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Terraforming Mars has already colonized many a best board games list since its release almost a decade ago but now the beloved strategy game is expanding its territory into the world of tabletop roleplaying games with Terraforming Mars: The Official TTRPG.
The Terraforming Mars TTRPG project, which launched on Backerkit yesterday, has already reached 900 backers and raised €170,012 after hitting its €9,000 funding goal in just 5 minutes. With writers Kenneth Hite (lead designer of 5th ed. Vampire: The Masquerade) and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (of the ENnie award-winning game, The Laundry), this is going to be one to keep an eye on.
In a pretty exciting shift from your usual experience playing tabletop RPGs, the Terraforming Mars TTRPG won't have players playing one character over the course of a campaign. Instead, the game will feature intergenerational roleplay, where you take up the mantle of playing descendants of your previous PC.
This way, players can experience everything from the early days of colonization to the peak of their thriving settlements in gameplay sectioned into Projects, Generations, and Ages. Sure, you can lovingly craft your player character but (in a way that is bang-on-theme) they are ultimately just a pawn for whatever corporation you choose to represent: "Individuals will live and die on the red sands, cities rise and fall, the world around you will be utterly transformed - but the corporations continue on, dominating Martian culture and society for generations."
While the first wave of Terraforming Mars TTRPG goodies won't be shipped out until June 2026, there's already so much for players to look forward to. Alongside the Core Rulebook, there are six other books that expand on your roleplaying experience on the red planet. There's the Great Campaign of Mars, the Beyond Mars Sourcebook, and two different books of Adventures which deliver more narratives to dive into. Meanwhile, The Book of Mars and The Book of Corporations offer more world-building.
The base €29 ($31) pledge reward is a PDF version of the Core Rulebook but there are seven different pledge rewards to choose from, with the most extravagant of them setting you back €500 or around $534. In addition to sourcebooks and campaign books, some tiers include fancy extras like themed dice and enamel pins. For $30, you can name a NPC, settlement, or city in the final game. Obviously, none of these exactly contribute much in the way of actual gameplay but they are super cute and perfect for die-hard fans of the game.
Getting to be a representative of a soulless, vaguely malignant corporation determined to colonize Mars? Sounds X-cellent, I'll salute that.
Need something to play while you wait? Give one of the best tabletop RPGs a try. For more ideas on what to add to your collection, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games?
