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The Fifth Season RPG Pre-Order Store

Created by Green Ronin Publishing

N.K. Jemisin’s multiple Hugo Award-winning Broken Earth Trilogy comes to tabletop RPGs in The Fifth Season Roleplaying Game!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

That's A Wrap!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Feb 23, 2023 at 07:26:25 PM

Thank you so much to all of our amazing backers for helping us not only fund this campaign, but also reach so many stretch goals! It's been quite a ride.

So what comes next?

The first thing will be to get the pre-order store on Backerkit running, so anyone who happened to miss the campaign still has a chance to order a copy of the game!

Next up, the pledge manager will be coming soon! With it, you'll be able to finalize any add-ons you may want, upgrade or change your pledge levels, preview shipping fees, and enter your address for when we begin fulfillment. At the moment, we're still working with our fulfillment partners to get the lowest shipping rates possible, so this part may take just a bit longer.

We'll have monthly updates on production progress, and we'll give everyone a heads up when the pledge manager is about to go live. We'll also make sure everyone has advance notice when we lock down pledges (meaning no more changes to your order or address), and warn you when we're getting ready to charge for shipping.

We'll try to stay on top of any comments here in the community page, but the very BEST way to reach out to us with a question, a concern, or a potential issue, is to send us an email to [email protected].

And finally, in addition to our heartfelt thanks, everyone here at Green Ronin is going to take a day or two to try and remember what a "normal week" feels like.

Thanks everyone!

Fifth Season Preview: When Are We?
over 1 year ago – Thu, Feb 23, 2023 at 11:56:17 AM

Readers already familiar with the Broken Earth trilogy may wonder: When during the context of the novels is the Fifth Season RPG set?

As readers already know, the Broken Earth novels tell an in-depth story of their main characters and their story has significant effects on the world and its future. Therefore, the decision was made to set the Fifth Season RPG sometime prior to the key events of the first novel, The Fifth Season, although it’s entirely possible to set your Fifth Season campaign during the events of the novels, looking at how your comm deals with all that unfolds during them, if you wish.

The RPG looks at things on a much more local level than the novels, although you can decide to take the future of the world in an entirely different direction, if you want. One of the great things about roleplaying games is they place imaginary worlds into the hands of your game group, to spin out your own stories however you want. They also allow us to explore different aspects of a fictional setting in ways the source fiction did not, or only touched upon.


Deadciv Ruins


One aspect of this for Fifth Season is the concept of “deadcivs,” long-dead civilizations and the ruins they have left behind. The history of the Stillness is tens of thousands of years, significantly longer than the entirety of recorded human history in our modern world. There have been many Seasons over that time, and untold numbers of comms and entire civilizations have come and gone, to say nothing of what may have existed in the time before stonelore was first recorded, in the lost annals of human history.

While most deadciv ruins have been buried, crushed, or otherwise destroyed by the churning, shaking, and thrashing of Father Earth, the potential for artifacts, remnants, or even some surviving locations of those lost civilizations is a rich field for Fifth Season Game Moderators. They can offer unusual places for characters to explore, filled with their own hazards. Unique items may intrigue and fascinate Innovators in the comm, while deadciv artifacts can be treasures to make a comm thrive — or lead other comms to covet what they have. With “sufficiently advanced technology” most deadciv artifacts can serve as the equivalent of “magic items” in a Fifth Season setting, although far more rare and more easily misunderstood than their fantasy RPG equivalents.

Interview with LaShawn M. Wanak
over 1 year ago – Thu, Feb 23, 2023 at 09:24:24 AM

We are just a stone's throw from our stretch goal for the Digital Map Pack, and should be unlocking it very shortly! Can we make it to the Encounters PDF?

This morning we have another creator interview as well!




Getting to Know: LaShawn M. Wanak (she/her)


Can you tell folks a little about yourself?
I am a speculative writer in works of fantasy and science fiction. I am also the editor of GigaNotoSaurus, an online speculative magazine that publishes one story per month between 5000 and 25,000 words.

What did you do for the Fifth Season Roleplaying Game?
I wrote the content for Use-castes in Chapter 2 and the general information about Seasons in Chapter 3.


