Corvid Court Takes Flight

Celebrating the 5 year anniversary of its original release, Corvid Court is back with its Aviary Edition. Fans of Corvid Court will find updated and new rules, alongside new art and layout. And if you haven’t experienced Corvid Court yet, this is the perfect way to join the flock.

In Corvid Court you play as bad people doing awful things to even more terrible people. Playing the role of Birds for the titular Corvid Court, you are criminals in the vertical city of Nest. Take on the role of the Crow, Raven, Jay, or Magpie as you enact the desires of the Court and ensure that nobody dares cross you.

Corvid Court uses a simplified version of the Resistance system, made famous in the TTRPGs Spire and Heart, by Rowan, Rook, and Deckard. Using d6 dice pools, Birds will accumulate stress as they push themselves to pull off the job in front of them. As stress builds, it leads to fallout, devastating effects that the players will need to deal with before they get their wings clipped.

Each player will choose one agent type for their Bird. Crows deal devastating damage, Ravens scheme and tinker, Jays cackle maddeningly, and Magpies can’t help but steal. Each class comes with a set of abilities unique to them, allowing them to do incredibly powerful, impactful, and frankly weird things during a session. Want to summon a murder of corvids to pick apart a target? Play a Crow! What about mimicking the voice and face of someone so you can replace them? Jay is the bird for you. 

The Aviary Edition has cleaned up some of the previous rules, brought in some new tech to the game, expanded the setting, and updated the game with new art and layout. And if the Kickstarter goes well, we’ll see four more classes added to the game, and a setting supplement full of more lore and short stories set in the city of Nest!

The printed zine will be a 36 page staple-bound zine. The Birdsong setting supplement will be released as a PDF only, if the stretch goal is reached.

A Note From the Designer

Corvid Court is back!

Five years ago I wrote a game after a 48 hour fever dream writing session. My obsession with crows and crime combined together to make Corvid Court. The very first version of the game was written directly into layout (don’t judge me) and with very minimal graphic design skills. Then, the incredible Maria Mison did a fantastic update of the layout with their unique collage style.

I always wanted to return to Corvid Court, but could never find the time. I wanted to add a few things, fix a few things, but one project after another kept bumping it down the list.

As the five year anniversary of its original release has arrived, I thought it was time to go back and do the dang thing. I dubbed the update the Aviary Edition, alluding to the idea that more and more birds are flocking to the city of Nest.

I love a sprint crowdfunding campaign, and this one will be no different. The whole campaign runs for one week with a goal of funding a print run of the new zine. But there is one stretch goal that I’m hoping to hit! The Birdsong supplement will let me write a lot more lore for the setting. As someone who loves lore, this would be a treat for me. On top of that, with enough funding, I’m hoping to hire some writers to create micro fiction for the game.

I’m so thankful to everyone that supported Corvid Court, my second game ever, 5 years ago. I hope to see you join the flock and support the Aviary Edition on Kickstarter!