Ace Gamebooks are going to be returning to Kickstarter on 29th January with a new roleplaying game set during the time of Beowulf. Heorot is built on the back of the excellent Beowulf: Beastslayer gamebook which was brought to life back in 2019 and gives you a chance to tell your own sagas and epic poems.

Heorot // Ace Gamebooks

Heorot is a roleplaying game which is rules-lite and is designed to be played with minimal set-up time which might be very handy for a lot of beleaguered Games Masters out there. The age of Beowulf heavily inspires this game, and in that sense, you'll be playing as heroes of epic poems being led through an adventure by your Skald (Games Master).

Heorot can be played in three different ways that are all built around core storytelling mechanics. The tales of your deeds and the way you tell them increases your Wyrd which then allows you to perform the heroic deeds seen in the likes of Beowulf.

Storytelling Contests are good for short gaming sessions whilst you can expand things out with Heroic Sagas. There is also the Songs Of The Skalds format which works in a more traditional sense with scenarios that are tied together into a larger campaign.

In this way, it seems like Heorot would be a good entry-level roleplaying game and one suited to veteran groups who want to have a bit of fun.

A Packed Campaign

As I mentioned above, Heorot is inspired by the Beowulf: Beastslayer gamebook and the miniatures that were crafted back during that Kickstarter by Otherworld Miniatures (shown below).

Beowulf & Grendel // Otherworld Miniatures

As well as providing the obvious bits and bobs for the roleplaying game, the team are also looking to get a miniature for Grendel's Mother sculpted which wasn't quite achieved during the initial campaign.

It also wouldn't be a Kickstarter without Stretch Goals and you'll find the options like a GM Screen, Reading The Runes supplement, Geats Sourcebook and also a complete campaign for the game called The Sons Of Ragnar.

The original artist behind the gamebook is returning, Russ Nicholson, but Ajayi Olajide has also come on board to work on the roleplaying game as well.

Beowulf Beastslayer // Ace Gamebooks

I am eager to dive in and learn a lot more about this Kickstarter campaign and what the plans for it are. It seems like a great idea and as someone who loves the storytelling side of tabletop roleplaying games, I could see this being a good fit for my group.

Are you going to be keeping an eye out for this one?