Kiki’s Delivery Service inspired solo RPG is filled with witches and teenage drama
Koriko calling.
A new solo tabletop roleplaying game directly inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Service is on its way.
Koriko is an upcoming tabletop RPG that takes heavy inspiration from both the original novel Kiki’s Delivery Service, written by Eiko Kadono, and the film adaptation by Studio Ghibli – the film studio known for Japanese animated films such as Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Designed to support just a single player, Koriko is a storytelling game about a city in which the player starts their new life as a young witch looking to help the locals out.
Populated by all sorts of unusual and interesting people, Koriko is a city whose residents are unfamiliar with witchcraft but more than willing to benefit from it. As a newly arrived witch, the player will explore Koriko’s various districts throughout the tabletop roleplaying game : searching for adventure, taking on various jobs and finding new people to befriend. Depending on what the player decides their witch will do, they may have to contend with a certain amount of risk – threatening their otherwise peaceful and idealistic existence.
As a solo TRPG, Koriko will see players using a combination of tarot cards and dice to tell their witches’ stories. Taking place across an entire year, Koriko will have the player lay down a spread of tarot cards at the very beginning of each season, all of which will come together to help form a narrative of key events and moments for the player to experience. Players can decide to have their witch pursue their career, find hidden treasure or spend time with their confidants to deepen their relationships. The riskier the activity, the more dice they’ll need to add to their stack.
When winter’s end finally arrives, the player will have to decide whether their witch chooses to stay in Koriko or if they fly off to pastures new in search of fresh adventures. Besides the solo mode, players will have the option to play Koriko as a group, asynchronously telling each other their witches’ stories and writing letters to one another at the end of each season – remaining in touch with one another as witches who all grew up in the same town but went their separate ways.
Koriko was created by Jack Harrison, the founder of Mousehole Press – the studio responsible for publishing Koriko – and the designer behind other tabletop titles such as the sci-fi RPG Orbital and The Slow Knife, a roleplaying game about the sweet nature of savage revenge.
The Kickstarter campaign for Koriko is live until November 7, with a pledge of £28 ($30) getting backers a A5 hardcover copy in September 2023. Alternatively, a digital version is available for a pledge of £12 ($13).