The next season of The Walking Dead can take place in your neighborhood

The eleventh and final season of the walking dead may be over, but the franchise continues thanks to a new tabletop role-playing game. AMC Networks has partnered with Free League Publishing. Free League Publishing is a powerhouse providing stable original and licensed tabletop games, settings and systems. The Walking Dead Universe Roleplaying GameThis allows fans to play out their own personal zombie apocalypse, building relationships and drama with a small group of friends from a fortified outpost set anywhere in the world. Crowdfunding campaign Launch on Kickstarter March 14th. Polygon had an in-depth discussion with the developers about what fans should expect.

It is no exaggeration to say how remarkable the rise of the free league has been over the last few years.Work from a handful of Keystone franchises, including iconic games like Mutants: Year Zero and twilight 2000the Swedish company has amassed over a dozen other successful TTRPGs. Alien: Roleplaying Game, Blade Runner: Roleplaying Gamea reboot of the Tolkien-inspired TTRPG The One RingBut like Devolver Digital in the world of video games, Free League has shown good taste in other projects, too. Mork Borg and Wesen to the market. Now it’s all in zombies.

“This game is designed to be played anywhere in the world. [The Walking Dead’s] Free League Game Director Matthias Johnson said:

Image: Free League Publishing

Using the rules contained in the Core Rulebook, players begin their adventure by fleshing out the corner of the world they plan to play. The lengthy “Session 0” touches on safety and consent before diving into world building and character creation.

“What fascinated me about this game was that every group I played with was doing almost completely different things,” said producer Joe LeFavi. “We give them archetypes [for] Not who you are today, but who you were when it all began. Glenn was just a pizza delivery man. They were housewives, farmers, and petty criminals, but over time they became these great people. ”

A large part of what players do as part of the Session Zero plan is to create their first shelter. It’s actually far from that location.

Image: Free League Publishing

“[Early playtesters] I was able to choose my own path,” continued LeFavi. “If they want to focus on building a microsociety, they can do that. And if they just want to have one session where they all just work together and try to stay alive while the Horde tries to overwhelm their stronghold , it is also possible.”

Image: Free League Publishing

Image: Free League Publishing

Free League draws on years of experience creating TTRPGs, some of which are closely aligned with the themes, world-building, and combat mechanics unique to The Walking Dead’s universe. Base construction and remote combat Mutants: Year Zerofrom the human system blade runner (written by LeFavi) served as inspiration for the morale mechanism of the walking dead.

“There is this ‘threat level’ that is basically the stress mechanism of the world itself,” LeFavi said. “There are incredible things [emphasis on the] where and alien and blade runnerit might make you raise the stakes, stress you out, and test what it brings to you, for better or worse. the walking dead Feel it and react.

One of the most surprising elements of the project is how involved the developers are, according to Polygon. the walking deadcreative team in progress.

Image: Free League Publishing

“We have worked directly with AMC Publishing,” says LeFavi. [showrunner] Scott Gimple essentially shared the creative process with the other producers and writers behind the TV show, stating: This is what we want the game to do. These are the kinds of stories we want to tell. What do you think? What part of the canon can you explore? Where can you go beyond the scope? where have we gone too far? Which timeline makes sense? And they have inspired us all along.There are literally 30 notes on every page of the manuscript.

The good vibes were enhanced by game director Johnson, who was initially intimidated by the prospect of working with AMC on one of their marquee franchises.

“This is the first time we’ve worked on a really large-scale licensed game,” says Johnson. “Usually close to home. simba room is my baby, the game I co-created and developed and still writes. That’s why I learned a lot and felt that he was very enthusiastic. What they bring to the table — it’s not just the lore aspect. It’s also really the mechanics aspect. ”

“There was no [a] PowerPoint presentations like What is a tabletop role-playing game?” added LeFavi. “They know what this is. They were playing around and were very excited about the idea to make [this]as far as they like, No, we want this to be the core pillar of our extended universe. — as they speak [the] Tales of the Walking Dead Anthology”.

To that end, once the core rulebook and boxed starter set are complete, the developers will work with AMC to begin casting and producing the actual play series that will be televised. AMC is interested in working with Hyper RPG on the format. Colock A real play series for several years.Just as the spin-off series has expanded the universe, the team at Free League hopes the TTRPG will help carry the narrative. the walking dead 11 seasons have passed. The developers aren’t sure where the series will end up airing, but they’re looking to include characters and potential talent from the original series.

“This was something we really wanted to do to reach the core Walking Dead fandom,” says LeFavi. “Actually speaking, Hey, did you know there’s an RPG out there? Putting it on AMC’s physical ownership channel to show the game, show how fun it is, and let even people who may know it on-screen immerse themselves in the story, that’s all there is to it. is. ”

The crowdfunding campaign of The Walking Dead Universe Roleplaying Game Pledges start at around $45 and include a PDF version of the core rulebook and a boxed starter set. A deluxe bundle featuring digital and physical copies of both items is priced at approximately $120. Digital products are expected to be delivered shortly after the campaign ends, while physical products are expected to go on sale in Q4 or 2023.