Designed for solo play
Ordered phases and clear NPC behavior let one player run a small team and its opposition without pretending to be two competing players.
Welcome to Potham
One city.
Endless chronicles.
Potham Chronicles is a modular, miniatures-agnostic tabletop game built for fast solo and cooperative battles. Create a small cast of Characters, choose the mods that reshape Potham, and put the miniatures and terrain already on your shelves into play.
What is RUSS?
Potham is the setting. RUSS is the engine.
RUSS (Russellmania UniversALL Skirmish Engine) began as a conversion of The Walking Dead: All Out War. That game's compact movement, opposed dice, rising danger, and cinematic survivor combat provided the starting point for a system that was simply fun to put on the table.
Over time, the conversion became its own rules engine. Terminology changed, Character creation expanded, combat and conditions were standardized, RPG traits were added, and digital tools grew alongside the rules. The goal is no longer to reproduce one zombie game. It is to keep the immediacy that inspired RUSS while making the engine useful across many settings.
Potham Chronicles is not a box of official miniatures waiting to be bought. It is a reason to use the miniatures, dice, terrain, and ideas you already own.
The core engine
The rules every world shares
Core RUSS supplies the common language. Mods add their own flavor without rebuilding the game from scratch.
Light tactical, cinematic combat
Opposed attack and defense dice resolve quickly, while positioning, equipment, conditions, and special rules keep the decisions meaningful and the results dramatic.
Escalating danger
The Danger level changes the pressure on the table. Events, enemies, and abilities can respond as a quiet mission becomes a crisis.
No initiative treadmill
The turn structure keeps play moving. You are not constantly stopping to roll, compare, or recheck initiative before deciding who acts next.
More than combat
Brains, Strong, Nimble, and Willpower give scenarios hooks for investigation, physical challenges, stealth, resistance, and interaction.
Use it your way
Print the cards, use your own components, roll physical dice, or use the online dice tools and Gameplay Dashboard to track cards, loadouts, conditions, and the action.
Worlds in orbit
Mods change the setting, enemies, and special rules
RUSS provides the shared game engine, while mods act as optional realities that reshape Potham with new themes and mechanics.
A mod can add NPC types, equipment, events, conditions, special rules, card styles, and turn-order details. Gameworld mods are designed to remain compatible: activate only one, or let worlds collide. Want to fight Zombos and Xenomorphs at the same time? The shared core is built to support it.
Available
Potham Chronicles: Zombos
The first major RUSS mod carries its Walking Dead ancestry forward with Zombos, swarms, infection, noise, and escalating survival pressure.
Explore MoreAvailable
Potham Chronicles: Xenos
Close-quarters survival in the depths of space, with faster Xeno enemies, acid, projectile weapons, industrial equipment, and escalating colony missions.
Explore MoreAvailable - Playtesting
Potham Chronicles: 2038
A Y2K-style systems glitch tears through near-future Potham and a corrupted artificial intelligence becomes self-aware. Everyday helper machines turn dangerous, drawing ordinary people into incidents across a city that still looks familiar.
Explore MoreResearching
Potham Chronicles: Last Frontier
Classic science-fiction space opera sends Potham's crews on dangerous away missions across strange new worlds. Last Frontier brings RPG stats to the forefront, letting exploration, discovery, and problem-solving matter alongside tactical combat.
From shelf to table
What you need to play
- 1
Choose your world
Start with core RUSS and activate the mods appropriate to the mission.
- 2
Build the cast
Create Characters, NPCs, equipment, supplies, and loadouts using the RUSS tools.
- 3
Set the table
Use any suitable miniatures and terrain. A compact play area keeps movement and decisions immediate.
- 4
Play the story
Follow the turn structure, resolve objectives, and let the Danger level and active mods shape what happens next.
Your first chronicle
Know the rules. Set the scene. Start the turn.
The complete Start Here guide takes you from choosing a mission through setup, all four phases, combat, and the rules for Zombos and Xenos.