Baseball is America’s pastime for a reason. The game has everything you could possibly want: stunning displays of athleticism, rapid-fire action, nail-biting tension, and loads of both sporting and interpersonal drama. Thus, it’s easy to see why the sport has been the centerpiece of many beloved, critically praised movies like Field of Dreams, Moneyball, and A League of Their Own. Leverage capitalizes on this, turning a single at-bat into a gripping dramatic TTRPG that chronicles the tumultuous relationship between a single pitcher and batter, both on and off the baseball diamond.
Leverage is a baseball-themed TTRPG for 2 players. One player controls the batter, and the other controls the pitcher. Both of these players have a long history with one another, meaning that when they step up to the mound to face each other, both have minds full of racing thoughts and confused emotions, meaning that both are keen to claim victory for themselves.
Hit The Mound Running
To play, you’ll need a ten-sided die, an eight-sided die, and several six-sided dice. The game’s main flow is pretty simple. The pitcher starts by selecting a pitch from the included list and reads its associated prompt. Then both players roll their dice (the pitcher rolls the d10 and the batter rolls the d8), and the higher roll wins (with the batter winning ties).
Each prompt explains whether the winner or loser narrates the previously read-out prompt. At any time during this narration, the other player may shout “Time” to end it, forcing the other player to wrap the narration up. Once the narration concludes, the narrating player earns a D6 for the final pitch.
Once a previously agreed-upon number of pitches has been played, a final phase, dubbed the final pitch, begins. During this phase, both players roll all of the dice they have collected over the course of the game. The player who rolls the highest total wins and gets to narrate how the pitch plays out and whether the batsman smacks it out of the park.
Three Strikes And You’re Out
Leverage is an excellent duo TTRPG that fantastically captures the feel of a sports drama like Challengers or Heated Rivalry in a compact, easy-to-learn package, making it perfect for people who love TTRPGs with dramatic narratives.
I love the pitching mechanics. Having players roll to decide who controls the narrative perfectly captures the complex psychological warfare between pitcher and batter before the pitch is thrown, where both players try to read the other or psych the other out.
However, because the pitcher always chooses the pitch and the batter has a slight roll advantage (due to the smaller die and winning on ties), narrative control ends up pretty even over the course of a game. This means that, while the game captures the competitive spark that makes baseball so exciting and intense, both players get to add to the story, avoiding a session where one player is forced to sit while the other talks constantly.
The prompts are also well-written, striking the perfect balance between giving players space to be creative and put their own spin on the relationship without being railroaded, while never being so vague that players lack firm direction. This means that every session will play out differently, giving the game plenty of replay value (in fact, the prompts are so well done that you could easily do a campaign that follows the same pitcher and batter across all seven games of the World Series).
I also love the Final Pitch mechanic. While it is unusual for duo games to have a strict winner and loser, the TTRPG wouldn’t feel like a true simulation of baseball if it didn’t resolve the at-bat situation. Plus, letting players gain dice for narrative control sidesteps a common issue with win/loss systems in TTRPGs: players being forced to rate their roleplay performance, something many find uncomfortable (and that can put off a lot of newcomers to the medium). Also, thanks to the game’s well-designed narrative control system, this final roll is often very close, creating a beautifully tense moment that serves as the perfect capstone to the session.
One small alteration I would like to see is a suggested number of pitches. While it’s fine to remind players they can tweak the game’s length to fit their needs, I always like having a designer-suggested default, as it helps players get a feel for the game and helps newer players overcome decision paralysis.
Leverage is a fantastic TTRPG that will delight both baseball fans and lovers of dramatic TTRPGs. The game fantastically captures the inherent drama of baseball and the complicated relationships players form both on and off the field. Plus, due to the game’s streamlined and intuitive mechanics, it is an excellent introduction to the world of duo roleplaying, meaning it’s a TTRPG worth checking out even if you have zero interest in baseball.
