Kobold Press Announces 'Cozy' RPG Riverbank

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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.
 

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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.
About 1/4 of my purchases are "shelfware"; only about 3/4 are intended for play. Of those in that 3/4, only about 2/3 of those get played. So, until recently, about half got played.
A few I wanted to get and play have instead been shelved because of issues with the system. TOR 2e, for example.
Many of my poly-systemic friends have similar ratios - 1/2 to 2/3 of purchases wind up unplayed.
 

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I don't think it will endure. It might be fun for a one shot to play pretend as children do using the sophistication of ourselves as adults, but you don't really need a system for that and it becomes stale rather quickly. This is the reason that before RPGs most people moved on from make believe long before they reached adulthood. No matter how much they love Jane Austin, most adult participants will prefer to roleplay in the world of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies so that they can kick in the doors and slay the monsters.
I guess the obvious response to all f this is “So what?” Most people don’t buy any RPG. The question is whether there’s enough interested people to make this viable, and there’s evidence that it is. Regency-era RPGs and supplements have sold decently this last decade. The kind of fantasy this game focuses on generates a great deal of fan fiction and generally good-natured discussion. If it doesn’t sell, nobody but Kobold Press will really suffer; if it succeeds, a bunch of people will get some small-scale yet significant satisfaction, and it’s not like would be monster slayers will ever lack for many games to choose from.

Are d12s becoming the new favored dice? I see them being used as the major die type in a lot more games now than I used to.
It seems like it is. Ex-Forge and related indie and OSR designers took to sharing their love for it in their designs starting last decade, and there’s clearly a public for it. And course it’s been in systems like Savage Worlds, Torg, and Cortex a good while now.

There is a market for cozy games. In my solo FB groups, many women play cozy RPGs; men also play them. They are looking for a different, non-violent experience.
There's also people who don't have the time, energy, or interest in longer campaigns and enjoy one-shots. And people who don't want violence but do want to RP.
This, in a big way. Devoted fans of violence-strong play tend to have no idea how many actual and potential RPG players want something with way less to no violence. Partly because the later tend to clam around the former out of fatigue ate thusiastic explanations of why good roleplaying must have lots of violence.
 

No matter how much they love Jane Austin, most adult participants will prefer to roleplay in the world of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies so that they can kick in the doors and slay the monsters.
You don't have to sell it to 'most' people. You just have to sell it to enough people. Niche markets can be more profitable than competing in the mainstream.
 



Exactly.

I get why RPGs started as predominantly action-adventure games regardless of the setting-genre. That action-adventure has utterly dominated the RPG industry until today is something of a mystery. There are more kinds of stories. Why is it either action-adventure fantasy/sci-fi or mystery-horror? There are more genres than that.
Some genres are hard to pull of in the format. But I would argue that other genres and playstyles have been around since the beginning, or even before it. It is just that action adventure and horror are the most visible -- like they are in almost every other medium. Visceral thrills are broadly popular. This should come as a surprise to no one.
 




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