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What the Hell is “Artpunk”?
If Ralph Steadman had illustrated and laid out the Dungeons & Dragons core rulebooks, you’d have something resembling artpunk. Artpunk roleplaying games shamelessly defy most design conventions by prioritizing presentation over procedures and mood over mechanics. They’re often about the end of the world.
Artpunk games are normally art-heavy, rules-light, and anti-tradition. They rely on visuals more than text to set the stage. Illustrations and fonts and layout convey mood and setting and lore. A picture is worth a thousand words.
The rules are usually lean and mean and stats are fairly minimalistic. They are also staunchly anti-simulationist. The designers are not at all interested in simulating the real world, or even a fictional world. Verisimilitude in make-believe isn’t worth the hassle.
This anti-simulationism makes starting up a game a joy instead of a chore. Artpunk games are neither math- or procedure-heavy, and they’re low-prep and low-commitment. You’re not going to play an artpunk game for years on end, and the game master is not going to waste hours prepping for each session. Nobody’s got time for that anymore.
Artpunk is mostly in the eye of the beholder. If the art is freakish, the layout is exciting, and the rules are simple, it’s probably artpunk. But those conventions are not set in stone. Some spell out their setting like a traditional roleplaying game. Some are rules-medium — although I’ve yet to see a rules-heavy artpunk game. And some aren’t even gonzo studies in nihilism.
Mörk Borg — Artpunk is Born
There are one or two older games that can be retroactively called artpunk, but Mörk Borg coined the term as a TTRPG style. This grimdark medieval fantasy game — with its visually sadistic illustrations, jarring color schemes, erratic page layout, and seemingly…
