated to English ahead of the event’s 87th anniversary in 2024. In 
keeping with its creation as an effort to educate players about the 
real-life massacre and pay respect to those killed, the game was 
released as a non-profit project, with its PDF free to download on 
Itch.io and a physical copy costing little more than a cup of coffee.