Source:
https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/la-desbanda-1937/news/las-desbanda-1937-educational-rpg-based-on-real-life-atrocity

La Desbandá 1937 offers a uniquely human look at war through the lens of
a real-life atrocity turned RPG

Translated into English ahead of the Málaga-Almería road massacre’s 87th
anniversary.
In early February 1937, thousands of civilians fleeing the
Republican-held Spanish city of Málaga were massacred by Franco’s
Nationalist troops. Newly-translated tabletop RPG La Desbandá 1937 -
named after the atrocity - aims to honour those killed by offering a
personal perspective on the real-life events told through a storytelling
game.

Designer Pablo López’s game offers a distinctly different depiction of
warfare in comparison to many typical RPGs and tabletop titles, focusing
on the experiences of the everyday people caught up in one of the
bloodiest episodes of the Spanish Civil War rather than those fighting
on its frontline.
La Desbandá 1937 takes place as Málaga falls to the fascist army after
seven months of resistance, resulting in hundreds of thousands of
citizens fleeing along a coastal road to the Republican city of Almería
on February 7th. As they flee, Franco’s forces bombard them from the air
and sea - a barrage that is estimated to have killed up to 5,000 people
in reality.

The rules-light game repurposes Graham Walmsley’s Cthulhu Dark system
for its historical setting and stories of wartime survival in contrast
to eldritch mysteries. Players roll a six-sided die to resolve tests,
adding additional dice if their character has a relevant career or
background as determined during character creation. Those characters
might include those on either political side of the conflict, as well as
those who remain neutral, align with Russian Communists supporting the
Republic, support the Francoists for their own bourgeois gain or
advocate for an independent Málagan government.

As they experience trauma, characters will roll a six-sided die, aiming
to roll under their Break value - which begins at one. If they fail,
their Break increases, symbolising their waning physical and mental
condition in place of conventional RPG hit points. Reaching a Break
value of six results in a character succumbing to a ‘breakdown’ -
whatever form that may take - and the player deciding whether to play a
new character.

López’s book includes an example scenario centred on their search for
historical figure Norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor who aided those
making their way along the besieged Málaga-Almería road and recorded the
atrocities firsthand. The short campaign spans six days of the week-long
conflict and includes other NPCs based on real people, including
Bethune’s fellow aid workers, journalists and Anselmo Vilar, a
lighthouse keeper who thwarted the Francoists by extinguishing its light.

Originally released in its native Spanish, La Desbandá 1937 was recently
translated to English ahead of the event’s 87th anniversary in 2024. In
keeping with its creation as an effort to educate players about the
real-life massacre and pay respect to those killed, the game was
released as a non-profit project, with its PDF free to download on
Itch.io and a physical copy costing little more than a cup of coffee.