Ancient, long-forgotten civilisations lie in ruin, mighty castles rise from the plains, hewn from thousand-feet tall termite mounds captured by force hundreds of years ago, and giant mutant insects feast at the head of the food chain. In this new world, insects have long been the dominant life form. They have evolved into fearsome monsters, their vast bulks crushing field, forest and foe. The climate has changed exponentially, presenting greater degrees of extreme weather and even the most northern lands expect tropical storms between harsh winters. Vegetation is rife and plant life abundant. Trees grow to immense size and the vast forests are jungle-like, in which both flora and fauna present great danger. Choose one of four new forms of being as your in-game avatar, join one of sixteen guilds or forge your own career path, and make life or death decisions not only for yourself but the entire gameworld! Your player-character may rise from the gutters, or descend from lofty noble quarters, as they encounter - just as you will - the perilous world beyond their place of origin. Be it as a merchant risking the road for profit, a courier tasked with a remote delivery, a scholar rediscovering failed proto-civilisations in the depths of a jungle-like forest or the heart of a poison-scoured wasteland; the scope for adventure is as bountiful as the rewards of a succesful scorpion-hunt! Tales of the Kytin Age is a low fantasy, sci-fi adventure; there are no magic spells, no gods, and certainly no dragons. Instead, the world presents a swarm of arthropidic adversaries guaranteed to send shivers down any mutants' altered spine! TotKA has been written and designed by Geoff Gray, a lifelong gamer now too old to admit how long 'lifelong gamer' actually means. Creating a bespoke rule system carefully built around this novel setting over a 35 year period, he is thrilled to finally bring his dream project to market. Geoff is very much a 'beer and pretzels' kind of player, disliking game systems where fun and immersion are hidden (or 'obfuscated') behind overly complicated rules and superfluous details. Unlike many other games, role-players benefit from having just enough rules to actually play. Where detail is most appreciated is in the lore, the story of the setting, the who'se who and the whats' where. Despite having a comprehensive set of combat and skill options during play, the underlying mechanics are clean and intuitive. Where Tales of the Kytin Age truly shines, however, is the setting itself; The core gamebook would be best considered an encyclopedia rather than a technical rules manual. The slow but steady recovery of the human race after millenia skulking under clouds of toxic residue, the many plants and trees that have flourished in the new biome, and, of course, the chitinous-clad creatures that have replaced all other life and now dominate the shattered earth. It is these concepts and how they are portrayed that really make this title a 'must-play', and they are passionately described alongside a wealth of beautiful, full colour illustrations. A veteran of the genre, having worked with some of the most succesful IP's in the hobby, talented Bulgarian artist, Yasen Stoilov joins Geoff in bringing this unique gameworld to life. With many years' experience illustrating RPG's and boardgames, in addition to movies and video game development, Yasen has embraced the weird and wonderful denizens and locales of the Kytin Age, and perfectly showcases his vibrant individual style over 130+ original pieces. The developers have endeavoured to bring their players a product jam-packed with glorious content, from copious player aids for the DM (or 'Hivekeeper' in this case), to examples of play, fast NPC creation, and enough man-eating bugs, plants, brigands, and natural hazards to keep even the most heroic of adventurers on their toes/claws/wings for many, many play sessions. And that's not all. Post-launch product support is already well-underway. The first official adventure supplement continues the story begun in 'The Ing Sagas; Ribvale' (included with the core gamebook), and episodic travelogues will describe the kingdoms of Franzia, the main location for campaign play, on a region-by-region basis. A range of tabletop miniatures simply await manufacture, and accessories such as custom dice, floorplan/environment punchboards, cardboard playing pieces, and more will be available for our more enthusiastic players to enjoy. The game is ready to go to press. Unless an act of god (or, more likely, that of a human) raises an issue, there will be minimal delay in fulfilment. We hope you'll join us in making Tales of the Kytin Age a huge success as we eagerly await the Kickstarter launch. Please feel free to reach out to the guys' over on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/TalesoftheKytinAge, RPG Geek https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/397957/tales-of-the-kytin-age, Facebook, or the official website https://kytinage.co.uk/. Yasen's portfolio can be found here: https://www.artstation.com/yasen_stoilov
