Calamitas: The Comedic Tabletop Adventure

"Wait a minute. This is a role-playing game. We're sitting at a table rolling dice in a made-up story. Why are we all taking it so seriously?"

Intro

Matt Eschbach, owner of Sanctum Games and writer of Calamitas, established the company after earning a Bachelor's Degree in Game Design. From there, Sanctum Games partnered with another game company, Cactyys Totem Entertainment, for a short time before returning to independent operations. Matt took the knowledge he gained during that time and brought on two artists, John Kaufmann and Ian Marcum, and the three poured their energies into the creation of Calamitas.

Calamitas is a GM-optional TTRPG designed to let players build and play out their own campaigns, use toon logic to ignore the laws of physics and common sense, and sabotage enemy actions at will. The 137-page rulebook makes the game accessible to new and veteran tabletop players, providing character creation, skills, environments, dungeons, and an enemy list. All you need are character sheets, a set of dice, and pencil and paper.

Playing the Game

No races or classes needed. Make your character anything you want, from a beastman to a animated object to a headless ghost. Pick the skillset you like, or invent your own skills (yes, you read that right--invent your own skills!). Setting up the game world is as simple as rolling a few dice, and messing with the game world is as simple as using a Logic Point to draw a door on a wall, then walk right through.

At any point in time, players can take the creative reins and make their own monsters, add or take away features from an environment, even invent their own skills. We feel it's important for every play session to respect players' time and play style, and that means allowing them to bend rules to keep the game fun and not let the proceedings get bogged down by rules and excessive dice rolls.

Production and Campaign

Production of Calamitas and the module incurred a total cost of around $12,000, with printing and distribution quoted at around $12 per copy. We're confident Calamitas is worth every bit of this investment, and we're doing everything we can to ensure it gets into the hands of players who will love it.

Our three reward tiers offer the digital version of the rulebook at the $10, the digital book and module at $20, and the physical rulebook along with both previous rewards at $30. Funds raised through this campaign will be used to fulfill orders and rewards (i.e. the Calamitas rulebook and Treasure of the Fire Giants module).

Next Steps

As of this writing, the book writing, editing, and layout are complete, with only a small number of art assets remaining to be completed. By the end of October 2026, all artwork for the Calamitas rulebook should be finished. Printing and distribution is slated to occur in November, and the Treasure of the Fire Giants module is on schedule to be distributed around that same time or early December.

Once art is complete, the book will be sent to our printing service Ingram Spark, along with all received orders, including backing rewards. Depending on the volume needed, printing and distribution may take additional time.

Digital files will be downloadable via a link after the campaign ends. Physical products will be shipped via mail upon release.