One of the interesting tabletop RPG companies I spoke to at UKGE 2024 was Three Sails Studios, who’ll be Kickstarting a non-violent RPG about saving monsters in February 2025.
The Mappa Mundi: An Exploration + Ecology RPG quickstart. Three Sails Studios had print editions at UKGE and called it a prerelease, but those books were only for the demos, and I’m calling it a quickstart as a term readers will be more familiar with.
The quickstart has various layouts, such as different downloads and tarot-style cards, but the core download is 101 content pages.
Take the concept of Monster Hunter and flip it. Mappa Mundi is set in a world wrecked by climate damage and isolated regions, and the situation worsens. Our PCs set out into the wilds to find, document and understand monsters. They might be giant monsters, like in Monster Hunter, but they might be small ala Pokemon.
Co-designer Jeremy Blum told me some of the vibe was about respecting and understanding the wilds and confronting and mastering it. Travel and exploration in some RPGs can be skipped or a pain, but in Mappa Mundi is a fun part of it with the game’s mechanics paying close attention.
While the game might sound wholesome-ish (not that being trapped by a mud slight is child-friendly), the game uses skill trees for crunch and character customisation. It also uses a Fail Forward approach, with failure being as core to character advancement as success, so it’s not a game for young minds who might need simple goalposts.
Jeremy talked me through how some of the location ‘tarot’ cards worked. Firstly, I’ll say they looked gorgeous. On one hand, the location depicted looked scenic and lovely, surely a natural wonder worth protecting. However, that’s the card’s orientation to use if the PCs have done sufficient research and preparation for the location they’re exploring. If they’ve not done enough, rotate the card, like a tarot card, to discover a different aspect. A lack of prep, as in real life, puts explorers at a disadvantage in trying to master nature.
Mappa Mundi has mechanics to govern which cards you have in your hand in the first place and how they get there.
Ecumene is slowly being unmade by Fate, and players take on the role of Chroniclers who set out from hearth and home to travel the wilds and tell the story of this realm in flux.
Emphasising non-violent gameplay, Mappa Mundi tasks Chroniclers with working alongside the peoples, monsters, and creatures of Ecumene as a small but vital part of a wide ecosystem, with the power, skill, and knowledge to save that ecosystem from collapse.
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