Monday 24th January - Manchester, UK – RuneScape, one of the most popular and longest-running online role-playing video game franchises for PC, Mac, and mobile, is coming to tabletop gaming with two brand new games launching later this year.
Jagex, the leader in developing and publishing deep, community-driven video games and home to RuneScape, has teamed up with tabletop-gaming powerhouse, Steamforged Games, to create both a board game and tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) core book inspired by RuneScape’s rich fantasy world of Gielinor. Both games will make their debut in 2022, with the board game launching on Kickstarter and the TTRPG heading straight to stores.
Both games are set to delight RuneScape and Old School RuneScape’s player communities with fresh-but-faithful adaptations of classic quests and characters that weave iconic elements of the games into exciting tactile experiences reimagined for tabletop gaming.
The games will draw on adventures, characters, and locations from across RuneScape’s rich 21-year long history, with the board game taking between one to five players on quest-based campaigns through Gielinor. They will craft and upgrade equipment, upskill their characters, cook special recipes, engage with NPCs, and test their skills while exploring different regions of the world, with a variety of enticing side quests to distract and entertain them on the way.
The TTRPG will consist of a lavishly illustrated, hardback core book containing rules for players to run a RuneScape tabletop roleplaying game, in which they can build their own characters, explore Gielinor, and create unique and exciting quests. The TTRPG core book is also fully compatible with the fifth edition ruleset of the world’s favourite roleplaying tabletop game.
The RuneScape games will mark Steamforged’s twelfth adaptation of a video game for tabletop. Past adaptations have included the Monster Hunter: World board game, which grossed £3.4million on Kickstarter in 2021.
Phil Mansell, CEO of Jagex, said:
“After more than 21 years of being exclusively available digitally, it’s extremely exciting to be collaborating with Steamforged to create and deliver new RuneScape role-playing adventures to tabletop gamers. By launching the board game via a crowdfunding platform, Steamforged is mirroring our approach of involving the RuneScape communities in taking the game to tabletop. Given Steamforged’s experience and expertise in transforming video game experiences to tabletop, I’m sure that both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape players will be excited to get their hands on the planned miniatures to create their own adventures with other ’Scapers and board gamers”.
Mat Hart, Creative Director and CCO of Steamforged, said:
“Steamforged are honoured to be partnering with Jagex and together use our wealth of experience in adapting video games to bring one of the most popular online role-player games to tabletop. The rich RuneScape universe will translate beautifully to board and tabletop games, and using a crowdfunding platform and other dedicated community spaces will let us engage directly with fans of RuneScape and Old School RuneScape throughout development. Ready your rune armour, put on your party hat, and get ready to roll!”
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About Jagex
A leader in creating deep, community-driven games on PC and mobile, Jagex’s flagship MMORPG, RuneScape, has welcomed almost 300million player accounts to its world and is a $1billion lifetime revenue franchise. Today the RuneScape franchise exists beyond running games in live operations; our titles are living games that connect and inspire millions of players, with content and experiences both inside and outside of inexhaustible game worlds.
Both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, on PC and mobile, offer ever-evolving, highly active worlds and our community-focussed development ethos empowers players to have a real say in how each game is shaped. Now we’re expanding and extending our portfolio with fresh franchise titles and new IP to bring life to the living games of the future. Jagex employs more than 450 people at its Cambridge headquarters. Career information can be found at www.jagex.com/careers
About Steamforged Games
From small beginnings in the corner of a hobby gaming store in Stockport, Manchester, Steamforged Games has gone on to create tabletop adaptations of some of the biggest video games around.
The company’s history of adaptations began with the wildly successful Dark Souls™ Board Game. Steamforged took the game to Kickstarter back in 2016, where it raised £3.7million followed by significant success at retail and is still one of the best-selling board games out there, having sold over 500,000 units at retail to date.
Since then, Steamforged’s catalogue has grown to include popular board game versions of triple-A video games such as Monster Hunter: World, Resident Evil™ 1, 2, and 3, Horizon Zero Dawn™, and more, all well-received as authentic experiences true to the brand DNA.
Now the UK’s leading developer and publisher of licensed tabletop games, Steamforged is led by a love of the craft, a collective pride in what they create, and a mission to deliver compelling tabletop experiences that capture the emotions and inspire the imaginations of players around the world.