''Fall of Magic'' is a collaborative storytelling
tabletop role-playing game
A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participan ...
by Ross Cowman that is played on a hand-printed canvas map. The story follows a dying magus and companions on their journey to the birthplace of magic. The players utilize the map to track game progression as they unroll it.
Gameplay
It is a
storytelling game
A storytelling game is a game where multiple players collaborate on telling a spontaneous story. Usually, each player takes care of one or more characters in the developing story. Some games in the tradition of role-playing games require one pa ...
with no
gamemaster
A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...
and can be run with two to four players. The players are companions of the magus who is dying because magic is dying. The game focuses on their journey to Umbra, the origin of magic. The 5.5 foot double-sided canvas map begins as a scroll that players gradually unroll and flip over to reveal locations and attached story prompts as the game progresses. Metal coins represent the players, who take turns adding to the story by responding to vague yet imaginative prompts.
Publication history
''Fall of Magic'' was created by Ross Cowman who spent over two years playtesting it at gaming conventions before launching a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, K ...
in 2015 to fund the creation of the game. The crowdfunding campaign surpassed the goal of $19,500 and raised just over $75,000 with the support of nearly 1000 backers – ''
Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...
'' called the campaign "hugely successful".
Cowman acknowledged that there was more demand than expected which required "a scalable solution" as the original printer, Cowman's friend Mark Malsbury, was "overwhelmed".
While Malsbury produced the original English edition of the game, Cowman ended up opening "a small screenprinting shop in Olympia, Washington, as a sideline to his game distribution company, Heart of the Deernicorn," and purchased a "Riley Hopkins screenprinting machine and some