PROVE NOTHING. BE AWESOME. INFLATE YOUR EGO.

Ever watched those paranormal TV shows and thought, "That was just a raccoon, why are they screaming?" Dude, Run! is a competitive storytelling game where you play the investigators on those very shows. Your goal isn't necessarily to find ghosts—it’s to become the Lead Investigator by providing the "best" (read: most ridiculous) evidence over the course of the episode.

There’s just one catch: The paranormal may not actually exist. You are true believers using pseudo-science to turn every creaky floorboard and snapping twig into "irrefutable proof" of the supernatural.

HOW TO PLAY

• The Skeptic vs. The Believers: One player acts as the Skeptic (moderator), triggering mundane events like a furnace kicking on or a passing car casting shadows.
• The Misinterpretation: Everyone else plays the Investigators. You must use a mixture of Belief, Technique, and Ego to explain away that mundane event as a ghost, cryptid, or alien.
• The Techniques: Will you use Sensitive (psychic feelings), Tech (EMF meters and thermometers), Analysis (spotting "orbs" in dust), or Research (finding a spooky obituary)?
• The Confessional: Whoever provides the "best" evidence gets to narrate the outcome in a solo "Confessional" camera shot—the ultimate way to show the audience you're the star of the show.

CRAFT YOUR TV PERSONALITY

In Dude, Run!, you aren’t just playing a ghost hunter; you’re playing a "personality" desperate for a spin-off. Whether you’re the Sensitive who "feels a heavy presence" every time the wind blows, or the Tech Guru who thinks a blurry lens flare is a Class-5 Apparition, your character is defined by how they spin the mundane into the miraculous. You’ll choose from four core Techniques—Sensitive, Tech, Analysis, and Research—to build your dice pools. The goal isn't just to find the truth; it's to make sure that when the "Evidence" is tallied, yours is the story that the audience remembers.

WIN THE CONFESSIONAL, RULE THE RATINGS

The heart of the game lies in the Confessional. Whenever an Investigator successfully "proves" an event using their Technique and Belief, they earn the right to address the camera directly. This is your moment to shine, talk trash about your teammates, and inflate your Ego—the primary currency of fame in the game. But be careful: having a high Ego makes you look like a pro, but it also makes the fall much harder when a "demonic growl" turns out to be a hungry raccoon. The player with the most Ego when the sun comes up doesn't just win the game; they become the undisputed Lead Investigator of the show.

Because the game is driven by the Skeptic (the GM) triggering mundane "Events"—like a settling foundation or a passing car’s headlights—no two investigations are ever the same. One night you might be "defending" a suburban basement from a poltergeist that is actually just a leaky pipe; the next, you’re in a desolate swamp "tracking" a Bigfoot that’s clearly just a local in a ghillie suit. With a streamlined system designed for fast-paced improv and a heavy dose of humor, Dude, Run! is the ultimate "beer and pretzels" game for groups who want to stop worrying about complex stat blocks and start worrying about their TV ratings.

WATCH OUT FOR THE "RUN!"

If you try too hard to prove the paranormal, you might buy into your own hype. Rolling triplicates on your dice means you've spooked yourself so bad you run from the room. Running is contagious—once one person bolts, the whole team might end up screaming in the parking lot!