In 2009, a browser based text adventure game launched, luring players into a gloomy, fascinating world set around a fictional city swallowed by darkness. Fallen London captured the imaginations of millions with a combination of dark fantasy, gaslight horror and a grim sense of humor. The game remains free-to-play to this day and now offers mobile editions as well.
Magpie Games recently launched a Kickstarter for a tabletop role playing game set in the same universe. Fans of the spooky setting can come together at the table to tell their tales of the Fifth City together. I spoke with CEO of Magpie Games, Mark Diaz Truman, about how the project came together and what the future looks like for fans of the Neath.
“A few years ago, Chris Gardiner (Narrative Director at Failbetter Games) approached [me] through a mutual RPG space about exploring the possibility of a Fallen London RPG,” said Truman. “Since we were already huge fans of Sunless Sea and the browser game, we were immediately interested… but it turned out that we were a little preoccupied with a little project called Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game. Since we’re still a small company, we had to let Failbetter know we couldn’t make it happen.”
The Avatar Legends Kickstarter raised over $9.5 million and massively changed Magpie’s focus as a company. The RPG has appeared in major retail chains like Target. The money raised also allowed an actual play featuring some of the original voice cast.
“But,” said Truman. “a few years later, our mutual schedules opened up and we took a look at what it would take to make a roleplaying game for Fallen London. We were immediately excited about the idea of celebrating the 15th anniversary of the browser game through a tabletop version that allowed fans to approach the Fifth City in a completely different way.”
Fallen London spun off into multiple games to tell the stories of the city. Sunless Sea and Sunless Skies allow players to explore the darkness outside the city while Mask Of The Rose allows players to explore the history of the game through a visual novel. Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game allows players to decide what they want to explore and what they are willing to give up to get it.
“We were interested in focusing on two major ideas: what drives a Fallen London protagonist, and what does it look like when a collection of Fallen London protagonists start working together.” said Truman. “The first is something that most Fallen London games deal with in one way or another. [These]
games often include people who are obsessed, driven to pursue a desire with enough tenacity that they burn down the rest of their lives around them. There’s a famous Fallen London plotline all about the cost of pursuing your ambition to its final end. Emphasizing obsession as a core component of every PC in Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game means that every PC is defined by their drive, how it gives them strength and how it might cost them everything.”
Building game like this involves supporting beliefs and relationships with mechanics. Magpie is known for games that offer this kind of support. From Urban Shadows to Masks: A New Generation, their designs give dramatic decisions weight in the game space.
“The second is something that none of the Fallen London games have done in exactly the same way, though, and it’s something we’re very excited to explore with this tabletop roleplaying game. Having a full group, wherein none of the PCs is more ‘the protagonist’ than another — a true ensemble cast of obsessives — is something new to the Fallen London space. We’re very excited to explore the relationships, conflicts, and victories that arise from a whole group of characters pushing together toward a shared obsession, or pushing in different directions befitting their personal ideals.”
Fans who want to check out the rules now can do so in a couple of ways. A Quicktart is available on the Kickstarter page. The company also produced an Actual Play video featuring Ify Nwadiwe, Becca Scott, Jack de Quidt, and The Stupendium to show how the game is played.
“The different kinds of people in Fallen London were particularly exciting to include,” said Truman. “both because they represent a varied medley of interesting character types, and because many haven’t yet been available for play. We’re going to allow players to hit a wider variety of possible character types than has been offered before in Fallen London, including intelligent rats, people made of stone, and squid-faced people for starters. All of these character types are beloved by the fanbase, and this will be the first time they can be played.”
Longtime fans of Magpie know that many of their games use the Powered by the Apocalpyse (or PbtA) rules set. These rules are best known for quick character creation, fast resolution and short but intense campaigns. The designers decided to try something new for this setting.
“We love PbtA games,” said Truman.”and we’ve learned many lessons while working on so many. One of the most important lessons is about the overarching kind of story that PbtA serves best: wild, chaotic stories about things happening in rapid succession, demanding that the PCs react to changing circumstances. In the original PbtA game, Apocalypse World, the structure of play is often something like: “The water source for your enclave has been poisoned by a strange mutant creature; you’re going to run out of water in three days! What do you do?” A problem arises that forces the PCs to get up and act. Then, in pursuing the solution to that problem, more problems arise. And on, and on, and on. There is rarely a quiet moment of peace; rarely do things fully slow down; and frequently, PCs are so on their backfoot that they are constantly just reacting, not pursuing their own ends. “
Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game is on Kickstarter through March 13th, 2025. Digial products are currently slated for a Q2 2026 delivery. Phyisical products are projected for a Q3 2026 release
“We are really excited to give fans and players the tools they need to share the Neath with friends and craft unique stories,” said Truman.
Portions of the Fallen London: The Roleplaying Game interview were lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
