In December 2021, Steamforged Games announced plans for an officially licensed tabletop RPG inspired by the Dark Souls universe. With the game’s release planned for sometime this spring, more details have emerged about what players can expect. Much like the company’s previous game-inspired releases, the title will be based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition ruleset–with a few twists. Lead writer and designer Richard August recently commented on why D&D 5E was used as a base.
“Personally, I think that 5E is a really solid approach because it gives you a lot of options in terms of combat. When you’re using a sword or casting a spell, [D&D player characters] are designed to be effective against an opponent, and I think that’s something that really works in Dark Souls,” August said in an interview with Wargamer.
Fans have also wondered what would happen when a player dies, and it looks like a signature part of Dark Souls lore is being adapted to the pen and paper game.
“There are no death saves in Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game. You hit 0 Position [health/stamina], and you’re dead. Until you respawn by the bonfire, of course. You’ll have lost all your collected souls—yep, sorry, leveling up might take a bit longer—and there’s a significant risk you’ll lose part of yourself,” the developer said. Steamforged hash admitted that this will make the game world’s rules a “little bit tougher,” which fits into the entire Dark Souls vibe.
In 2016, Steamforged Games began a Kickstarter campaign for an official Dark Souls board game. The company managed to raise over $5.4 million. Since then the company has released several game-inspired board games, including those inspired by Horizon Zero Dawn, Devil May Cry V, Resident Evil 3, and Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.
Dark Souls: The Roleplaying Game is scheduled to release in Spring 2022. For those suffering from FromSoftware withdrawal in the meantime, Elden Ring is only a few weeks away.
