Trickerion, the role-playing game, is set in an alternative Victorian magic-influenced world with a look and feel that blends steampunk and clockpunk wonders.
Enjoy the official adaptation of the acclaimed board game Trickerion – Legends of Illusion.
Clockpunk, illusionism and real magic in a world of mystery and wonders
An evocative and complete Victorian clockpunk setting
Atmosphere of intrigue, deception and impossible events
Developed for the Estirpe game system: free Quickstart available
Players step into the shoes of illusionist magicians in search of fame and prestige in Magoria, the capital of Illusion, with the goal of becoming grand masters of magic.
As your characters develop their arts of Illusionism and delve deeper into the use of Trickerion energy, they will have to face a competitive world where various factions and masked characters conspire to monopolize the secrets of magic and Magoria itself.
Think of a stunning city that breathes a Victorian atmosphere infused with scents of The Prestige and Now You See Me. Add subtle real magic, fast-paced intrigue, illusory subterfuge, unexpected sabotage, unexplained crime, shadowy conflict, unfathomable omens. All that and more is Trickerion.
Click here to download the Quickstart in English. To get the pregenerated character sheets, click here. Haz clic aquí para la Guía de Inicio en español. Para las hojas de personaje pregenerados, haz clic aquí.
Thanks to the impulse that all of you backers give us, we will be able to produce a great edition of Trickerion, the role-playing game, and all that we have planned for this evocative setting. The stronger the push, the bigger the edition will be.
All the funds raised will be used to produce a high-quality and full-color edition. Let's take a look at each of the core items.
All content is the same for both the Standard Edition and the Collector's Edition. All unlocked content will be added to both the physical and digital (PDF) editions.
Trickerion, the role-playing game game project will be published in English and Spanish. Backers will be able to choose the language of their rewards during the Pledge Manager (a few weeks after the campaign ends).
The books will be in US Letter size and will be printed on high quality paper.
At the start of this campaign, the core manual for Trickerion, the role-playing game, is already being edited and proofread. Development, design and playtesting have been successfully completed prior to the campaign. The Book of Scenarios is under development. The funds raised during the campaign and through the future Pledge Manager will be used to expand the unlocked content, complete the editing, layout, translation and proof-reading, printing and production of all extras, as well as shipping and handling.
Shipping costs will be charged later, in the Pledge Manager. This is so that the shipping costs are charged as close as possible to the real shipment, so that they are as accurate and favorable as possible. See shipping cost estimates below.
If the basic funding threshold is exceeded, you will receive not only the rewards of your pledge level, but more. To thank you for your support, we are excited to add more rewards for our loyal backers, both physical and digital (depending on your contribution level). These stretch goals will be new scenarios, maps, content expansions, handouts and other surprises. See the Stretch Goals section for more details.
Trickerion is a tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate Victorian magic-influenced world with a look and feel that blends steampunk and clockpunk wonders. Its focuses in illusionism, its intrigues and mysteries, its gadgets and subtle real magic.
Developed by Shadowlands Games, it is inspired by the beloved board game Trickerion - Legends of Illusion, designed by Viktor Péter and Richárd Ámann and published by Mindclash Games in 2015.
Magoria is a large city that flourishes in the central region of the Old Continent.
Great mansions crown a hodgepodge of houses, suburbs, gardens, factories and slums connected by all kinds of streets and boulevards. Harbors, canals and roads stretch in all directions across a vast and fertile plain. The difference between some districts of the city and others is sometimes almost imperceptible, while in other areas there is an abrupt change in both the architecture and the people who inhabit them. This is due to the period of prosperity that Magoria has been enjoying for decades thanks to the influence (direct or indirect) of the great Master Magicians and their creations.
