Visigoths vs. Mall Goths

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is an urban fantasy tabletop role-playing game with LGBTQ dating sim elements by Lucian Kahn, with art by Robin Eisenberg. The ancient Visigoths have time traveled to 1990s Los Angeles and are battling mall goths for control of the mall. The game's tone is silly and the setting has many puns. The game was inspired by 1990s movies The Craft, Empire Records, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Clueless.

Gameplay

Players make characters in competing teams of 2-3 Visigoths and 2-3 Mall Goths. Conflicts are resolved by opposed rolls with two six-sided dice plus character class bonuses. Players can use embarrassing traits to offer a teammate a bonus. Characters are not physically hurt in combat but receive hurt feelings they can heal through dialogue.

Adventures

Jonaya Kemper wrote the adventure "The Little Mx. Scare-All Pageant.”

Reception

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was featured as a four-part series on One Shot Podcast Network's flagship actual play podcast hosted by James D'Amato, author of Simon & Schuster's "Ultimate RPG" books. One Shot Podcast Network's show Character Creation Cast also aired a two-part episode about Visigoths vs. Mall Goths. The game was nominated for the ENNIE Awards for "Best Writing" in 2020 and the Indie Game Developer Network award for "Best Setting" in 2021. It was in the exhibition "Game Play: Between Fantasy and Realism" at Museum of the Moving Image. Kieron Gillen endorsed it. Justin Joyce for Polygon recommended it as a game to try from Indie Press Revolution. Banana Chan for Dicebreaker called it one of the best games of 2020. Linda Codega for Gizmodo recommended it as a queer game to play for Pride Month. Trin Garritano, Games Digital Outreach Lead at Kickstarter, named it their favorite project of 2019.

Publication History

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was originally self-published in hardcover, softcover, and PDF form through a Kickstarter campaign in October 2019 that met its initial goal in 24 hours and raised a total of $21,393 from 751 backers. It continued to be distributed in softcover and PDF form through Indie Press Revolution, Itch.io, and DriveThruRPG. In 2022, it was part of Itch.io's Indie Bundle for Abortion Funds. In March 2023, Visigoths vs. Mall Goths was republished in softcover and PDF form by indie publisher Hit Point Press as an add-on after their Kickstarter for Kahn's game If I Were a Lich, Man raised $84,590 from 2,049 backers.

References