Establish Rodent Superiority in One Thousand Rats Devour a City

Rats are a common enemy in fantasy TTRPGs. Now what if you’re the rat instead? Australia-based game publisher Ravensridge Press presents this as their vision for One Thousand Rats Devour a City. It’s a board game-TTRPG hybrid where you and your rat brethren fight to take over the city yourselfs through strategy, conflict and more?

TTRPG Insider spoke with game designer Brandon Lee about the product’s vision, balancing board game and TTRPG design and more.

1. What's the story of this game? How did you come up with it?
   Long ago, in a Year Zero hack I was running for my wife Jessie and a few friends, Jessie’s character decided he would become the child pied piper. He amassed an army of rats, and it quickly became apparent that I needed some rules to govern her character's management of said rats. I created a quick and simple system to manage her growing colony, and we ended up having way more fun playing with that sub-system than the rest of the game! So that was the inception for the theme and base game. Beyond that, we've always been fascinated with the 'line in the sand' so to speak between boardgames and TTRPGs (and other tabletop games too!). I'd seen very few games come out that were trying to explore the joining of the two (boardgames and TTRPGs) and it became a hyper-fixation of ours. 3 and a half years later, here we are!

2. What's the elevator pitch?
   One Thousand Rats Devour a City is a GMless roleplaying game / boardgame hybrid for 1–4 players about a colony of rats exacting revenge on an oppressive gothic city called Ravensridge. The players will play the role of the colony of rats and the leaders amongst them as they grow in numbers and power, spread throughout the city, and wash away the plague of mankind.

1. Can you elaborate on what you mean when you say the game is both a board game and a TTRPG?
   So the game has the pillars and sensibilities of a TTRPG: the primary focus of the game is the story being told, and every mechanic is in service to that story. Like a ttrpg, you'll have your own characters, roll dice during risky moments, and deal with narrative problems that arise. However, the game also brings in tactical boardgame sensibilities: you'll be managing resources, growing your territory across a hex-map, and making strategic decisions about where to devour next. In these moments, the players are asked to examine the game from the lense of the colony as a whole. How much population do we have? Do we have enough food to feed everyone? Can we afford to take this territory now, or should we bolster our rats first? The game blends these two sensibilities into a game that at times feels like an area-control resource management boardgame, at other times, a high-stakes action-packed TTRPG, and then sometimes, something else between these two things.

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Balancing Board Games and TTRPG Design

1. Why make it a board game and TTRPG?

   Both present their own challenges so I can imagine that creates its own design and manufacturing struggles. Part of the appeal in making this game was the challenges it presented. As designers, we are always looking for ways to push our skills and explore areas that feel new and exciting to us. Beyond that, we wanted to make something that feels fresh to gamers too. I feel like we've done that not only in the blended mechanics of the game, but also, (lets be honest), the pretty weird theme!

2. Is the game aimed more at board gamers, TTRPG fans or both? Do players need to have a background in TTRPGs to enjoy it?
   It's definitely aimed at both. One of our core design principles throughout making this game was to make a game that could be introduced to boardgamers to give them a taste of TTRPG's, and vice versa. I myself enjoy both sides of the hobby, and I feel like many others would too, if they had the right game to help them bridge that gap. You definitely don't need TTRPG experience to enjoy this game! If you want to play the game with more roleplay, you absolutely can, but if you prefer, you can play the game focusing more on the strategy too!

3. What's something you are excited for players to discover about the game?
   The game has a quest system, which allows you to pursue side-quests to the main story. We've hidden 3 mini-games amongst these quests, and as a nod to the video game industry, one of the mini-games is a fishing mini-game. We've super excited for players to find these mini-games!

You can check out the game on Kickstarter now.

What are your thoughts? Send any scoops, tips or press releases to [email protected].