Coyote & Crow (Direct, DriveThruRPG & Amazon) is a tabletop RPG by Connor Alexander, William McKay, Weyodi Oldbear, Derek Pounds, Nico Albert, Riana Elliot, Diogo Nogueira and William Thompson.
Set in an America without colonisation, the game had a mighty success of a Kickstarter, delivered and picked up the Diana Jones Award for excellence in gaming and the CRIT Award for the best multiplayer RPG.
Last month, Geek Native patrons voted Coyote & Crow – the company which publishes Coyote & Crow – into the RPG Spotlight. Happily, Connor Alexander made time for us, and we’ve a chunky interview coming up with thoughtful answers.
You’ll find out about the board game that I’m a European uncertain of the difference between someone being a Cherokee and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and why D&D’s rule set was a non-starter.
Coyote & Crow interview with Connor Alexander
You know the drill, start at the start and find out who we are talking to. Connor is Coyote & Crow’s lead designer and the owner of Coyote & Crow Games.
What is the RPG about for readers who have heard the name Coyote & Crow but don’t know much more?
It’s a science fantasy set in an alternate near future where colonization of the Americas never happened. Players take on the role of people Indigenous to the Americas who are now living in a future society and facing a world that is healing from the climate disaster that changed history. There are some fantasy/fictional elements as well. Characters get a superhuman ability, granted to them by the mysterious Adanadi. The point is to tell epic, heroic tales that will be retold by later generations around a campfire and to provide a unique opportunity to mix Indigenous mythology and culture with futurism.
Who are Coyote & Crow the company?
Technically, I’m the sole employee. I’m a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. I’ve been a gamer my whole life, but started working in the industry back in 2014. The rest of the folks who work on our games are folks from all walks of life – writers, artists, editors. Some of them do those things for a living, others it’s just a part time passion.
This might be a strange and stupid question, and I hope it is not rude! What exactly does “Citizen of the Cherokee Nation” mean? For context, I’m Scottish. I live across the Forth of Firth from the Kingdom of Fife, a geographical region, and I have Scottish clans in my heritage. I am a citizen of the United Kingdom and Scotland. People can become a citizen of the UK by passing tests and doing the paperwork, be Scottish by deciding so, become Fifer by moving there, and marry into a Scottish clan if not born into one.
It’s not rude at all. I think your Scottish comparison is actually really apt. Many Native American nations are sovereign nations recognized by the US and other governments. We have our own governments and citizenship. Although recognition by the US government isn’t necessarily important to me personally, I also have US citizenship. I usually specify that I’m a citizen of the Cherokee Nation when I tell folks who I am because many people have varying and complex heritages and connections to their Native ancestry here in the US. And like Scottish clan history, it isn’t always a pleasant one when talking about the colonial government involved. More specifically, there are also three separate “bands” of Cherokee in the US – both federally recognized as well as by each other. So if someone just says they are Cherokee, that’s fine, but saying I’m a Citizen of the Cherokee Nation has more specificity, as it conveys that I’m both enrolled (a recognized citizen) but also to which band of Cherokee I am a citizen of.
What would you like to be known for?
Creating fun inclusive games with good messages and accurate and positive portrayals of Indigenous Americans. Games that bring more people to the table and maybe even passively educate folks along the way.
The path of Coyote & Crow
I didn’t tell Connor this, but he’s done amazingly well. A Kickstarter that grew huge and received so much attention could have quickly become a disaster. The more money, the greater the paperwork and deeper the pit traps, the more limelight, the more pressure.
Do you consider Coyote & Crow’s Kickstarter a successful money-raising project, and why do you think people were happy to pledge their support?
It was successful beyond my wildest dreams. I was very happy in my full-time day job and for better or worse, the success of the Kickstarter for Coyote & Crow meant that I had to quit my job and start a company. If you have a $25,000 dollar Kickstarter, you can keep your day job and fulfill your 200 backers in a few years doing things part time. With a $1+ million dollar Kickstarter, people expect a little more. Plus this was an opportunity to not just make the RPG, but to expand into tabletop games and hopefully bring even more representation into the hobby.
