Against Time & Death is a two-player storytelling RPG. You and your partner play as agents on different sides of an epic time war. The game was designed by Nick Bate as a love letter to the book, This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
This game is designed to be played as an asynchronous letter writing game. This means you take it in turns to write your part of the story before passing it to the other player. Whilst the game sets you up as adversaries, you have various options on how to play each round, including co-operating with your rival. Although each action you can possibly take comes with their own consequences.
I got to talk with Nick all about what went into making the game and what he hopes players get out of it. I was also able to play a beta version of the game and I’m looking forward to sharing how I found playing it.
Against Time & Death is currently funding on Kickstarter. If it is of interest, go check it out and consider backing it. Alternatively, you can follow Nick on itch.io to be notified when the final version of the game is available on general release.
Story – An Intimate Setting Against an Infinite Backdrop
As mentioned above, Nick Bate took inspiration from Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone‘s This is How You Lose The Time War. The book focuses on the correspondence between two agents on either side of a time war. The operatives, named Red and Blue, begin their correspondence by taunting each other but over ‘time’ their relationship evolves into a shared bond. However, the development of this bond is up against the harsh realities of the war and would mean death for both agents if discovered. This theme of a relationship daring to defy the odds seems to be a big part of what inspired the game, taking its name from the following quote from the book:
Love is what we have, against time and death, against all the powers ranged to crush us down. You gave me so much: a history, a future, a calm that lets me write these words though I’m breaking. I hope I’ve given you something in return.
Establishing Your Own Time War
Nick plays with the infinite ways such a bond could manifest in a time war across infinite realities and timeframes. Playing Against Time & Death, you are given so much scope for creativity in setting and storytelling. You can play with history, alternative history, far flung science fiction, the near future, the possibilities are endless!
Nick is a life long storyteller and game designer, eager for you to create your own unique stories with his game.
Part of what I’m trying to do is invite you, the player, to dream as big as you want, but to do so in in bite sized chunks because this is a vast multiverse we’re playing across. You know, anything can happen and you don’t need to worry about the laws of physics. Or, you know, you can lean heavily into metaphor. You can just paint whatever grand vision pops into your mind.
As a big fan of science fiction, Nick wants to give players limitless possibilities for how their game can go. That said, he also believes it’s very important that both players be on the same page. Whilst most of the game can be played separately, he recommends the initial world building be done together:
Without prep, you can spend half the game trying to understand what the other person is saying. But if you’ve got that kind of baseline to build from you can get right into the the good, juicy stuff.
The game also includes lots of playsets so you can play pre-made scenarios that are ready to go. The finished game will come complete with four scenarios each designed by a different pair of creators. These creative pairs are Storybrewers, the Brain Trust, A Couple of Drakes and MacGuffin & Co.
Gameplay – A Deadly Dance of Cards and Fate
Against Time & Death takes place over eight storytelling rounds. In each round, players write what their characters are doing and use playing cards to decide which of their respective factions win. After that, one of the players writes a letter to the other to develop this forbidden relationship against the backdrop of the war.
Check out the game being played over on Black Armada Tales’ podcast.
At its core, the mechanics are pretty simple. Make your statement of intent and play your card. The highest card wins. However, it is the knock on consequences that really make this game interesting mechanically. If you are wanting to win the war outright, you will want to play the strongest card possible. However, playing face cards (Jack, Queen, King) increase chaos, which can destabilize the multiverse and maybe even destroy it. Conversely, you may also want to defy your superiors and co-operate with your rival. If both players play their cards face down, they can put aside the war and work together. However, playing a card face down can risk the other player gaining an easy victory over you. Nick sums it up really well:
There’s a relatively straightforward set of card based mechanics in here. And fundamentally, those card mechanics are kind of prisoner’s dilemmas. And what I’m hoping people experience is some of the tension of making possibly universe destroying decisions on the base of limited information. Do you play a card in such a way that is against your own best interests, in the hope of some nebulous future goal, that will require the other character to meet you halfway without knowing? There’s no way for you to know for certain if they’re going to meet you halfway.
Asynchronous Letter Writing – Play Whenever You Want
This prisoner’s dilemma style of play is made possible by the asynchronous style of play. This means that rather than setting a time to get together to play the game, you send messages and respond in your own time. There is even a digital template you can use on playingcards.io you can use for the card playing portion of the game. This means that all you’ve got to go on in terms of gauging your opponent is what they’ve written, adding such an intriguing element to the storytelling dimension of this game.
It also gets past one of the biggest opponent to tabletop roleplaying; scheduling! Rather than having to synchronize calendars to sort a game time, you can write your move whenever you want and get on with your day. This can make knowing when you’re going to continue play a bit unpredictable. However, it’s worth it for the feeling of seeing an update in your inbox with some delicious storytelling to enjoy!
Layout & Artwork – Gorgeously Retro and Evocative
When you buy the physical version of Against Time & Death, you’ll get this beautiful zine to flick through and begin your storytelling journey with. As you can see, there is a strong red and blue influence from the protagonists of This is How You Lose The Time War. Even just looking at the front cover makes you feel like you’re about to fall headlong into the multiverse and the infinite possibilities therein. This theme of red and blue threads and nodules of interconnected worlds weaves its way throughout the book.
A mock up of what the physical scenes will look like.
The artwork of the game was done by Paul Tomes who has previously contributes to titles including Lovecraftesque 2e, CthulhuHack 2e, and OpenQuest.
The layout is also very accessible thanks to the editing talents of Melody Watson. Different game elements are given space and structure, which is especially appreciated in the world building stage of play. Play diagrams and step by step instructions also made a real difference to visualize how this eight stage time war was going to work.
The online playingcards.io is wonderfully simple to use. When you upload the file included with the game it lays everything out clearly for you. Each player can see their own cards and the various mechanics at play. They can also see other metrics such as which round they’re on and the current chaos level.
Current Status of the Kickstarter
Against Time & Death will be funding on Kickstarter until February 25th. I’m pleased to say that the campaign has already fully funded. However, there are still plenty of extra rewards from backing this project. These rewards range from pdf and physical copies of the game to signed copies and custom playsets. There is even an extra special Time War reward tier. Here, you can play the game with Nick himself and have him turn that game into a unique playset!
The finished game is looking to release early 2026. Be sure to follow Nick more more details closer to the time!
