Immersive Audio Company Forteller Games Unveils Creative Team for Debut TTRPG, Sunset
Standing to Face Death is the Final Act in a Story Arc of Your Design. However It Ends, You Deserve It.
Phoenix, AZ (March 20, 2025) — Over the last few weeks, Forteller Games, immersive audio experts in the tabletop gaming space, have revealed the creative team behind their first TTRPG, Sunset. Leading the development are industry veteran Mike Tomasek (World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters) and Forteller CEO Thomas St. Pierre, alongside a team of experienced and talented creatives. A quickstart guide is available on DriveThruRPG for players and GMs to get a sense of the game’s hope-punk feel as they await the game’s Kickstarter campaign, planned for later this year.
In Sunset, players, known in the game as Threads, are actively facing their own deaths through a process called Life Review. Guided by the Death Master, Threads will experience a series of pivotal memories, attempting to unweave lies in order to earn a parlay with Death and bargain for more time.
Despite its heavy subject matter, creators Michael F. Tomasek Jr., Adam Lehenbauer, and Thomas St Pierre aimed for a feeling and theme of hope punk – revealing hope in the face of challenges and acting as a counter to pessimism.
Introducing the Creative Team behind Sunset:
- Michael F. Tomasek Jr. (he/him) - Lead Designer
- Michael Tomasek Jr. is a game developer, writer, artist, activist, and educator from the Chicagoland area. When not making games he's usually puttering in his garden or hanging out with his lovely wife Meredith, or his two cats.
- Adam Lehenbauer (he/him) - Game Designer
- Adam Lehenbauer is a jack of all creative from game development to musician and performer. Adam's commitment to artists and their rights over AI continue to be a beacon of hope for human creativity despite his penchant for the undead.
- Thomas St. Pierre (he/him) - Game Designer
- Thomas St Pierre is a decorated veteran and Wounded Warrior, career technologist, game and serious games developer, and the owner of Forteller Games. Thomas spends his free time creating new things, loving his dog Raja, and cooking delicious food.
- Alicia Marie (she/her) - Writer
- Professional costume creator for Warner Brothers, Disney (Star Wars, Marvel), Mortal Kombat, and more. Alicia has written and designed multiple characters for Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms and appeared on notable actual play streams, such as Demiplane’s Children of Éarte.
- Sebastian Yūe (they/them) - Writer
- Sebastian is a game designer, writer, editor, and known as a “lover of the monstrous strange” and has worked on notable projects such as the Cosmere RPG, Pathfinder Lost Omens: Divine Mysteries, and Daggerheart.
- Kari Jo “Kage” Freudigmann (she/her) - Writer
- Kage has already worked on Sunset, helping to bring the Quickstart to life. She has a deep understanding of the layout design and writing process for TTRPGs, with a wealth of credits to her name.
- Kris “Omnis” Strader (he/him) - Writer
- Kris is a writer and game designer for TTRPGs with a talent for expressing the meaning behind a game’s text. He has previously written on I AM THE BEYOND, Paragons: The Roleplaying Game, and Portal Portfolio: The Leyawat.
- Erin Fordham (she/they) - Writer
- Erin brings their experience as a professional GM and an Actual Play performer to help build the world of Sunset. They are a new writer, inspired by gothic horror classics and speculative fiction.
- Sydney Spears (she/her) - Artist
- Sydney is a graphic artist and illustrator who specializes in bold, punchy, colorful shapes. She brings a blend of subtlety and in-your-face graphics, like a hammer with a secret waiting to be unwoven.
- Meredith Gerber (she/her) - Artist, Layout Designer
- Meredith is the Partner Marketing Manager for DriveThru, Roll20 & Demiplane. Her photography, graphic design & layout design have appeared in several TTRPGs.
Sunset is a rules-lite system that leverages the Deck of Many Dice to provide rich storytelling opportunities. The game is played in a series of memory locations called a Weave, collaboratively created by the players and the Death Master. Each location can truly be anything, from a bustling city to a quiet meadow. Players draw cards from the deck to determine the outcome of their actions. An alternative dice pool ruleset using a handful of d4 and d6 dice is included as well.
The Kickstarter campaign for Sunset is in pre-launch right now, with the game’s full release planned for later this year. The free quickstart is available now exclusively via DriveThruRPG.
To stay up to date with Sunset, follow Forteller Games on Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), Twitch, join the Discord server, and sign up for the Sunset newsletter.
About Forteller
Since 2019, Forteller Games has been at the forefront of audio engineering for story-rich tabletop games, creating compelling, accessible, high-quality content that empowers all people to play, engage their minds, feel their emotions, and forge lasting memories. A ragtag group of adventurers appeared at Gen Con one year as mere attendees, determined to validate the need for immersive audio content in the tabletop gaming space. They came, they talked, they conquered. Over the years, Forteller has become a leader in audio engineering, blending cinema talent with hobby board games unleashing a quality that had never been seen. The goal was always the same: deliver the theater of mind experience akin to modernized radio dramas.
Today, Forteller continues to create compelling audio that draws out emotions from those who listen and play along to these wonderfully crafted adventures across dozens of Partners and their game titles. This is a core offering that allows everybody, including non-native English speakers, sight-impaired, dyslexic, and more, to enjoy this wonderful hobby space.
With the upcoming launch of Sunset, Forteller is proud to begin its journey into original title creations in both the tabletop roleplaying and board game space.
