The collective known as Tanuki Games is raising funds for their project Four Kingdoms: A Map drawing and Storytelling TTRPG.
Q: Easy question first: Give us the elevator pitch of your project. Tell us about it in two sentences or less.
A: Four Kingdom's is a GM-less, drawing and storytelling role-play experience! At the end of a 2-3 hour game of Four Kingdoms you will have told the epic story of four magical kingdoms, the characters that live there and a map - an artistic artifact - that serves as a record of that story.
Q: Is this your first ZineMonth project or have you done it before? If it's your first, talk a bit about what inspired you to give it a shot this year. If you've done it before, what's something you've learned from previous crowdfunding projects that you may be doing differently this time, or, if you're not doing anything differently, talk a bit about your previous projects.
A: It is our first ZineMonth. We are four Europeans and Americans living in Japan. We self published this game in Japanese 2021 and have taken it to the last three Tokyo Game Marts. We had no idea what to expect but the game was well received and we have been to all Tokyo Game Marts subsequently. We hope that ZineMonth will be the right platform to get this game out to a wider audience of RPG fans.
Q: Finally, tell us something about your current project that really excites you but the average backer may not be aware of. Maybe a twist to an old trope, a new way of presenting something, or maybe just something you've never tried before that you're using this as an opportunity to try out.
A: I think this game takes the Map Drawing genre to an interesting new space and asks players to consider the question of what gets to stay on a map and how does that shape the future. Because the game takes place over an extended in-game period of time geographies change as do centers of importance. The game evolves quite dramatically with everything that people decide to add to the map. The game is also just a blast to play. The worlds that get created because of the exciting interactions the happen between the often widely different kingdoms mean the stories are always unique.