Runescape is making its first (and then, immediately, its second) foray into the world of tabletop gaming. Based on Jagex’s long-running MMO, both a board game and a tabletop RPG compatible with DnD 5e are coming out later this year. Each one is aimed at fans of Runescape and Old School Runescape and will see players exploring the fantasy setting of Gielinor.
Jagex is partnering with tabletop publisher Steamforged Games for these releases and announced them in a joint press release on January 24. No stranger to taking franchises from pixels and polygons to cardboard and dice, Steamforged Games has previously worked on 11 other digital-to-tabletop adaptations, including the board game versions of Dark Souls and Monster Hunter: World. Right now, it’s got a Dark Souls tabletop RPG in the works, for instance.
The tabletop role-playing game, meanwhile, will consist of a “lavishly illustrated, hardback core book” for designing characters and quests, and will be fully compatible with D&D 5e.
Promising “fresh-but-faithful adaptations of classic quests and characters”, the Runescape board game, for one-to-five players, meanwhile, will involve chatting to NPCs, exploring the world, and tackling quests. There’ll also be crafting, cooking, and levelling up skills involved – this is Runescape, after all.
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While the tabletop RPG is heading “straight to stores”, Jagex and Steamforged Games plan to crowdfund the board through Kickstarter. “Using a crowdfunding platform and other dedicated community spaces will let us engage directly with fans of Runescape and Old School Runescape throughout development,” explains Steamforged Games creative director and CCO Mat Hart.
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