In Kobold’s newest TTRPG, you create your own cozy game

Writer Kij Johnson has always used animals to tell the stories of people. That’s how the writer and designer of Kobold Press’ upcoming tabletop role-playing game RiverBank put it to me in our recent email exchange. Like the novel it’s inspired by — The River Bank, Johnson’s 2017 sequel to Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows — the main characters of this game are not orcs or halflings or even humans, but fuzzy, adorable anthropomorphic critters and creatures in dapper outfits.

“Animals are in almost every story I have written,” Johnson said. “I guess it makes sense that, if I was going to write a game, it would also have animals at its center.”

The aesthetic of the game alone sets it apart from Kobold’s typical lineup of advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaigns and its own 5th-edition-compatible RPG, Tales of the Valiant. The work of artist Kathleen Jennings, who also illustrated The River Bank book, puts woodland fauna and pond dwellers on two legs and in clothing fit for an afternoon picnic in the meadow. It only makes sense that they’re bipedal — foxes in suspenders and hens in suits alike — because there’s a lot to do in the world of RiverBank, which launches on BackerKit Monday.

“I designed RiverBank with friction and chaos in mind, all the ways that things go wrong with our plans and intentions, and this includes foes. Arguments, funny exchanges, lifelong rivalries, and even cutlass battles are possible, but it’s a cozy world, and a foe interaction probably isn’t going to end up with anyone dead,” Johnson said. “For many of the animals of the River Bank, death would be preferable to (for instance) being dragged away from your friends to escort your awful great-uncle to a spa for his health.”

That type of emergent storytelling is central to RiverBank’s gameplay, which is designed for three to five players and uses three dice: one d4, one d6, and one d12. Combat is possible, Johnson said, but it’s not a requirement. It really depends what story you want to explore with your characters — which does not mean the game is simpler than any other 5e-compatible game.

“It’s got simple, consistent mechanics; the complexity comes from the various ways the game subverts the mechanics,” Johnson said. “Storylines are likely to be driven not by movement through spaces but by interactions with NPCs, randomizers, and situational complications and simplifiers. I’ve tried to give them a lot of tools for handling this, including a bit of structural and pacing theory for generating and playing narratives.”

For newcomers and gamemasters alike, Johnson said the game is designed for anyone who likes to “emphasize the roleplaying part of RPGs.” That includes the mechanics and the GM, who should be able to pick up most of the necessary references after just a session or two.

Nonetheless, like any good TTRPG, the game is what you make it. While the world is cozy, and death is unlikely, Johnson designed the game “with friction and chaos in mind.”

“Arguments, funny exchanges, lifelong rivalries, and even cutlass battles are possible,” Johnson said. So don’t be surprised if your fuzzy little rabbit ends up dueling with a toad in culottes.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the release date for RiverBank. It has been updated to reflect that the game launches on BackerKit today.