Adept Icarus’ latest Kickstarter, Arium, is closing in on 20X funded with less than a week to go.
Arium is a roleplaying game with a unique twist that sees players create the world in which they adventure. It takes its name from the meaning of the suffix -arium, an enclosed place where things reside, as in' aquarium' or 'vivarium.' The game concept is that there are multiple unique Ariums in the world, but the players live and influence only the one that they game in. This concept may feel a little confusing at first to the tabletop world but for video gamers, it is a fairly common idea with sandbox games like The Sims and Planet Zoo.
Backers will receive either a digital or physical copy of the game that is split over two books. The first, Arium: Create, features the rules and guidelines for creating your own Arium. This should take no longer than two hours and can easily be accommodated in a single gaming session. Rather than being too rigid, the game’s creators err players to fall “on the side of awesome” when building. This makes perfect sense as this is the world that their games will take place and should be enjoyable. Having too many rigid and unforgiving rules will only dampen the player's enjoyment.
The second book, Arium: Discover, is the RPG element of the game. You can take a previously built Arium and start telling stories. Players take on the denizens and interact with items and locations but there is no fixed genre or setting. You can tell any story you want whether it be SciFi, fantasy, adventure, horror, etc. The possibilities are endless. The rules revolve around a streamlined d6 based system so it should be easy for anyone to find some dice and get going.
The Kickstarter campaign features some amazing artwork and it easy to see that the game is towards the end of the design cycle. The creators even state that the funds are for production hinting at the game’s completion. You can get in on the action by pledging at little as $8 on their Kickstarter. This will give you access to the digital edition of the books.
Source: Arium Kickstarter