This content is protected against AI scraping.
It’s time to revisit Godflesh, the tabletop RPG I’m developing. It’s been a while since we last went into this world of grotesque gods and flesh-eating power, so a quick reorientation first.
A world shaped by fallen gods
Godflesh is an Apocalypse Engine game set in a dark fantasy world. Colossal, monstrous gods walk the earth, and their life and death cycles are tied directly to humanity’s fate. People get pulled into this cycle by slaying gods and inheriting their power – literally, through consuming their flesh (hence the name).
The game explores the motivations behind this world’s adventurers. Why do they risk their lives? Why do others support these ventures? And where do all these monsters come from? Godflesh provides a framework that answers these questions and connects them.
From frustration to inspiration
The last time we discussed Godflesh, the combat system based on “Demigods” (by Jason Mills) wasn’t working. It produced unbalanced situations where some characters were unkillable and others died at the slightest touch. We wanted something more nuanced – something that captured the lethality of the world without killing characters constantly.
This led to brainstorming sessions with Eran Aviram, drawing on games like City of Mist, Otherscape, and Legend in the Mist. Then a friend introduced me to The Wildsea, a Blades in the Dark spin-off with some genuinely interesting ideas.
The Wildsea’s influence
The Wildsea takes Blades in the Dark’s core mechanics and rebuilds them. It drops the Playbook system and lets players construct characters from a pool of diverse elements, represented by “tracks” – sequences of circles similar to clocks in other Apocalypse Engine games.
The key thing about The Wildsea is its focus on narrative rather than stats. No XP, no HP, no meta-stats. Everything revolves around aspects – character traits with associated tracks. When narrative damage occurs, you mark it on the relevant aspect track, whether that’s your armour, your weapon, or some defining characteristic. Between adventures, characters heal and recover, just like real life.
Structure and exploration
Like Blades in the Dark, The Wildsea has a strong structural focus. The world is a sprawling forest with towering trees; people navigate it on specialised ships that cut through the dense foliage. This gives the game a clear loop: journeys, arrivals, adventures, and returns to civilisation. It echoes the mission-based structure of other Forged in the Dark games, with clear guidelines on what to do and when.
A February of creation
Inspired by The Wildsea and Eran’s insights, I had a productive run in February. Over 32,000 words, a revamped rulebook, reworked playbooks, new character sheets, and a complete set of moves.
The game is now playable enough for groups to run a session or two through the first adventure. That said, it’s still in development. Advancement rules are there in basic form, but crafting treasures, godflesh consumption mechanics, and the full faction system are still to come – and those pieces are essential to what makes Godflesh distinctive.
We’ve had two successful playtests with the new rules. More on those soon.