FLAIL is an old-school, fantasy RPG where spells act up, weapons fall apart, and characters survive mostly through nerve and sheer luck. Designed for people who like single-session dungeons and short campaigns of 10~15 sessions. Low-prep, max play.
FLAIL is a new old-school oriented roleplaying game created by me, Andre Novoa, founder of Games Omnivorous. I have worked as a co-creator/publisher on many games you might know, like Mausritter, Vaults of Vaarn, Frontier Scum, Putrescence Regnant and others. As lead designer, I have also created games and settings such as The Job, Undying Sands, Bottled Sea and Hexcrawl Toolbox. My work has earned multiple ENNIE Awards, including Best Family Game 2021 (Mausritter), Best Layout/Design 2023 (Frontier Scum), Best Aid 2024 (Hexcrawl Toolbox), and Best RPG Related Product 2025 (Prismatic Wisdom).
FLAIL is a Games Omnivorous production and it's my take on the OSR genre. It blends the chaos, randomness, and vibes of Dungeon Crawl Classics with the simplicity and board-gameyness of Mausritter. The rules curate and distill ideas from many standout OSR games, with two key highlights: a tactile item-and-gear system built around physical tokens (item cards) that actually make inventory management interesting, and a combat system driven by “poker” rolls. The game is designed for short, punchy dungeon crawls and hexcrawl exploration. It grows directly out of years of building settings like Undying Sands, Bottled Sea, and Boreal Frostlands: a ruleset shaped by those worlds and made to run them.
Visit the official FLAIL website for more information, online tools such as an item card studio and a hexcrawl generator app, a bunch of official adventures (already out!) and more.
What's in the box? Everything you ever desired. Your dreams come true.
Rulebook: 124-page hardcover book that contains players rules, GM guidelines, lots of magic items, lots of creatures, one campaign hexcrawl, two one-shot hexcrawls, one sewer dungeon crawl, a wizard tower, and more.
Character sheets (8x): reusable! the character sheets are laminated and produced to be used with a dry-erase marker. There is one per class, total of eight.
Item cards (11x): eleven item card and condition cards, including exploration gear, dungeon gear, weapons, Unique Items and Set Items. These will be perforated and laminated for dry-erase marker. Quality stuff, same as Mausritter.
Dry-erase markers (4x): to use on character sheets and item cards.
Player reference booklets (8x): one reference booklet per class, containing all relevant details to play the respective class.
Tomb of 1,000 Gears adventure: the first official FLAIL adventure in postcard format. A paranoid gnome inventor, Master Gnorbitt, designed his own tomb so that only someone worthy could break it and claim his ultimate prize.
GM screen: GM screen containing the basic rules of FLAIL, how to run a hexcrawl, NPC generator, market/gear tables, and more.
Player Sheets (2x): the first is a Cheat Sheet / Character Creation summary. The second contains tables with prices for everything.
Player Record Envelopes (4x): four envelopes designed for the players to store their item cards and notes between sessions.
Hireling Tear Pad: because hirelings don't tend to last long in FLAIL.
FLAIL uses an ultra simplified and addictive (in the best of ways!) combat system. Players roll a bunch of d6s, depending on their weapon, skills and abilities, and try to score as many 1s as possible. Then, voilá:
On a 1: deal weapon damage.
On two 1s: deal double-weapon damage.
On three 1s: eliminate your adversary! Is it a Dragon? Don't care. There's always a bigger one.
There are lots of skills and weapons that trigger further abilities when pairs, triplets, sequences, full-houses are rolled. A bunch of examples:
Bone Whisperer "Spirit Harvesting": when a Bone Whisperer slays a target and rolls two pairs, they summon an Undead Puppet.
Cutthroat "Opportunistic Strike": when a Cutthroat rolls two pairs in combat, they can make a new attack immediately.
Cleric "Celestial Aid": when Clerics roll a full-house, their God appears in the scene and does something spectacular. Trust me.
Cinderline: TH 6, DMG 2. Any hit: on a triplet, creates trail of fire that causes d4 damage to crossers.
Coral Whisper: TH 6, DMG 4. Any hit: on a poker, summons an ally Water Elemental.
Runeforge: TH 6, DMG 2. Any hit: on a full-house, etches rune on target for 3d10 damage in the next hit.
The game is highly customisable so you can definitely create your own ideas for POKER DICE immediately. Pretty sure there's already an idea brewing in that skull of yours.
Inventory is managed through physical cards/tokens that players place on their character sheets. Which makes inventory actually interesting. If you've played Mausritter, you already know how it works. Inventory is divided into four main areas:
Body: these can used for armour, helmet, boots, girdle, quiver or any additional items/weapons donned to be readied quickly. Worn items can be swapped for carried items as a free action.
Hands: items carried in the main and off hands. Two-handed items take both slots. These are considered to be carried and may be used at any time.
Satchel: items placed on the satchel are stashed. During conflict, they can be retrieved at the cost of one action – swap a carried item for a stashed one.
Adornment: special slot that can only be used for rings, amulets, and similar.