Is there a Coyote & Crow strategy game?
We have a very light dice game called Naasii. It’s played in-world and uses the same set of dice players need for the RPG. It’s a good alternative if you need a set of d12s and also want a fun little roll and write game to go with it. We have two other stand alone tabletop games that have nothing to do with Coyote & Crow as well. Those will be released probably early next year. Finally, we’re also in development on an expandable, constructed deck style card game set in Coyote & Crow. It’s similar to games like Android: Netrunner or Game of Thrones from Fantasy Flight Games. Players will have access to a large fixed card pool and then be able to create custom decks and compete against other players and their decks. I’m really looking forward to that and I think it will be our next big crowdfunding event.
Thanks for the quick introduction to the Coyote & Crow RPG. I’ve long been curious about the choice of comet, especially climate disaster. Is that a contemporary warning? Why pick that mechanism as the turning point in history?
I suppose you could take it that way and I’m fine with that interpretation. But what it really boiled down to was that I needed something to change all of human history. A disease like the Black Plague that was hitting Europe around the same time as this event, might have affected Europe, but it wouldn’t have shaped the whole planet. It was also a great vehicle to allow me to introduce the Adanadi, a non-terrestrial substance that fuels people’s special abilities. I’ve always loved the point where science and spirituality collide and this was a great device for that. It gets people asking questions, which is always good.
Given the epic powers, are characters in the game human?
Absolutely human. Every living thing is affected by the Adanadi, but only humans take a modified version of it during puberty. And those gifts only bestow minor changes. In game terms, it’s a couple of stat bonuses. But about 20% of the population – and all PCs – also get a special ability. Those range from strength boosts to superhuman senses to control over your autonomous bodily functions. But none of them elevate people to the level of gods or superheroes. No one is flying around or shooting beams from their eyes. In fact, most people who gain an ability just incorporate it into their daily life.
Coyote & Crow and 5e
Coyote & Crow uses its own system, which DriveThruRPG calls ‘Coyote & Crow’. There had been no OGL drama when Coyote & Crow launched the crowdfunding, and the 5e system was booming.
Coyote & Crow feels very different from D&D. In your experience, have new players found it a giant leap?
I’m glad it feels different from D&D! That was a goal for me. I think if you’ve only ever played D&D, it’s going to be a big shift. Partially because it’s a whole new setting and world, but also because the rules mechanics are so different from D&D. I think even Native Americans even have a hard time shifting their perspective when playing this game. There aren’t a lot of other worlds out there like it. Look at how ‘novel’ Wakanda and Black Panther seemed to global audiences. I think since that film, we’re seeing a bit more Afrofuturism in games and media, but it’s still a rarity. So when you look at Indigenous cultures, almost no one is looking to the future. For the most part, media is still struggling to even get the past done properly.
With that said, I’ve seen a lot of folks “get it” by the time they’ve done a play through. And as they wrap their head around it, I’ve seen them light up and start asking questions and getting more and more excited. So yeah, it’s a giant leap for some folks. But I think it’s going to get smaller as time goes on.
Was it essential to be different from D&D, and if so, why?
It was essential for two reasons. First, there are a LOT of D&D clones out there. Just the existence of the OGL is the framework for an entire sub-industry. Getting noticed in that field is hard if you’re not an established player. Second, you don’t get too many swings at bat in life (to use a baseball metaphor) and if I was going to take one swing at bat to produce a game that was about Indigenous Americans, I didn’t want to do it on the back of a system built by a white guy whose setting was based on European fantasy tropes. It needed to either fail or succeed based entirely on its originality.
Trends versus fads
Have you seen how quickly some publishers can see breaking news, become inspired, get their act together and bring us a credible proposition on a crowdfunding platform?
It’s great! It’s also not great. I doubt rushed games are ever great, but it also means it takes wise eyes to spot what’s really like to become a trend and eventually the new normal for the industry versus what’s a fad, might be expensive, and forgotten next month.
