Realis ditches traditional character sheets for prose poetry
How players in Austin Walker’s upcoming tabletop RPG arm themselves with Sentences.
Reading through the ashcan of Realis feels like a series of obvious revelations blossoming in front of you. Of course Sentences can be functional roleplay levers, the verbs I use to make story happen. So, of course those Sentences can be improved to increase effect (Realis achieves this through two means—more on that later). And then of course, improving those sentences requires limiting the scope of their narrative power. Character archetypes are broad, but they accrue individuality through play to become real, lived in.
Following on Rascal’s first interview with Realis designer, Austin Walker, we dive into how all these proper nouns collide on the table and create delicious tension. Walker is clear about Realis existing largely as a storygame, “a set of rules that shapes conversation into an engine for collaborative storytelling,” according to the ashcan version you can preorder on itch.io. So, it’s worth briefly explaining what happens when a character encounters a challenge, be it the environment, an adversarial NPC, or the celestial will of one of the Thousand Moons made terrifyingly manifest.
Realis’ conflict, with a bullet, is a contest of willfully asserting one’s identity into reality. Characters comprise four key Sentences, two Bonds, a potent Dream, a Token, and a Band Sentence. These are called Means. During conflict, both the Actor and Counteractor bring one of their Means to bear on the other. Both compare how Realized their Means are, a ranking of +0 to +3, and ties are awarded to the Counter.
Sentences level up (or Realize) through failure to overcome a Counter’s Sentence, whether the player is scarpering down a treacherous landscape, arguing against locust royalty from the Imperial Empest, or denying the existential gravity of a Moon composed of living meat. Almost everything acts upon the world and its inhabitants through Sentences, which become more specific and powerful over time until they are retired into the past tense. Critically, Realization also adds conditional phrases to Sentences. The Peregrine’s +0 I always have the determination to continue is widely applicable but weak. They could achieve a +1 by modifying it to When bloodied, I always have the determination to continue at the cost of restricting the possibility space.
This is Realis’ juiciest meat. This is where Walker is staking his bona fides as a designer. He has partnered with Possible Worlds Games to create a physical book late 2025 or early 2026, but an ashcan (effectively complete rules document) can be preordered through itch.io. Walker guided Rascal through mechanical heritage, doing endings well, and creating space for all GM styles.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
