The mermaids have been studying and their teacher feels they are ready to head to land to explore. On the next full moon, they'll swim up and will work together to accomplish their personal goals.

Fish Out of Water is the lighthearted game of mermaid field trips to land, a new roleplaying game for all mermaids and humans. The world is full of interesting things they've never seen or experienced and they are eager to try it all. They've got talents and magic and a curiosity that can't be stopped.

Welcome to experiencing the world through the eyes of "Those Who Swim". The mermaids have swum in from different biomes around the world, and bring their unique song magic and understanding to each encounter. 

But visiting land won't be easy. Mermaids don't have cell phones, money, or experience with elevators. But dogs, museums, dance clubs, and other dry land activities await them and they are eager to test their skills. Work together to achieve their goals and learn new skills before they need to go home.

Those Who Swim - What mermaids call themselves in their own language (mermaid is just a human word that they use for convenience). With the magic of the full moon, they have three days to come to land, dry off their tails into legs, and achieve their goals.

Each mermaid has swum from a different water biome: polar, benthic, reef, and more. Their home waters affect the magic they know, their body size and shape, and their innate abilities. The more adventures they go on, the more they learn and the closer they get to being accepted by adult mermaid society.

They are prepared by their teacher with some essentials and land knowledge, but nothing can fully prepare them for the differences of life on dry land. There are dangers on dry land: dehydration, hunger, sickness, and other challenges the mermaids don't usually face under the water. Overdo it and they'll have a bad visit and go home disappointed.

The Harbormaster - Challenges the mermaids as they try to achieve their goals and portrays all the Normal City People (NPCs) who live on land. They encourage the mermaids to work together, keep track of the time, and set the difficulty for success and outcomes of not completing their goals.

Fish Out of Water: The RPG of magic, memories, and land adventures!

Ever wondered what happens when "Those Who Swim" finally step onto dry land? This heartwarming, tabletop roleplaying game about mermaids on their first field trip to human cities captures the magic of being away from home with your best friends by your side.

The Experience
Whether you're a pelagic "nereid" from the open ocean or a secretive "swampy" from the brackish bayou, you'll shed your tail under the full moon to explore a world of strange human customers. Your mission? Complete your extra-credit assignment and personal goals - like trying your first banana split or figuring out how crossing guards works.

TV sitcom vibes: Designed for 3-6 players, sessions last 2-3 hours and feel like a cozy romcom or a YA fantasy novel.

Simple, tactical magic: No complex math, just uncertain outcomes resolved with a flip of a coin or two.

The power of Song: Cast unique, magical Songs - from the Song of the Siren to the Song or Storms - using Major and Minor scales to influence the world around you.

Dynamic identify: Mermaids are fluid! Change you biome, appearance, and your role in the group as you learn and grown the power of Pearls of Wisdom.

The Mechanics
Casting Fortunes are the core resolution system, using a pool of six custom Mermaid Coins. When a mermaid faces a challenge, she casts a number of coins equal to her Merit in Beauty, Grace, Strength, or Wisdom, with only Tails counting as successes. These successes are strategically allocated to cover four critical factors: Intent (achieving the goal), Time (avoid becoming "busy" for the rest of the morning), Cost (prevent the loss of resources or gaining negative conditions like thirsty, tired, or angry), and Enchantment (required for any magical Song to function). To push her luck, a mermaid may add one extra coin to any test, but doing so increases the Pressure - a mounting mechanical track representing the human world's growing suspicion and the strain of being on dry land.

Teamwork is essential for survival, as any friends who aren't busy can assist by casting a single additional coin. Helpers must declare exactly which factor they are supporting before the toss, and the group shares in both the success and the consequences of any uncovered factors. While the extra coin usually helps, it also invites the risk of a Crescendo. Triggered when a mundane actions results in all Tails, a Crescendo makes a simple act result in a magical or chaotic way - surprising humans, spiking the Pressure, and potentially exposing the group's sextre in a spectacular, unintentional display of mermaid nature.

Highlights of Fish Out of Water include:

This system is all you need to play the game. It contains all the rules for all the different things your characters might want to do, and important information about the world they live in. 

The core rules for Fish Out of Water include:

This and some imagination are everything a player needs to enter the world of Fish Out of Water.

Bardic Armadillo and Mememto Mori Theatricks have partnered together to bring this game to light.

