Spell is basically Scrabble as a roleplaying game, and it sounds magical

If you never find yourself short of words during a roleplaying campaign, this could be the game for you.

Spell: The RPG is an indie RPG created by Taylor Smith, the lead designer behind movie board games Evil Dead 2 and The Terminator. Originally released in a digital form a couple of years ago, Smith has brought a new edition to Kickstarter as part of the crowdfunding site’s Make 100 promotion.

The gist of the game is that it combines a classic d6-driven roleplaying system with the spellathon of word games such as Scrabble and Bananagrams. Players draw letter tiles from a bag over the course of a scenario, and must spell out words to cast incantations. Anything can be cast, as long as it can be justified by the player.

To stop players having to spell every single action they take, each character also has stats referred to as ‘impulses’, which are rolled for to attempt more generalised tasks.

The core game is setting-neutral and can be used for either one-off scenarios or longer campaigns, but Smith has also put out a volume of five ready-made narratives that include a fantasy hunt to find the Moon Goddess, a quest to save the world from a cracking sky, a magical drama set in a high school, the challenge of managing an enchanted civilisation as a Godqueen and a dreamlike race to stop dimensions colliding.

The edition of Spell: The RPG up on Kickstarter has been revised from Smith’s original release, with tidied-up rules, extra systems and further notes on settings.

As part of the Make 100 challenge, he’s offering a limited number of physical boxes with wooden letter tiles and dice – although just the books can be had, too.

The campaign runs until March 10th and has already more than tripled its goal.