Defy the Gods is a sword & sorcery game of daring adventure, queer romance, and cursed power, set in fantasy ancient Mesopotamia. Inspired by Conan, Clash of the Titans, and Princess Mononoke, this tabletop RPG gives you flashing swords and burning hearts, the heavy tread of jealous gods, and the legacy of lost Atlantis waiting to be discovered.
Win hearts, challenge tyranny, and seize your monstrous, godlike destiny.
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Here, in a sun-baked land at the dawn of writing, you’ll find forbidden love in a city-state of granite and bronze, gigantic creatures in the forests and marshes beyond civilization’s reach, and the realm of the dead just beneath your feet.
Your fate is yours to decide—in Defy the Gods, a single kiss or sword stroke can change everything.
Defy the Gods reimagines sword & sorcery through a queer lens, finding resistance and romance at its bloody, beating heart.
It weds the unbridled invention of OSR games to the juicy emotional arcs of story game. Flirt like in Thirsty Sword Lesbians, and spiral toward a dark fate like in Apocalypse Keys.
Your stats are your Epithets—phrases that describe who you are and how you act.
Every roll of the dice may miss, succeed, or succeed too well and give you more than you bargained for. In those wild moments, your immortal pride blazes bright, and the story takes on epic proportions.
Choose an archetype of sword & sorcery, taken from the stories of Howard, Leiber, and Moorcock, and from queer life: a stubborn Sword, shrewd Sailor, chaos-loving Sorcerer, immortal-sworn Vessel, wild-raised Wolfling, or fugitive Revenant. Every character has talents and temptations that pack your story with dramatic choices.
Build a world waiting to be discovered. Define the pantheon of gods, your city, its surrounding wilderness, the nature of sorcery, and the geography of Death. Bind your characters to each other and the world, then set about tearing those bonds apart. In interludes between adventures, play the gods, and explore where the story will go next.
Grow your characters’ power, transforming them over time, but beware lest that power destroy you. Only the hearts you share can pull you back from the brink.
In Defy the Gods, a world of romance and adventure awaits you.
Fall in love, explore the world, and fight to overthrow the powers that want to destroy you. The gods dare you to write your own epic.
We're launching soon!
Sign up to be the first to know when we launch and receive a set of dice only for early backers.