In 2018, comic book writer Kieron Gillen and artist and Stephanie Hans teamed on Image’s horror/fantasy comic Die. Part Jumanji, part Dungeons & Dragons, the comic wrapped in 2021, while its RPG companion became a compelling play in its own right. After reuniting for on We Called Them Giants, the pair are going back to Die with a sequel and a new set of rules for its real-world game.
Set a year after the original story, Die: Loaded sees the surviving party members back on Earth and trying to live normal lives after escaping the titular fantasy world. That’s easier said than done, as the tagline makes clear the game wants them to play again. In an interview with Rascal founder (and io9 alum) Lin Codega, Gillen described Loaded as a sequel with “a completely different group dynamic at its heart.” Where the original comic was about “getting to know people better via the medium of games,” this new book is about the culture of tabletop gaming; Gillen teased “some strong con culture” satire, including a pair of gods that represent “a good DM and bad DM” and a “brutal isekai piss take.”
Die: Loaded will also feature a refreshed, comic-style version of the RPG’s quickstart that released this past May, which last a few sessions and contains pregenerated characters representing the game’s different Paragon classes. Gillen also indicated to Rascal the game would have an open license in the near future to let designers make and sell their own supplements and adventures, and create their own original games using Die RPG’s mechanical engine. He also plans on introducing material in the comic that’ll later be applied to the game, provided it “gets working to my satisfaction.”
Image will release the first issue of Die: Loaded on November 12.
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