Chaosium's Time Without Tide Smashes Backerkit Goal as New RPG Sets Sail

Chaosium’s new faux-Victorian post-apocalyptic RPG Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in a World of Fog has launched on Backerkit, and has made a considerably larger splash than it’s modest funding target might have suggested.

The campaign funded in just 13 minutes and has subsequently sailed well beyond its initial $10,000 goal. At the time of writing it has raised more than $140,000 from over 1,000 backerrs, and the campaign still has a lot of open sea remaining, not closing until 24th September 2026.

As we previously reported, Time Without Tide takes place in a strange World of Fog following the fall of the moon and the end of an era known as the Age of Decadence. Players become Delvers, mercenary adventurers who venture into the fog to monsters, recover treasures, explore the remains of the old world, and rescue its frequently peculiar survivors.

Characters have three Traits - Body, Mind and Will - alongside six Skills: Culture, Industry, Navigation, Skulduggery, Survival and Violence. Tests combine an appropriate Trait and Skill to create a dice pool, with rolls of five or six counting as successes, or “marks”.

Delvers accumulate equipment and learn Features which modidy the rules in their favour, while more exotic Adaptations grant otehrworldly abilities at the cost of the character’s humanity.

Despite the fallen moon, creeping fog, and assorted horrors, Time Without Tide is not a straightforward grimdark horror. The campaign promises adventures involving everything from corpse-devouring flower monsters to defending a “Hotel for Boats of all Ages” against an army of angry crabs and attempting to save the “saddest clown in the world”.

The central release is a 250+ page core rulebook, containing the complete rules, setting material, monsters, and advice for running the game. A second 100+ page hardcover, Into the Fog, provides introductory adventures for new Delvers.

Backers can also pick up a Keeper screen and battle-map pack, more than 400 reference cards, custom dice, physical or STL miniatures produced with Titan Forge, and Roll20 versions of both books. Collector’s editions feature textured covers and glow-in-the-dark symbols, which is an unusally appropriate gimmick for a game about carrying lanterns into supernatural fog.

The campaign starts at $20 for the Core Rulebook PDF, with the standard hardcover and PDF available for $50. Larger pledge levels bundle the adventures and accessories, topping out at the $355 Fancy Guildmaster pledge.

Time Without Tide is created and developed by David Naylor and James Coquillat, with Ty Carey serving as Art Director. Chaosium expect physical rewards to be completely fulfilled by the end of September 2027.

For a game whose heroes make their living disappearing into an impenetrable supernatural fog, Time Without Tide appears to have had remarkably little difficulty being noticed.