“We’re gamers. That means more to us than just video games,” Riot explain. “You can tell by the piles of board games, miniatures, and roleplaying books stashed around the office. So it was natural to explore what would happen if we brought the Riot perspective to tabletop games.” The very first Riot Tabletop-developed game, Tellstones, is a bluffing game for two to four players, which they say is “a Demacian variant of a game played across Runeterra”. Both of these are places from League Of Legends, the latter of which you might recognise from the developer’s upcoming CCG, Legends Of Runeterra, which is heading to open beta later this month. Riot do have board game experience. In 2016, before they had any sort of formal tabletop division, they released Mechs vs. Minions, a co-op adventure about programming mechs to use in combat. It is, of course, based on League Of Legends. “I don’t know if we’ll ever make another board game,” Chris Cantrell told us at the time. “I don’t anticipate this being a part of our portfolio. I guess that could change but our goal was primarily to get this out to as many people as we could – as many League players to maybe be an introduction into modern board games, and then as many board game players as we could.” Oh how the tabletops turn. Compared to Mechs vs. Minions, Riot Tabletop say they’re taking a different approach with Tellstones: King’s Gambit, making it a smaller, faster, competitive experience. And for now, that’s about the extent of what we know about this mysterious new tabletop game. It’s worth keeping an eye on their website if you want to keep up to date with Riot Tabletop’s upcoming games, as they have said Tellstones is just “one of many” they’re developing. While you’re waiting for more news on that one, now is as good a time as any to refresh your memory on the huge number of League Of Legends spin-offs Riot announced last year.
