Kobold Press Announces 'Cozy' RPG Riverbank

Kobold Press--known for its D&D 5E compatible products--is diversifying into the world of cosy TTRPGs with Riverbank, a game of 'elegant animals, chaos, & whimsy'. The game has a page on Backerkit already, and launches in April.

Illustrated by Kathleen Jennings, and designed by Kij Johnson, the game allows you to attend tea parties, compete at the village fair, and dance at fancy balls. It uses a new game system which utilises a balance between the Animal and Poetry sides of your character.

In a RiverBank game, you join an intelligent society of anthropomorphic Animals and enter their life of cake and teatime by the slow part of the river. Here, the charm of cottagecore meets the whimsy of sophisticated critters as they navigate the intricacies—and often the bedlam—of polite Animal society.

Riverbank is a game about roleplaying, where your character choices directly impact the narrative. Weave farcical or dramatic tales of elegant characters on curious quests as you celebrate friendships, navigate social niceties, and weather the unique dynamics of Animal life. Attend tea parties, stroll through gardens, dance at fancy balls, and win the prize at the village fair—all while trying to keep a stiff upper lip and dodging difficult relatives.

 

[Distracted DM]

The ENWorld community is self-selected door-kickers, so it'd be hard to know from the responses here. Someone is buying all the regency RPGs, though, so presumably there's an audience for it. (No, not identical, but a lot of overlap in the audiences.) There's also a lot of cozy boardgames.

I sometimes wonder how much of the indie ttrpg industry is powered by "shelfware" buyers like myself.. people that buy ttrpgs because they look interesting, are worth a read, are good for inspiration for whatever game you're running now, and "maybe someday I'll run it," but it never gets proper use.
Am I in the majority, or the minority? I'd prefer it to be the far minority, I hope these great games are getting play out there, but I can't help but wonder. Collecting TTRPGs ends up being a hobby you fall into unintentionally.

 

[Morrus]

Lol, 'cottagecore'.. seriously?

It’s been a genre for ages. The word’s no weirder than ‘cyberpunk’ or ‘space opera’. It’s not my thing personally but it has plenty of fans.

 

[Scribe]

I sometimes wonder how much of the indie ttrpg industry is powered by "shelfware" buyers like myself.

No insider knowledge here, but I bet thats that majority.

 

[delericho]

Yeah, that could be a useful introduction to a couple of people I know...

 

[Celebrim]

The ENWorld community is self-selected door-kickers, so it'd be hard to know from the responses here. Someone is buying all the regency RPGs, though, so presumably there's an audience for it. (No, not identical, but a lot of overlap in the audiences.) There's also a lot of cozy boardgames.

I'm talking about the responses of my wife and daughters. Make believe cozy gets old fast. Door kicking takes much longer.

My suspicion is that the audience for most RPG books is not participants in play, but people who read RPG books. I have far more RPG books than I've ever used in play, and yet I keep buying them anyway. Most ironically, out of two of the three game systems I do play, I tend to rely almost entirely on my own notes and house rules, forgoing for the most part any official books.

 

[SteveC]

I think this is a really good idea. Unfortunately I don't think that the core 5E chassis is especially good for this use, but I will be happy to look at what they do with it. I think that WotC wants to move in this direction with D&D itself from the core dungeon bashing experience, so I think they may be ahead of the curve in this area. I'm interested, even though this is likely not what my group will want to play with. I frankly think this is a good direction to go in the hobby.

 

[TheHistoryProf]

I sometimes wonder how much of the indie ttrpg industry is powered by "shelfware" buyers like myself.. people that buy ttrpgs because they look interesting, are worth a read, are good for inspiration for whatever game you're running now, and "maybe someday I'll run it," but it never gets proper use.
Am I in the majority, or the minority? I'd prefer it to be the far minority, I hope these great games are getting play out there, but I can't help but wonder. Collecting TTRPGs ends up being a hobby you fall into unintentionally.

I think you're in the majority. I keep buying stuff I flip through but never use, as do my friends in the hobby.
Also, I find tons of KS stuff at my local HPB store that people have finally let go of, rpg books bought on a the spur of the moment "oh this looks neat."

 

[TheHistoryProf]

Riverbank is a game about roleplaying, where your character choices directly impact the narrative. Weave farcical or dramatic tales of elegant characters on curious quests as you celebrate friendships, navigate social niceties, and weather the unique dynamics of Animal life. Attend tea parties, stroll through gardens, dance at fancy balls, and win the prize at the village fair—all while trying to keep a stiff upper lip and dodging difficult relatives.[/callout]

I wonder if I can use this with Lamentations of the Flame Princes.......haha jk (maybe).

 

[Faolyn]

"-core" is the new "-punk"

And now that I've typed that, I think I want a cottagepunk RPG

I'd play it.

 

[The Soloist]

I think this is a really good idea. Unfortunately I don't think that the core 5E chassis is especially good for this use, but I will be happy to look at what they do with it. I think that WotC wants to move in this direction with D&D itself from the core dungeon bashing experience, so I think they may be ahead of the curve in this area. I'm interested, even though this is likely not what my group will want to play with. I frankly think this is a good direction to go in the hobby.

It's not based on 5e.

Kobold Press is putting down its shields and picking up some spats with the RiverBank RPG. This brand-new system is optimized for 3 to 5 players, using standard dice (d4, d6, d12) to resolve decisions while players keep the balance between their characters' Animality and Poetry sides. Fall too far into one side or the other, and total disaster may follow!