There's a new patreon account where content for FLAIL shall be added monthly. By pledging only $3 per month, you get a stream of adventures, new guilds, new cleric religions, alternative rules, new spells, monsters, and much more. Help us in building this community. The first four official "grab-and-go" FLAIL modules have been released: postcard adventures that require low prep (or no prep really) and can be plugged into any existing game, namely by filling the contents of one hex in a larger hexcrawl:
#1 Tomb of 1,000 Gears: a paranoid gnome inventor, Master Gnorbitt, designed his own tomb so that only someone worthy could break it and claim his ultimate prize.
#2 Best Served Cold: an assassin guild used to sell corpses to a necromancer (because why not) but the necromancer screwed up and sent a Lantern of Undeath as payment: all their cold-stored bodies came alive. Oops.
#3 The Wretched Saint's Miracles: a dark cult that took over an abandoned church to worship a mummified deity who "cures" folk of all sicknesses, but not really, because they die a few days later and it's all part of the plan.
#4 Oubliette of the Snake King: classic dungeon delve into the eternal prison of Ss'thak (the Snake King), who was betrayed and buried by his own priests, and is now very much ready to come alive once again.
We are bringing back the Hexcrawl Toolbox, now as the FLAIL EDITION. In 2023, you helped us fund the original Toolbox through a legendary Kickstarter campaign. It's currently sold out. Just like a Necromancer would, we are now resurrecting it from the grave. This edition includes the same 150+ physical hexes to create your own maps, now paired with an updated guidebook aligned with FLAIL’s procedures, brand-new creature stat blocks, rewritten Quest Scenarios, item cards featuring Unique Items, and a custom inlay to store everything neatly. It's not a system-agnostic product any longer. It's a FLAIL supplement. Although you can definitely use it with other systems. Everything's allowed. We won't judge. There's a video showing what this actually is below by Questing Beast.
The updated toolbox will include:
The same 150 physical hex tiles.
An updated 64-page guidebook matching FLAIL's rules (including creature stats).
Perforated item card sheets (x2) containing Unique Items for FLAIL.
Quest Scenarios (4x), one-shot adventures in postcard format, designed for FLAIL.
Cloth bag to play in the Hex-in-a-Bag style.
Wooden components (blue sticks to form rivers, treasure tokens and player's pawn).
Inlay to store and organise all hexes.
This is a mockup - final design may change
Create endless maps with the Toolbox
TAKE A LOOK AT A REVIEW OF THE ORIGINAL TOOLBOX:
What's behind the door? Probably something you don't wanna deal with.
Player Reference Booklets (€30k): all boxsets will now come with eight player reference booklets, one for each class. Give them to the players so they have access to everything they need to play their character.
Tomb of 1,000 Gears (€40k): all boxsets will now come with a physical copy of Tomb of 1,000 Gears adventure module. A paranoid gnome inventor, Master Gnorbitt, designed his own tomb so that only someone worthy could break it and claim his ultimate prize.
GM Screen (€50k): we will add a GM screen to all boxsets. The current design may change.
Player Sheets (€65k): we add two double-sided player reference sheets to all boxsets. The first is a Cheat Sheet / Character Creation summary. The second contains tables with prices for everything.
Dry-Erase Markers (€75k): we add three extra markers to all boxsets. So players don't have to kill each other at the table to get their hands on one. This is peak customer service.
Player Record Envelopes (€85k): all boxsets will come with four player envelopes, designed to store item cards, tokens and other notes between sessions.
Hireling Tear Pad (€100k): we add a hireling tear pad to all boxsets.
Fulfillment will happen towards the end of the year or early 2027. Under the banner of Games Omnivorous, I have managed many crowd-funders and we've proudly always delivered on time. This time it won't be different. The prices below are estimates and may vary, although I expect not significantly (unless something very dramatic happens). Shipping will be charged after the campaign ends via a pledge manager. Additional shipping charges may be applied if you buy lots of stuff - please buy lots of stuff.
NOTE: all shipping quotes include registered tracking. Custom taxes will not be applied to US and EU backers, as we have distribution centers in both jurisdictions. However, there might be extra custom fees for ALL OTHER BACKERS, depending on local import regulations.
ADD-ONS
Add-ons will also be available in the pledge manager. You will have the opportunity to add an extra set, more toolboxes, more of everything. The only limited quantities are for the Undying Sands, Bottled Sea and Boreal Frostlands. Shipping will be updated accordingly.
The team is great. The team is awesome. The team is mostly Andre.
Andre Novoa: game design, writing, layout, art direction, editing, playtesting, etc etc etc You might know me as the founder of Games Omnivorous. I have a bunch of ENNIES and worked on many games like Mausritter, Vaults of Vaarn, Frontier Scum, and The Job.
Eva Dinis: in charge of editing and proofreading.
lina&nando: preparing files for production.
Artists!
Stefan Poag: a legend of old-school fantasy art, has an extensive body of work, most notably for Dungeon Crawl Classics.
Vaultcrawler: a rising force in the OSR art scene, known for raw, gritty, retro hand-drawn work with a strong old-school feel.
Justin McElroy: also known as thoughtographic, creator of hand drawn ink illustrations who has specialised in weird creatures and nightmares.
Brian Profilio: drummer of the Budos Band (!), and the artist behind several of the band’s LP covers and tour posters.
Diogo Barros: did all the items' art, known for Cog Eat Cog (Games Omnivorous), Pax Reptiliana (Exalted Funeral) and Isle of Hex (Space Penguin Ink).
