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RPG: Brinkwood Blood Of Tyrants Wants You To Drink The Rich

4 Minute Read
Sep 25 2020
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Mask up. Spill Blood. Drink the Rich. Brinkwood is a tabletop roleplaying game about overthrowing vampires, what more could you want?

Vampires, or Draculas, as they’re more commonly known, might seem like they’re all black lace and red lined opera capes and sex appeal, but really they’re parasitic monsters who care only for how much of your life and livelihood they can squeeze out of you before draining you dry and moving on to their next victim. All cold smiles and flashing fangs, vampires often dominate those around them, turning people into docile cattle fit for nothing more than feeding.

It’s a horrible existence. But that’s where you come in. Enter Brinkwood, a new RPG Kickstarting now (and already wildly successful). In Brinkwood, you play as a Brigand, better known as a commoner who has been preyed upon one two many times by the vampires that have taken up the reigns of your kingdom. It’s Robin Hood by way of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and/or Dracula. Rob from the rich, give to the poor, assassinate vampires and drink their blood.

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Brinkwood is a stylishly illustrated game based on the Forged in the Dark system, which means it’s all about your crew of outlaws, and that combat will be fast-paced, dramatic, and deadly. Let’s take a closer look!

via Kickstarter

Brinkwood: The Blood of Tyrants is a Forged in the Dark tabletop roleplaying game about building a rebellion that will overthrow the blood-soaked vampires that oppress and dominate your world.

You are a brigand, a commoner radicalized by tragedy who has decided to forsake their old life and flee into the woods to plot a rebellion. Cardenfell is your home, a kingdom on the brink of open revolt against the vampiric nobles and factory lords who rule over it. All it will take is a single spark. Your spark.

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Whether you’re robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, or assassinating vampires and drinking their blood, every move you make will take you closer to your goal: liberating your home from the vampiric scourge of blood rent and exploitation.

The whole game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Cardenfell, located in an archipelago known as The Bloody Isles. It’s a place where vampire counts and an organization known as the Crimson Crown rule with a blood-soaked, iron fist. But somewhere along the northern edge of Cardenfell, lies the Brinkwood, a dangerous forest full of incredible magic that also happens to be your home.

Deep in the heart of the Brinkwood are also the fae, who have been driven back by the vampires, and who might be willing to lend you their aid to take down the Vampires who so thoroughly threaten them.

And that’s where the game begins. Already it’s full of the rich sort of style that defines its parent system, Forged in the Dark. Blades in the Dark, the game that started it all, takes place in a city called Doskvol, and it feels just as gritty and grimy as you could imagine. Brinkwood, by contrast, captures that Castlepunk feeling.

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We define Brinkwood‘s aesthetic as castlepunk. Castlepunk is an aesthetic genre that blends elements of gothic horror, medievalism, anachronism, victorianism, gas-punk and fantasy. You might find factories, gearworks, victorian fashion and other out-of-place setting details, but still set against a backdrop of gloomy castles, old decaying cities, and vaulted gothic architecture. This is a world where you’ll still find faeries and other supernatural creatures, but driven to the fringes, back into the darkest parts of the forest where few dare tread.

The “punk” in castlepunk implies a punk aesthetic and intention brought to bear on the setting. You aren’t here to admire the scenery, or brood in secret castles, or soliloquize on your moral complexity or the depths of your depravity while you drink the blood of virgins from a crystal chalice; you are here to fuck shit up. This isn’t a game about having sympathy for blood-drinkers and oppressors; it’s about staking them through the goddamn heart. Be reckless. Be active. Stay mad. Stay punk.

Stay mad, stay punk, and fight some vampires in a mystic world with a rich setting and mechanics that play into the story.

Back Brinkwood: The Blood of Tyrants Today

Happy Adventuring!

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Author: J.R. Zambrano
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