Have you spotted any trends in RPG publishing that interest you, and is Coyote and Crow part of any?
I’d say Coyote & Crow is an outlier in that we’ve produced a big hardbound book meant to sit next to D&D and Pathfinder on game shelves. Not many folks are doing that with original IPs. The two trends I’ve noticed though are a flood of IP based RPGs on one end. You have companies like Renegade and Free League absolutely dominating the IP based RPG market. Every big genre movie from the last 40 years has its own RPG now. On the other end, you have the accessibility of micro-publishing which is allowing designers to craft really niche little games with unusual mechanics. Things like Women Are Werewolves, Alice is Missing, and Icarus are doing really fun things that likely wouldn’t have been possible 20 years ago. I think that’s the space to watch. Big IPs are fun – and Free League is doing a masterful job with their games – but it’s not really bringing a ton of innovation. Neither is better than the other, but I’m always more drawn to the innovative side of things.
Accessibility is one possible trend as designers and layout experts structure rules so dyslexics and people with reduced vision can read the games. Does that make it harder for publishers to manage prices and costs?
I’m glad you used trend and not fad. I feel like it’s a trend that is not only right, but good business too. Making your games accessible to as many folks as possible just means more sales. And I don’t see many of the choices I made as overly costly. Could we have gone with a point size smaller than 14 and saved some money on our page count? Probably. But I also just like the way our book looks with that font size. I think if you can’t manage some accessibility basics, then you have budgeted or marketed well enough. Personally, I’d like to go even further with accessibility as we (hopefully) grow as a company. When people feel included in your game and in your world, they’ll let you know. And nothing beats that feeling.
Are there any cost-saving steps ethical publishers could take regarding sensitivity and cultural reading?
Great question. Yes. Bring them on board early. It might seem counterintuitive, but treating your sensitivity folks like editors is a mistake. If you bring them on early you can avoid some core mistakes. Sometimes it’s not about specific word choice, it’s more conceptual. And having to go back and root out an entire chapters worth of material because you were accidentally insensitive to a group is laborious. Also, bringing your experts in early isn’t just about avoiding mistakes. Those folks with different experiences can sometimes bring fresh new takes to your game and provide ways of making it better that might never have occurred to you. It’s about creating a good game and no designer is going to know everything about everything.
Who would you like to have worked on Coyote and Crow with you and the team?
Roy Boney. He’s an artist and a Cherokee National Treasure. Amazing, kind guy with so much talent. But he was just too busy and I was too much of an unknown. Maybe I’ll get to work with him in the future, if I’m lucky.
The future of Coyote & Crow
A Coyote & Crow TV series? We’ve seen stranger things…
Are there any changes you’d make to the world you created if you had a time machine and could go back and make edits?
Mostly small stuff. And things that I’ll tweak for the 2nd edition when we get to that point. Lots of typos of continuity issues. It doesn’t matter how many times you and your editor go over a book, you’re going to miss some. And sometimes your game just can’t be broken until it gets out into the public’s hands. And that’s a good thing. You might have hit 96 out of 100 on your first try, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hit 99 on your next try. For the most part though, I’m deeply proud of this game and the book we put out. Even if I never made another game, I can always be happy with what I gave to my backers.
If we had a time machine, what might we see Coyote and Crow, the company, looking like in future? What’s next for you?
We live in uncertain times, so right now, I’m just happy to be able to pay my rent and keep selling games. With that said, I’d love to see a Coyote & Crow comic, video game, TV series and more. The world is wide open and I think people – Natives and non-Natives – are hungry from something different. Especially if it comes from a place of authenticity and love. For now though, I’ll settle for making some board games that people enjoy.
Coyote & Crow
You can find Coyote & Crow Games on social media.
You can also join the Coyote & Crow community on Discord.
Thanks to Connor for his time. If you’re curious about the candidates for October’s RPG Spotlight, you can see the shortlist on the spotlight page.
Hit us up with some intelligent observations in the comment box below.
