Stepping outside the shadow of Dungeons & Dragons is a challenging proposition for even the most innovative tabletop publishers. But as the industry’s 800-pound gorilla has spent the last few years making unforced errors, Free League Publishing just keeps… making people happy.
For the second year in a row, and for the fourth time in the last five years, the Swedish publisher brought home the Ennie Award’s coveted Publisher of the Year award – the only award directly voted on by fans. For CEO Tomas Härenstam, it’s just more evidence that his ambitious company is going in the right direction.
“I’m just blown away,” Härenstam told Polygon in an interview on the floor of the Gen Con tabletop gaming convention in Indianapolis. “It was a really humbling and great night.”
Founded in 2011, Free League has created for itself a wide-ranging catalog of tabletop role-playing games. From reimagined legacy lines like The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying, Dragonbane, and Mutant: Year Zero; to extraordinary licensed properties like Alien, Blade Runner, and The Walking Dead; to novel new ranges like Vaesen and Mörk Borg, the hits just keep on coming. But rather than grow the business even further, Härenstam said it’s time to buckle down and support the many lines already out in the world.
“In the last month or year even, we are shifting focus a little bit from looking at new franchises, new properties, to supporting — a little bit more — what we have,” Härenstam said. “Because we have a bunch! More than a dozen, and they all need to be supported. We don’t want to give away any of them.”
Job number one, Härenstam said, is refreshing the popular Alien The Roleplaying Game, which first entered development more than seven years ago.
“The major things that we’re doing is we’re discussing adding a solo mode,” Härenstam said. “It just opens up a whole way of interacting with a game without the constraints of having to get people to the table, which — it’s a lot of fun, but it might not always be possible.”
Also on the docket is support for playing the game with miniatures. That includes full-color painted maps of starships and planets as well as a new line of Alien miniatures. But don’t expect a full, standalone skirmish game a la Mutant: Year Zero – Zone Wars. Instead, the TTRPG itself – the core rulebook and supplementary materials – will have everything players need to run thematic skirmish combat as part of the larger role-play experience.
But what about the other jewel in Free League’s crown, the much-touted partnership with AMC for The Walking Dead: Roleplaying Game and an accompanying high-concept actual play? Turns out the ball is currently in the media company’s court.
“Last I checked, it’s taking a bit longer than I think we initially planned it to, but as far as I know it’s still happening,” Härenstam said. “I don’t know exactly when and how. That is actually on the AMC side, the live-play. We’re doing it together, but it’s through them. I don’t control the calendar exactly on that, but we are definitely hoping to see it come to life.”
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