Gameplay

Basic Mechanics

Fear in the Foundation is a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG). These are collaborative story-telling games shaped by a number of rules for the particular game that is being played. One player acts as the "Game Master," who takes on the role of lead storyteller. In Fear in the Foundation, the Game Master is known as the Overseer, which is in reference to the people who run the SCP Foundation in-universe. The Overseer creates situations for other players to deal with, describes settings, and plays all non-player characters. On that note, everyone other than the Overseer creates their own character to play within the world. These characters often act as part of a "party," or group of characters working towards common goals.
 
In most tabletop games, players cannot simply do all the things they wish to do. In many cases, they must roll dice to determine the outcome of an action. Fear in the Foundation uses a d20 for most rolls. Characters have general Abilities, as well as more specific Skills. In order to "pass a check," or, in other words, do something they want to do, players must roll at or above the value of the Ability or Skill related to the action. 

Each character has 6 Abilities, plus Luck, and 16 Skills.
 
Abilities - Strength, Agility, Durability, Knowledge, Power, Charisma
 
Skills - Artillery, Bludgeoning, Espionage, Examination, Fraud, Gadget, Intimidation, Judgment, Medical, Negotiation, Occult, Perception, Presentation, Science, Resolve, and Tussle

Luck, though it is grouped in with character's Abilities, is a separate resource that allows characters to make failed rolls succeed. Say a player needs to roll a 15 or higher in order to pass a check, but rolls a 12. The player can use 3 Luck points to make that roll succeed. Players typically start each campaign with 40 Luck. Since Luck cannot be regenerated during a single campaign or one-shot, players should use it sparingly. 

The game also features a number of mechanics that have become stables in many other TTRPGs, such as Advantage & Disadvantage, Critical Rolls, Challenge Levels, and Encounters.


Game Modes

The game consists of three different game modes. Breach, Containment, Exploration, and Operational. As you may have seen on this site's homepage, the SCP Foundation is a fictional shadow organization concerned with the containment and study of things that defy scientific explanation, which they refer to as anomalies.
 
Breach Missions are kicked off by catastrophic events where a number of anomalies somehow manage to escape from their containment units and wreak havoc throughout a Foundation facility. Players deal with a variety of issues as they try to capture these anomalies and bring the site back under control. This mode features four primary character classes: Researcher, Security Officer, Field Agent, and D-Class.

Containment Missions involve members of the Foundation going out into the wider world to apprehend anomalies. In some cases, Field Agents explore situations that may be anomalous based on reports they've received, while in others, MTF Agents go out to capture anomalies that have completely escaped containment.
 
Exploration Missions often center on a particular anomaly. A Foundation team is sent out to investigate this anomaly, often attempting to help researchers learn more about it.  This may involve teams of D-Class, Field Agents, or MTF Agents, depending on the anomaly and how it needs to be explored.
 
Operational Missions focus on teams that are sent out to carry out missions not directly tied to containment or exploration, such as operations against hostile groups of interest or attempts to rescue civilians from a hostile group or deadly anomaly. In these missions, players take on the role  MTF Agent.

The game features five primary classes: D-Class, Field Agents, MTF Agents, Researchers, and Security Officers, and players can choose from six unique subclasses while playing any of them, which make for some interesting combinations. The six subclasses are The Brawler, The Explorer, The Marksman, The Occultist,
The Showman, and The Technician, which, like the classes, all have their own unique abilities.