Patron-supporters of the creators of Apocalypse World, Under Hollow Hills and The Wizard’s Grimoire will already have a copy of Vincent Baker’s next zine game.
The Thief and the Necromancer are now on Kickstarter, with about a week to go and to approach x10 funding. It’s the fourth in the series of Grimoire games, and you can find out more about it from the pitch page.
The creative team warn that there’s some moderate fantasy and body horror, but I think that’s expected given the title.
The Thief and the Necromancer uses an approach called exertions – a dice pool version of Powered by the Apocalypse’s moves.
You might exert your empathy to understand someone or to disarm a situation with charm, and, of course, you might exert yourself physically.
The Thief & the Necromancer is the fourth game in The Wizard’s Grimoire zine series. It’s a complete, stand-alone game; you don’t need any of the other issues (The Wizard’s Grimoire, The Barbarian’s Bloody Quest, or The Last Adventure) to play it.
The games share a world and a rule system, but each one has its own unique adaptations and quirks. The Thief & the Necromancer includes rules for adventure, escapades, and danger, and rules for summoning and studying at the feet of a ghostly tutor as well.
The other games in The Wizard’s Grimoire are available through the campaign. There are cheaper tiers for those in hardship.
The default $15 pledge reward is a generous PDF copy, plaintext and printouts.
Stepping up to $22 is enough also to get the whole game in print.
After $22, there’s a leap to $150 and a chance for other game designers who use PbtA to pay back the Bakers for the system, as they give it away free.
However, the top tier is $1,500, which invites the very same, and one backer has accepted it at the time of writing. That’s a hella generous pledge.
The PDFs are due in September, and the printed rules in December.
What do you think? Measured observations are welcome and you can leave them in the comment section below.
