Rowan, Rook, and Deckard have announced that the new edition of Royal Blood, Grant Howitt’s game of arcane risk and reward, will release in March 2026. Produced in collaboration with Italian publisher Mana Project Studio (Nightfell, Seven Sinners, and the Cowboy Bebop RPG), Royal Blood successfully funded on Kickstarter in late 2024.
First released in 2016, Royal Blood is a heist game. Set in the glittering, irreal City, it puts characters at the edge of a precipice of ambition: a desperate grab for power, a theft so daring it will rewrite reality.
Player characters are Royals, the half-human, half-magic personifications of the tarot’s court cards. Their marks are the Arcane: the powers of the major arcana, with complete control over their domains of Death, Justice, and the other principles of the cosmos.
“I was keen to keep the freedom that the original version offered, but I’ve found much more confidence in my work over the last nine years and change – especially when it comes to writing evocative fiction,” said designer Grant Howitt. “Where the magical abilities ascribed to the Royals were very hands-off and abstract in the first edition, here I took the opportunity to get poetic and elaborate, which explains why the book is twice as long as it used to be. (And, I hope, much more exciting to read.)”
Royal Blood uses tarot cards both to generate heists – the mark, the challenges, and the twists in the tale – and to decide the outcome of characters’ actions. Characters gamble aspects of their own being on success, using literally every tool at their disposal to get what they want. Mechanics mix betting and tarot (with cards inverting when players push their characters too far) to create tension and action that can turn on a dime.
“I’ve tweaked the rules that power the game, too – while folk who’ve played it before will be familiar with how it feels, I’ve introduced an unpredictable element in the form of wild magic surges to keep people on their toes.
The new edition featured a redesigned layout and brand new art from Mana Project Studio’s Silvia De Stefanis, including new tarot cards. Mana Project Studio also helped localize Royal Blood for the Italian market.
“Working with Silvia [de Stefanis ] has been an absolute dream. She’s impossibly good at this, and she evolved the scrappy atmosphere we established in the first edition into something more – well, regal. Plus she didn’t complain much when I added six new cards to her Tarot deck (four Strangers and two Jokers) because I thought that would be a laugh.”
Features
● 172-page TTRPG
● Card- and token-based mechanics to help keep stakes and tension high
● Create a story as you play: no prep, no planning, just action and drama
● Use your knowledge of the tarot to tell the story – or use the game to build your tarot skills (it comes complete with a Crash Course to the Tarot, for beginners)
● Available as a standalone book or with a full set of illustrated tarot cards
● Published in English and Italian
● Developed and written by Grant Howitt, creator of the ENnie Award-winning Heart: The City Beneath and Spire: The City Must Fall.
Grant Howitt – Writer, Creator
Chant Evans & Laura Fontanella – Producers
Maz Hamilton – Editing, Development
Michele Paroli – Localisation, Project Management (Mana Project Studio)
Silvia De Stefanis – Layout, Design, Artwork (Mana Project Studio)
Laura Fontanella and Marta Palvarini – Translation (Mana Project Studio)
Fans can re-order the Royal Blood cards, book, or box here with the full release set for March 13, 2026.
Images via Rowan, Rook, and Deckard
Have strong thoughts about this piece you need to share? Or maybe there’s something else on your mind you’re wanting to talk about with fellow Fandomentals? Head on over to our Community server to join in the conversation!
