Yesterday’s post left me with three Resources that felt as though they belonged together: Charm, Reach, and Burden. They suggested a game where social interaction, reputation, and personal baggage mattered more than fists or firearms.

As I let the idea simmer, another thought began to emerge. What if those Resources belonged to a group of influencers? Not today’s influencers, exactly, but those of ten or fifteen years from now, with the means to engage with their audience surgically installed in their being. Perhaps I should stop watching that trailer for Apple TV’s Neuromancer now…

This is The Feed.

Scooby-Doo for the Streaming Generation

The more I thought about it, the more I realised I wasn’t imagining a game about celebrity. I was imagining a game about audiences.

Picture a group of Gen Beta content creators investigating urban legends, hauntings, conspiracies, and strange happenings with just a hint of Scooby-Doo‘s mystery-solving energy, 15 or 20 years from now. The mysteries might begin with a campy edge, but beneath the humour lies a very real threat and an audience hungry and invested for their heroes rise and fall. Push too far, ignore the warning signs, or chase one viral clip too many, and someone is going to get hurt.

The investigators are broadcasting them live, and the audience is virtually installed behind their retina.

Seeing the World Through the Feed

The cover image I sketched out started to crystallise the setting in my mind, but I could see subtle tweaks needed to it. Rather than holding cameras or phones, everyone has neural cameras that continuously stream everything they see. Their feeds are always live, and their audience is always present. Yes, there was a Black Mirror that delved into the potential darkness of this idea, but we’re not quite going that far.

I imagine a subtle augmented reality overlay, visible to the wearer and audience alike, that displays measures of their wellbeing, Resources and popularity. They’re a constant reminder of who you are online and how your audience perceives you.

The Audience Is the Torch

One mechanic from Sanction feels particularly well suited to this idea of viewership. In The Agency, the setting uses Burn as an ever-present reminder that the characters’ mistakes eventually catch up with them. For The Feed, I think that measure manifests as Audience.

Rather than being another Resource, Audience is a shared clock or gauge that measures viewer engagement throughout the investigation. Every Falter rolled reduces it. Each participant has a measure of Audience, tracking from 100%, but a Falter drops that by 20. Increasing it isn’t so fixed or certain; every embarrassing reveal, awkward argument, dramatic cliffhanger, or unexpected twist increases it by d6.

The other comparison that immediately came to mind is the torch mechanic found in some Old School games, like Shadowdark or Torchbearer. There, the light is always running out and the threat of darkness is all so close to certain death.

Well, here the darkness isn’t literal, it’s irrelevance. If the Audience gauge ever reaches zero, everyone logs off. Without viewers, there is no stream. No investigation. No game. Basically, the constant pressure that the game might end because no one is watching anymore.

The Cost of Going Viral

Maintaining an audience doesn’t make anyone invincible. I don’t think there’s any reason to complicate the existing Sanction framework here. Characters have the standard 3 Hits from the Core rules. The audience might keep watching, but it can’t stop you getting injured.

That contrast feels important. You’re encouraged to chase increasingly dramatic content because your viewers demand it, yet reckless decisions bring Harm and Consequences. The game should constantly tempt players to ask themselves whether the next big reveal is really worth the risk.

Where Next?

At this point, The Feed feels less like a passing thought and more like the beginnings of a complete Genre Setup. We have Resources, Audience, and Hits. Next we need a Lifepath that explains how each influencer found themselves chasing ghosts, conspiracies, and cryptids for an audience that can never quite get enough.

How does your character manifest or manage their Burden? I look forward to reading about it in your RPGaDay post.

#RPGaDAY2026