Pasión de Las Pasiones
review by Taylor
You're in the kitchen with your mom and grandma, it's noon, you hear the static of the TV turning on and the familiar anthem song playing as everyone turns their head towards the TV to tune in to PASIÓN DE LAS PASIONES, everyone's favorite telenovela—a whirlwind of passion, betrayal, heartbreak, and love.
This TTRPG takes the tropes of a classic telenovela and lets you and your friends build your own story. It’s relatively fast paced and can be used as a one-episode one-shot or a longer 6-8 session “season” culminating in a highly awaited season finale. Written by Brandon Leon, Pasión de Las Pasiones uses the Powered by the Apocalypse game system. Moves such as “Expressing your love passionately,” “Striking out in Voice or Violence,” and more are resolved using a 2d6 system. Dice rolls of a 1-6 are seen as a fail and may have negative consequences. 7-9 is a weak hit and may have a partial success or a success with some strings attached. 10-12 is a strong hit and can turn out exactly or even better than you would have liked.
The character archetypes that you can play include:
La Beleza: Beautiful and mesmerising, a chronic flirt, this character is the master of holding people's attention with the grand entrance.
El Jefe: Strong and powerful with a posse of hired men to prove it, this character has significant pull in the world around them, ruling with fear and influence.
La Doña: Well-connected and influential, this character is manipulative, vengeful, and has the resources and intelligence to obtain what they want.
El Caballero: This character takes things head-on and is prone to grand gestures, often a bad boy with a heart of gold.
La Empleyada: A sweet and naive employee from the wrong side of the tracks thrown into high society drama, they are seen as kind and lovable; their relationships can cause them more trouble.
El Gemelo: The twin, devious and clever, this player can claim a twin to help hide or further their plans, as people have a hard time telling them apart.
Each character comes with their own playbook with props and conditions/modifiers. As you go through, you will mark different conditions based on your dice rolls and actions, add different modifiers, and get closer or farther from a “meltdown” where all control is lost and emotions run rampant. These are included in a printable PDF file that conveniently folds into little booklets, making it easy for players to keep track of information and make it easier for the game master to run the story.
Coming from a Hispanic background, this TTRPG brought me immense joy to run. Being able to play into the tropes and draw on inspiration from actual episodes I’ve seen in the past made it all the more fun. I highly recommend using the playlist in the book as mood music and dressing up for the event for more ambiance.
Pasión de Las Pasiones is available now from our webstore.
