Guillotine Protocol: Modern Espionage Roleplaying Game

Cum praecepta franguntur, regula ruptor esto.

No one announces the end of democracy. It does not collapse in a coup or vanish overnight. It unravels quietly, decision by decision, law by law, until one day people realize they can’t speak freely, can’t move without being watched, and can’t trust the institutions that once protected them. By the time anyone notices, the system has already adapted. The noose tightens, and there’s no going back.

Guillotine Protocol isn’t about stopping that process. It’s about slowing it down. The operatives of SECTION-R don’t fight to win. They fight to buy time. Time for the system to resist. Time for people to see what’s happening. Time for someone else to make a change before the world goes under. They don’t get medals. They get burner phones that go silent, assets who stop answering, and dossiers that disappear into classified archives. They don’t stop authoritarianism. They just make sure it doesn’t happen today. And sometimes, today is all that matters.

A Game About Impossible Choices

This is a game for people who know that stopping tyranny isn’t about grand gestures. It’s about impossible choices made in the shadows. It’s the Sandbaggers, where the real threats sit behind desks, not on battlefields. It’s Occupied, where collaboration looks like survival, and survival looks like betrayal. It’s Homeland, where trust is a weapon that cuts both ways. It’s Bureau (Le Bureau des Légendes), where identities crumble under the weight of the mission. And it’s the Spy Who Came in from the Cold, where loyalty is a slow poison, and survival comes at a cost no one’s ready to pay.

Tools to Fight the Invisible War

Guillotine Protocol gives you everything you need to tell stories where the victories are invisible, and the consequences linger long after the mission ends. Inside, you’ll find:

17 Ready-to-Play Characters Built for Complications: Operatives don’t come clean. They come with secrets, regrets, and decisions that refuse to stay buried. Each character arrives fully realized, ready to step into the field with a past that won’t let go. Someone’s looking for them. Someone’s still holding a grudge. And there’s a line they crossed that can’t be uncrossed. These characters are entangled in plots, loaded with unresolved baggage, and come with a list of code names ready for assignment. Drop them in, watch the complications unfold, and let the past catch up.

Character Creation with Emotional Weight: This isn’t about picking stats and skills. It’s about choosing regrets, debts, and the promises that keep you up at night. These aren’t heroes. They’re people who made choices they can’t take back, and now they live with the fallout.

A Setting Built on Plausible Deniability: SECTION-R operates in a world that looks familiar, but power has shifted into unseen hands. Governments outsource too much. Corporations know too much. And no one’s sure who’s actually in charge. The setting is built to adapt, giving you modern threats like deepfakes, media manipulation, and quiet authoritarianism while leaving room for expansion.

Worldbuilding Tools for Expansion: The world doesn’t stand still. As operatives make choices, new threats emerge and alliances shift. You’ll find tools to create new factions, introduce shifting agendas, and escalate conflicts over time. The system is built for long-term storytelling where the stakes only get higher.

20 Reusable Beat Charts for Infinite Missions: Missions follow beats that keep tension high and consequences real. Beat charts help maintain a rhythm of action and fallout, ensuring that every decision leads to new complications. Missions evolve as operatives succeed, fail, and hesitate. And hesitation always costs something.

26 Factions as Allies, Enemies, and Obstacles: Power doesn’t come from uniforms. It comes from influence, control, and knowledge. The factions in Guillotine Protocol operate behind closed doors, advancing agendas that cross borders and bend laws. Some offer assistance. Others treat operatives as collateral damage. Most will change sides if the offer fits. Each faction includes plot hooks and fully fleshed-out personnel, ready to be deployed in operations that demand complexity and consequence

The Cost of Holding the Line

SECTION-R doesn’t stop authoritarianism. No one does. But they slow it down. They make it messy, unpredictable, and costly. They buy time, sometimes seconds and sometimes years. And they pay the price in silence, knowing that success means no one ever knows how close the world came to falling apart.

Guillotine Protocol doesn’t make heroes. It makes sure there’s still something left when the heroes finally show up.