Final Light Is in Prelaunch on Kickstarter!
I never really got over the videogame The Last of Us. The tension, the high stakes, and the way humans respond to horrifying world events—sometimes reaching for the light, sometimes becoming monsters themselves, sometimes both. Stories like that stick with you! And telling a story like that together, as a table, is something I've wanted to do for a long time.
Final Light is a brand new TTRPG that's easy to learn, easy to run, and easy to say yes to for anyone who's a fan of the zombie genre.
It's for people who want a short horror-survival game (each adventure is only 3-5 sessions). It's for groups who can't commit to a year-long campaign, GMs who want to be part of the story not just above it, and players who'd rather roleplay a hard conversation than optimise a build.
All the details are on Kickstarter right now, go check it out! Final Light on Kickstarter
Below I'm just giving some backstory and thoughts about the experience of creating the game so far—not the thing the average person cares about, but for those of you who do, I figured I'd share a bit here!
Why a whole new game system?
Honestly, at first I just tried creating this as a D&D 5E homebrew. Then I checked out other zombie TTRPGs, then other game systems that could be re-skinned... And there's nothing wrong with doing that, I just felt like I ended up with such a frankenstein of different parts that it was easier to admit that this was, actually, its own game.
One of the things I loved about The Last of Us was finding materials, deciding what to craft with them, and then going guns-blazing and running out of ammo and screaming as a clicker finally chomped on my neck. Unlike fantasy RPGs, there's no magic, you just have to DIY and guess what you'll need before you run into enemies. I really tried to use mechanics that keep that feeling but port over the video-game version of that into a TTRPG that doesn't have players pausing things for everyone while they sort their inventory.
And, much like I've heard Kelsey Dionne mention about Shadowdark, a lot of Final Light takes inspiration from other games, mechanics, or table rules that people are familiar with. This is entirely on purpose! I really wanted to keep this game easy to learn, and familiarity with a twist is a lot easier to learn than reinventing every possible wheel.
For folks like my partner who are massive board game nerds (said with love!), you might feel pretty at home during the encounters (once you get a map on the table in Final Light). One playtester actually said it does feel a bit more like a board game in those pieces. Final Light encourages you to interact with your environment, discover as you move, and each encounter has time-pressure that's more like a heist or an escape, compared to D&D or a 4x or RPG shooter.
Why a Kickstarter?
Genuinely didn't cross my mind at first. I'm big on the share-for-free train, honestly. But looking back on the months since December when I decided to go for it as a Kickstarter, I genuinely think the game would have gotten way less effort, wouldn't have been played nearly as much, and would have stayed so much smaller of a thing than it is now. I guess that's a case of taking myself seriously—after deciding to go all in I've genuinely poured a thousand times more into this than anything else I've ever made, and I think it shows big time in what Final Light is.
It's hard to make games outside of your day job, and the passion/exhaustion cycle is just a real factor. Also money. That's a real factor. It's hard to find extra money to hire real artists and pay for art (but it's been amazing to do that for the first time with this project!).
Thank goodness I'm not doing this alone. My good friend and former D&D table mate James has been creating 5E content and running Kickstarters for a few years now through Storyforge. There's a whole Kickstarter side to this that I know nothing about, and delivering a game for an audience broader than the people I already play with—working with artists, playtesting, getting a final product into a physical format—those are all pieces James has experience in.
Making new friends in this space has been great too. Creating a game that's MEANT to get out to a bunch of strangers I don't know means I meet so many more people along the way. So many playtesters and fellow creators doing interesting work, generous with their ideas and encouragement. Hi to all of you. 🙂
The Kickstarter is in prelaunch now, launching soon! Following the page is the best way to hear when it goes live, I'll send updates out through Kickstarter to all the project followers. I hope you'll check it out!