Troika! RPG sends players back to school in upcoming Academies of the Arcane setting book

Earn a master’s degree in wandology from a college floating on a river of crabs, or something equally mystical and silly with the upcoming Academies of the Arcane setting book for the Troika! Numinous Edition RPG.

Publisher Melsonian Arts Council announced a Kickstarter campaign funding the supplement will open on April 1st - a date with no significant bearing on the contents of the book, to be sure. The sizable sourcebook will contain 32 new backgrounds for player characters, 200 spells to cast at and with friends, and enough random tables to fill several grand halls. Groups can use these to create the shape and location of their academy, along with its venerable faculty, unique curriculum and entire history.

Academies of the Arcane’s approach to magical learning side-steps attempts to replicate stuffy British boarding schools by asking ‘why not so much more?’ A piece of preview art shows a gargantuan cyclops skull situated on the mouth of a river, engraved crystals dangling from within as colourful banners billow from the rest of the skeleton in the background. As with all things involving the Troika! system, weird is presumed from the start.

The supplement will also include plenty of rules and advice for running one-shots or campaigns within a table’s bespoke wizarding school. Groups can vote to explore the social ecology of the student population, put their nose to the grindstone to attempt daunting exams or goof off in the obviously dangerous off-limits sections of the grounds, probably stumbling over some dark secret or another.

Melsonian Arts Council’s marketing manager, Jared Sinclair, said in a press release that Academies of the Arane combines the work of several incredible writers and illustrators. “This team is doing unparalleled work to make sure the book is both beautiful and practical to use at the table. We’re really bringing all of the skills we’ve developed in our more than seven years as a publisher to make sure Academies of the Arcane is the best it can possibly be,” he said.

Troika! Numinous Edition is the latest version of the popular science-fantasy tabletop RPG setting known for a mechanical basis that’s easy both to learn and to use for design, leading to a vibrant creator scene hacking or adapting the game across genres and game types. The evidently British humour - think Terry Pratchett - rules-light gameplay and open worldbuilding have further cemented its popularity in recent years.

The Kickstarter campaign for Academies of the Arcane will launch on April 1st of this year, offering a physical, casebound setting book that only requires the base Troika! ruleset to run on the table.