Free League Announces Anime-Inspired Twilight Sword RPG

Free League Publishing has announced Twilight Sword, a new collaboration with Italian games studio Two Little Mice. The new game is a fantasy RPG inspired by video games like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Ni No Kuni. Players explore the world of Radia in the game, exploring Landmarks and collecting Hope by defeating bosses. A 16-page preview of the game revealed five Kin that players can choose from, including the Huma, the cat-like Kedi, and the penguin-like Pengu. The preview did not reveal any details about the game system, but there appears to be a focus on exploration and defeating monsters.

One interesting part of this announcement is the collaboration with Two Little Mice. The Italian publisher was purchased by CMON back in 2021 to bolster that company's line of RPGs. However, CMON has had struggles this year, in part due to tariff uncertainty. CMON has sold off several IPs to other studios and has paused new game development to focus on current fulfillment, with many questioning about the publisher's future. Free League also partnered with Two Little Mice to publish Outgunned, so it's unclear whether Two Little Mice has gone independent once again or if this is an arrangement with CMON.

 

[JConstantine]

Coming from a fan, I think the Two Little Mice team is incredibly talented so really bummed how much they shamelessly rip off other companies. Legality aside, I think it's just creatively lazy and unprofessional. I hope they learn how to better "pay homage" rather than plagiarize in the future.

Granted, subjectivity plays a part, but Outgunned (and Broken Compass before it) very much felt like homages to me, while Twilight Sword goes beyond that into outright love letter.

 

[jian]

Are we looking at the same game? There are other influences, certainly, but the crux of Twilight Sword is "Breath of the Wild as a TTRPG". The group is a function of the medium, but also inspired by the likes of Final Fantasy; the magic is also Final Fantasy, but that series is originally inspired by D&D in the first place, so it's almost full circle. The game has mechanics for breakable items, and loot chests - it would be trivial to combine them to make breakable pots that drop rupees zin.

Yes, I think we are. There are a lot of references to Zelda, especially in the art, but it’s as much Zelda as Break! is, in that you could definitely run a Zelda-based game but that’s not particularly where you’re directed. You could also run a FF game, or a Tales game, or a Fire Emblem game, or a Trails game, or whatever, much as you could with Fabula Ultima, though the brief attached setting (Radia) feels more like a generic 80s JRPG before anyone had decided to add any plot or character development. The party-based play (which is obviously a necessity for a TTRPG) makes it not feel Zelda to me, but of course if you ran it solo that’s much more how it would feel.

 

[Aldarc]

Please do. I have not really paid much attention to this one. What systems does it use that reinforces a Zelda-like feel in the rules?

The main one IMHO is its Hope/Despair mechanic. The land of Radia (or wherever you place your game) is plagued by Despair: monsters, calamity, darkness, evil, etc. The PCs are trying to lower the Despair value in each square of the map while also bringing/gaining Hope. PCs can lower Despair and gain Hope by defeating Monsters or helping commonfolk. GMs are also encourage to increase badness when the Despair level drops. Maybe when Despair drops to 3, Monsters attack the village. Maybe when Despair drops to 1, the final boss of the zone appears.

In contrast to Despair, Hope is not tied to a specific location but there is a sort of communal Hope value. Hope acts as the XP for PCs. Gain 4 Hope and then you can take another Way advancement. Hope can be lost if PCs suffer a defeat but it doesn't cause PCs to lose advancements. But PCs also don't gain another advancement if they regain a lost Hope value.

I like this quite a bit. This seems like a general system that would work well for settings like The Dark Crystal, Pirates of Dark Water, and settings where maybe you are focused on cleansing the land.

 

[Reynard]

The main one IMHO is its Hope/Despair mechanic. The land of Radia (or wherever you place your game) is plagued by Despair: monsters, calamity, darkness, evil, etc. The PCs are trying to lower the Despair value in each square of the map while also bringing/gaining Hope. PCs can lower Despair and gain Hope by defeating Monsters or helping commonfolk. GMs are also encourage to increase badness when the Despair level drops. Maybe when Despair drops to 3, Monsters attack the village. Maybe when Despair drops to 1, the final boss of the zone appears.

In contrast to Despair, Hope is not tied to a specific location but there is a sort of communal Hope value. Hope acts as the XP for PCs. Gain 4 Hope and then you can take another Way advancement. Hope can be lost if PCs suffer a defeat but it doesn't cause PCs to lose advancements. But PCs also don't gain another advancement if they regain a lost Hope value.

