Hey, you, yeah, you tired of all the grinding, the grimdarkery (is that a word? forget it, I’m rolling) and gravitas. Did you ever think about playing a low-stakes game of animals and high tea? Then, have I got a game for you. Riverbank, the latest offering from Kobold Press, is a cottagecore game set in the English countryside, with you living in a pastel village as an anthropomorphic animal. The setting would make fans of A.A.Milne or Beatrix Potter feel very much at home.
The game, written and designed by Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Kij Johnson and illustrated by Kathleen Jennings, is a fun and whimsical alternative to games like Dungeons & Dragons. Instead of adventurers engaging in dungeon delves, the characters are members of an intelligent society of elegantly dressed Animals living along the slow-moving river. The game centers itself on storytelling, whimsy, and occasionally good-natured chaos.
The characters are built with stats and then allowed to pick out knacks that give you abilities, but they are far less crunchy than you might find in other games, and rounds out your character without rigidly defining them. For instance, one of your stats, Pother, gives you a second chance to perform any task, but also results in something else happening.
Riverbank also has a unique mechanic where every Animal (as opposed to animals) has a rating at all times that fluctuates between Animality and Poetry depending on the stresses of the game. Go too far in either direction, and your character can revert to behaving like a normal animal or being so inspired by life that they wax poetic for half the adventure. The game limits how long this can last and even allows other party members to contribute to your recovery.
The book is very inspiring and has numerous examples that make it easy to envision how a campaign should unfold. As I read the book, two scenarios immediately popped out that I want to run. An adventure based on Frodo’s birthday party (without the whole ring of power stuff), or maybe something based on Wes Anderson’s The Fabulous Mr Fox, if the party wanted something faster paced. The game is even set up to allow for easy solo play.
This was my first in-depth exposure to a cottagecore game, and I must say I am inspired to gather my local group and give it a try. It is a delightful mix of social encounters, emotional twists, and low-stakes adventures. It is available now from Kobold Press
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