Leftovers🍽️

Synopsis

Your family has gathered for dinner after months apart.

Old arguments resurface. Forgotten memories return. Tensions grow. Everyone tries to act normal, until the conversation turns to the global android recall announced earlier that week.

Reports mention emotional defects, attachment issues, and strange behavioral changes. Most people dismiss it as another corporate scandal.

But tonight, someone at the table may not be human.

Or maybe distrust is the real problem.

How to Play

Leftovers is a GM-less tabletop roleplaying game for 3–8 players. Each player takes the role of a family member during a tense dinner gathering.

Players choose a Plate, which works as their character sheet, and fill a Napkin together to create shared memories, family conflicts, and past events. During the main course, players draw Food Cards whenever the conversation needs a new topic, a difficult question, or a push to keep the roleplay moving.

At the 20-minute mark, players receive secret Cutlery cards that introduce hidden information. The potential android does not even know they are an android, so the game becomes less about deduction and more about paranoia, doubt, and broken trust.

When the timer ends, Dessert Cards guide the final moments of the dinner and bring the story to a close.

Print & Play

The downloadable PDFs contain everything you need to play Leftovers.

Rulebook

The Rulebook PDF consists of two A4 sheets designed to be printed double-sided. Once printed, place the sheets on top of each other, fold them in half, and you will have the complete booklet ready to use during play.

Cards & Components

The second PDF contains all printable game components:

• Plates (character sheets)
• Napkins (background building sheets)
• Food Cards
• Cutlery Cards
• Dessert Cards
• X-Card

A few cards require special attention when sorting the deck:

• The red fish card is the card titled "Food is Ready". Place this card on top of the Food deck. Players always start the game with this card.
• The X-Card is the card titled "X-Card". Keep it visible on the table throughout the game as a safety tool.
• Sort the remaining cards according to the instructions in the rulebook before starting play.

Once everything is printed, cut the cards, prepare the table, and you're ready for dinner.

Topic

Leftovers explores how trust changes when artificial identities become emotionally convincing. The game asks whether an artificial relationship can still feel real, whether memories define who we are, and whether emotional authenticity depends on being human.

It uses a familiar family dinner setting to explore synthetic media, AI companionship, identity, memory, and the fear that the people closest to us may not be exactly who we think they are.

Credits

• Talha Ahmed
  
• Osman Gelmez
  
• Nathaly Kalantar
• Henrique Moraes
  
• Noorulain Zafar

This game was created as part of the Speculative Design in the REPLAY Erasmus Mundus Master in Game Design