RPG: ‘Realis – Ashcan Edition’ – Austin Walker’s Game Of Cursed Moons, Magic, & Sentences Launches Today
Realis is an RPG from designer, storyteller, and Friend at the Table, Austin Walker. The Ashcan edition launched today, so check on your indie RPG friends.
Realis is a new tabletop RPG from Austin Walker, whom you might know from all around the web. Walker is often the GM at Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast about critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends. Or perhaps you know Walker from Giant Bomb or Vice’s Waypoint and their amazing dive into the world of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen.
But even if you’ve never heard of Walker before, Realis is an exciting prospect. It’s an RPG of storytelling, identity, and a thousand mystic moons just waiting to be explored. It is a game that invites you to make it yours – in fact, you can’t avoid it. You will make Realis yours.
Realis: Ashcan Edition – A Thousand Moons, A Band Of Protagonists, What Else Do You Need
What is Realis, exactly? It is a game, and it is a place. The setting of Realis is a “cursed orbital sphere of 1,000 mystical moons filled with mystery, magic, and impossible technology.” Already, I’m sold. You promise me a thousand moons, and I’m there. What can I say? But it is also a game. A diceless storytelling engine. And here’s where it gets real weird and interesting.
The core of Realis involves “mechanical prose.” Sort of. Take a look at the character sheet, above. You’ll see it consists not of stats and abilities, but rather proper nouns and “malleable Class Sentences.” These will change over the course of the game, but they describe what your characters do and allow you to impact the world. But the world leaves its mark on you.
Your Sentences will change throughout the game, as does your character. These are storytelling tools at their heart. And they are designed to ground you in the world of Realis, with the help of your friendly Game Master. While it is all collaborative storytelling, there’s still one player serving as a guide and facilitator.
In the Ashcan Edition (this is complete, but not as polished as a physical book might be), you’ll find a host of things to dig into:
- 20 Playable Classes across Nine Spheres
- 40 NPC Classes
- Three Grand Factions
- Three Example Moons… Or four, for the observant
- Original art by Sam Beck and Oddesque
- 125+ Pages
- Single-page, spread, and printer-friendly PDFs
Seriously, you’ll want to check this one out. It’s what your indie RPG friends have been salivating over for a while. Dip your toe into the diceless RPG pool, you might be surprised at what you find nibbling.
Realis is here, just waiting to be yours!
