"The lab is on fire, the lobster is the size of a bus, and you haven't said your catchphrase yet."
They Came From…! is Onyx Path's series of games about cheap genre cinema, conceived by Matthew Dawkins. The first book, They Came from Beneath the Sea!, takes on the sea monsters of the 1950s, and They Came from Beyond the Grave! covers 1970s horror. The heroes are living through a real invasion, but the players know they're in a film and play by its rules: wobbly sets, rubber costumes, ridiculous lines. Beneath the Sea! includes the full Storypath rules, so you can play straight from it.
A backwater coast where crab cultists pray to a statue, agents in dark glasses grill the fishermen and a scientist fixes a death ray with a wrench. The threat is real, but everything around it runs on cardboard and enthusiasm. Each book in the series moves the same idea to another genre and era.
d10 pools
Attribute plus Skill: roll that many d10s and count every 8, 9 and 10 as a success. The system is moderately crunchy, but anyone comfortable with D&D 5E will pick it up.
Action, investigation, drama
The game splits scenes into three kinds: Action!, Investigation! and Drama!. Extra successes buy cinematic Stunts, and each Archetype has its own.
A reversed death spiral
In Beneath the Sea! the more injuries a hero takes, the more bonus dice they roll, right up to the fatal blow and a dramatic death scene. As in action films, getting hurt only makes them angrier.
Archetypes and quips
A character is a role from the film: Scientist, Survivor, Everyman, G-Man. A separate Quip & Cinematic deck feeds the table catchphrases and film tricks.
Open in Session Zero to let every player vote and see the results.