Sun Rot: The Grimdark Board Game That Wants You to Throw Out the Rule Book
"A fast paced, chaotic tabletop game that is a perfect creative canvas for hobbyists, tabletop RPG players, and anyone else interested in collaborative storytelling." — Dave Grilli, Game Developer (Trellis, Pine: A Story of Loss)
A bell tolls. A rot fills the air. An oracle appears and tasks you with a race against time to escape the dying sun. Welcome to Sun Rot.
Released by Smashbash, a mini and game publisher from Oakland, CA, Sun Rot is a grimdark cooperative role playing game for 2-5 players created and designed by Matt Ross (@totally_not_panicking) with Dylan Melisko.
Build a multi-character party from four classes, while a GM drives the game’s tension and tempo. Players roll a die to see if they can complete their desired action and if successful, flip a card to find out their fate.
Unlike typical TTRPGs where you min/max stats to guarantee your ideal outcome, or build an army list from a huge rule book, the cards decide if it’s a heroic or disastrous end. Every real-life 10 minutes of game play, Events occur driving the pace of the game forward and ensuring game play is just under an hour.
Sun Rot Teaser Video
"I’ve always had a deep love for TTRPGs and war gaming but felt the bar for entry can be too high," said Matt Ross, Co-Founder of Smashbash. "The amount of rules you need to memorize — and dogmatically stick too — or the amount of time it takes to set up and play a game, turns a lot of new people off and ultimately, I think, sucks the fun out of it all. Sun Rot flips that on its head. The universe is bleak and serious but the gameplay is the opposite — the rules are suggestions and no matter how much you try and play the ‘perfect’ game, you never can.”
Interested in D&D but can't get over the hump of all the rules and set up? Try Sun Rot!
Following a successful Kickstarter last year that met its fundraising goal in under 24 hours, the first iteration of Sun Rot was built for players to bring their own minis and terrain to the table. The board game version provides everything you need out of the box.
With high-quality punch out tokens, hundreds of uniquely grimdark cards, a reversible, handpainted board, and three-dimensional slotted terrain, Sun Rot has an OSR (old school renaissance) game vibe with an attitude fit for a more modern world. There are also compatible hand-sculpted and cast minis available for you to paint to enhance your game.
“We hosted a Sun Rot demo day and it was a smash success,” said Trace Cabot owner of LA Wargames. “The aesthetic of the game is cool and unique, which draws people in, but they stay because it is truly fun and brings gamers of every type together — from those deep in wargaming to those who are new to role playing, they all got around a table, learned the game in minutes, and had a blast the entire day.”
Sun Rot is available at smashbash.org as well as in select retail stores. A release party for the game is planned at LA Wargames on Sept 18.
