Call of Cthulhu creator Chaosium has announced a brand new tabletop RPG system and setting, and it’s coming to Backkit in August this year. Time Without Tide is a Victorian-inspired fantasy RPG, where players are delvers, venturing into the monster-filled ‘World of Fog’ to find treasures, protect survivors, and perhaps save the world?
It seems like there’s been an apocalypse of some sort involving a fallen moon (which explains the lack of tides), and now most of the world beyond protective walls is swallowed by fog and full of monstrous eels and train-robbing frogs. Details are thin on the ground, but the gorgeous art here immediately has me interested, which is doubly impressive considering it’s drawn almost entirely in shades of green, brown, and grey.
The Backerkit campaign page explains that Time Without Tide will have all the usual gubbins you’d expect from a new TTRPG, including a character creation system, lists of items, vehicles, and companions. Also included will be a list of “strange adaptations that mutate your Delver, granting them bizarre powers”, which tells us a little bit more about the kind of setting we’re dealing with here, as does the following paragraph, which I’m just going to post verbatim:
“See those poor hungry orphans? They seem so sad, cold, and vulnerable. Don’t you want to take them in, give them a better life? Don’t be fooled. They’re orphans by choice. They killed their parents and got a taste for patricide. Sign those adoption papers, and you’ll be next.”
‘Bout time someone said what we’ve all been thinking about those orphans. They’ve had it too good for too long, I say!
Mirth and Misery in the World of Fog is the strapline for Time Without Tide, so I’m expecting this to be a game of contrasts. You can check out the rules for yourself, as a Quickstart PDF is available for free when you follow the Backerkit campaign. The game’s crowdfunder opens in 42 days, on August 11.
I’m interested to hear your first impressions of this new Chaosium venture. Why not share them over on the Wargamer Discord?
Source: Wargamer
