 Cover art by Adrian Stone | |
| Designers | Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor |
|---|---|
| Illustrators | Adrian Stone |
| Publishers | Rowan, Rook and Decard |
| Publication | 2018 |
| Genres | Tabletop role-playing game, fantasy |
Spire: The City Must Fall is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game that reimagines the drow (a Dungeons & Dragons race of evil predators) as a race subjugated and enslaved. The game was designed by Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor and released by the indie publisher Rowan, Rook and Decard in 2018.
The players take on the roles of drow who are members of a secret society dedicated to overthrowing their oppressors. As RPG historian Stu Horvath notes:
In D&D, the drow are emblematic of a kind of racial essentialism that enables the game's underlying power fantasy — the entire dark-skinned, subterranean, spider-worshipping race is known to be inherently evil, so players can attack and kill them without upending their moral compasses. [1]
In Spire, the tables are turned. It is the formerly righteous and good high elves who have conquered the drow's massive city structure known as the Spire and enslaved its citizens, justifying their actions by claiming that the drow are a lesser race. [1]
The game uses a set of rules rules titled "Resistance System". [2]
Each player must determine their character's Bond to the ruling high elves (aelfir) — in what role did they serve (Assistant, Guard, Worker, etc.) before they decided to rebel? The player then chooses one of ten Classes such as Carrion Priest, Knight, Midwife, and Vermission Sage. The chosen Class defines what traits, equipment, and proficiencies the character now possesses, as well as the ability to use magic.
When a character attempts a skill check, the player rolls a pool of 10-sided dice and consults a table to see if the check is a success or failure. A failure causes Stress in one of five categories: [3]
The player rolls a die to see if the failure caused Fallout, which will affect the relevant Stress — Blood Fallout can lead to Bleeding or Dying, Silver Fallout can force the character to borrow money from loan sharks, and Shadow Fallout can cause the character's double life as a rebel to be unmasked. [1] The only two ways to repair Fallout damage are to rest, or take a specific action. [4]
Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor created a new RPG and used Kickstarter to crowdsource enough funds to publish it . [5] The result was Spire: The City Must Fall, released by indie role-playing game publishers Rowan, Rook and Decard (RRD) as a 232-page book designed by Howitt and Taylor, with cover and interior art by Adrian Stone. RRD also released a number of supplements, including Kings of Silver (2018), Blood & Dust (2018), Eidolon Sky (2018), Strata (2019), and Sin (2021).
In 2020, Howitt followed up with the thematically-linked spin-off RPG Heart: The City Beneath , which shared the same setting as Spire but shifted focus to the underground chasms and ruins known as the Heart.
Andy Lingua reviewed the Italian edition and warned, "Are you looking for something light and joyful? Don't go further ... Spire: The City Must Fall is not for you." Lingua commented, "Few titles have dealt with [intrigue and alliance] with the same depth as Spire: The City Must Fall ... There are mechanics to describe power games; the text underlines the importance of watching your back." Lingua commended the artwork of Adrian Stone, saying, "The manual is studded with incredibly beautiful illustrations. Consistency in style is impeccable, the effect is powerful. Few times I have seen such a particular setting supported by equally particular but at the same time coherent series of illustrations." Lingua concluded, "he attention to detail relating to the setting is incredible; ... if you like narrative role-playing games, I can advise you to give it a chance. The mix of classic and innovative elements is perfectly balanced." [4]
Jared Rascher noted, "the mechanics of stress and fallout are both familiar and combined in a new and exciting fashion, and I think that even people that are a little burned out on fantasy may want to keep an eye on these mechanics and how they managed to promote and resolve story elements." Rascher concluded, "This product is exceptional, and may contain content that would interest you even if the game or genre covered is outside of your normal interests. I think if you have even a passing interest in fantasy settings, the information in this book is going to make for a solid purchase, even if you never use the ruleset." [3]
In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath commented "Spire: The City Must Fall takes all those assumptions D&D players might have about drow (and regular elves and the hyena-like gnolls, too) and throws them right out the window ... The game is built around causing and sustaining damage — inflict every bit of suffering back onto the unjust system that caused it." Horvath noted the continual focus on stress, saying, "Stress and Fallout accrue rapidly, ensuring the characters are fragile and uncertain, while also keeping players fully aware of how much a character has left to give." Horvath concluded, "Player characters regularly perform both wonderful and terrible deeds in the service of noble goals, but no matter their successes, no matter how wounded the system of oppression is, it persists while the characters burn up in their resistance." [1]
Bunnies & Burrows (B&B) is a role-playing game (RPG) inspired by the 1972 novel Watership Down. Published by Fantasy Games Unlimited in 1976, the game is centered on intelligent rabbits. It introduced several innovations to role-playing game design, being the first game to encourage players to have non-humanoid roles, and the first to have detailed martial arts and skill systems. Fantasy Games Unlimited published a similar second edition in 1982. Frog God Games published a revised third edition in 2019 from the original authors. The game was also modified and published by Steve Jackson Games as an official GURPS supplement in 1992.
