Blurry Footage
Risk the crew. Get the footage. Survive the upload.
Get the Playtest PDF here: Blurry Footage Public Playtest PDF
Blurry Footage is a comedy-horror tabletop roleplaying game about a struggling paranormal investigation channel trying to turn bad decisions into watchable content.
You play the people behind the camera: tired, broke, curious, overconfident, and usually standing much too close to whatever is making that noise in the dark. The crew travels in an unreliable van, follows strange rumors, interviews nervous witnesses, digs through old records, records the impossible, and tries to get home with enough usable Footage to make the episode worth posting.
This is not a game about professional monster hunters with clean plans and matching jackets.
This is a game about a camera operator refusing to run because the shot is finally good. A researcher connecting the wrong dots until the right one bites back. A tech duct-taping a recorder back together while something speaks through the radio. A face trying to talk their way past a deputy, a property owner, or a very upset local. A daredevil touching the thing everyone else agreed not to touch.
The truth is out there.
Unfortunately, so is your channel’s comment section.
What Kind of Game Is It?
Blurry Footage is built for fast, messy, character-driven investigations. Each episode plays like a paranormal road trip that slowly turns into found-footage horror, with just enough comedy to make the bad choices feel earned.
A typical episode follows the crew as they:
Follow a rumor.
Travel to the location.
Interview witnesses.
Search for clues.Record Footage.
Build Heat.
Encounter something strange.
Make several choices they will defend later as “necessary for the episode.”
Upload whatever survived.
The goal is not only to solve the mystery. The goal is to capture proof, survive the fallout, and turn the whole disaster into an episode people might actually watch.
The Footage Engine
Blurry Footage uses ordinary six-sided dice.
When a crew member does something risky and uncertain, they roll dice based on one of four Traits: Nerve, Brains, Charm, or Moves. They also roll a differently colored Static Die.
Compare the highest Trait die to the Static Die:
If the Trait die is higher, the action works.
If the dice tie, the action works with a complication.
If the Trait die is lower, things go wrong and the situation changes.
There are no target numbers for the GM to set. The danger comes from the situation, the crew’s position, the equipment they brought, and whether the paranormal weirdness is starting to interfere.
When cameras, recordings, signals, viewers, or supernatural interference matter, Static is Live. That means the Static Die does more than oppose the roll. It can corrupt files, raise Heat, strain the crew, reveal strange playback details, or capture a crucial moment even when everything else falls apart.
Footage Is the Treasure
Footage is the shared prize of the game.
The crew earns Footage by recording evidence, danger, character moments, strange events, witness testimony, bad choices, and anything else that could make the final episode stronger.
But Footage is also a resource.
Spend it during play to soften consequences, clear Heat, help a stressed crew member, use Role Cut abilities, or keep the van limping forward. Save it for the Upload and it can turn a strange night into money, gear, contacts, reputation, and future leads.
That is the central pressure of Blurry Footage:
Do you spend your best clip now to survive the scene, or save it and hope the Upload hits?
Heat, Stress, and the Van
The crew is not just fighting the monster.
They are fighting bad weather, dead batteries, cops, property owners, rival channels, online viewers, broken equipment, poor planning, and their own terrible instincts.
Heat tracks rising pressure. At certain points, the Threat responds, danger becomes immediate, or a major Incident changes the episode.
Stress tracks injury, fear, exhaustion, humiliation, panic, and emotional pressure. When a crew member takes too much, they Break, react badly, clear some Stress, and gain a Scar.
The van has its own problems too. Fuel, Supplies, and Integrity can all drop during play. The van is transportation, storage, editing bay, shelter, escape plan, and occasionally the worst member of the crew.
Treat it with respect.
It will not return the favor.
Play Your Role in the Disaster
Each crew member has a Role, but Roles are not strict classes. They are what you bring to the production.
The Face keeps people talking, redirects attention, smooths over mistakes, and makes bad ideas sound planned.
The Researcher connects clues, tests theories, and figures out what the crew is actually dealing with before everyone gets eaten by the wrong assumption.
The Tech keeps gear functioning, improvises solutions, repairs broken equipment, and understands how expensive the latest noise probably was.
The Camera Operator captures the shot, reviews footage, notices what the camera saw, and stays in danger because proof matters.
The Daredevil goes first, climbs the dangerous thing, runs toward the noise, and turns reckless choices into usable content.
Each Role also has a Role Cut, a special way to spend Footage during play. These give every role a mechanical way to grab the spotlight, protect the crew, save a recording, or push a scene in their direction.
The Upload
Every episode ends with the Upload.
The crew counts its secure, unspent Footage, then rolls against the Algorithm. A great episode can get buried. A messy episode can go viral. A terrifying piece of evidence can earn the crew new fans, new sponsors, new leads, and new enemies.
A successful Upload can bring Budget, gear opportunities, contacts, access, fan theories, crew advances, and Credibility.
A breakout episode can also create Complications, because getting noticed is not the same thing as being safe.
Sometimes the audience believes you.
Sometimes the wrong thing does too.
What You Need to Play
Two to five players.
One Game Master.
A handful of six-sided dice.
One differently colored Static Die.
Character sheets.
A crew sheet.
A few hours.
A willingness to say, “Keep filming,” when every reasonable person has already left.
Blurry Footage works well for one-shots, short seasons, Halloween games, mystery nights, convention tables, and groups that want a rules-light investigation game with teeth, jokes, and a van that probably should not pass inspection.
Public Playtest
Blurry Footage is currently in public playtest.
That means the game is playable now, but still being sharpened through real table feedback. Rules, balance, layout, terminology, and artwork may change before the final release.
If you play it, we would love to hear what happened at your table. Not just what worked mechanically, but the moment everyone laughed, panicked, argued over the camera, sacrificed the van, or realized the recording had caught something nobody saw in the room.
That is the good stuff.