Our Mission
Our mission at Vicious Kitten Ink is to bring people together through stories.
Our Why
Dungeons and Dragons was our first love and through Dungeons and Dragons, we each learned something important.
We learned math and charting from the complex texts of 2nd Edition AD&D. We learned to make and read maps. We learned critical thinking from crazy puzzles and riddles. We learned vocabulary from reading spell descriptions.
Most importantly, we learned communication. We learned how to talk and think in different ways. We learned how to empathize with other people through their characters.
As a lonely geek on the move, I could always find friends through D&D, even when it wasn’t popular. We would forge those friendships through the love of the game and by expressing ourselves through the stories we told.
Stories Save Lives.
Games Shape Minds.
Inspiration
My friend asked me why I was making another TTRPG when D&D is already doing the job.
Dungeons & Dragons is a great game. But I keep winding up at tables with people who want their game to be Critical Role or Dimension 20.
That is a wonderful thing to want! We want that for everyone who wants it.
The problem is D&D didn’t make those podcasts great – the people playing made them great. The games themselves don’t make the stories. They just provide a framework, and Dungeons & Dragons isn’t a great framework for storytelling.
Character generation is restrictive. The system has a steep learning curve. And there is very little in the core books to help a player actually build a character with a story in mind.
They’ve come closer in recent years, but it’s still not the focus of the game. It’s not the point.
Somewhere Somewhen
We made Somewhere Somewhen with the goal of helping people tell the stories they want to tell and play the game they are craving.
It’s a tactile game on purpose. We want there to be as many things to touch and fiddle with as possible, while still being a Roleplaying Game.
Tell the stories you want to tell. Play the game you're craving.
Edge
Edge is the most important resource in the game. It is there to make rolls better and power special abilities.
Players earn edge by contributing to the story. In our first book, Rise of (n)Everglow, we touch on three ways players can add to the story and gain Edge. These are taken from things you see in shows like Critical Role.
Flashbacks, private moments, roleplaying, and adding detail to the setting are all ways that players can gain edge.
It’s touchable because we use tokens to track it. Whether it’s poker chips, little plastic diamonds, or wooden disks, edge tokens keep something in your hands to ground you.
The System
We took pieces from all the games we’ve loved over the years – the attribute grid from New World of Darkness, the pared-down skill set from Vaesen, backgrounds with skills from 5E, and more.
We acknowledge that we’re standing on the shoulders of giants.
The thing we’re most proud of stealing is Cards vs. Dice. The idea originates from Deadlands: The Weird West, but we are doing it different.
Cards vs. Dice
Our core resolution mechanic is called a Clash. Clashes are broken into beats. Beats is a term used in story-telling and we borrowed that on purpose.
But you’re here to read about Cards vs. Dice.
Some characters have Foresight and others have Surge. The characters with Foresight draw cards. They use their hands to set the difficulty for each beat. The characters with Surge roll dice and try to beat the difficulty.
If you know anything about math and statistics, you know that sounds absolutely broken. I assure you, it is not. We spend months banging our head on rocks, calculators, abacuses, and spreadsheets until we came up with a system that makes the math makes sense.
It was a monumental challenge and we believe that’s why it hasn’t been done before. It adds an element of strategy that will satisfy the most flat-toothed crunch lover.
Going Forward
Rise of (n)Everglow is just the beginning. It has character generation, the operating system, and a story.
We are glad you’re here early. We need the support. We crave attention. We have to pay the light bill to continue our mission. But most importantly…
We want to start serving gamers now. Not when it’s perfect. Not when we have a 300-page core rule book.
So if any of this was moving to you, if you’re looking for a game that teaches you how to play the game you want to play, if you believe that stories can change the world, join us.
The Rise of (n)Everglow PDF is and always will be free. If you order a book from us, you’re buying a copy for the next person. You’re paying for a human illustrator, writer, or proof-reader.
We’re not doing this for a living. We’re doing this for life.
Happy questing.
