Arc Dream Announces Black Company RPG

Glen Cook's Black Company dark fantasy novel series last had a tabletop roleplaying game in 2004, from Green Ronin Publishing. The series features a mercenary group, with a mix of gritty military fiction and epic fantasy.

Arc Dream Publishing has just announced that it is currently developing a new game, written by Delta Green's Shane Ivery and Dennis Detwiller. It will use a new game engine built around "suspense, terror, and savage heroics", starting with a core rulebook and then supported by adventures and sourcebooks. There is no release date yet.

VICTORIA, BC — The Black Company Role-Playing Game is in development by Shane Ivey and Dennis Detwiller, co-authors and publishers of the award-winning Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game.

The Lady? Where had I encountered that word used that way, emphasized as though it was the title of a goddess? A dark legend out of olden times.… —The Black Company

In The Black Company and its sequels, novelist Glen Cook redefined epic fantasy by writing with ordinary soldiers in mind. He opened the way for generations of authors of dark fantasy.

Arc Dream Publishing proudly announces plans for a new tabletop role-playing game based on the Black Company series. Licensed by Glen Cook, The Black Company Role-Playing Game will put players at the heart of the adventures, dangers, and treacheries that surround the storied Black Company.

In The Black Company, we follow an elite mercenary company through a continent-spanning war and desperate raids. A war between good and evil, the enemy might say, rebelling against the dark empress who employs the Company. A war between evil and far worse, if you ask those who know what drives the leaders of the rebellion. Don’t ask the soldiers of the Black Company. They only want to do their job, look out for each other, and live another day.

I faced him. And the memory came. A devil’s hammer drove spikes of ice into the belly of my soul. I knew why One-Eye did not want to cross the sea. The ancient evil of the north.… “I thought you people died three hundred years ago.” —The Black Company

Glen Cook wrote The Black Company as a veteran who wanted to see the soldier’s experience in the wars and adventures of heroic fantasy. Arc Dream Publishing has spent decades capturing the experience of soldiers and government agents for RPG players. Arc Dream has received universal acclaim for its horror game Delta Green and its World War II game of desperate superheroics, Godlike. Detwiller and Ivey are writing The Black Company Role-Playing Game to evoke the soldier’s experience in a world of brutal bloodshed, shocking sorceries, and seemingly impossible odds.

“I’ve been enthralled by The Black Company since the first books came out,” Ivey said. “This is the thrill of a career. We’re writing the fantasy game that we’ve always wanted to play.”

Detwiller added, “Shane and I have long considered creating a dark fantasy game, and Delta Green always wanted a twisted, crazed little brother. The Black Company is a perfect fit.”

In the night, when the wind dies and silence rules the place of glittering stone, I remember. And they all live again. —Soldiers Live

Being a soldier of the Black Company makes you part of something greater than yourself. Yours is the tale of brothers and sisters who came before and those to follow. Your name and deeds will be recorded in the annals. When you fall, this bloody-handed family will fight and die to save or avenge you. And thanks to you, the Company will go on.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Black Company rules and Arc Dream rules. Looking forward to this.

 

[EthanSental]

Someone was inspired by Dr. Doom for the art piece above I just recently purchased the Black company on audible and enjoyed it on the commute to work. While listening I looked for that 3rd Ed era book but was pricey on eBay so I didn’t purchase it as it was just for reading material for myself but I’ll keep this in mind as we learn more and a release date.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

Sounds like it's very focused on the early novels of the series at the moment with all the rebellion and dark empress talk. Wonder if there's a limit on the license or if they'll expand to later books (and more convoluted story arcs) eventually.

Not sure the series was quite as revolutionary as made out to be here, given that you can see a lot of the same elements in Cook's earlier (and parallel, post 1984) Dread Empire series. Black Company is a little more "ground level" in terms of POV characters than DE, but it's not like even early Croaker is some rank-and-file trooper and climbs into a position of real power on par with any of the schemers of DE pretty quickly. I guess the main difference is the more changeable mercenary viewpoint as opposed to being national rulers and other movers & shakers from word one. The recently deceased David Drake was doing much the same sort of "merc soldier's POV" stuff around the same time as Cook with Hammer's Slammers, so both scifi and fantasy were seeing a lot of this from (roughly) the 80s onward.

Not really Arc Dream's kind of thing, but I'd love to see a licensed RPG based on Cook's old Starfishers setting (including Passage At Arms) - maybe done with modded Cepheus or something. Solid space opera work there, albeit largely forgotten these days.

 

[Reynard]

The Black Company does one thing that I really like compared to, say, Game of Thrones or The First Law: it manages to be high (dark) fantasy at the same time as being mud and blood grimdark. Too many authors eschew the fantasy in favor of a more "grounded" approach and Cook's work shows you don't have to do that. The Silver Spike in particular shows you can get real gonzo and still talk about real people wrapped up in these events.

That said, I don't generally run games in established fiction settings (other than Star Wars). But Black Company has inspired many different games I have run. I will be curious to see what the bespoke system for this looks like, but it will almost certainly be better than wedging it into a 5E framework.

 

[Von Ether]

The Black Company does one thing that I really like compared to, say, Game of Thrones or The First Law: it manages to be high (dark) fantasy at the same time as being mud and blood grimdark. Too many authors eschew the fantasy in favor of a more "grounded" approach and Cook's work shows you don't have to do that. The Silver Spike in particular shows you can get real gonzo and still talk about real people wrapped up in these events.

That said, I don't generally run games in established fiction settings (other than Star Wars). But Black Company has inspired many different games I have run. I will be curious to see what the bespoke system for this looks like, but it will almost certainly be better than wedging it into a 5E framework.

Just curious. Do you do any other sci-fi gaming beyond Star Wars?

 

[SteveC]

This is really interesting. I love these books and followed the series across its long lifespan. If you haven't read the books, I really recommend the first three. If you get hooked, you'll find you want to go all the way to the end, but at least check on the first books.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but I should probably check just in case I missed it - has anyone done a licensed TTRPG based on the Garrett PI series? Again, not really Arc Dream's thing, but I could see it doing okay with fans of (say) the Harry Dresden game, or maybe even as sort of inverted Blades In the Dark kind of thing.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I'm pretty sure the answer is no, but I should probably check just in case I missed it - has anyone done a licensed TTRPG based on the Garrett PI series? Again, not really Arc Dream's thing, but I could see it doing okay with fans of (say) the Harry Dresden game, or maybe even as sort of inverted Blades In the Dark kind of thing.

Not ever, as far as I know, and it's a damn shame. The world built around TunFaire is so much more interesting to me than that from the Black Company, from the way sorcery works to the really unusual species to the endless warning the Cantard.

 

[Distracted DM]

I have that cover!
But I'm kind of amazed that people still know what the Black Company is, ya know? Or, I guess, I mean I'm surprised that there's a big enough following to justify a licensed ttrpg. Maybe the license isn't too costly.