Critical Role's publishing arm, Darrington Press has announced a new game that will be landing in the early portion of 2023. Till The Last Gasp comes from Will Hindmarch and Alex Roberts and is all about playing out dramatic duels on the tabletop with an emphasis on the dramatic.

Till The Last Gasp // Darrington Press

In Till The Last Gasp, you and a friend or indeed a small group can get together and make characters from a variety of different genres and then have them battle in dramatic duels on the tabletop across a myriad of different locations that would befit a cinematic climax.

It seems like the game is as much about your arms and armour as it is about revealing key moments that might swing the fight in your favour. As mentioned in the press release, maybe you could...

The Drama Deck will heighten your play with prompts like: “Insist to your foe that they are making a mistake. Tell them what it is.” and “Admit a secret it has pained you to keep hidden.”

To that end, it seems like Till The Last Gasp is as much a storytelling game as it is a "board game". It feels like it certainly sits more on the roleplaying side of things although with plenty of mechanics built in to facilitate that.

Till The Last Gasp Components // Darrington Press

Inside the box, you'll find...

• A 40-page rulebook with step-by-step instructions and examples of play, as well as three pre-made scenarios
• 2 twenty-sided Duel Dice
• 20 six-sided Edge Dice
• 2 Player Boards
• 9 Jumbo Map Cards for thrilling genre-spanning backdrops to your duels
• 12 pre-made characters for quick play
• 2 blank character sheets
• Drama Deck
• Objectives and Stance Cards
• Tokens and trackers

The three pre-made scenarios seem like a good way to get stuck in as I have to admit, I am still not really closer to understanding the bones of this game from the press release! It seems like an interesting concept though and I think this is one of those games that you'd need to see played to get a grasp of what it's all about.

Release-wise, the game is set to be available in most places in February/March 2023 and there will also be exclusive pre-made characters from Critical Role's Vox Machina included if you snap it up from Darrington Press Guild stores.

Their first game, Uk'otoa was decent if not something that blew people out of the water. Till The Last Gasp certainly seems like they are pushing the boat out mechanically and creatively so it will be cool to see how this feels when it hits the tabletop.

Do you like the idea of a narratively driven duelling game?