PocketQuest: Rat Race's take on the heist theme TTRPG are the megacorporations

DriveThruRPG’s PocketQuest theme this year is Heist. That means there’s a collection of TTRPGs that fit into just 25 pages, must include everything you need to play, and be about heists.

What do you think about when someone says ‘heist’? I think of movies like Baby Driver and Ocean’s 11.

Emiland Kray of Troctopus Press thought about office culture and the megacorps! The result is Rat Race.

The blurb for the TTRPG says;

Now’s your chance to climb the corporate ladder with “Rat Race”, a capitalist heist table-top role playing game that puts you in the shoes of a power hungry office worker. This game uses a unique and simple rule system that is perfect for beginners and veterans alike! Work as a team to unlock creative puzzles, use the cruelty of a capitalist to exploit the system, and uncover the ever elusive billion dollar ideas in your workplace. This game includes hand painted illustrations including maps, character models, and environments to set the scene. Play “Rat Race” and see if you have what it takes to be the big cheese.

We got the chance to find out from Emiland what their favourite aspect of creating the title was.

My favorite aspects of making Rat Race was finding ways to insult the ruling billionaire class and point out the hypocrisy within office work culture to bring the mechanics of the game to life. The research behind making this game involved me investigating the most mundane cubicle tasks, the mission statements of huge megacorporations like: Amazon, Google, and Tesla, and also learning how to creatively include the poignant stereotypes of cut-throat capitalists within the game! I grew up in a lower-middle class family, and now having received a terminal degree in my field, I am confronted with a disgusting job market that really reflects the sick values of those in power; I wanted to use some of my rage to pick apart this system and create a game that people in my economic class, the working class, can relate to.

Ug, that job market. We’ve all been there and yet it never seems to get any better.

Of course, this old The Smashing Pumpkins fan has to notice that Emiland has crafted a TTRPG about rats in a cage because of their rage and Bullet with Butterfly Wings earworms to mind. Bonus points to Emiland.