A Tabletop Roleplaying Game & Dating Sim | |
---|---|
Designers | Lucian Kahn |
Illustrators | Robin Eisenberg, Vee Hendro, Lluis Abadias Garcia, Olivia Fields, Jackson Tegu |
Publishers | Hit Point Press |
Publication | 2020, 2023 |
Genres | tabletop role-playing game, urban fantasy, comedy, romance |
Players | 4-6 plus GM |
Chance | High |
Age range | teens and up |
Skills | Role-playing, improvisation |
ISBN | 978-1-7782211-9-4 |
Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is an urban fantasy tabletop role-playing game with LGBTQ dating sim elements by Lucian Kahn, with art by Robin Eisenberg.[1] The ancient Visigoths have time traveled to 1990s Los Angeles and are battling mall goths for control of the mall.[2] The game's tone is silly and the setting has many puns. The game was inspired by 1990s movies The Craft, Empire Records, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Clueless.[2][3]
Players make characters in competing teams of 2-3 Visigoths and 2-3 Mall Goths. Conflicts are resolved by opposed rolls with two six-sided dice plus character class bonuses. Players can use embarrassing traits to offer a teammate a bonus. Characters are not physically hurt in combat but receive hurt feelings they can heal through dialogue.[4]
Adventures
Jonaya Kemper wrote the adventure "The Little Mx. Scare-All Pageant.”[5]
Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was featured as a four-part series on One Shot Podcast Network's flagship actual play podcast hosted by James D'Amato, author of Simon & Schuster's "Ultimate RPG" books.[6][7] One Shot Podcast Network's show Character Creation Cast also aired a two-part episode about Visigoths vs. Mall Goths.[8] The game was nominated for the ENNIE Awards for "Best Writing" in 2020[9] and the Indie Game Developer Network award for "Best Setting" in 2021.[10] It was in the exhibition "Game Play: Between Fantasy and Realism" at Museum of the Moving Image.[11] Kieron Gillen endorsed it.[12][13] Justin Joyce for Polygon recommended it as a game to try from Indie Press Revolution.[14] Banana Chan for Dicebreaker called it one of the best games of 2020.[15] Linda Codega for Gizmodo recommended it as a queer game to play for Pride Month.[16] Trin Garritano, Games Digital Outreach Lead at Kickstarter, named it their favorite project of 2019.[17]
Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was originally self-published in hardcover, softcover, and PDF form through a Kickstarter campaign in October 2019 that met its initial goal in 24 hours and raised a total of $21,393 from 751 backers.[18] It continued to be distributed in softcover and PDF form through Indie Press Revolution, Itch.io, and DriveThruRPG.[14] In 2022, it was part of Itch.io's Indie Bundle for Abortion Funds.[19] In March 2023, Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was republished in softcover and PDF form by indie publisher Hit Point Press as an add-on after their Kickstarter for Kahn's game If I Were a Lich, Man raised $84,590 from 2,049 backers.[20]