24 April 2019
ROOT: THE RPG
“here’s got to be a lot of people for whom this is
going to be their irst RPG,” the designer predicts. “We’re
thinking about that in terms of the mechanics that
are being developed, in terms of the book that we’re
outlining and starting to write. We’re already thinking
about: how can someone who’s never played an RPG
before have this be their irst game and have a blast with
their friends? Or maybe you played Root last week as a
board game and this week you’ve convinced that same
group of four or ive people to give it a shot as a tabletop
roleplaying game. he game has to work for those folks.
“We want to move away from gaming as spreadsheets, as
‘Here is this thing you have to absorb and understand before
we can even start playing,’ to gaming, tabletop roleplaying,
as a storytelling experience with you and your friends. hat
doesn’t mean we want to make a mechanically light game.”FOREST FOR THE TREES
With a background as ripe for roleplaying potential as
the world of Root, Truman admits it’s easy to get carried
away with ideas.
“One of the challenges of publishing is you say, ‘We’re
going to do these things!’ and then, like, three years later
everything inally comes out,” he says. “he irst thing we
want to do is make an absolutely fantastic core game. I
want this to be a game people are playing ten years from
now, and that is a big challenge. It’s a big challenge to
make a game that people really pick up and run with and
have a great time with. So that’s our irst thing, and if we
do nothing but that I will feel like we’ve done Root right.”
hat doesn’t mean the designer doesn’t have a wish
list of plans for Root: he RPG, of course. he game’s core
rulebook will focus on the four factions from the original
board game: the Marquis de Cat, Woodland Alliance,
Eyrie and Vagabond.
“We want to give people a sense of really how to play
the cats and the birds and the Woodland Alliance in a
concrete solid way irst,” Truman says. “hat gives us the
option of bringing [other] factions in in a real way once
we’ve built a system that really supports the core game.”
Beyond that, supplements and expansions will bring
more options to the table for both players and the
GM, as well as exploring new types of adventures for
characters to embark on – and bringing fresh voices to
Root’s political commentary.
“What we like about Root is the way that all the
factions are positioned in tension with each other,”
Truman says. “So the Woodland Alliance looks great, it
looks like they’re the good guys. But they’re also distinct
from the other creatures of the woodland; they’re a rebel
faction. here are many creatures in the woodland who
don’t necessarily support them. So we don’t want to ever
have a situation in which we’re saying, ‘Well, these are
the good guys and these are the bad guys and that’s it,
we’re done.’ Instead we see every supplement as a way of
delving deeper into what the game has to ofer.
“A lot of what we’re going to do is build and support
the world that Leder Games puts out with mechanics andadvice and systems that allow people to take whatever
Leder Games is doing and go deeper with it. So when
the Riverfolk Company and Lizard Cult are introduced
to your board game, you’re like, ‘his is cool, these have
totally new perspectives.’ But when they’re introduced to
your roleplaying game, suddenly you have these disaster
capitalists and religious fundamentalists – how will your
Vagabonds deal with the challenges they pose and the
opportunities they ofer? Because before the otters come to
town, being straight mercenaries isn’t really a thing – you’re
picking a side. But the Riverfolk Company, they just want
to pay you money – and how will you react when you’re
ofered a big sack of gold to deal with problems instead of the
promises that birds and cats always make for future loyalty?”
Truman expresses his hope to bring all of the board
game’s additional factions to the RPG, including the Great
Underground Duchy of moles and the Corvid Conspiracy- a murder of crows who excel in espionage – introduced
in this year’s upcoming Underworld expansion.
“hose new factions, we look at them and we’re like,
‘Oh, those are so cool!’ but we’re not going to get to
them until like 2021,” he laughs. “We move a lot slower
in some ways because we have the obligation of writing
tens of thousands of words to get a book out the door.”
With the border of Root’s woodland world set to grow
further in both the board game and RPG, Truman says
that keeping players in command of the setting’s story
will remain central.
“Leder Games has always been committed to Root as
a playground more than a set story,” he explains. “he
idea is we’re working to support their development of
new factions and new ideas for the setting, but we’re
really unlikely to say, ‘And then the cats win and book
four is where you must ight...’”
With a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter this
year ahead of a planned release next spring, Truman
diplomatically comments that the Root: he RPG team is
taking the right amount of “extra time” to ensure that the
roleplaying game is exactly what fans hope for.
“here’s a lot of precision that sometimes we might
go out there and try a thing and not care too much if it
works, but we’re putting a lot of time and energy into
making sure that what Leder Games is doing is a thing
we’re supporting and that we’re clear about what their
future vision is for the product,” he says. “So there’s these
kind of pulls here. On one hand, it’s really clear, it’s really
easy for us to write to what this game is about and we’re
so excited about what this game is about. On the other
hand, we have to move a little bit more cautiously; we
have to take our time and make sure all our ducks are in
a row before we say, ‘Oh, it’s deinitely going to be this
kind of game,’ or ‘It’s deinitely coming out on this date!’”
But even he can’t contain his own excitement at the
potential to venture deeper into one of gaming’s most
engrossing and breathtaking worlds.
“Our main thing right now is making sure that people
are really clear that this isn’t going to happen in ive
years from now; it’s happening now.”