Earthdawn is a fantasy role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993. In 1999 it was licensed to Living Room Games, which produced the Second Edition. It was licensed to RedBrick in 2003, who released the Classic Edition in 2005 and the game's Third Edition in 2009. The license is now held by FASA Games, Inc., who have released the Fourth Edition, with updated mechanics and an advanced metaplot timeline. Vagrant Workshop released the Age of Legend edition in 2016 using alternative rules-lite mechanics.
Star Frontiers is a science fiction role-playing game produced by TSR from 1982 to 1985. The game offers a space opera action-adventure setting.
The drow or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and connected to the evil spider goddess Lolth. However, later editions of Dungeons & Dragons have moved away from this portrayal and preassigned alignment. More recent publications have explored drow societies unconnected to Lolth.
A Splatbook is a sourcebook for a particular role-playing game that is not needed for play, but is devoted to a particular facet, character class, or fictional faction, providing additional background details and rules options. For example, a "swords and sorcery" fantasy game might offer splatbooks for each of the races in the setting: humans, dwarves, elves, and others.
Castles & Crusades (C&C) is a fantasy role-playing game published in 2004 by Troll Lord Games that is based on a simplified variant of the d20 System created by Wizards of the Coast. The game system is designed to emulate the play style of earlier editions of the Dungeons & Dragons game while keeping the unified mechanics of the d20 System. It has been credited with birthing the Old School Revival (OSR) in fantasy role-playing.
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting is a role-playing game sourcebook first published by TSR in 1987 for the first edition of the fantasy role-playing game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that describes the campaign setting of the Forgotten Realms. It contains information on characters, locations and history. Various revised and updated editions have been produced over the years.
Blue Rose is a fantasy role-playing game published by Green Ronin Publishing in 2005. The game is in the romantic fantasy genre, inspired by fantasy fiction such as that of Mercedes Lackey and Diane Duane as opposed to Conan the Barbarian–style swords and sorcery, and uses a derivative of the D20 system called True20. Blue Rose is notable for being the first role-playing game to explicitly accept characters of all genders and sexual orientations as well as romantic relationships between any two or more characters who are adults.
Dogs in the Vineyard is an independently published role-playing game published by Lumpley Games in 2004 that is loosely based on the history of the Mormons.
The elf is a humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, one of the primary races available for player characters, and play a central role in the narratives of many setting worlds of the game. Elves are described as renowned for their grace and mastery of magic and weapons such as the bow and sword. Becoming physically mature by the age of 25 and emotionally mature at around 125, they are also famously long-lived, capable of living more than half a millennium and remaining physically youthful. Possessed of innate beauty and easy gracefulness, they are viewed as both wondrous and haughty by other races in-universe; however, their natural detachment is seen by some as introversion or xenophobia. They were usually portrayed as antagonistic towards dwarves.
Skyrealms of Jorune is a science-fantasy role-playing game that was first published in 1984 through SkyRealms Publishing. The game is set on the fictional alien planet of Jorune above which float levitating islands. The second edition was published in 1986 as a boxed set, and a third edition was published by Chessex in 1992. The computer game Alien Logic: A Skyrealms of Jorune Adventure was published in 1994. The various editions received positive reviews in game periodicals including Casus Belli, White Dwarf, White Wolf, Different Worlds, Dragon, Polyhedron, The Games Machine, and Challenge.
Drow of the Underdark is the name of two supplemental rules books for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, providing supplementary game rules focusing on drow culture, equipment and folklore for both players and Dungeon Masters.
The half-elf is a humanoid race in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, one of the primary races available for player characters, and play a central role in the narratives of many setting worlds of the game. As the offspring of humans and elves they are known as "half-elves" among humans and in sourcebooks, and as "half-humans" among elves.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay or Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play is a role-playing game set in the Warhammer Fantasy setting, published by Games Workshop or its licensees.
Blades in the Dark is a tabletop fantasy role-playing game by John Harper, set in a fictional city of Doskvol, inspired by Victorian London and Gothic fiction. The game was crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2015 and published at the start of 2017.
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Corellon Larethian is the leader of the elven pantheon, and the deity of Magic, Music, Arts, Crafts, Poetry, and Warfare. Corellon is also considered a member of the default D&D pantheon. Corellon is the creator and preserver of the elven race, and governs those things held in the highest esteem among elves. Corellon's symbol was originally a crescent moon; in the 4th edition Corellon's symbol is a silver star on a blue field.
Mothership is a science fiction horror tabletop role-playing game with Old School Revival style rules published by indie role-playing game publisher Tuesday Knight Games in 2018.
Honey Heist is a very simple one-page indie role-playing game self-published by creator Grant Howitt in 2017 in which players take on the roles of disguised bears who are trying to get away with a large heist of honey.
Heart: The City Beneath is a tabletop role-playing game about surreal underground labyrinths, designed by Grant Howitt and Christopher Taylor. It shares a setting with Spire: The City Must Fall.
Grant Howitt is a tabletop role-playing game designer, publisher, and journalist. He won six ENNIE Awards for his game Heart: The City Beneath. His game Honey Heist, which inspired an online trend of self-published games with one-page rulesets, has been featured on Critical Role, The Adventure Zone, and Friends at the Table. Through his publishing company Rowan, Rook and Decard, Howitt is a co-designer on Kieron Gillen's DIE: The Roleplaying Game.