Horror fans have no doubt heard of The Walking Dead. This tale of a zombie outbreak began with the 2003 comic, written by Robert Kirkman, and managed to stand out among its peers thanks to its grounded humanistic storytelling. That comic was then adapted into a critically acclaimed live-action series in 2010. It has ran for 11 seasons, producing a ton of multimedia spin-offs like Telltale Games' interactive drama and Mantic Games' (discontinued) miniatures game. Now, AMC Network has announced alongside Free League Publishing and Genuine Entertainment to bring more zombie tales to gaming tables with an official The Walking Dead TTRPG.
The Walking Dead TTRPG announcement
According to an official press release, The Walking Dead TTRPG will attempt to bring the franchise's various staples to gaming tables. These will include difficult choices with lives in the balance, a heavy focus on character development, and surviving against endless hordes of undead. The TTRPG will use a modified version of the Zero Year system, which the studio used to for the Mutant: Year Zero TTRPG. Much like The Walking Dead TV show, the focus is less on managing health and fighting walkers and more on human drama and survival.
The game directors for The Walking Dead TTRPG are Tomas Härenstam and Nils Karlén. Härenstam has experience adapting darker franchises to the table with his work including Alien: The RPG and the Blade Runner TTRPG. In addition, the lead writer of the book will be Nils Hintz (Tales From The Loop, Vaesen), and the whole project will be overseen by Genuine's brand manager Joe LeFavi (Dragon Prince: Tales of Xadia).
“The Walking Dead has always been about characters – and audiences, by extension – facing impossible life and death choices. Now, fans can face these choices head on, putting themselves in the world of The Walking Dead – at any time in the timeline, encountering familiar faces and places and brand-new ones and, within our apocalypse, making the biggest choice: Who are you going to be? We’ve seen a lot of stories in the Walking Dead Universe, now it’s time to see yours.” - Chief Content Officer of The Walking Dead Universe, Scott Gimple
The Walking Dead TTRPG will be coming to Kickstarter in Spring 2023. As part of the campaign, fans can get early access to the game's Core Rulebook, Starter Set, as well as limited-run exclusive accessories. The game does have a retail release slated for Fall 2023.