Bardic Armadillo, led by Lindsey B., has launched three Backerkit projects, and two cards games. Their first game featured mermaids from around the world. With a focus on whimsy and cozy chaos, they brought a lighthearted sense of mermaid fun and worldview to Fish Out of Water. 

Mememto Mori Theatricks, led by Jared Sorensen, has launch many successful games including Parsely, InSpectres, and Lacuna. Jared's clever systems and dedication to game design are a critical part of why Fish Out of Water is an excellent game for any player group.

Our main goal is to enable Bardic Armadillo and Memento Mori Theatricks to print a fully-developed Fish Out of Water soft cover roleplaying game book with supporting materials.

With your support we can create a book that will be sent out as a reward to backers and also available at future events.

Beyond the campaign-specific goals, we hope that this game will help build community and create shared stories and laughs. When you back this project, you join us on this journey into new places.

All participants who would like to make this project happen can pledge their support and add to the overall campaign total. If the campaign meets the funding target, then we will have funded the project and it will become a reality. Your pledge will only be collected if we achieve our funding target.

Pledging
You will have multiple pledge tiers to choose from. When choosing a tier, pledge for what you want.

You can purchase a single game copy, a few extra copies to give away, collections of various items, or a collection of all the items. You can purchase additional game copies, stickers, magnets, other games from Bardic Armadillo and Memento Mori Theatricks in the "Add Ons" for a discount rate.

More pledge levels or unlockable items may be added as the campaign goes on. 

If you miss the campaign, we'll have Fish Out of Water with us at future game events including GenCon, Spiel, and UKGE. However, available copies will be limited to the initial print run and backers get first fulfillment. Add-on items may only be available through the BackerKit.

After the campaign is over, we'll launch the BackerKit Pledge Manager, our post-campaign pledge manager, and invite the backers to set up their rewards via survey. 

There are plenty of ways to pledge and get all the mermaid adventures your heart desires.

$3 Mermaid Friend - Support us to our goal and have your name added to the Mermaid Friend's list on the website and in the game.

$30 THE GAME! One Fish Out of Water RPG - Ready to get your fins on the mermaids? One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A discount on some add-on items.

$57 The Gift Pack - Two copies of Fish Out of Water RPG. - Keep one, gift one! Two copies of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A discount on some add-on items.

$67 Mermaid Party Pack - Want to make sure every player has their own mermaid coins? Grab a party pack! One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. An extra 5 sets of mermaid coins (one set for every player mermaid). Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A 10% discount on this level and a discount on some add-on items.

$60 Name a Mermaid - Work with the Bardic Armadillo/Memento Mori Theatricks team to create a name and backstory for one of the thirteen mermaids featured in the art of the game. One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. A print copy of the artwork for your named mermaid suitable for framing. Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A discount on some add-on items.

$80 All the Games Under the Sea - A bundle of 17 games, all the games available in this campaign from Bardic Armadillo and Memento Mori Theatricks. A copy of Mermaid's Song card game, a Crows versus Cats card game, Parsely game (12-in-1), Kringle Krisis, Action Castle IV - Escape from Action Castle, and InSpectres. Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A 12% discount on this level and a discount on some add-on items.

$35 One Fish Out of Water RPG and stickers - Some art is worth sticking on stuff. One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. A set of six sea creature stickers (art from Mermaid's Song card game). Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A discount on some add-on items.

$40 One Fish Out of Water RPG and magnets - Some art is worth putting on stuff. One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. A set of six sea creature magnets (art from Mermaid's Song card game). Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A discount on some add-on items.

$20 One Fish Out of Water RPG - PDF copy - Get your fins on the mermaids. One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook as a PDF. Your name of choice in the Mermaid Friend section of the book. A discount on some add-on items.

$56 The Bardic Armadillo bundle - One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. One copy of Mermaid's Song card game, and one copy of Crows versus Cats card game. A discount on the card games and on some add-ons.

$64 The Memento Mori Theatricks bundle - One copy of Fish Out of Water RPG rulebook, time sheet, and 6 mermaid coins. One PDF download of Parsely games (12-in-1), PDF of Kringle Krisis, PDF of Action Castle IV - Escape from Action Castle, and one PDF of InSpectres.

Want larger quantities of items?

$135 - 5,400 - extra copy bundles of Fish Out of Water. Price and discount varies based on quantity.

All pledge levels are noted in U.S. dollars.

