Core Rulebook
The complete ruleset for uncovering, or orchestrating, a conspiracy. No dice, no hit points. Every test runs through a tarot deck, and the deck itself changes as dread builds over the course of your investigation. Built for small groups who want mood and meaning over mechanical complexity.
How it plays
- No dice required. Every test is resolved with a standard tarot deck, a standard deck of playing cards, or a pair of ten-sided dice if you prefer.
- Four core stats carry every character: Communication (convince NPCs to give up their secrets), Investigation (identify clues), Athletics (hold your own in action scenes), and Violence (when all else fails).
- The Director (your GM) splits the tarot deck in two: the Major Arcana becomes Knowledge, revealed as players investigate; the Minor Arcana is shuffled into the Dread Deck, a push-your-luck mechanic that builds tension as the game goes on.
- Combat is rare, and when it happens, it's often deadly. This is an investigation game first.
- Designed for small groups: 1 GM and 2 players is the sweet spot, though the system supports up to 4.
Game details
- Players: 1 to 4, plus 1 Director
- Play time: 90 to 120 minutes per session
- Ages: 16 and up
- Game type: narrative investigation RPG, tarot-resolution system
- Written and illustrated in-house by Chain Assembly
- 124 page book covering full rules for players and Directors
- Compatible with the L'Isola Lacrime campaign setting, Beneath Sacred Ground, and future Lies By Omission modules
Shipping & returns
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| .5 - 0.75 | $5.99 |
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| 1.5 - 25 | $13.99 |
| 25+ | $19.99 |
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Estimated delivery: Ships within 3 business days after your order is placed.
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The truth is never the whole story
Lies By Omission is inspired by the eerie elegance of Italian Giallo horror cinema, the same lineage as Zombi, Deep Red, and Suspiria. Your players are ordinary people who unravel extraordinary horrors, piece by piece, never quite certain who's telling the truth or what's being left unsaid. There's no combat-first power fantasy here. Just dialogue, investigation, and a web of characters whose loyalties are never clear. The deeper you dig, the darker it gets.
A deck that knows more than you do
The tarot deck isn't a resolution mechanic bolted onto a normal RPG; it's the whole engine.
The Major Arcana becomes what your players uncover through investigation. Every secret learned, every clue pieced together, is drawn from the same deck that's quietly working against them.
KnowledgeThe Minor Arcana is shuffled into the Dread Deck, a push-your-luck mechanic that builds as the session goes on. The deck's composition evolves over a full campaign, so a late-game session carries a fundamentally different weight than session one.
DreadCommunication, Investigation, Athletics, and Violence are your only tools. Violence is rarely the answer, and rarely survivable when it is.
Investigation over combatThe conspiracy goes deeper
50 tear-away A5 sheets, styled like a dossier pulled from a restricted archive.
Oracle-sized illustrated portraits your Director can cast as any suspect, victim, or manipulator.
A beginner-friendly sacrilegious horror zine, perfect for a first session.
A 332-page hardcover descent into a Mediterranean island thick with conspiracy, folklore, and dread.
Want it all in one box? The Collector's Edition brings the whole ruleset and setting together, plus pieces you can't get any other way.
See the Collector's Edition
No dice. Just cards, and consequences.
Every test in Lies By Omission runs through a tarot deck instead of dice, and that deck changes as your investigation deepens. The same cards revealing your Knowledge are building your Dread. It's a system built specifically so the mechanics never fight the mood, designed for players who want narrative meaning over mechanical complexity.
Built for the table you actually have
No five-player scheduling nightmare required. Lies By Omission is a chamber piece, built for 1 Director and 1-3 players just as comfortably as a full table of 4. Run it in a living room, over wine, with a single candle for light. The system was built around small, committed groups from the ground up.
Written, illustrated, and haunted in-house
Every page, every illustration, every worn-paper texture comes from Chain Assembly directly, no outside freelancers, no inconsistent tone across the line. A free Third-Party License is also available for creators who want to build their own supplements using the ruleset.
Witness reports
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The entire conspiracy, in one box
If you're going to descend into Lies By Omission, you might as well go all the way. The Collector's Edition brings together the Core Rulebook, Player's Guide, and L'Isola Lacrime Campaign Setting, plus the Director's Screen, fold-out map, Cast Cards & Tuckbox, patch, and two custom dice, several of which don't exist as standalone products. This exact box will not be reprinted.
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