Downtrodden is a tabletop roleplaying game of personal horror set in an alternate United States where fear, propaganda and extremism have stripped cisgender women and nonbinary people of their most basic human rights. Under the Traditional Values Act, autonomy has been replaced with “guardianship,” identity has been legislated out of existence and oppression is enforced with a smile and a patriotic slogan befitting of a 1950s "nuclear family" propaganda advertisement. This is a world that didn’t fall apart overnight—it was carefully rebuilt into something cruel.

Players take on the roles of people living in the shadow of these laws: those directly oppressed by them, those trying to survive quietly, and those who choose to resist. Characters may belong to underground networks, pursue legal challenges against an unjust system, attempt dangerous escapes or simply try to hold onto their humanity in a society determined to erase it. Downtrodden asks difficult questions about complicity, courage, fear and the cost of endurance.

At its core, Downtrodden is about personal horror. While the game can support resistance, intrigue, and confrontation, its focus is on lived experience—on the small, intimate moments where power is felt most sharply and choices carry emotional weight. Campaigns are structured around life before and after the passage of the Traditional Values Act, emphasizing loss, change and the ways people adapt or break under pressure.

Downtrodden is an explicitly political game that examines the dangers of misogyny, transphobia, homophobia and authoritarian ideology taken to their extremes. It is designed for thoughtful, communicative groups who want to tell intense, meaningful stories together. This is not a game about heroes saving the world—it is a game about people trying to survive it, change it or refuse to be crushed by it.