Approach to Writing


What got you started writing?
I've always enjoyed reading since from a very young age, and I loved making up my own stories. When I was 12, I received a typewriter for Christmas and started writing stories (mostly about British women standing on moors; never finished them).

What kinds of things do you like writing? (In general, not necessarily games)
I love writing about interesting characters. Throw two people with competing ideologies into a room and you got a story. I love figuring out their relationship and seeing what it would take for them to become amazing forces of nature...or destruction... But I also love unique and weird situations and how normal people react to them. And sometimes, I just like to write about something in detail, sort of like a meditation on who a person is, or a thing, what makes it tick. Exploration, be it geographic or relational.

What do you think are some of the signature elements in your writing? What makes a LaShawn M. Wanak piece?
Most of my stories tend to be thoughtful and/or bittersweet. I like to think of some as uplifting and fun, though there was a period where I wrote a lot of stories about grief, mirroring my circumstances at the time I wrote them. Nowadays, I'm aiming for a bit more humor. Also, my writing loves to play with craft styles (parentheses and italics *galore*)

Is there anything about you/your background/your skills that you think shapes the way you approach writing?
I tend to be an observer, so I like soak in as much detail as I can, whether it is meeting new people or out on a drive or even if it's something mundane like making tea. All that observation comes out in my writing whether it's intentional or not.


Games Industry


What kinds of things do you do within the games industry?
Most of my past work has been writing supplemental fiction for games, usually short stories.

How did you get started in the games industry?
I was asked to write a short story for the Monarchies of Mau RPG game anthology.

What other games have you worked on?
I've also written for the Apex: World of Dinosaurs Anthology that accompanies the card game from Outland Entertainment.


Working on 5SRP


What drew you to work on the Fifth Season Roleplaying Game?
I absolutely loooooved the Fifth Season trilogy, so when the opportunity came to work on the core book I was absolutely thrilled.

Did you write any details you’re especially proud of?
I had so much fun writing the little fictional snippets at the beginning of each use-caste's section. I'm also particularly proud of the section on the Breeder use-caste, focusing on their importance and care. I also had fun coming up with examples on how Seasons affected the environment. I'll go into more detail about that in the next question.

How did it feel building atop N.K. Jemisin’s lore?
At first, a little intimidating, but as I started to brainstorm possibilities on how players could use the lore to build their own stories, I started having fun with it. This was especially true in the Seasons section as I wondered how would the Seasons affect people and the environment. 

My favorite example is the sunflowers developing a toxic ring during a season to ward off predators. Sunflowers aren't mentioned in the books, but I do know sunflowers can be raised as a crop, and since the lore mentions plants turning toxic during a Season, I can see sunflowers developing a way to protect their seeds. Sort of a hybrid sunflower / sundew plant. A very nice and creepy detail that I hope will enhance gameplay.

Is there any sort of message or feeling you hope people take away from your writing?
Obviously, I hope people have fun playing this game. I also want the gamers to come away with a sense of community. With all its messiness and flaws, it helps to have someone to rely on for survival.


Closing Details


Is there anything else you'd like people to know?
I'm not a huge TTRPG player, but this is one of the few games I would actually love to try out. I'd definitely play as a Lorist...although with all the work I put into the Breeder caste, I might consider that as well. :-D

Are there any causes or projects you'd like to tell people about?
The biggest project I'm working on currently isn't a game, but a project with Meow Wolf, an arts immersive collective. I wrote the story for their project opening in Grapevine, Texas this summer, so for those in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, I hope you visit it when it opens this summer!

How can people get a hold of you? (i.e. website, social media, etc.)
Facebook: lashawn.m.wanak 

Twitter: @TboneJenkins 

Hiromi Cota Interview!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 22, 2023 at 06:13:48 PM

It's been an exciting day, and we're now officially in the final 24 hours of the campaign!

We have one more interview for you today, and the final interview and Fifth Season preview article planned for tomorrow. Let's see if we can unlock that Digital Map Pack by morning!



