You’ve played League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and Legends of Runeterra… but what if we told you there’s another game in the Riot universe that you’ve never heard of and you’re seriously missing out?
That’s right, no clickbait here - there’s an entire game in the Runeterra world that you’ve probably never heard of, let alone played. Enter Legends of Runeterra: Dark Tides of Bilgewater, an official and completely free setting for tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons.
Not that long ago, we told you all about the benefits of playing board games and how they can actually make you better at video games. Back then we didn’t even mention one cool little extra benefit - learning more about the worlds and characters in the video games that we love so much.
League of Legends is a relatively simple game. It ultimately boils down to ten heroes fighting in a small arena until one team destroys the enemy base first. Despite that fact, the game has a really well-developed, rich, and exciting world full of powerful warriors, rivaling kingdoms and crazy monsters - many of which we don’t even see on the Rift. So, there’s no better way to learn more about Runeterra than gathering a bunch of friends around the table (or in your preferred video conference software!) and just diving into the setting. Legends of Runeterra: Dark Tides of Bilgewater allows you to do just that.
How does it work?
Very simple. You get your D&D books or the Basic Rules that are available for free online, head over to the official D&D app D&D Beyond and access the interactive document. It won’t teach you the rules of the game (you’ll look up those in your Basic Rules PDF), but it will give you everything else - a primer not what Bilgewater is all about, its heroes, villains, and monsters, some cool treasures for you to discover and even a few playable variants on the classic D&D archetypes that you can use to “League-ify” your hero.
But can I play as Twisted Fate or Miss Fortune?
Yes! Well, kind of. One of the character variants is the Wild Card Rogue that will allow you to basically create your own Twisted Fate-type of vagabond and fling cards (or dice!) at bad guys. When it comes to the infamous pirate-hunter, she, alongside her nemesis Captain Gangplank, is listed as an enemy with complete stat blocks for you to use. So, while the game expects you to interact with them as NPC’s - you can talk to them or even pick a fight! - as everything in D&D, if your Dungeon Master gives the “okay” you can totally use them as playable characters.
And speaking of bad guys, there’s a bunch of them listed, including a crazy half-rat-half-shark beastie and the Powder Monkeys who are the cutest things you’ve seen in a D&D document.
- READ MORE: League of Legends: 3 tips before you start
So, if the things listed above sound appealing, put your pirate hat on, draw a bunch of cards from your loaded deck, and go find some treasure. Not a bad prospect coming from a game you probably didn’t even know existed.
For more Legends of Runeterra, hidden gems, and general cool stuff, keep reading EarlyGame!
