Master of Nordic TTRPG Matthijs Holter returns with a new game of Magical Realism

Matthijs Holter, the acclaimed Norwegian game designer behind Archipelago, Society of Dreamers, and many others, is gearing up for a return to the international scene for his most ambitious project yet. BackerKit's Pocketopia 2026 event will see the launch of The Roots of Soledad, a love letter to magical realism and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Holter has previously graced the TTRPG world with high-profile collaborations such as the one with Jason Morningstar for Love in the Time of Seið. For this new project, he is partnering with Italian game design lab NessunDove, previous winner of the Indie Groundbreaker Awards with chamber larp anthology Crescendo Giocoso Ritornello.

The first reveal in this joint venture has been the box art, featuring Columbian artist Soma Difusa. Yes, The Roots of Soledad will come in the shape of a board game, with sets of different-format cards coming together to build up a GM-less story.

The result is a zero-prep game that is not limited to quick one-shot sessions, but rather focuses on long-running stories. Its campaign-length games follow the characters' lives in the remote South American village of Soledad, as they become entangled in events both supernatural and all too human— long days in the coffee plantations and the dead returning to haunt the warm nights, rebels hiding in the jungle and red blood spilling from tree-bark. Every card helps the characters' tales get more intricate, like vines on the great tree watching over the village. 

Will it be wiped out by the wind or stay forever in the memory of men?

The Roots of Soledad will be crowdfunding on BackerKit as part of Pocketopia 2026, from May 7 to May 28. Sign up to follow the campaign at this link.