Pinnacle (Minimalist Edition)

Pinnacle is a rules-lite deck building role-playing game about defining moments. It follows a group of extraordinary people as they each strive toward a single moment that defines them and their legacy, as well as what life is like after that moment has passed.

Quick to Start, Easy to Learn

Pinnacle is designed with an extremely low barrier to entry. The only materials you need to play are a deck of standard playing cards and a method of write notes. A single deck supports a group of up to 4 players (plus an optional GM).

Three Ways to Play

Pinnacle supports three primary modes of play:

• Solo — You alone take the role of both Hero and House, making Draws and interpreting the results to inspire the next scene or step in the story.
• Cooperative — 2 or more players all play as Heroes and work together to envision scenes and obstacles and interpret the outcomes of Draws.
• Guided — One player takes the role of the House and the rest play as Heroes. The House takes the lead in establishing scenes, presenting obstacles to the Heroes, and interpreting the outcomes of Draws.

Characters over Time

I wrote this game out of a desire for simple system that could tell stories about characters over long periods of time, showing their growth as people and as heroes throughout their lives. In Pinnacle, after each distinct narrative arc or chapter, time moves forward, and when the action picks back up, the characters have tangibly changed. 

Demo

You can get an even more minimal version of the Minimalist Edition absolutely free. It only contains the absolute basics of how to play, but it's enough to let you try the game out and get a feel for how it works.

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Pinnacle (Minimalist Edition) was written as part of the the Minimalist TTRPG Jam hosted by Binary Star Games