A fantasy world, drenched in the glamorous style and crime of the roaring twenties, has come to Kickstarter.

Gangfight Games take the time to tell us just what to expect from Runerunners, and guide us through streets where magic is the subject of Prohibition.

Constitution Of The United Realms - Article 21

“The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United Realms for delivery or use therein of magical artefacts and spells deemed harmful in nature, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.”

Runerunners is a tabletop skirmish board game set in a fantasy world, but in a 1920’s gangster era where magic has been outlawed.

Players form small, random teams of heroes, or Runerunners, who take jobs and bounties to hunt down lost magical artefacts hidden around town. They could be working for museum curators, government officials, merchant guilds or back alley mob bosses.

Each Runerunner may have their own reasons for collecting these magical items, but in the end, they just want to get paid for their services. With Prohibition in full swing, there is definitely no shortage of work to be done, and teams of Runerunners often come into contact with their rivals looking for the same trinkets, which usually ends violently.

The game takes place in Sanctuary City, the largest and most populated place in the United Realms. While most older countries tend to be home to one primary race, the United Realms, and especially Sanctuary City, is the most diverse, a melting pot of races and cultures that somehow manage to get along for the most part.

Players will move through city streets, alleys, shops and offices, investigating the areas looking for clues that will lead them to these lost artefacts. Even though it is a skirmish battle game at heart, the object is NOT to kill the members of the other team (though that is an option).

Instead, you need to collect as much loot as possible within a set time limit. When you successfully investigate an area, you draw a loot card. This will award that Runerunner an item that could be a common and mundane weapon, or a legendary, mystical heirloom. Each card is worth a different amount of points based on its rarity level. In addition to investigating, loot can also be acquired by stealing from enemies or defeating them in combat.

The game features alternating activations, with simple yet effective combat rules, using regular six-sided dice. It includes six unique, double-sided board tiles allowing you to set up a different map every time you play.

There are eleven highly-detailed, plastic Runerunner miniatures, along with stat cards and a deck of loot cards. You can easily create your own games from scratch, or play any of the pre-made Jobs listed in the rulebook, which also includes a simple yet robust campaign system for linking your games.

You can find out more about Runerunners Here and be sure to check out the Kickstarter.

-Tim Kline, Gangfight Games

Let us know your thoughts on Runerunners below. What sort of fantasy character would you bring into a setting like this?