Dungeons and Dragons may lead the scene when it comes to tabletop role-playing games, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a few laughs. Publisher The Devastator has taken inspiration from an unlikely source, the cult-hit comedy Wet Hot American Summer , to create a unique tabletop game that isn’t just rolling dice and defeating monsters.
Co-authors Lee Keeler and Geoffrey Golden talked to iDigitalTimes about Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp, the already-funded Kickstarter campaign for the game, working with David Wain and how this crazy idea came to be a reality.
A common first reaction when mentioning the Wet Hot American Summer tabletop game is some mix of confusion and wonder. Golden has already published a comedy RPG, Wizards of Cockblock Forest, and wanted to do another. When the idea of making a game based on Wet Hot American Summer first came to him, he knew that’s what he wanted to do.
“We pitched the initial concept to David Wain, and he approved it really quickly, which was huge for us,” Keeler told iDigi. “We’ve also been really lucky to get exclusive interviews with Joe Lo Truglio, Michael Ian Black and Marguerite Moreau, which will be part of the manual.”
Although a tabletop RPG would definitely appeal to the indoor kids, the goal is to make it easy and accessible for everyone. “We designed the game to make it easy to pick up and play for both the Keiths and Alexas of the world,” Golden said. “And we made the manual itself a fun reading experience – it’s written by The Indoor Kids the night after the film takes place.”
One interesting way Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp differs from typical tabletop games is the inclusion of side games and real-life activities. “We have arts (and farts) and crafts, where players get to use dry markers and crayons to compete for Gail’s approval,” said Keeler.
Golden added that “Players will be sneaking out of softball games, learning how to play shitty guitar and ruining the house with indoor Capture the Flag. You can even play a game of D&D with Keith (the Caped Boy) within Fantasy Camp.”
While Golden is the seasoned game designer of the group, Keeler feels his lack of traditional game design experience actually enhanced the overall design. “There were moments during the writing meetings when Geoffrey would lay out some of the game play mechanics and my eyes would sloooowly roll back into my head and smoke would literally come out of my ears,” he said.
“Since we’ve spent several months reading and playing games while writing Fantasy Camp, I feel like I’ve gotten the basics down,” said Keeler. “On the other hand, my perspective as the non-D&D-designer in this project meant bringing more of the party-game aspects to the table so the game could be more interactive.”
The best part, especially if you are a person like me who always ends up being a DM for others, is that DMing in Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp should be an easier process, or at least a more entertaining one. “Like the playability for campers/counselors, we crafted the game to be easier to administer over, too,” said Keeler. “Plus, the manual is fun to read as a piece of comedy itself, so if nothing else, the dick jokes will stand by you in your lonely DM plight.”
Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp is expected to ship physical editions of the rulebook this November, but if you back the project at the right level, you can get a PDF copy in time for the movie’s 10th anniversary,
The Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp Kickstarter has already passed its $12,500 goal with almost three weeks left to go.
So what do you think? Are you interested in backing Wet Hot American Summer: Fantasy Camp? What other bizarre tabletop RPG games would you like to see? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
