Titmouse Animation Studios is perhaps best known for producing the popular Critical Role animated series such as The Legend of Vox Machina And Mighty Neinbut after a hugely successful fundraising campaign for set of patrons Late last year, the studio's first board game was released on November 28th.
Drunkards, drug addicts and criminals is billed as a “mind-altering fantasy drinking RPG” for players of all experience levels and sobriety levels. Imagine a simplified version of Dungeons & Dragons where instead of HP you sacrifice “sips” or “puffs” every time you take damage. (Though the game's creators have stated that players can instead use anything from push-ups to hot wings to candy—anything that causes you some kind of mostly innocent physical “damage.”)
The funniest thing about this buzzy new game, however, is that it all started as a joke.
“Every year we do a weird customer gift, a unique item that we send to all of our customers,” Titmouse founder and CEO Chris Prynoski told Polygon during a video call. “A few years ago I wanted to make the main screen of a game.”
Auckland artist SKINNER, who specializes in “psychedelic nightmare paintings”, has created colorful art for the screen. But Prynoski said they needed the inside of the screen to say anything. So he tasked Titmouse creative director Alexei Bochenek with putting together copy that would read “very wordy and technical” as if Gary Gygax had written a drinking game in the style of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (ADD).
“I never expected anyone to play it,” Prynoski admitted. “I just thought it would be a fun gag gift. But a few people played it and said we should do it.”
Prynoski said it was Luke Gygax, Gary Gygax's son, who ultimately convinced the Titmouse team to raise funds to create a more detailed version of the game.
Since launching Backerkit last November Drunkards, drug addicts and criminals was fully funded in just two hours, ultimately reaching its ambitious goals and raising a total of $103,291. (Unfortunately, this left him $17,000 short of unlocking the Vinomancer class.) The game has 12 classes dedicated to beer, booze, or weed—for example, Beer Master, Whiskey Wizard, Druid of the Flower. Besides the traditional abilities, most of them have familiar mechanics seen in drinking games. The Pontiff must constantly monologue every moment of the game in great detail, and if he gives in, he must drink.
Players can use pre-rolled character cards, which indicate that each character has a base stat, two attacks (a combination of melee and magic), a special skill, and a unique trait. But you can also combine these features to create a completely custom character. Consumable items and equipment further modify different playstyles, such as the Bongwater staff, which causes all enemies it splashes to take double damage for one round.
“It’s not intended to be a heavy narrative,” Prynoski said. “This combat system is essentially a meat grinder, so it's designed for role-playing and character combat.”
The entire game system is built around the use of a single d12 included with each copy of the game (which can also be used on a number of tables to create a narrative scene). For this round, the current Drunken Master rolls a d12. Depending on their role, they select one monster card from a small pool (19 monsters in total) and place it on the game board. Could this be the mischievous Spliff Queen fending off magical attacks? Or maybe the monstrous Meatman that causes all enemies to roll an extra d12 per attack?
Each monster attacks as directed by the current game master, followed by each player.
“The biggest difference between this game and traditional TTRPGs is that there is no single Game Master,” Prynoski said, explaining that, like a traditional board game, the roles rotate around the table and each Game Master controls the monsters for that round. According to Prynoski, this is one of the features of the game that makes it accessible to TTRPG newcomers.
Attack rolls are measured against the player's or monster's armor: if the Hungover Mummy makes an attack and gets an 11 on a roll of 2d12+4, it will deal no damage to the brewer's 12 armor. But if he makes the same attack against a Whiskey Wizard with 6 armor, the player will have to take five sips.
In practice, all of the above means that tons of monsters will quickly swarm the party, forcing them to take a lot of gulps and use their items to stay alive, or at least as sober as possible.
“You might think that making a game about drinking and smoking is just an excuse to throw a party at work and call it 'game testing,'” the game's Backerkit page says. “Well, you're wrong! It's really just an excuse to order a bunch of really cool drawings of crazy shit.”
True to this promise, besides SKINNER, Drunkards, drug addicts and criminals also featuring works by Pendleton Ward, Todd James, Erol Otus, Heather Mahler, Jenny Goldberg, Matt Furey, Dave Johnson and others.
With an ever-changing game master, neon-drenched art, and an unapologetically chaotic ruleset. Drunkards, drug addicts and criminals feels less like a traditional board game and more like a distillation of Titmouse's entire creative personality: loud, weird, communal and proudly unruly. What started as a one-off holiday joke has now become a full-blown experience, ready to be used in living rooms, bars, and unsuspecting groups of friends everywhere.
Prynoski confirmed that for board game enthusiasts like me, this is the perfect way to trick your drinking buddies into finally playing D&D. So to my buddy John, who refuses to play D&D but loves a good drink, get ready.