The main areas: Explore the Downtown with the large stately spaces where stand out the exclusive Dahlgaard Academy, full of secrets, and the imposing Bank of Magoria, whose ambitions are interwoven throughout the Old Continent. Delve into Market Row to find resources as unusual as they are unknown to the uninitiated. Enjoy the lights of Riverside Avenue, home to the city's major theaters. Leave the bustling Port of the World behind as you travel through the canals and locks of the Magor River and make your way through the shadows of the dangerous Dark Alley to the underground theater and the domains of guilds that no respectable citizen wants to be associated with.
Factions in conflict: Beyond the social classes and eyes that glow with admiration for magic, there are groups waving one hand in the open while hiding another to cling to control of magic and its technology in Magoria. From the Archduke and the Council of Parliament to the Bankers Group and the Engineers Pact, many groups and personalities fight to dominate the city by using their resources and exploiting the magicians' arts. The steel tycoons and the patented prospectors, the dark market and the House of the Forbidden Magic, the Silver Smile and the Purple Butterflies gangsters, the Sleeping Dragon of the Small Port and the Stevedoring Syndicate of the Great Port, the Rector Magnificent of the Dahlgaard Academy, and the Heir of Dahlgaard himself... all try to control the life and resources of Magoria. This includes the magical arts and the potential of the burgeoning technology based on the energy of Trickerion shards.
Conflicts between magicians: Sheets with secret schemes, struggles for access to components, fame, wealth, desires and hidden motivations… Sometimes getting the best seat in the best theater or competing for access to the Dahlgaard Academy is just a mask. It's a complicated world, and twisting the rules to use their arts to your advantage over those who can’t is a tempting option that some choose. Will you step into an honorable position facing the bad practices of others to help Dahlgaard’s dream come true? Or will you step into a dark place of subterfuges, heists and crimes? Maybe into some shades of gray to survive in this world? It’s your call.
Find all this and more in Trickerion, the role-playing game, its scenarios and supplements. You can download a preview of Magoria in the Quickstart Guide by clicking here.
Magicians are made of special stuff. Few people have the self-sacrificing dedication required to develop secret talents and make their way in such a hotly contested world. Many try, but it's not enough; they just don't have that special something that makes them… you know, magical.
Illusionism tricks and the skills of magicians have been part of the culture, life and legends of societies around the world. Even technological advances have been influenced by the creations of magicians. There are few who can truly use that title, and their miracles are a sacred art, admired and respected, while at the same time inspiring mistrust and fear.
Aspiring magicians learn the enigmas of magic and the mastery of tricks of (usually) one of the Schools of Magic. This knowledge can be accessed through a scholarship from the Dahlgaard Academy, by having been apprenticed to a magician or by other methods.
Escape: these mages develop control of the body and mind in dangerous situations, stamina and the ability to escape from the most impossible bonds.
Spiritual: mages of this school know the ways of the spirit into the minds of their targets and claim to be able to see spirits and the lands beyond.
Mecanical: these mages have knowledge and skills related to matter and mechanisms. They can create and modify unusual mechanisms and artifacts.
Optical: They are experts in the swiftness of their hands and the use of the visual arts to achieve unprecedented effects. They trick the senses like few others, even making their illusions come true.
After the arrival of Dahlgaard the Magnificent and the Golden Age of magic, a burst of talent from all over the world revolutionized life. All sorts of unusual applications for the intriguing engineering of magicians’ arts appeared, sometimes borrowed, sometimes stolen: improved steam engines, carriages and one- and two-wheeled vehicles self-propelled by a mixture of clockwork machinery and new engines powered by unknown fuels, as well as underwater craft and gliders in the sky. It was only the beginning.
This is now the Dawn of Technology now. The application of a strictly confidential energy (mostly studied and controlled by magicians), has recently enabled a technology capable of producing autonomous mechanical prostheses, automaton beings that react to their environment, turbines capable of controlling lightning and even artifacts that enter the psyche of those who dare to look at them.
Whoever controls the Trickerion shards and their applications will control the world.
Trickerion, the role-playing game is powered by the Estirpe game system, a precise, agile and solid ruleset that offers several levels of fun to those who experience it. The version created for Trickerion, the role-playing game, includes:
Abilities and Specializations to define and make each character unique.