Getting to Know: Hiromi Cota (they/them)


Can you tell folks a little about yourself?
I’m a bit of everything in just about every possible sense. 

In the analog gaming world: I’m a writer, developer, and cultural consultant. I’m also a queer fiction writer, developmental editor, GM, streamer, video game programmer, actor, actor-combatant, video & audio editor — whatever the story I’m telling (or helping tell) needs.

On a more personal side: I’m Indigenous Okinawan & Yaeyaman (two of the native peoples of the Ryukyu Islands), Mexican, and Swedish American. I’m an ADHDer and disabled combat veteran. I’m queer, trans, non-binary, autistic, and probably a few other things my brain’s decided to leave out. 

What did you do for the Fifth Season Roleplaying Game?
I wrote a little over half of the Quickstart — mostly setting material, the handouts, and the adventure itself. I also developed the Quickstart, interweaving my text with Steve Kenson’s fantastic mechanical and setting work. For the core book, I was one of the developers alongside Tanya DePass and Joe Carriker, coordinating the writers, smoothing the seams between writers’ drafts, and filling in details as needed.


Approach to Writing


What got you started writing?
I got started pretty early — no later than 9. I remember reading tons and tons of sci-fi, fantasy, game manuals, comics, etc. and deciding that I wanted to make my own. A lot of my early stuff was essentially fan-fiction. At some point, I won a *very* minor award and decided that I should keep writing. Getting to where I am now has been super weird, but it all connects together in hindsight.

What kinds of things do you like writing? (In general, not necessarily games)
Queer genre fiction that screws with social, physical, and/or generic conventions. As a fun example: my novella “@ and &” is about a pair of genderfluid sorcerers (@/N@alie/M@ and &/Cass&ra/Alex&er) trying to solve/prevent a murder that hasn’t happened yet. It also has possibly the worst title for Search Engine Optimization; I’m terrible at self-promotion.

What do you think are some of the signature elements in your writing? What makes a Hiromi Cota piece?
In fiction, my work is going to deconstruct something most people take for granted. That could be having a pair of queer brains going on a date with their rented robot bodies (Bi Robot), a whimsical fairy bemusedly wrecking havoc after hearing the phrase “be gay! Do crimes!” (Be Fae! Do Crimes!), or a group of mercenaries analyzing the morality of hunting zombies (Cold Case). I want my readers to say, “What‽” at least once. I’m also merciless with puns, as those titles demonstrate.

In games, my aim is to give players options for approaching situations. I don’t want anyone at a table to think that fighting is the only approach that’ll work. Different people like different things, and even someone who loves having their character kick butt might want to take a break from violence to talk someone down or crack a mystery.

Is there anything about you/your background/your skills that you think shapes the way you approach writing?
As an undergrad, I got big into the post modernist movement (particularly its deconstruction of existing stories), cyberpunk (esp. how it explores the nature of personhood, bodies, and consciously (re)constructing one’s self), and folklore. Unsurprisingly, my work often touches on at least one of those topics.


Playing TTRPGs

What was your first TTRPG experience like?
I was like 5 years old, playing 1st edition D&D from the Magenta Box (the version right before the Red Box). I played a cleric, my cousin Scott played a fighter, and my uncle Mark was the DM. We ran into a room full of stirges (giant mosquitos), and my character died because I was captivated by the game’s fantastical elements to the point that I just didn’t realize that there was any danger.  I mentioned that I was 5 and have autism, right?

What’s your favorite TTRPG and why?
Scion Second Edition. It’s a game where players roleplay as the children of one of Gods from world mythology and do heroic things (for whatever definition of heroic the players subscribe to). I love folklore, and the game does a great job of steering people to learn more about the world’s cultures and peoples. Also, I’m the line developer for it, so I’m kind of obligated to say it’s my favorite.

My favorite TTRPG that I don’t have a clear conflict of interest with is Shadowrun because I love the setting. It’s also basically 5 games in one, which is super fun... so long as the GM knows how to run physical, magical, matrix, astral, and vehicular combat simultaneously. That’s a pretty big ask for any Game Moderator, but it does work beautifully at times.

