Tomb Raider RPG Cancelled For Creative Differences

Evil Hat Publishing has just announced that the official Tomb Raider TTRPG has been cancelled.

Sad news: We are canceling the Tomb Raider RPG project. Due to creative differences we couldn’t get our vision to gel with the licensor’s, so we've chosen to part ways.

The stellar team designing this game put their hearts into making this an exciting, dynamic RPG of adventure and exploration.

We're proud of the work they've done and we plan to retool the project as a standalone game with a fresh, original setting.

You haven’t seen the last of it.

An official Tomb Raider RPG was originally announced by Square Enix in 2021 for the 25th anniversary of the property. 2023's Lara Croft's Mark of the Phoenix released as free PDF on the Crystal Dynamics website.

The Evil Hat version was announced in February 2024 as a full-color hardback book. The plan was to allow you to play Truth Seekers, allies and contemporaries of Lara Croft who Indiana Jones out hidden artifacts for the benefit of good.

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.

 

[mamba]

But that genre space is already pretty well served, so the license has the potential to drive sales (or pledges, realistically) in.a way yet another action adventure game can't.

I do not consider TR a strong draw, as an IP it is basically the 2000 / 2010 Indiana Jones, so what does set it apart from generic action adventure?

As far as the genre goes, I assume it is less saturated than horror, sci-fi or fantasy. The one that comes to my mind immediately is Outgunned Adventure, I am sure there are others, but as I said, TR is so close to generic that I do not see being tied to its license as a positive (but then there are very few IPs where I would actually want to buy a game based on them)

At least for me it not going with TR is the first news that makes the game somewhat interesting… I do not know the mechanics because it never interested me, now I am curious to see if it fills the niche better than Outgunned does

 

[Reynard]

I do not consider TR a strong draw, as an IP it is basically the 2000 / 2010 Indiana Jones, so what does set it apart from generic action adventure?

As far as the genre goes, I assume it is less saturated than horror, sci-fi or fantasy. The one that comes to my mind immediately is Outgunned Adventure, I am sure there are others, but as I said, TR is so close to generic that I do not see being tied to its license as a positive (but then there are very few IPs where I would actually want to buy a game based on them)

At least for me it not going with TR is the first news that makes the game somewhat interesting… I do not know the mechanics because it never interested me, now I am curious to see if it fills the niche better than Outgunned does

They had a reason for going with TR. The recent games have done very well, even if the film did not, and the character is an icon.

 

[Tonguez]

Maybe I haven't played enough Tomb Raider video games. I didn't really know there was enough for it to have its own distinct setting. I'm sorry it didn't work out for Evil Hat, but I'm happy they're going to use what they've worked on so far to make something out of it.

yeah Tomb Raider brings in Ancient conspiracies, advanced Spy tech, Aliens and Supernatural, but there's nothing particularly unique about Tomb Raider that can't be found in any other Pulp archaeology franchise - Indiana Jones, Uncharted, The Librarians (TV) to The Journey to the Center of the Earth or King Solomons Mines.

It would be interesting to see what the creative differences were and to know what their new retooled standalone might look like though

 

[kronovan]

It might just be me, but I don't really see the need for a specific TTRPG that's tied to the Tomb Raider verse. That's partly because when I 1st returned to TTRPGs after a decade+ away, some of the 1st systems I explored were Savage Worlds+Thrilling Tales and True20. A few years earlier I'd played all of Crystal Dynamics TR videogames and enjoyed them; even Underworld's almost-rage-quitting Mexico level! Back at tabletop play, I felt inspired to homebrew some adventures that had a Tomb Raider vibe to them. I had no problem doing that with either SW or T20, by tapping my grey cells, or borrowing from existing 1st and 3rd party material when I couldn't think something up.

Lara Croft and the TR verse has always seemed Pulpy to me; albeit in a modern timeline. In fact in some regards, the TR verse seems like a modern setting hunkered down by many of the themes and tropes of the PULPs. I can think of a number of other TTRPGs in my aresenal that could handle it without too much heavy lifting; i.e. BRP, Fate Core, and Cepheus Engine Modern. I no longer run GURPS, but I can imagine it doing justice to the setting too with the aid of one of the zillion companions available for it.

 

[mamba]

They had a reason for going with TR. The recent games have done very well, even if the film did not, and the character is an icon.

I am sure they had a reason, whether it was a good reason is another matter… I often wonder whether the increase in sales is enough to compensate for the licensing cost. We will never know, not sure even the publishers have a good idea about that in many cases

 

[Reynard]

It might just be me, but I don't really see the need for a specific TTRPG that's tied to the Tomb Raider verse. That's partly because when I 1st returned to TTRPGs after a decade+ away, some of the 1st systems I explored were Savage Worlds+Thrilling Tales and True20. A few years earlier I'd played all of Crystal Dynamics TR videogames and enjoyed them; even Underworld's almost-rage-quitting Mexico level! Back at tabletop play, I felt inspired to homebrew some adventures that had a Tomb Raider vibe to them. I had no problem doing that with either SW or T20, by tapping my grey cells, or borrowing from existing 1st and 3rd party material when I couldn't think something up.

Lara Croft and the TR verse has always seemed Pulpy to me; albeit in a modern timeline. In fact in some regards, the TR verse seems like a modern setting hunkered down by many of the themes and tropes of the PULPs. I can think of a number of other TTRPGs in my aresenal that could handle it without too much heavy lifting; i.e. BRP, Fate Core, and Cepheus Engine Modern. I no longer run GURPS, but I can imagine it doing justice to the setting too with the aid of one of the zillion companions available for it.

I mean, if TR isn't distinct enough for a game of its own, neither is Leverage or Firefly.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I assume the license holder is keen to franchise build. There's a slow-developing Amazon Prime live action series by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Netflix has an animated show.

So yes, at the moment, Tomb Raider is pretty generic Indiana Jones-adjacent stuff (Indiana Jones could have 100% encountered a tyrannosaurus rex), but I assume the goal is to get very specific with the franchise in the near future.

Until that time though, it definitely seems like Broken Compass/Outgunned Adventure has this area more than covered.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Weird game to try to adapt to a TTRPG.

"You work for Lara Croft."

Chilling words. We all know how she treats her butler. Butlers. Who can even guess how many she's trapped and abandoned to slowly die from lack of food and water?

(Indiana Jones could have 100% encountered a tyrannosaurus rex

I had a dream last week about the first Indie film getting mashed up with Valley of Gwangi. Only an allosaur, but my boiling subconscious stitched together a pretty good movie.

 

[robowieland]

Weird game to try to adapt to a TTRPG.

"You work for Lara Croft."

That was more or less the premise of the WEG Indiana Jones game.

"Oh, Indy's too busy right now, let's send in the B-team on this one."

 

[SteveC]

Until that time though, it definitely seems like Broken Compass/Outgunned Adventure has this area more than covered.

I have to agree on this. I have a friend who's very excited about Outgunned so I'm going to get to try it. From everything I've seen about it, it's high-octane action-adventure-centric. I'm not sure that was fully the intention of the Evil Hat game, it seemed more PbtA-based, which I'd call character and narrative adventures. I suppose when they want to release the game in generic form, we'll see.