What if the kings on a chessboard could kiss instead of checkmate? That's the conceit behind Violent Delights, a chess-based tabletop RPG from Backwards Tabletop, designed by Asa Donald and Alex Johnson, that recasts Shakespeare's most famous love story onto the 64 squares.
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Start organising for freeThe setup is simple. White pieces play the Capulets, black plays the Montagues, and the kings become Romeo (in black) and Juliet (in white) at the masquerade where they first meet. Standard chess rules apply, with one twist. The kings can move into adjacent squares to share a 'kiss', a forbidden move that opens up an entirely different ending. Capture an opposing piece and you don't just remove it from the board, you act out the death in a Firebrands-style mini-game, narrating the scene before the piece comes off.
That Firebrands lineage is the giveaway that this is more than a chess variant. Firebrands is the Vincent and Meguey Baker mini-game framework that uses prompted scenes to let players sketch out doomed relationships in a single session. Pulling that into chess turns every captured pawn into a small story, and every king's kiss into a meaningful beat about defying social order.
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Find events near youA free playtest version is up on itch.io right now. The first ten testers to fill in the feedback form get a complimentary PDF when the full version is finished. The Kickstarter is in prelaunch with a full crowdfunding launch planned for later in 2026.
This is a one-shot night kind of game. Two players, a chessboard from Oxfam, and an evening that lands somewhere between a strategy game and a writers' workshop. Worth flagging on your group's shared calendar.
Sources: Wargamer | Rascal News | Backwards Tabletop
