Tabletop RPG · Lucky 8 engine · V1.098

Bring it to your table.

A full rules system behind the game: four manuals to play with a group and a Narrator, or on your own.

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4 manuals · 753 pages
Group or solo
d8 dice pool
Luck · Support · FUBAR · Trauma

The 4 manuals →

Four campaign manuals, built around P.A.T.H. Games’ own Lucky 8 narrative engine: a pool of eight-sided dice against a Difficulty, with Luck, Support, Rush, FUBAR and Trauma. Start with the Rule Primer, then use the Player’s Manual to build your soldier, the Narrator’s Manual to run the campaign, and the Vietnam Campaign setting to keep your game grounded in history. Current digital editions: 753 pages across the four PDFs, including their covers.

V1.098 · 64 pages

The Rule Primer

Start here. Bring a handful of eight-sided dice.

A first route into Vietnam, your Soldier and the Lucky 8 engine. Work through core rolls, Luck, Support and Rush, then learn what FUBAR, Trauma, Trust and load mean at the table.

LifeP.A.T.H. and the people in the squad
Worked examples, three scenes and a first session
A service record and quick rules reference

What’s inside

Part One · The Engine: the Soldier, the core roll, Luck, Conditions, Support, Rush
Part Two · What the war does to him: FUBAR, Trauma, cover, explosives, mines, medevac, recovery, the Moral Code, Trust, movement, load
Part Three · LifeP.A.T.H.: Previous Activities, Training, History
Part Four · The War: August 1967, three soldiers, the squad, the tour
Part Five · Play: three scenes, your first session, a sample of play, running it, the Service Record

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V1.098 · 257 pages

Player’s Manual

Build someone with a life before the war.

Create your Soldier through LifeP.A.T.H.—Previous Activities, Training, History—and carry that person into a campaign. Your training, relationships, equipment and choices stay on the record.

Character creation, capabilities and field procedures
Combat, care, kit, money, mail and daily life
Advancement, long-term consequences and endings

What’s inside

1 · What P.A.T.H.: Vietnam is
2 · The action at the table
3 · The Soldier’s Service Record
4 · LifeP.A.T.H. character creation
5 · Twelve 1967 service pathways
6 · Equipment, load and ownership
7 · Living the tour
8 · Contact, combat and Trauma
9 · Pressure, relationships and the unit
10 · Learning, advancement and promotion
11 · Long-term consequences and endings
12 · Play aids and complete examples
Quick references · blank records · starting play · glossary

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V1.098 · 176 pages

Narrator’s Manual

Prepare the situation. Let the players answer it.

Run the campaign with dated information, clear stakes and people who have reasons for what they do. The Narrator’s job is to follow consequences, including the quiet days between operations.

Rulings, historical sources and encounter preparation
People, factions, campaign time, supply and care
Seven complete scenarios, worksheets and reference tools

What’s inside

1 · Narrating P.A.T.H.
2 · Rulings, ambiguity and Luck
3 · Historical truth and source discipline
4 · Scenes, encounters and operations
5 · Contact, opposition and consequence
6 · People, relationships and factions
7 · Context, time and the campaign map
8 · Equipment, supply and institutional systems
9 · FUBAR, Trauma and care
10 · Development, command and long-tour change
11 · Frameworks and scenario construction
12 · Narrator tools and reference
Selected bibliography and archives

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V1.098 · 256 pages

The Vietnam Campaign 1955–1975

Put a date and a place behind every decision.

The setting book follows the wider war through its changing periods. Geography, institutions, military and civilian lives provide material for campaigns beyond a single unit or viewpoint.

Vietnam before the war, colonial rule and the advisory years
Escalation, attrition, Vietnamization and their contexts
Historical evidence, campaign questions and consequences

What’s inside

Part I · The Roots (before 1954)
Part II · The American War by era, 1955–1975
Part III · The war in detail: North and South, PAVN, NLF, ARVN, US and allied forces, the air war, intelligence, the home front, civilians
Part IV · Geography and terrain: I to IV Corps, Cambodia and Laos
Part V · Reference: leaders, operations, glossary, chronology
Part VI · Vietnam after the war

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Get news from Robert and P.A.T.H. Games about the tabletop RPG, book previews, availability and the next round of playtesting. This is an interest list. No purchase, payment or game account is required.

From the table to the browser.

P.A.T.H.: Vietnam — Tour of Duty is built on V1.098, these four manuals and the Lucky 8 narrative engine. It brings the campaign into an illustrated solo browser game, with the Field Desk, kit, mail, music and the record of your tour.

Enter your tour · Play free