This new single-player tabletop role-playing game is inspired by the diving video game Abzu and the films of the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli.
Bow is an upcoming RPG in which players become free divers competing in a sandbar festival in a picturesque ocean world. Taking inspiration from the video game Abzu (a 2016 indie title in which players explore an ocean populated by diverse marine species and full of secrets), Bow has players imagine they are diving into the depths of a pristine ocean, swimming around colorful coral reefs and encountering all sorts of strange and beautiful creatures along the way.
This fictional world is represented through the various pieces of art featured in Bow's rulebook, which were created by artists WillowsQuest and Alex Connolly and inspired by films produced by Studio Ghibli: such as Porco Rosso, with its glorious seascapes, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, which is directly referenced by the title's publisher, Hatchlings Games.
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Bow can be played as a solo RPG or as a duo-based log game, in which one or two players write down their responses to a series of prompts presented to them as they play. A game of Bow revolves around a race held as part of a Shoaling Festival, in which players are challenged to collect various relics of the Old World along the way. Player characters are tasked with reaching four different markers placed on a route across the ocean, and the future of their community depends on their ability to defeat their opponents.
The tabletop role-playing game is based on the Card Game system created by Peach Garden Games, in which players use a deck of 24 cards to determine the events of their story. These cards are arranged in a six-by-four grid, with each suit offering players a different type of challenge to overcome during the race. The card suits also represent the rival competitors that players will be racing against, providing opportunities for players to interact with them during the game.
If players manage to uncover four aces and beat their opponents to the end of the race, their character wins.
In addition to Bow, Hatchlings Games has also created and published another Studio Ghibli-inspired solo RPG called Dragon Dowser, as well as a tabletop RPG that teaches British and American Sign Language called Inspirisles.
A crowdfunding campaign for Bow will be launched on Backerkit on May 31st.