Different levels of character customization: on and off stage occupations, special talents, magic school, tricks, rumors and reputation.
The core mechanic: Your Ability determines how many six-sided dice you roll, usually between 2 and 5. Any result of 5+ is a success. A result of 6 is a double success. Successes above the first generate advantage points that will activate various special outcomes. Risks and the difficult of the situation can add or subtract dice from your pool. An Expertise allows you to re-roll dice that have failed, representing the character's proficiency in that area.
The skilled magicians: through a combination of dedication and practice the Player Characters develop out-of-the-ordinary knowledge and expertise. In addition, they are able to use a trick roll to perform illusionism on and off stage. The magician's resources determine the details of their performance, with a mixture of retrospective preparation and creativity.
Real but subtle magic is in your hands: delving into the secrets of each trick opens doors in a magician's mind. Using the energy of the Trickerion shards you can make that trick come true. Each trick offers a unique way to defy the laws of nature.
The company of magicians is your support: a small rules module to connect the player characters with each other and with the factions of Magoria, to study tricks and to create tools, resources and artifacts.
A resolute and exciting magic system to chain tasks and create synergies between magicians’ arts. The teamwork of the magician company benefits from preparation, flashbacks and real-time actions.
A fast-paced and decisive combat system thanks to the advantage points and a new damage and incapacitation rules. Just in case, because… although a magician can use his arts to avoid or overcome conflict, sometimes there is no choice but to fight.
A character progression marked by the importance of his actions and the fame he achieves.
The rules have been designed to align with the atmosphere of this setting. They allow you to focus on the tone of intrigue, subterfuge, incredible illusionist feats and impossible actions, while leaving room for the backstory and character motivations and passions.
Download the Quickstart Guide and play an introductory scenario! Click hereto get the Quickstart in English. To get the pregenerated character sheets, click here. Haz clic aquípara la Guía de Inicio en español. Para las hojas de personaje pregenerados, haz clic aquí.
Shipping costs will be charged after the end of this campaign. This ensures that the prices are as accurate and close to the shipping date as possible. A few weeks after the campaign, all backers will receive an email invitation to the Pledge Manager. There they will introduce or update their shipping address and pay the shipping costs. The final cost is based on the final weight of the package with all the rewards and add-ons chosen by the backer.
Below is a list of approximate shipping costs (please note that this may vary slightly from the final cost).
Shipping estimations
We prefer to be realistic with estimates (although we may get ahead of ourselves). Havin said that, the early access for Trickerion, the role-playing game core book PDF will be available February-March 2025. The Book of Scenarios PDF will be available March-April 2025. Shipments will start September 2025.
Shadowlands Games is the international publisher imprint and design studio of the Spanish game and book publisher Shadowlands ediciones. Since its creation, an experienced team of competent edition professionals, talented writers, game designers and artists, has proven Shadowlands to be in the path of a high-class and prolific role-playing game developer with more than 72 successful publications in our country.
Our first international project was Raven – A Gothic Horror Roleplaying Game. It is unique in its proposal with the combination of an evocative and exciting setting with a system which adapts perfectly to the narrative structure of the classics Works of Edgar Allan Poe.
Then came Kingsmouth — A Dark Fantasy and Cosmic Horror campaign setting for 5E, and the head of our new dark fantasy 5E compatible line: dark fantasy and Cthulhu Mythos in an excellent exercise of worldbuilding and rules adaptation.
The Winter King, the role-playing game opened a new dark fantasy line with an exciting twist on the Arthurian myth in a uchronia in which Mordred is High King of Britannia and knights have disappeared. In addition, it is the introduction of the flexible, agile and powerful Estirpe game system.
Recently, with Scions of the Dark Goddess, we have begun to open to the world our great catalogue of talented authors, lovers of Lovecraft's world. Under the Chaosium label, this campaign presents the Cthulhu mythos in the modern world of biomedicine and social networks in a way you won't forget.
