- Zero parades has a free TTRPG
- It adapts the setting and mechanics of the game to pen and paper
- It also comes with a free premade one shot to help you learn the game.
Let’s be real, 2026 – with its component price hikes, massive layoffs, cancellations, expensive AAA titles, and Sony’s promise to stop making physical games – has been something of a year of Ls. But one of the few lights in this darkness, and contender for game of the year, Zero parades for dead spies has just announced the release of brand new content: it’s a tabletop version of its gameplay, and it’s completely free.
If you head to zeroparades.com/one-shot you’ll find everything you need to get started, including a simple core rulebook and a One Shot story set in the Zero parades world 30 years before the events of the game.
The One Shot comes with everything you need to play your first session, including location maps, pre-made characters, GM material (to help whoever is running things), and adapted rules that bring the game’s mechanics to life in TTRPG form.
Scratch the itch
Everyone who played Zero parades for dead spies or its spiritual predecessor Disco Elysée You will have already felt the TTRPG-inspired elements – all of the games’ challenges are already presented in the form of dice rolls.
Just like in Zero parades the pen and paper game has the same stats and faculties – Action, Relationship, Intellect – which determine your character’s capacity for certain actions, as well as details on how you can practice to increase your chances of success – at the cost of increasing your fatigue, anxiety or delirium respectively.
You also find clothes that you can equip to improve your stats (and sometimes also worse), or tools that unlock actions like a camera allowing you to take photos to use later – or remember a sick spy moment you just pulled off, the decision is yours.
As a big fan of both TTRPGs like Dungeons and Dragons and of Zero parades I had been thinking about adapting the digital gameplay into something pen and paper for my regular gaming group. With this free version, I don’t have to do any work – although I do like that there are resources to create your own adventure and stories if you want to move away from the premade One Shot.
Zero parades for dead spies is everything you would want from a follow-up to Disco Elysée. It retains the post-Soviet vibe and aesthetic with a whole new story and setting. The gameplay is also very similar, with some updates that refine the mechanics in a more enjoyable and yet completely familiar way.
There is also this general and increasing oddity which means that Disco Elysée it’s such a joy to play.
I know so many people who loved Disco Elysée I had no idea Zero parades is something they can play, and the perfect game to scratch that itch Disco Elysée leaves you with it.
Also, if you read this article the day it comes out in full Zero parades for dead spies the game is 10% off for everyone and 20% off for Disco Elysium owners during the Steam Summer Sale. What are you waiting for? Go play it!
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds.
