In 2023, the creators of Rat Queens finished the comic series with an oversized 72 page single issue called Sisters, Warriors, Queens. It was a labour of love worked on the sidelines and in free time over the course of several years, and for both Roc and Kurtis, it was the bow on a 12 year journey that began with a chance meeting on a street corner in New York.
An end to the story of Rat Queens. Or so they thought.
In our last Creative Quest, we discussed how the failed Kickstarter campaign from 2021 required a significant overhaul from the creators and Talespinner Games. The production files were not only a mess, full of glaring typos and mixed up copy, but the creative was tonally broken and thematically hollow.
Finding closure on the comic series, with a spiritual send-off of sorts, meant a return to the characters and world of Rat Queens would require some serious consideration. What made Rat Queens special in the beginning? What had drawn the fans to the queens all those years ago?
Style. Tone. Personalities.
To do it right, the creators had to return to the very beginning.
Exploration
Primarily, the early concept work (which lasted several weeks of iteration) tried to capture the tone of what Rat Queens was heavily influenced by in its inception: Roller Derby Girl Energy. Our first expression was a mix of Roller Derby and Jamie Hewlett poster graphic style.
We found this approach led to some strange disconnects, primarily in that it felt cold, stiff and quite serious. Which, while having a general nice aesthetic, was not true to Rat Queens. It was missing something integral: Warmth and explosive energy.
Roc did a quick pass on this feeling, and it felt closer to truth.
Still, it wasn't quite right. There was an assumption that capturing Rat Queens in a game aesthetic would be straightforward, especially with the creators working directly on it.
This was a wild wakeup call, and took far more effort than we could have expected.
We struggled significantly in the early months of trying to capture the essence of Rat Queens in this format. Over and over again, Roc and Kurtis were asking: What IS Rat Queens. In the comic, it was easy to capture, with the use of character acting, voice and story. But, to distill it down?
A small terror.
A Box of Answers
This led to seeking results in the game box itself, which went through several iterations as well. First, we tried to capture the general tone through four expressions.
Once complete, no one on the team agreed on which was the best. Of the four contributors, everyone picked a different cover. They all hit the right note but for different reasons, yet none fully captured this unknowable truth completely. In the end, we decided on #3, as it had a fun, friendly and warm feeling, which was what the game itself felt like to play.
We tested varations of that new direction.
Once again, no one agreed on which was best suited to capture Rat Queens as a game. Perhaps, at this point, we had too many cooks in the kitchen, and it felt the game's aesthetic was evading us. Both Roc and Kurtis struggled to understand what was missing.
In the end, it was the original design that was chosen and completed. This particular choice, made before Talespinner Games officially came on to participate in the development, led to a directional error that would only be saved by the backers of the first campaign, which we will discuss in our next Creative Quest.
A few quick tests of Version 1 of the reimagined Rat Queens.
And, the final cover, which we announced in 2025. The version we had planned to simply finish and get to the original backers as efficiently as possible. Which, we will also discuss in the next Creative Quest.
Years Later
The learning here, since early 2025, has been significant. Everything you see now of the game has gone through an incredible iteration process, where even the creators of Rat Queens themselves, have genuinely struggled to capture. It is not lost on any of us how fortunate we are to have the game design completed coming onto the project, mechanics which truly capture the spirit and energy of Rat Queens.
We believe, where it stands now, our Rat Queens board game is the real McCoy, the authentic game experience from top to bottom, and, that journey's been a tough one, at times.
