WRECK FACE. GET PAID.
riot
[rahy–uh t]noun
- Violent or wild disorder or confusion
- Something or someone hilariously funny
quest
[kwest]noun
- A search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something
We at Privateer Press have always enjoyed a somewhat…quirky sense of humor. It’s this slightly bent character that has led to such creations as the agonizer, piggybacks, and pygs driving a miniature tank. Sometimes that humor lands with the unexpected grace of a Clockatrice; other times, not so much (P.E.T.T., anyone?). Sometimes it just leaves people scratching their heads, wondering what’s gotten into the water cooler at PPHQ.
If you were one of the people bemused by our Riot Quest teaser during the Lock & Load Keynote presentation, I’m here to connect the scattered dots so you know what you have to look forward to next year. You might still be wondering what’s in the water cooler, but at least you’ll know there is method to our madness here.
Riot Quest imagines a possible future for the Iron Kingdoms where humanity hasn’t done such a great job of keeping the forces of darkness at bay. In this post-apocalyptic IK, cities lie smoldering in ruins, the gods are nowhere to be found, and what’s left of the civilized races amount to a fraction of what they once were.
And the whole thing is hilarious.
No, not the damning of mankind and all the bloodshed—the game itself is hilarious. Because in the post-apocalypse Iron Kingdoms, there’s only one thing left to do: get rich.
Here’s the deal: After the big cataclysm that more or less ends civilization, there’s just nothing worthwile left but loot—and it’s everywhere. The bad guys didn’t want all the valuable stuff people had; they just wanted their souls. So now there’s treasure and booty and high-powered mechanika littered across the continent, all of it ready for the taking. And the survivors? They’re the meanest, toughest, most clever scrappers the Iron Kingdoms has ever seen—they had to be to survive the apocalypse. They’ve spent their lives fighting for kings, nations, and gods, all for naught. So, now it’s time to enjoy the spoils of war, live a little, revel in the good life. Only old habits die hard, though, and these once intrepid heroes quickly fall back on the one thing they are good at: fighting. And the only thing left to fight about is who gets what.
If you can’t tell yet, the whole idea is a lark. Riot Quest is not a serious game about the struggle between good an evil, political machinations, and the battle to save the souls of humanity. Instead, it’s a raucous romp through a familiar place with some new twists on faces you know, as well as a whole new cast of wacky, IK-inspired characters, each with their own quirks and peculiarities.
The game is brutally simple: you grab a crew of 5–10 of your favorite characters (no grunts in Riot Quest; every miniature is a character) and, using four of them at a time, duke it out in your chosen arena with 1–3 other players, all in an attempt to haul away more treasure than anyone else. During the battle, you power your characters up with Riot Gear, and when one of your crew gets KO’d, you bring someone else in off the bench to keep on fighting until the bitter, bitter end.
The game plays fast—you only deal with a single miniature during your turn. And with an average game length of about 20–25 minutes, it’s perfect for throwing down in between bigger games of WARMACHINE and HORDES or over a few brews while you’re sitting in a pub with your friends.
Riot Quest has quickly become a favorite in the Privateer offices due in large part to its noteworthy unpredictability. Multiple random factors, such as where treasure might pop up next or what spawning portal your next hero is going to pop out of, make the skirmish an entertainingly chaotic experience, truly putting the “riot” in Riot Quest.
And it’s quick and easy to learn. It takes only a handful of models to paint and form into a crew, and virtually no set-up time means even those friends and loved ones you’ve been trying to get into miniatures games forever will find it simple to get in on the action.
We’ll have a lot more to show you as the game develops toward its release next year, but hopefully this Insider leaves you with a little less head scratching and a lot more anticipation. And if Eiryss leading a ragtag bunch of fortune hunters or Boomhowler wielding a chain-gun aren’t enough to put you over the top, then wait until you see those pygs in their tank! (Yeah, I know you haven’t stopped wondering about it since you spotted that line above. But wait for it!)
Matt Wilson
Chief Creative Officer
