The Imaginarium of Doctor Mitch

The original version of this blog post was going to be where I defined a certain style of fantasy, coining a word for it, and saying how cool and underrepresented it was in RPGs. Then I would claim that something I’m working on, After the Final War, fit that style of fantasy. But that would be mildly disingenuous.

Instead I’ll talk about After the Final War more directly. So what is it? Well, it’s a fantasy RPG. The grand setting concept is that the great evil, the Nameless Emperor, has already been defeated, but he’s already done immense damage to the world. The landscape is now mostly wilderness with tainted and corrupt places, monsters roam, and some of the Ministers of the Nameless Emperor still attempt dominion and lead the remains of the Emperor’s armies in fights of dominance.

The people who fought the Nameless Emperor must survive and rebuild, scattered as they are. This is a game of a world in ruins, and attempts to rebuild it. Things are awful, but the player characters have the chance to make the world a far better place than it was.

All the player characters are part of a community with problems and connections. They act on behalf of their community, dealing with its problems, making connections with other communities, fighting to help it thrive and grow.

It’s also a game of different cultures and people with different ways of doing things having to work together. After the war against the Crimson Emperor, many different people have been thrown together, and must work together to thrive.

There’s a lot of specifics to explore, both in terms of system and setting. And really it’s the specifics that I hope resonate. I’m hoping to bring After the Final War to Kickstarter this autumn, depending on how quickly things develop. It might not be this autumn – it might be early next year. But I’m excited, with lots to do and plan. I think it’s going to be good.