Role-playing game RiverBank a new twist on author Kij Johnson's concept

LAWRENCE – Kij Johnson believes she’s getting in on a golden age of gaming with the forthcoming development of her feminist take on “Wind in the Willows” into the RiverBank Roleplaying Game from Kobold Press.

The University of Kansas associate professor of English has enjoyed transforming her concept for the 2017 book, “The River Bank,” into a tabletop game.

“I have never worked on a creative work with so many other people invested in it — marketing people, designers, multiple artists,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said she designed the rules, setting and scenarios for the game, then collaborated with the Kobold Press team to create the book and marketing.

“A role-playing game is a collaborative experience,” she said. “It offers game mechanics, world-building, non-player characters — everything but the story. The game master and the players generate the story by rolling the dice and referring to the published materials and their creativity.”

“In my game, you are playing talking animals: a badger with a nice house, or an otter who has a commercial laundry and rehabilitates criminal animals from London by giving them work experience.”

Johnson’s “River Bank” book was styled as a sequel to Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 “The Wind in the Willows,” emulating its Edwardian cadences set against protagonist Mr. Toad’s penchant for motorized mayhem. The game has a similar feel.

“It’s a mix of mayhem and pleasantness,” Johnson said. “It’s all low stakes. You are not trying to destroy the One Ring but to win the flower contest at the local fair.”

The author said the RiverBank game publishers see it as having a “Cottagecore” aesthetic — “cozy, comforting, pleasant, low-drama, posh fun.”

Johnson has gotten a perspective, too, on a new way of funding creative works with RiverBank.

“For years, game makers have used a business plan whereby they pre-fund the game’s publication with a Kickstarter campaign, or, in this case, Kobold Press uses the BackerKit website or platform,” Johnson said. “Whoever signs up during the campaign, that determines how big the initial run will be. And then more will be sold later through bookstores or gaming stores.”

The need for activity during COVID-19 lockdowns seems to have supercharged the tabletop-gaming market, Johnson said.

The BackerKit release of RiverBank occurs in April. Those who don’t sign up in advance will have to wait until November to buy RiverBank at a book or game store.

“Everything after that — like going to conventions — becomes promotion for the game,” Johnson said.