Slayers expands its monster-infested city with a new setting book for the asymmetric RPG
Rock the monstrous blocks.
Indie RPG designer Spencer Campbell, known online as GilaRPGs, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new sourcebook for his award-winning tabletop RPG Slayers. The Slayers Almanac will bring together ten writers from across the world, along with an update to the game’s base ruleset.
The almanac provides groups with a compendium of information, adventure hooks, worldbuilding and campaign scaffolding for use in Slayers or any other system, published in the form of a travel guide for the infinitely expanding settlement known as The City. Each author has been given reign to design their own district, filling it with intrigue, danger and cultural cul-de-sacs.
Real-world cities might have a Chinatown or Little Italy, but Slayers’ largest hub boasts places such as a half-living archive of history or a borough clinging to the length of a gargantuan bridge across a sometimes insubstantial river. Some of the districts draw on literary traditions or fun genre tropes, while others reflect the author’s own culture, a vibrant injection of non-European folklore and mythology in a space that so often treats Western fantasy as the default.
Slayers first launched in 2020, allowing players to don the mantle of monster hunters in defense of The City - or at least to line their pockets while doing so. Like many of Campbell’s games, the design focused on fast-paced action and providing space for both combat and interaction during each session.
Classes are asymmetric, each approaching combat a little differently. For example, the Blade is a lithe and whip-quick fighter whose dice can explode into massive combos in the right situation. On the other hand, the magic wielded by the Arcanist corrupts their body over time, which is reflected in a push-your-luck design where players can pay a price for increased effects.
The designers contributing to the Slayers Almanac are Juno Baker, Logan Dean, Jay Dragon (founder of Possum Creek Games and designer of Wanderhome), Josh Hittie, Angela Lemus-Mogrovejo, Luna Petra G., Jessica Marcrum, Kevin Thien Vu Long Nguyen, Charu Patel and J.R. Zembrano. Illustrator Mike Rieman will be creating hexmaps and all the art in the book, and Will Jobst (TKTKTK) will be editing and working on the rules update.
The Kickstarter campaign for Slayers Almanac is funding a 50-page physical book that will also be available as a digital PDF. Backers can pick up a copy for $15 (£11) and $25 (£18), respectively, and shipping is expected to begin in May 2022.