Invisible Sun, the surrealist RPG by Monte Cook Games is definitely unique in many ways. While premium or high production value board games and LARPs have become increasingly common, the RPG industry version has been tame by comparison. Invisible Sun blows the concept out of the water. I've never seen an RPG that had shelving before.
Originally Kickstarted in 2016, Invisible Sun has a new Kickstarter running through Nov. 16 to fund a reprint. I had seen photos of The Black Cube, which is the core version of the game (versions with additional material exist), in the original Kickstarter photos, and it seemed impressive so a reprint Kickstarter made sense. When I was offered a chance to review the game I agreed because it had always intrigued me, but I hadn't gotten around to it.
Then it arrived – all 35 pounds of it.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The photos of The Black Cube do not do it justice. The cube itself is much larger than I expected (and heavier!). The map of Satyrine, the city that can be a starting setting for the game is a full-color, cloth map. The Testament of the Suns is a resin sculpture of a life-sized, six-fingered hand that holds an active card during game-play. Four beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books (The Gate, which explains the game; The Key, which focuses on character creation; The Way, which is about the game’s magic systems; and The Path, which is the setting) are included along with stylized d10s, tokens, an art book, a ton of cards, plus a lot more. You can't help but be impressed by the quality and design of every component.
Invisible Sun is a game of surrealistic magic and the “real world” hiding behind the world we know. Created by Monte Cook of D&D Planescape and Numenera fame, the game echoes elements of mysticism like numerology, Kabbalah, etc. and embraces story game techniques. Instead of a GM creating a story and the players interacting with it and changing it, Invisible Sun focuses on player goals and cooperative storytelling.
Unlike games where the surrealism is limited to the art but the adventures are more creepy than surreal, Invisible Sun bakes surrealism into every part of the game. Want to create an antagonist? The Gate recommends a technique that is essentially a form of bibliomancy to create antagonists (flip through a book, select a word, flip to another page and select another word, etc. and then try to combine them in interesting ways). Or use the “cut up” technique from Dada and surrealists.
In both cases, Invisible Sun advises GMs and players to embrace the contradictions rather than trying to make them make sense. The concepts created wouldn't be used to create a story that the players are thrust into. Instead, everything starts with what interests the players, how they feel it might fit their character arc and build a story from the bottom up.
I could easily spend a thousand words or two talking about Invisible Sun and probably still wouldn't feel like I had captured it properly for a review. Whether it's details like how the d10s are used for zero to 9, not the conventional 1-10 results and why that's important for game play or more complicated topics like how the round Sooth deck changes the magic of the game's eight suns (nine if you count the invisible sun that rules magic), there's a lot to unpack – literally and figuratively – in Invisible Sun. Yet that doesn't mean the game is complex or crunchy. Just different.
And in many ways, that sums up Invisible Sun perfectly – different. Very different.
This article was contributed by Beth Rimmels (brimmels) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
Originally Kickstarted in 2016, Invisible Sun has a new Kickstarter running through Nov. 16 to fund a reprint. I had seen photos of The Black Cube, which is the core version of the game (versions with additional material exist), in the original Kickstarter photos, and it seemed impressive so a reprint Kickstarter made sense. When I was offered a chance to review the game I agreed because it had always intrigued me, but I hadn't gotten around to it.
Then it arrived – all 35 pounds of it.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The photos of The Black Cube do not do it justice. The cube itself is much larger than I expected (and heavier!). The map of Satyrine, the city that can be a starting setting for the game is a full-color, cloth map. The Testament of the Suns is a resin sculpture of a life-sized, six-fingered hand that holds an active card during game-play. Four beautifully illustrated, full-color, hardcover books (The Gate, which explains the game; The Key, which focuses on character creation; The Way, which is about the game’s magic systems; and The Path, which is the setting) are included along with stylized d10s, tokens, an art book, a ton of cards, plus a lot more. You can't help but be impressed by the quality and design of every component.
Invisible Sun is a game of surrealistic magic and the “real world” hiding behind the world we know. Created by Monte Cook of D&D Planescape and Numenera fame, the game echoes elements of mysticism like numerology, Kabbalah, etc. and embraces story game techniques. Instead of a GM creating a story and the players interacting with it and changing it, Invisible Sun focuses on player goals and cooperative storytelling.
Unlike games where the surrealism is limited to the art but the adventures are more creepy than surreal, Invisible Sun bakes surrealism into every part of the game. Want to create an antagonist? The Gate recommends a technique that is essentially a form of bibliomancy to create antagonists (flip through a book, select a word, flip to another page and select another word, etc. and then try to combine them in interesting ways). Or use the “cut up” technique from Dada and surrealists.
In both cases, Invisible Sun advises GMs and players to embrace the contradictions rather than trying to make them make sense. The concepts created wouldn't be used to create a story that the players are thrust into. Instead, everything starts with what interests the players, how they feel it might fit their character arc and build a story from the bottom up.
I could easily spend a thousand words or two talking about Invisible Sun and probably still wouldn't feel like I had captured it properly for a review. Whether it's details like how the d10s are used for zero to 9, not the conventional 1-10 results and why that's important for game play or more complicated topics like how the round Sooth deck changes the magic of the game's eight suns (nine if you count the invisible sun that rules magic), there's a lot to unpack – literally and figuratively – in Invisible Sun. Yet that doesn't mean the game is complex or crunchy. Just different.
And in many ways, that sums up Invisible Sun perfectly – different. Very different.
This article was contributed by Beth Rimmels (brimmels) as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. If you enjoy the daily news and articles from EN World, please consider contributing to our Patreon!
