Trading conflict for character sheets is Osprey Games’ plan to win the war
Your next favorite RPG may come from a company known for books about battleships
Osprey Games isn’t the strongest household name in the tabletop RPG sphere, but marketing executive Benji Corless says the UK publisher is keen on staking a claim. That’s not to say Osprey has never traded historically accurate miniatures for dice—its portfolio currently includes Crescendo of Violence, Urban Decay, and most recently Through the Hedgerow and The Terror Beneath. But its banner is creating space for more than just booklets about WWII fighter planes and the critically acclaimed Undaunted board game series.
These “turns”, as Corless called them, are already apparent on the shelves of your local game store. War Story: Occupied France filters espionage and resistance through a skein of cooperative, choice-based play that is readily apparent to the roleplayers in the audience. True devotees of the d20 will know that Frostgrave (and its sci-fantasy sibling Stargrave) have been powering wizard bullshit stories for years. Elsewhere, new board games such as Katmai: The Bears of Brooks River and Line of Fire: Burnt Moon show a hunger for new designs—and new audiences.
But what does Osprey Games’ version of a tabletop RPG studio look like? Are they interested in following so many other AA-sized studios who publish their own in-house system? Speaking at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, Corless painted his employer as unafraid of doffing the mantle of “the Undaunted people”. They’ve brought on a roster of new and upcoming voices whose creations are sometimes defiantly outside Osprey Games’ norms, which left the mohawk-sporting marketing exec grinning and excited.
This interview has been lightly edited for style.
