Blank Generation II: Reagan's Children

WHAT IS THIS?

BLANK GENERATION: REAGAN'S CHILDREN is a solo journaling RPG set in New York City from 1984 to 1988. You play an artist trying to survive as the underground scene you loved gets commercialized, your friends die from AIDS, and you face an impossible choice: sell out and survive, stay pure and die out, or try to have both and lose everything.

This is Book II in the Blank Generation series. Book I (1977-1983) was about pure artistic struggle. Book II is about corruption, disease, and what happens when major labels start circling.

You don't need to have played Book I to play this. Each book is standalone. But if you have a character who survived Book I, you can carry them forward into the Reagan years and watch what happens when the pressure gets worse.

HOW YOU PLAY

1. Create your character:  A musician, filmmaker, performance artist, visual artist, writer, or something else. Name them. Give them one specific detail. Decide what they're making.

2. Roll for your crisis.  Use 2d6 on three tables: 

• SITUATION (what's happening), 
• OPPORTUNITY (what you could get), 
• COMPLICATION (what makes it worse). A friend just tested HIV+. A major label wants to sign you. Your apartment burned down. Navigate all three at once.

3. Make choices under pressure Roll 2d6 when the outcome is uncertain. 6 or less = failure. 7-9 = success with cost. 10-11 = success. 12 = perfect. Spend your limited resources to improve your odds. Track what it costs.

4. Create your work.  Then choose:

• Stay Pure: Keep your integrity, mark +1 Burnout
• Make the Deal: Mark Commercial Success, gain Cash, lose Underground Cred
• Try Both: Roll 2d6 to see if you can pull it off (you probably can't)
• Walk Away: Refuse the opportunity, mark Burnout, keep your soul

5. Journal what happened.  What did you create? What did it cost? Who did you lose? Who tested positive? What deal did you make? What are you becoming? Why are you still here?

Play one scenario (1-2 hours) or carry your character across multiple sessions, watching them slowly burn out, sell out, or die.

WHAT'S NEW IN BOOK II

DISEASE TRACK (replaces Exposure from Book I) The AIDS crisis is killing everyone. You mark Disease when friends test positive, when you engage in risky behavior, when you share needles, and when you lose someone. At 4+ Disease, you roll on the Consequences table. You might test positive yourself. The game doesn't end if you do—many people created their best work while positive. This mechanic documents the AIDS crisis with respect, not exploitation.

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS vs. UNDERGROUND CRED Book I tracked pure Reputation. Book II splits it. You mark Commercial Success when you sign with major labels, do commercial work, and soften your art for mainstream consumption. You can spend it for advantages—get immediate cash, avoid Burnout, and secure major opportunities. But every 2 points of Commercial Success reduces your Underground Cred. At 4+ Commercial Success, the underground scene rejects you. At 0 Underground Cred, you can only work mainstream.

The tension between these two stats is the entire game. Can you get paid without selling out? Can you keep your credibility while surviving? Can you have both? (Spoiler: probably not.)

NEW LOCATIONS, NEW NPCs, NEW THREATS

• Limelight (church converted to club)
• Pyramid Club (performance art, drag, holding on)
• Keith Haring's Pop Shop (art as commodity)
• East Village galleries (money arrives downtown)
• CBGB in decline (rent trouble, fewer shows)
• Hospital/AIDS clinic (where everyone eventually goes)

Keith Haring. Jean-Michel Basquiat (at peak fame, will be dead by August 1988). Madonna. Beastie Boys. Jim Carroll. Kathy Acker. David Wojnarowicz. The people who crossed over, the people who stayed underground, and the people who died.

WHAT YOU GET

Included in this game:

• Complete 2-page trifold game (print double-sided, fold into thirds, carry in your pocket)
• Full rules for solo play
• Character creation
• 3 crisis tables (Situation, Opportunity, Complication)
• Location table (2d6, 12 locations across 1984-1988 NYC)
• Disease Consequences table
• Survival Moves (what you do when you hit 0 Cash)
• Commercial Success mechanics (spend for advantages, lose credibility)
• Journal prompts
• Rules for carrying characters forward from Book I
• Rules for extended play across multiple scenarios
• Historical context (1984-1988: Reagan era, AIDS crisis, crack epidemic, commercialization)

Format:

• PDF (print-ready, 11" × 8.5" landscape)
• Play time: 1-2 hours per scenario
• Supplies needed: This game, 2d6, a journal

CONTENT WARNING

This game addresses the AIDS crisis (1984-1988), drug addiction, death, sex work, and systemic violence against artists. It documents real history with respect, not exploitation. Testing positive doesn't end your game—many people created their best work while positive. The game acknowledges that reality.