I like this quite a bit. This seems like a general system that would work well for settings like The Dark Crystal, Pirates of Dark Water, and settings where maybe you are focused on cleansing the land.

That sounds super interesting. If I were to implement such a thing, I might be tempted to allow PCs to succumb to personal desires, gaining something for themselves but causing the Despair to increase. Mostly because i like melodrama built around bad choices.

 

[Aldarc]

But otherwise, I think that there will be plenty of things about the game that remind people of 5e D&D, remind some people of Dragonbane, and likely remind some people of Nimble. It's lighter than the former two but probably about the same level as Nimble or Shadowdark. It's a d12-roll-under-Attribute system with PCs picking various feats in a Way (or two).

 

[jian]

But otherwise, I think that there will be plenty of things about the game that remind people of 5e D&D, remind some people of Dragonbane, and likely remind some people of Nimble. It's lighter than the former two but probably about the same level as Nimble or Shadowdark. It's a d12-roll-under-Attribute system with PCs picking various feats in a Way (or two).

It reminds me of The Black Hack (because of roll under and Advantage) which is a really solid starting point for any simple RPG.

I think it’s a mistake to only have one Feat (and call them that - it’s too 3E, I’d have gone with Skill or Ability and then renamed Stamina as Skill Points (SP)) at chargen since it’s not enough customisation initially. I’d probably give PCs 3 Feats from 2 Ways.

 

[Aldarc]

It reminds me of The Black Hack (because of roll under and Advantage) which is a really solid starting point for any simple RPG.

Roll Under + Advantage are also both found in Dragonbane. TwoLittleMice publish through Free League Publishing, and they have mentioned Dragonbane as a partial inspiration.

I think it’s a mistake to only have one Feat (and call them that - it’s too 3E, I’d have gone with Skill or Ability and then renamed Stamina as Skill Points (SP)) at chargen since it’s not enough customisation initially.

"Mistake" seems a bit much for such a benign decision.

The name "Feats" are fine. It's not just 3e D&D. They are also in 4e D&D, 5e D&D, and other popular D&D-adjacent games like Pathfinder 1 & 2. Much like Advantage/Disadvantage, "feat" is nomenclature that players coming to the game are likely already familiar with. The name "Stamina" is also perfectly fine IMHO.

I’d probably give PCs 3 Feats from 2 Ways.

Players only pick one Feat at the start but they gain a new feat with each advancement. I don't think that there is a need to give players three feats at the start. It's a bit much IMO. From what I have been told, if players play a full campaign, then they may get all the feats in one Way assuming they stay in a single Way. I don't think that the PCs are feat-starved.

 

[jian]

Roll Under + Advantage are also both found in Dragonbane. TwoLittleMice publish through Free League Publishing, and they have mentioned Dragonbane as a partial inspiration.


"Mistake" seems a bit much for such a benign decision.

The name "Feats" are fine. It's not just 3e D&D. They are also in 4e D&D, 5e D&D, and other popular D&D-adjacent games like Pathfinder 1 & 2. Much like Advantage/Disadvantage, "feat" is nomenclature that players coming to the game are likely already familiar with. The name "Stamina" is also perfectly fine IMHO.


Players only pick one Feat at the start but they gain a new feat with each advancement. I don't think that there is a need to give players three feats at the start. It's a bit much IMO. From what I have been told, if players play a full campaign, then they may get all the feats in one Way assuming they stay in a single Way. I don't think that the PCs are feat-starved.

I’ve always disliked Feats (which started with 3E) as a descriptor for “special ability” because that’s actually incorrect - feats are something you’ve accomplished, not something you can routinely do. They’re an event, not an option, But that’s a vocabulary niggle.

Stamina also isn’t great because many of the things you can do with it aren’t related to physical exertion. But yeah, again it’s a language niggle. I wonder what the terms are in their original Italian (not that there necessarily was an original Italian version, but because the writers are Italian).

 

[Aldarc]

Okay.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I’ve always disliked Feats (which started with 3E) as a descriptor for “special ability” because that’s actually incorrect - feats are something you’ve accomplished, not something you can routinely do. They’re an event, not an option, But that’s a vocabulary niggle.

Stamina also isn’t great because many of the things you can do with it aren’t related to physical exertion. But yeah, again it’s a language niggle. I wonder what the terms are in their original Italian (not that there necessarily was an original Italian version, but because the writers are Italian).

Not to double up on the pedantry but stamina can refer to both physical and mental exertion. And feat is not contextually something you have done but also something you can do. Both terms are being applied accurately in their gaming nomenclature.