A ruthless tabletop RPG forged in the ash wastes of Ten Earth Shattering Blows.
The desolate world forged by Nuclearpasta in Ten Earth Shattering Blows is not populated by untouchable demigods or sanitized wizardry. It is a grueling, dust-choked wasteland where survivors scrape the bottom of the barrel, gambling everything for a ceramic mask or a single swallow of stale water.
Traditional tabletop engines fail to convey this visceral dread. We needed mechanics that make your palms sweat on every single die roll. A system where greed and desperation drive you past your limits... until you break.
In Blast or Bust, everything is combat and your die size shrinks as your mastery grows. The better you are, the tighter your control. But you alone decide when to hold back—or when to push your luck until you bust.
Roll your dice in sequence. Reach the Difficulty Threshold to succeed. But beware: exceed 21 and you Bust—inflicting 0 damage while suffering the world's lethal Counterattack. Rerolling all dice used to calculate damage creates a merciless push-your-luck equation of pure tension.
The foundational rules of the game. Conflict resolution, universal obstacle mechanics, HP/MP management, the push-your-luck chain, the complete Well-Fortress introductory adventure, a landscape Referee Screen, and 6 illustrated rookie character sheets.
Full character progression from rookie scavengers to hardened wasteland veterans. Archetype deep-dives (Arcanist, Noble, Scout, Warrior, Cleric) and an expanded arsenal of scavenged relics from the world of TESB, from sauroid teeth to makeshift prosthetics.
Procedural generation tables for ash wastes, nomadic raiders, colossal biomechanical horrors, and the dreaded escalation mechanics of the Tension Die.