If you're looking for nostalgia or romance about the 1980s downtown scene, this isn't it. This game is about what that scene cost. Most people didn't make it. The ones who did often wished they hadn't paid the price they paid.

This is documentation, not celebration.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

You'll like this if you:

• Played Book I and want to see what happens when commercialization arrives
• Love solo journaling RPGs like Thousand Year Old Vampire or Wretched & Alone games
• Care about music/art history and want to experience it procedurally
• Want games that hurt in a good way
• Are interested in the AIDS crisis as historical documentation
• Played in underground scenes and want to process that experience
• Want to understand what your parents/older siblings lived through in the 80s
• Appreciate games that track loss, cost, and compromise

You might not like this if you:

• Want a power fantasy or a hero's journey
• Prefer games with clear "winning" conditions
• Need happy endings
• Find content about AIDS, drug use, or death too heavy
• Want romanticized versions of punk/art scenes

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"I just watched someone play Reagan's Children and choose death. Not because the game forced it, but because the numbers told them they were done, and they understood what that meant. That's game design working." — Playtest feedback

"The Disease Track handles AIDS with more respect and accuracy than most documentaries. This is how you document a crisis through mechanics." — Playtest feedback

"I got to 6/6 Burnout and realized I'd been that tired in real life and didn't have words for it until the game gave me the numbers." — Playtest feedback

ABOUT THE SERIES

BLANK GENERATION is an eight-book series documenting the death of underground art scenes across the world.

The NYC Series (1977-1999):

• Book I: BLANK GENERATION (1977-1983) - The Birth
• Book II: REAGAN'S CHILDREN (1984-1988) - The Corruption ← YOU ARE HERE
• Book III: ZERO TOLERANCE (1989-1993) - The Crackdown
• Book IV: ZERO HOUR (1994-1999) - The Death

City Variants (coming):

• LONDON (1976-1982) - British punk
• BERLIN (1989-1999) - Wall falls, techno rises
• SEATTLE (1988-1994) - Grunge's six years
• DETROIT (1977-2013) - 36-year decline

All games use the same core mechanics adapted to the local context. You can play one book or carry a character across the entire NYC series, watching commercialization kill the underground over 22 years.

WHY THIS EXISTS

I've been thinking about what games can preserve that other media can't. Documentaries show you what scenes looked like. Books tell you what they felt like. But games make you navigate the same decision trees under the same constraints.

When you're at 5/6 Burnout with 0 Cash, and someone offers you money to soften your work, you're not reading about compromise. You're making it. You're feeling the numbers tighten around you.

The people who lived in downtown NYC from 1984 to 1988 are dying, forgetting, or sanitizing their stories. The venues are gone. The squats are luxury condos. Times Square has a Disney Store.

But the procedure remains. The math of burnout. The trade between integrity and survival. The cost of making art when most people don't make it.

Someone had to document it.

-Julian

CREDITS

Design, Writing, Layout: Julian Grant 

Research Sources: "And the Band Played On" (Randy Shilts), "Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor" (Tim Lawrence), Keith Haring Journals, "Close to the Knives" (David Wojnarowicz), ACT UP Oral History Project, East Village Eye archives 

Special Thanks: Everyone who survived. Everyone who didn't.

PURCHASE INCLUDES

• BLANK GENERATION: REAGAN'S CHILDREN trifold game (HTML + PDF)
• Lifetime access to updates

All proceeds support continued development of the Blank Generation series and research into underground art scene documentation.

The scene is dying. The scene is being born. You're broke. You're brilliant. You're burning out. Make something that matters. While you still can.

© Julian Grant | BLANK GENERATION Series | All Rights Reserved Book II: Reagan's Children | 2026