A 2-page Survival Horror RPG designed to challenge the players in all aspects. You play against the system, like a board game, and your success is up to you. This is not easy. Either you play intelligently, or the game will destroy you.
PWYW what Drivethru and RPGnow.
There are two primary mechanics, Doom and Stress. Players can press their luck to succeed at actions, but risk gaining Stress and Doom. Doom is the character's internal death clock, and Stress is rolled against to avoid Failure.
There is no skill list. Characters are made with 5 background words. The background words are the rank 1 skills of the character, applying to a broad range of situations. You don't increase skills, you learn new skills that are higher rank, but more specific. High rank skills would be very specific.
The Strain Basic system itself is not chained to a setting, and can be used to play any scenario where characters must struggle against their stress scores, insanity, and a ticking death clock.