8 tabletop RPGs for fans of Bridgerton and Our Flag Means Death

Period novels are enjoying a pop-culture moment, whether fans are waiting for the queen’s mob conspiracies Bridgerton or buzz on social media about the second season of Our flag means death. Our craving for stories set in Great Britain, the Golden Age of Piracy, or any other point of dominant historical culture is as old as the written fiction. The difference now is that we can access these stories on the table, as well as between the pages of a book.

The portraits of tabletop RPGs often associate them with swords and magic, ignoring a rich array of titles that purport to span the entirety of human history. These games use alternate rule sets, such as Vincent and Meguey Baker’s Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands and Alex Robert’s For the Queenand channel through them passionate explorations of the ever-evolving cultures of the past – largely so players can break those norms in interesting and “notorious” ways.

Like the popular TV shows mentioned above, the period-themed tabletop RPG allows the player to intentionally reframe history. They don’t overlook the ugly bigotry that crisscrosses our past, but instead create a space to tell stories with a more exotic and racially inclusive cast of characters, using aesthetics and style of a period. This can be liberating, as well as fun, and here are some tabletop RPGs specifically designed for such occasions.

Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG

Image: Raven Warner / Storybrewers Roleplaying

Storyteller‘romance, rivalries and social intrigue have been the gold standard of the Regency role-playing genre since its release in 2018. As the name implies, it’s heavily based on Austen’s novels. Like the protagonist Austen, the player must navigate the British man’s thorny garden while searching for – or trying to avoid – love.

Player Characters in Good society trade both gossip with their social bettors and wistful glances with the desires of their hearts. The token of monologue and strong determination allows the player to control the story in key moments, tilt the reputation of an opponent or create a perfect hidden rendezvous. This cooperative role-playing game enlivens Austen’s storyline with enough confidence and enough power to last multiple sessions.

Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG available on Storybrewers’ website.

Virtues & Scandals

Those who want to spend a short night on their own between tons can use Virtues & Scandals, which condenses all the intrigues of the queen’s social court into a single page of rules. This is a hack by John Harper’s (Blade in the dark) Laser & Sensation, meaning that the character has only two stats: virtue and notoriety. Players roll with the former relying on their poise and education, while the latter have the power to seduce and deceive. Game moderators simply promote a scenario and then fill it with tons of delicious gossip, courtesy of The Rag, before leaving the group lost in a high-society and moral playground. short.

Virtues & Scandals available on Itch.io.

Ocean tides

Image: Annie Johnston-Glick

The high seas are subject to the courts and royalty, but it still holds a lot of potential for dramatic relationships. Ocean tides allows three players to explore the close connection between naval officers, pirates, and mermaids using the role-playing mini-game structure from Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands. Instead of a traditional story, these mini-games provide windows into important (and intimate) moments that create an emotional spectrum when put together. Short but intense, this game brings a group of people eager to jump straight into the abyss.

Ocean tides obviously romantic, but ends in tragedy. All three personality types find themselves far removed from any social agency that can regulate their impulses, leaving them vulnerable to desires they may not even acknowledge to themselves. .

Dueling Fops by Vindamere

If you spent all your time running Bridgerton wish someone would pull out a duel sword and take a challenge at the feet of some upstart, Dueling Fops by Vindamere could be the perfect game. A decisive entry into the social season, it provides a stage for fencing coaches to woo their beloved and prepare for an end-of-year tournament built from a slate of words. prompts and challenges based on dice. In the city of Vindamere, love is determined and lost under the edge of the sword.

Dueling Fops by Vindamere available on Itch.io and DriveThruRPG.

Dude, do you have to be gay to dock?

Image: Willem van der Velde II / Wikimedia Commons

Sometimes a pirate RPG needs to be loud, public and Dude, are you gay to the pier? well meet that need. How else would you describe a group of swabbies lusting after the legendary secret who saved them all from certain death? It’s an episode of Our flag means death where The Revenge’s crew falls to aid Blackbeard and earn his favor, but your weekly team must do the coveted thing.

It is the perfect example of how board games can excel simply by providing a framework and rules for creating very specific fantasies. Fan reaction to David Jenkins’ nautical romance – Includes a wide range of fan art of the characters of Taika Waititi and Rhys Darby – showing that audiences are preferring a deeper, more smoldering love affair.

Dude, do you have to be gay to dock? available on Itch.io.

All hands on deck

A small group of tabletop RPGs ditched the 200-page book in favor of fast-paced games that let players reveal striking context by collaborating on answering questions. All hands on deck Follow that principle, using a deck of cards to power the story of a ship, its crew, and the relationships that bind them together.

All hands on deck The session is steerable in any direction, to the player’s liking and preference. Ultimately, the team will have a network of connections between the sailors as well as the history and intentions of the ship they sailed on. What results can become the basis for an entire campaign in a new setting, or it can remain a set of possibilities and odds for another day.

All hands on deck available on Itch.io.

Lady Blackbird

Image: Annie Johnston-Glick

This mouthwatering flavored adventure game, another one from John Harper, is a bit out of the ordinary on this list. Wider and more sophisticated, where the rest relies on freeform immersive and discrete settings, Lady Blackbird deserves inclusion if only to be a straight line for the curious but hesitant.

No list of indie RPGs would be on the table without this call to step outside the system that dominates this hobby and the story of Lady Blackbird’s flight out of an arranged marriage towards a lover. Her, the pirate king Uriah Flint, deserves the chance to compliment your table with style and swashbuckling.

Lady Blackbird is available for free on Its official website.

Together we write our own churches

The strongest theme of Our flag means deathIts fanbase is a celebration of the same-sex romance that blossomed between Edward Teach and Stede Bonnett during the first season. This mocking of a real historical figure is the exact subject of Together we write our own churchesA travel game played by writing letters between two players as a pair of lovers condemned by society.

Depending on how the dice are rolled, the contents of one letter can be concealed by euphemism or otherwise completely censored, destroyed, or concealed by the hands of your forebears. Playing this game is a reminder that our history is written by hegemonic forces; and watch out for love stories that have been erased under their pen.

Together we write our own churches To be available on Itch.io