What kind of games do you like playing?
I like playing games where everyone gets an opportunity to shine. I don’t need a Big Damn Hero Moment, but if we’re sitting around a table for a few hours, each of us should get up being able to say, “Holy crap! That thing you did with the McGuffin that guard was holding!”

When you're playing TTRPGs, what kind of characters do you enjoy playing and why?
Ones that approach the game in new and interesting ways: a wizard who’s kind of a jock, a wholesome marshmellow in a brutal setting, a Jekyll/Hyde character struggling to figure out who they are (and hiding it from other players for as long as possible), etc. So long as I can do something interesting without spoiling anyone else’s fun, it’s all good.


Games Industry


What kinds of things do you do within the games industry?
I’ve done a bunch of work as a developer, line developer, and cultural consultant, but in my heart I’m primarily a writer.

How did you get started in the games industry?
I was an adjunct English professor (lecturer and instructor, technically) when Trump became president. See, a huge portion of Seattle’s students are international students, and his foreign policies alarmed a *lot* of folks from other countries. When enrollment numbers dropped, those of us without tenure track positions were left to fend for ourselves.

So, I pinged my friend Satyr (Phil Brucato, writer/developer for many White Wolf books) to ask for his advice in getting writing work in the industry. As it happened, he really liked my writing style and had some Mage: The Ascension books in the pipeline. So, he hired me to write on M20’s Gods & Monsters.

What other games have you worked on?
Uhhh. A lot. Mage: The Ascension, Magic: The Gathering, Avatar, Root, Scion, Modern AGE, Cthulhu Awakens, Chronicles of Darkness, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Scarred Lands, Exalted, Pathfinder, D&D (kind of), Capers, Eldritch Century, Pugmire, They Came from…, Trinity Continuum, Demon Castle Mononoke, and a few that I can’t name because they’re unannounced.


Working on 5SRP


What drew you to work on the Fifth Season Roleplaying Game?
The books were a huge draw. I’m not Black, so some elements undoubtedly went over my head or didn’t land as squarely as they might have for other folks, but the novels still spoke volumes to me. The absolutely casual “this isn’t weird; this is just how the world is” way N.K. Jemisin handled multiracial, queer, trans, and polyamorous characters was beautiful. There was a lot in the books about literally and figuratively finding family, being comfortable in your own skin, choosing whether to hide parts of who you are, and choosing to let people in. Those themes are pretty powerful, and I needed to at least try to get onto the book.

Did you write any details you’re especially proud of?
Probably the climax of the Quickstart. I’m not going to spoil what happens, but it’s a very me way to bring an adventure to its boiling point.

How did it feel building atop N.K. Jemisin’s lore?
Challenging. I wanted to explore and expand her world without taking away from the feel or contradicting lore — well, without contradicting lore besides Imperial/Yumenescene propoganda, at least. I spent a lot of time going through my e-book copies of the trilogy, mashing ctrl+f and searching for anything remotely connected to the topic I was writing about.

Is there any sort of message or feeling you hope people take away from your writing?
I really want people to think about the Stillness (and our own world) in terms of how they can come together and help each other survive.


Closing Details


Is there anything else you'd like people to know?
Native Ryukyuans are a group of Indigenous peoples with our own cultures and languages. The Japanese government has worked fairly hard to irradicate our languages, but the internet has made it possible for us to connect with each other and help us learn our languages. If you’re Uchinaanchu (Okinawan) or any other kind of Ryukyuan, I highly encourage you to learn more about your heritage. A good starting place is your local kenjinkai; there are over a hundred of them around the world. You can find them at https://wun.jp/en/network 


Are there any causes or projects you'd like to tell people about?
Many people live on the ancestral lands of Indigenous people. Very few of these lands were obtained without deception, threats of violence, or both. https://native-land.ca/ is a useful tool for figuring out who lived in your neighborhood before you did. It’s also useful for figuring out which local tribe(s) you can donate to. 


How can people get a hold of you? (i.e. website, social media, etc.)
Website: hiromicota.com 

Tumblr/TikTok/Twitter: @HiromiCota