LionWing has announced that the publisher will be bringing the English version of the Japanese tabletop roleplaying game Convictor Drive: Armored by Grief to crowdfunding on November 1st, 2022.
Convictor Drive is a TTRPG inspired by tokusatsu media from the team behind Picaresque Roman. It features an original d10 system, anime aesthetics, and many gameplay mechanics that are unique to the system.
“After our first Japanese TTRPG project, Picaresque Roman, last fall, I knew I wanted to localize another roleplaying game.” Says Bradly Halestorm, founder of Lionwing Publishing. He notes that Picaresque Roman isn’t a conventional TTRPG, so he wanted to try something a little more traditional this time around. “At the same time, in this industry, and especially with the roleplaying corner of this industry, you can’t be too conventional, or else you get lost in the shuffle. To top it all off, I also wanted something that was approachable. TTRPGs are my primary tabletop genre, and yet even I can get overwhelmed by games with rulebooks that weigh as much as my 2-year-old,” he says. “So, I knew for this follow-up project specifically I didn’t want a game that came with a tome of a book.”
Halestorm added that while he didn’t want a game that was overly complicated to be the next title, he also didn’t want it to be too light on mechanics. “Clearly, I wanted something very specific,” Halestorm says. “As I started poking around at what games might check all those boxes—half thinking I’d never actually find that game—I realized that the Picaresque Roman team had exactly what I was looking for. There it was, all along, right in front me: Convictor Drive.”
Halestorm has loved tokusatsu since he was a child when he played his brother’s copy of Ultraman on the SNES. Convictor Drive checked all of the boxes while also have a theme he loved and felt comfortable with. “Once I started digging into Convictor Drive more, however, that’s when I really fell in love with it.” Halestorm says. “Sure, on the surface, it’s a Kamen Rider-inspired roleplaying game about big bad guys and even bigger power suits, but beneath all of that is a game about the impacts of trauma and how we work through all the stuff that wounds us in this life. In fact, trauma is woven into the very mechanics and lore of the game, as the only way that characters can pilot their exoframe suits is to confront their trauma.”
Halestorm says that longtime TTRPG fans should expect a unique d10 system, a setting with gorgeous art by Temi, and a narrative that gives plenty of opportunity for roleplaying. Sigre, the game’s designer, insists that there isn’t a game on the market like Convictor Drive, and players will need to experience it to fully understand how unique of an experience it is.
Of course, we took a moment to ask Halestorm what his favorite Kamen Rider series is. Unsurprisingly, he opened with a groan. “Ugh, this is the hardest question yet. If I had to pick one right now… I’d say Build. But W isn’t far behind, and OOO isn’t far behind that.”
Day one backers will receive an additional character as a bonus. The project will launch on Tuesday, November 1, 2022, at 12 PM EST.