Austin Walker's Realis finds the magic in language
When I design a tabletop RPG, I always synthesize Berserk and sentence diagrams.
Realis understands the potency of words in relation to each other, as does its designer Austin Walker. The critic, podcaster, and former Waypoint editor-in-chief has been stringing sentences (and Sentences) together over nearly four years to create his first full-length tabletop RPG. Reading through the ashcan, which you can now preorder on itch.io, communicates his profound love of and respect for language. It’s not quite fear: blacksmiths don’t get far being scared of flames.
The storygame empowers GM and player alike with authorial dominion. It trades dice for definitive statements of fact that are true until someone’s much stronger truth comes along and stomps it into the dirt. When does always not mean always? Among the thousand moons of Realis’ science-fantasy world, conviction is a sword tempered by failure. Broad truths are whittled down into razor-sharp scalpels of intent; archetypes become individuals when forged inside experience. Realization is a proper noun in this game, one players use to transmute their handful of general declarations into deadly unequivocation.
In this first entry of a two-part interview, Rascal spoke with Walker about designing Realis from a fever dream into an early version published in partnership with Possible Worlds Games. Playtesting continues ahead of an official release in late 2025 or 2026, and Walker said it’s not clear yet whether the team will seek crowdfunding to print the book. The second part, arriving later today, will focus on mechanical interactions and how exactly a group of declarative statements can bring a character to life through roleplay.
We had a chance to pore over Realis’ 46 classes, endless moons surrounding a dying sun, and the sovereign powers vying for dominion over them. Realis is a deeply personal work and cuts all the better for it. Walker admits it won’t suit everyone’s playstyle, but what game does? He talks about it with excitement stratified by trepidation, sounding like a blacksmith who knows getting burned is simply an occupational hazard. It won’t stop him from working the metal.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
