Recently I’ve had the chance to take a gander at Awaken, a new Tabletop RPG midway through its run on Kickstarter, and I have to say it’s caught my interest. In this game the player characters “awaken” to a role as one of the Vasall, or in layman’s terms “superhumans”. The PCs, and the ancient evils they face, are all placed in a backdrop steeped with Slavic and Mediterranean folklore. Frankly the whole premise, mixed with a simplistic d6 system and a focus on shared storytelling, is new enough to me to really excite!
I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the artwork caught my eye before anything written about the project. The images invoke the grim landscape and themes of heroics against an encroaching darkness perfectly. From the towering colossi to the character portraits themselves a level of attention was paid that I can truly respect. It really makes one yearn for the print version of this project. Looks like that backer level comes in at a somewhat pricey $45, but as mentioned… that artwork is awfully nice.
The mechanics of the game appear to rely on a simplistic system of generating successes using a handful of six-sided die, with the successes coming from 5’s and 6’s rolled. Reading further I discovered that the GM is prompted to reward player creativity and role-playing with additional die, presumably to the GM’s discretion. Seeing this, it is apparent that this game finds itself solidly in a category of RPGs that focuses more on cooperative storytelling and creativity than getting bogged down by mechanics.
They seem to be moving along at a solid clip so there’s a good chance to fund within the 20 days that remain. The fact that this game is being brought to us by such a new company, Games Collective, the level of polish on the system shows a lot of promise with the group. That they teamed with Studio 2 Publishing, Inc. only adds to my comfort that a funded game will be completed and shipped out in a reasonable amount of time.
Character sheets look sliiiiick
Give this Kickstarter a gander because it’s going to fund and if you want in on it it looks like you’ve got a great chance!
Kickstarter Details:
- Goal: $15,000 (currently at $13, 456)
- Full Team:
- The Games Collective: an RPG design team founded by Marko Matijević Sekul and Zoltan Lečei.
- Artwork: Kristina, Bojan, Dalibor and Mihael
- Editor: Joshua Yearsley
- Animation: Drazen
- Publisher: Studio 2 Publishing
-Melvs
I have to admit that character sheet looks a wee bit more complex than I’d like in my games these days, especially in a product focusing on storytelling rather than mechanics. But you can’t judge a game on that alone; and I definitely agree that the artwork and concept are awesome. Looks like they reached their goal (and then some), so I may give this a gander when it’s released.
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