Cogwheel Gaming

Warchief Gaming has announced its first TTRPG (Table Top Role Playing Game) – Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent. The game is based on the role-playing campaign that Chris Metzen (Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Warchief Gaming) created and ran with his childhood friends in the ‘80s and ‘90s. This was previous to Metzen’s work at Blizzard.

Auroborus: Coils of the Serpent is an adaptation of that roleplaying game from decades ago. It has been adapted to Dungeons & Dragons 5E, which makes it much easier for D&D players and Dungeon Managers to pick it up and start a campaign. Ryan Collins (former Hearthstone designer and Lead Product Designer of Warchief Gaming) helped update the game to 5E, along with the help of Warchief’s team of designers and artists.

The first release in the Auroborus: Coils of the Serpent campaign is Worldbook: Lawbrand. It “gives players and GMs all the tools they need to create their own adventures in this epic fantasy world”. It will be launched on Kickstarter on April 20, 2021.

The core concept of the game is the Auroborus (a snake that is devouring its own tail). The campaign takes place in the realm of Lawbrand, a collection of trade cities. The Church of Sularia keeps the order in the cities with “really stringent laws and codes. It’s kind of like Lawful Good gone crazy.”

Beneath it all is the Auroborus, the world serpent, a primordial power. “It is life and death. It is growth and degeneration. It is enlightenment and madness.” Its power can be wielded by mortal creatures – but it comes at a high cost.”. Player characters that take the Mark of the Serpent can use the Auroborus’s power directly to heal the sick or shatter mountaintops. Doing so can cause great peril to the one who uses that power.

In addition to a new world to explore, Auroborus: Coils of the Serpent includes five unique new races and four new subclasses. The Atsaad is an aquatic race. The Wildkeeper is a nature-wielding fighter subclass. There are also new magic items, spells, and “Sigils” (which is a new form of customization).

I am very interested in experiencing what this new TTRPG has to offer. The new setting, races, and subclasses, could bring a fresh energy to the 5E D&D game many of us are playing. The concept that a player character could use the power of a primordial power – while knowing the risk that comes with it – would make for a unique role-playing experience.