Tomb Raider Licensed RPG Announced by Evil Hat Publishing

Evil Hat Publishing, makers of FATE and Blades in the Dark, have announced an officially licensed RPG based on the Tomb Raider video game franchise starring the iconic character Lara Croft.

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From the announcement:

Explore hidden tombs and uncover powerful secrets! Defy danger as you race to discover forgotten artifacts and prevent nefarious forces from exploiting them! Race to unearth secret artifacts and forgotten truths in order to save them from the nefarious forces that would exploit them!

Mystery awaits, and sometimes, the answers we seek can only be found in shadow…

In this officially licensed tabletop RPG you play members of the Truth Seekers: contemporaries of Lara Croft who strive to reveal long-hidden knowledge and thwart those who would steal and exploit artifacts for their own gains. It is a game of action, exploration, and self-discovery. Face perilous challenges and tough choices as you learn what it takes to be a hero.

Tomb Raider: Shadows of Truth requires 3-6 players, pencils, paper, the rulebook, and at least six 6-sided dice in order to play.

Your group will collectively create their Team using one of the Team Playbooks and then build individual Team members choosing from the Crafter, Scholar, Hunter, Companion, Legacy, Changed, and Reclaimer. One player, the Keeper of Truths, describes the dynamic and compelling world around the Team as they all make the connections which bring the adventure to life.

Collect Truths and draw upon your Maps, Aid, and Lore to boost your rolls as you race to enter the Final Tomb!

The Truth is hidden. The Truth is dangerous. And in the end, the power of Truth is what we make it.

Based on the hit franchise from Crystal Dynamics, Tomb Raider: Shadows of Truth will be a 8.5 x 11 full-color hardcover containing rules, advice, and adventures for both Seekers and Keepers alike. Currently under development in-house at Evil Hat, a public playtest will launch soon and crowdfunding in service of its production is expected in 2025.

To stay tuned to further announcements about the game, including the upcoming playtest, make sure to join the Society of Raiders on the official franchise website here.

Though there hasn't been a new video game in the Tomb Raider franchise since 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider, developer Aspyr recently released a remaster of the first three games, Tomb Raider I-III Remaster on PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series S/X, and Nintendo Switch earlier this month. The only other official tabletop RPG for the Tomb Raider franchise was 2023's Lara Croft's Mark of the Phoenix released as free PDF on the Crystal Dynamics website.

As part of the promotion for the Tomb Raider: Shadows of Truth announcement, Evil Hat has provided a coupon for 20% off of any of their games with the code ENTERTHETOMB during checkout from the Evil Hat store.

 

[Reynard]

It looks like the system is at least inspired by PbtA?

 

[Abstruse]

It looks like the system is at least inspired by PbtA?

Polygon posted an article with some interviews a few minutes ago and said it was a mix of PbtA and BitD.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Polygon posted an article with some interviews a few minutes ago and said it was a mix of PbtA and BitD.

I know Evil Hat publishes non-FATE stuff like Monster of the Week and what not, but honestly surprised this isn't running on some version of FATE. Are they stepping away from it?

 

[evilhat]

Outside of the core rulebooks, Fate has not been a strong seller for a number of years now. End of the day, Fate was more of a "big in the 2010s" game for us, and setting-focused Fate books have struggled—still mostly seeing success, but small success.

The scale of Fate's successes have been heavily eclipsed these days by Blades in the Dark, Monster of the Week, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, among others in our top echelon. Fate Core System is in that top echelon (like, 5th place IIRC last I looked) but proportionally, the TTRPG market's interest in it has been waning vs. those other big guns. (And despite a deep line of many books, generally it's the "gearhead" titles — the core books, many of the Toolkits — that get the interest.)

All that said, we do have a big Fate-based project in the works! But it's not Tomb Raider.

 

[Reynard]

Outside of the core rulebooks, Fate has not been a strong seller for a number of years now. End of the day, Fate was more of a "big in the 2010s" game for us, and setting-focused Fate books have struggled—still mostly seeing success, but small success.

The scale of Fate's successes have been heavily eclipsed these days by Blades in the Dark, Monster of the Week, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians, among others in our top echelon. Fate Core System is in that top echelon (like, 5th place IIRC last I looked) but proportionally, the TTRPG market's interest in it has been waning vs. those other big guns. (And despite a deep line of many books, generally it's the "gearhead" titles — the core books, many of the Toolkits — that get the interest.)

All that said, we do have a big Fate-based project in the works! But it's not Tomb Raider.

Thanks for that. I love FATE but it can be difficult to find players for these days.

Can you confirm if Tomb Raider is a Forged in the Dark game?

 

[Zehnseiter]

Polygon posted an article with some interviews a few minutes ago and said it was a mix of PbtA and BitD.

Meh news for me. Despite several tries and some really nice books on my shelves I just can't get those rule systems to work for me.

 

[evilhat]

Thanks for that. I love FATE but it can be difficult to find players for these days.

Can you confirm if Tomb Raider is a Forged in the Dark game?

Tomb Raider: Shadows of Truth uses some elements of Blades (like the dice), but it's more of a PBTA game in its structure—perhaps unsurprisingly, there's some Apocalypse Keys style stuff going on in there too. Folks who get in on the playtest (a few months from now) will get to see those workings soon enough!

 

[Reynard]

Tomb Raider: Shadows of Truth uses some elements of Blades (like the dice), but it's more of a PBTA game in its structure—perhaps unsurprisingly, there's some Apocalypse Keys style stuff going on in there too. Folks who get in on the playtest (a few months from now) will get to see those workings soon enough!

Very cool, thanks.

 

[Kannik]

Outside of the core rulebooks, Fate has not been a strong seller for a number of years now. End of the day, Fate was more of a "big in the 2010s" game for us, and setting-focused Fate books have struggled—still mostly seeing success, but small success.

Just wanted to thank you for this -- from what I've seen over the past years you've been very open and straightforward about what's happening at/for Evil Hat and the industry and I really appreciate it.

(And I still need to give Agon a try sometime soon!)