And there will be many more to come from these lines and others. Because we like to take care of our lines. Because we take care of everything we do. Because we want to bring you the most enjoyable worlds.
Our entire team shares a commitment to all our games: to create and publish the best, most evocative, impactful and enjoyable role-playing games, supplements, and scenarios.
OUR TEAM
Shadowlands Games is conformed by a multidisciplinary creative team, focused in create first rate games and supplements. Surprising and gripping fantasy adventures along with intriguing and absorbing mystery and horror supplements are some of the reasons by which our creative team has gained top reputation in our country.
Fran Valverde - Editor and CEO With studies in Business Administration and Management, he has 22 years of experience in the creation and management of companies in different sectors. Compulsive reader and player.
Marta de la Serna - Editor
Journalist by training and editor by vocation. She has been moving in the publishing world for 22 years. Few things excite her more than the smell of the pages of a freshly printed book.
Andrés Sáez "Marlock" - Creative Director
Graduated in Fine Arts, he has 15 years of experience as a graphic designer and has been working as a professional illustrator for 8 years. He thrives on creative challenges, and it is rumored that he is able to capture a scene in less time than it takes an author to write it.
Claudia Andrade - Layout Artist and Designer
Graphic designer specialized in editorial and UX with 21 years of experience between Mexico and Spain, she loves working with journalists, as well as listening to music and travelling.
Carol Pel - Management
She is in charge of administration, logistics management, customer service... nothing can resist this administrative superhero.
Joaquim M. Marqués – Editor
Editor with years of experience editing role-playing games. Committed role-player. Hard to beat tabletop game player.
David Martin - Communication and Content Writer
He is in charge of communication, social media and marketing tasks. Author of scenarios and other materials for role-playing games. Passionated and not-so-sane role-player, who even role-play in board games.
Arturo Losada – Community Manager and PR Role-player, journalism graduate and social media denizen. His thing is to explain long and complicated things in a few words. He has a lot of experience making mistakes and hitting keyboards, and he learns from both every day.
Marina Moreno - Marketing She's a marketing sorceress and a storyteller bard at heart. She's got the magical touch when it comes to rolling a "crit" in selling epic adventures. Beyond work, she immerses herself in fantasy realms, fuelled by her love for books and tabletop games.
Laura Faílde – Graphic Designer Graphic designer and ultimate multi-tasker. An art lover and nature enthusiast, she enjoys bringing theatrics and drama to role-playing campaigns.
Publishing a tabletop role-playing game is not an easy process. Throughout its development and production there are a variety of moments when errors can occur. Sometimes things can go wrong. We know this as a company, as designers and as clients. But we strive to minimize the risk.
At Shadowlands Games we are committed to seriousness and loyalty in the fulfilment of all our projects, including both in quality and production. This will has led us to publish successfully all our projects for more than 5 years (licensed and self-produced), through pre-sale and crowdfunding campaigns. To date, we published more than 55 games and supplements only in Spain. Now it's time to take the great talent of our authors internationally and expand our market.
All of our books go through a meticulous editing and production process to minimize errors, problems and delays. These are the steps:
Pre-production. We carried out important design and editing work to advance the launch of the project on Backerkit. This includes having the game materials complete and the artwork more than 70% complete. The remaining 30% continues working during and after the campaign until the final product is obtained.
Quotes and production agreements. Previously to the campaign launch, we managed everything with printers and manufacturers to get everything ready. As soon as we receive the funds, green light to production!
Shipping. This step is complex, but we prepare and manage it in advance with companies specialized in international management and logistics to be able to send a large number of orders in a short time.
To all of the above, we add our firm commitment to transparency and communication with backers and customers. We will assist you before, during and after the project to respond to your questions, suggestions and comments through this platform, our social networks or our website/email.
Trickerion, the roleplaying game, couldn't be possible without your help. We are very grateful to you, dear backers, for your support and trust. Therefore, we want to assure you that we will do everything we can to make Trickerion the best role-playing game possible.
