I was scouring the net since I can’t sleep, and I keep nocturnal hours. Something caught my eye on Kickstarter, something that is spelled Fléaux! but pronounced Flay-O. With the tagline ‘Tonight we bleed but tomorrow we’ll be rich!” – It’s down to about 3 hours on Kickstarter and we love (especially me) to call on Kickstarters that have done well beyond their original goal, but also to show Kickstarter RPGs that catch our eye. Kobayashi’s Flay-O did just that!

At 832 backers, aiming for a goal of £1,655 Flay-O has flayed the goal to the amount of £7,107 so far before it ends soon. Pretty epic if you ask me!

What is Fléaux! though?

A brutal medieval/Early renaissance/Baroque fantasy RPG inspired by the Black Hack 2e and their own Hack, known as the Black Sword Hack. Looking at DriveThruRPG Black Sword Hack is currently a Gold seller. Nice!

Who do I play?

You play as a band of rogues, ne’er-do-wells, cutthroats, robbers, and the like who try and make it in a world that wants them dead, probably more so than your average Dark Souls game run. It’s a classless system too, so there’s no classes at all in Fléaux!

The character is defined by their origin, upbringing, occupation, and finally the crime they were accused of. As you create a character, you roll these on a table and as the Kickstarter explains, you can have an ogre-blooded adventurer who grew up as part of a travelling circus, worked there as a thumb-breaker and now adorns many a wanted poster because they threatened the life of an inquisitor.

As characters level they can be grown in any way the player wants, so there’s a lot of freedom there to craft your adventurer how you see fit. Even down to picking up some magic tricks along the way or other skills you might not have thought of at the time.

The System

It’s a d20 based system, with a roll under the appropriate attribute to succeed. It’s all player-facing meaning that the GM doesn’t roll most of the time. With plenty for the players to do outside of combat too. In combat players roll to attack, defend, and avoid being eaten by a grue (their words, not mine!)

Sorcery is my kind of magic as well, dangerous and messy. There’s rules for firearms and alchemy in the game too, so you’re going to have something for everyone.

Fléaux! looks good, it looks fun, and if you want to back it here’s the link!