Dice Kapital, the indie British RPG studio that gave us Ecopunk that planted trees and highlighted the damage of capitalism, are back on Kickstarter with Clerk & Dagger.
In this tabletop RPG, characters are rogue auditors who risk debt to sneak in and take down the Foe. Sound quirky? Hundreds have backed it, Kickstarter targets have been met, and there’s still time to join in.
Described by Dice Kapital as “Oceans 11 wrapped in a grungy cartoon of medieval fantasy”, Clerk & Dagger is a unique system with inspiration from Forged in the Dark.
There is two parts in the game; Prepwork and then The Audit. The plan and then the dungeon, if you want. The in-game system uses Soul Coins, which can be borrowed at risk, and won during The Audit.
You see, in Clerk & Dagger, the Foe will have slyly tried to “exempt” their own supply of Soul Coins from Tax. The Clerks must find those, which weakens the Foe until it’s time to strike.
Frankly, I’m getting flashbacks to the real-life agency M&A activity I’ve been in and it’s scary.
But not every Clerk can ignore the alluring glint of the Soul Coins – as you play, uncovered Soul Coins are placed at the table and players can Embezzle for their own gain. Just make sure the Game Master is distracted!
Be careful as you perform The Audit! You can Twist to undo your stumbles and avoid detection, but only so many times, and once the Alert Level gets raised, your own Debt will begin to haunt you, punishing your rolls.
Backers of the indie game will get a PDF copy of Clerks & Daggers with pledges of £8 or more.
Those supporters who step up to £15 will get a physical book, but there’s shipping from Brexit Britain to calculate.
The pledge tiers are given a further boost with the addition of a signed playing card, pushing the pledge up to £30. The retailer tier is higher and has attracted at least one shop.
Dice Kapitol estimate an October 2023 delivery, which feels like no time at all.
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