UK indie outfit D101 Games is bringing its long-cooked fantasy RPG Wyrd Sword to Kickstarter on Tuesday 5 May 2026, after roughly three years of development and a year of open playtesting. If you cut your teeth on RuneQuest 3 in the late 80s and have been quietly waiting for that flavour of crunchy fantasy to come back round, this one is worth a look.
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See how it worksDesigned by D101 founder Paul "Newt" Newport, Wyrd Sword is built on the Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Engine (BRUGE), the same family that powers Call of Cthulhu and the recent Chaosium BRP relaunch. The system keeps the parts BRP fans love, including hit locations, fumble tables, and special weapon effects, but tightens up the bits that made earlier editions a slog. Newport has been running a decades-long Glorantha campaign in his RQ3 books, and the system shows that pedigree.
The game ships with its own assumed setting called the Realm, a sandbox-style world that groups develop as they play. Characters start as scrappy adventurers and build up into legends, with personal heroism baked into the progression rather than tacked on. The free playtest has been live on the BRP Central forums since last August, so you can have a flick through before backing.
Got a regular group? Create a private community, poll for the best date, vote on games, and let your friends RSVP in one place.
Set up your group for freeD101 is a small UK publisher with a long track record, behind the OpenQuest line and Crypts and Things, so this isn't a first-rodeo Kickstarter. It also lands well in the wider BRP moment, with Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu 50th anniversary slipcase just hitting UK shops at £87.
If you run a BRP-curious group, this might be the nudge to start a new campaign. Pitch a one-shot at your local club, or find a group near you and rally the dice.
Sources: D101 Games | BRP Central