Digital Rewards: Some items are digital only. These reward items will be shared with you through email and may require accounts with DriveThruRPG or similar platforms to receive. There is no shipping cost for these items, and they will not be included in your shipping charges for physical reward items.

Physical Rewards: The rule book, coins, stickers, and other physical items will be collected together and shipped as one item. Shipping is NOT included in the cost of your pledge. You will be charged for shipping after the campaign is closed through the pledge manager. These items will ship once printing and delivery to our processing facility is complete.

What's available?
All the items in the pledge levels can be added to your pledge. So if you want extra games, extra coins, stickers, magnets, or a copy of any of our other games this is where you can add them to your purchase.

How to order Add-Ons
There are two options when it comes to adding 'Add-On' items to your pledge:

1) You can navigate to the add-ons tab on this campaign page. If you choose to add an item to your pledge, when the campaign ends you will be charged for your pledge level and the add-on item. When you receive your survey the add-on item you purchased along with your pledge will automatically be in your order items list. Please note that some add-ons come with additional shipping costs due to size or weight. You won't pay those additional shipping fees at the time of your pledge, they will be paid within your survey post campaign.

2) You can choose just a pledge level, which you will be charged for when the campaign ends. When you receive your post campaign survey there will be an add-ons section that contains all the add-ons you see here. You can then add additional items in your survey and pay for those items and your shipping costs within your survey.

Please note that we expect shipping to begin in early/mid-July but this does not mean you will receive your package immediately after shipping begins. Depending upon the total amount of backers, shipping carriers, and available staff, the fulfillment period can last anywhere from one month to six months. We make every attempt to ship out your packages asap.

Shipping cost is NOT included in tier pricing. It will be calculated and charged after the campaign ends, based on the weight of your package and destination. Please do NOT include any shipping costs in your pledge amount. If you require tracking, please let us know!

We are only able to ship to the U.S., Canada, Mexico, EU member states, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, and U.K.

Alternate option:
If you plan to attend GenCon 2026 or Spiel 2026 you can select to have your package of items held for you and plan for collection at the event. Shipping costs will not be charged. This option will be noted in the survey.

By pledging to this campaign you are stating that you understand all the below information and agree to our terms and conditions.

Backer Responsibility
As a backer you are responsible for completing your survey and paying shipping fees within a timely manner, to receive your rewards. As creators we are only able to communicate with backers through project updates and reminder emails (email correspondence will be sent to the email on file for your pledge). As a backer it is your responsibility to check and read project updates, and to check for survey emails. If you fail to stay updated and do not complete your survey, you could forfeit your rewards. (Read more about reward forfeiture below)

Manufacturing
We'll be using trusted manufacturers that we've worked with before, but occasionally things happen and there are minor delays in manufacturing.

We will always be upfront with backers along the way and disclose any setbacks, delays, and any other pertinent updates.

It's important to understand that this is a crowdfunded campaign. Crowdfunded campaigns are often subject to delays due to unforeseen circumstances. Please also understand that money pledged to a crowdfunded campaign is not a donation or investment. This is not an online store and you will not immediately receive your rewards after pledging.

Please note that minor changes may occur in production, and that the images presented here are my mock up designs. There is a possibility of slight changes in color and size in the physical item.

Forfeiture of Rewards
Once project manufacturing is completed, backers will be notified via a campaign update. This campaign update will have a final survey completion date. If your survey is not completed, and your shipping costs not paid by the completion date, you will forfeit your pledge payment and rewards. We will not fulfill forfeited rewards and pledge levels after the completion date.

Refunds or Exchanges
All items are final sale (No Refunds, Cancellation, or Exchanges). Please let us know if there are any concerns with your products. Backers are also responsible for providing the correct address. In the event of undelivered mail that is the fault of the courier, tracked shipments (which include insurance coverage), will allow for a new package to be re-mailed. For undelivered mail at the fault of the recipient (i.e. Incorrect address provided; package not picked up and returned to the post office), with the tracked shipment option or not, the package will be deemed to be delivered and no refund or re-mailing requests will be accepted. If you believe your items were damaged in transit, please reach out to us immediately and attach photos of the damaged item(s).

Lost or never received packages - Forfeiture of rewards
We make every attempt to get your package from our facility to your home. Packages for this campaign will come with a tracking number. Regardless of tracking numbers, sometimes packages are lost in the mail. We will notify backers with an update when the project is near completion. If you have not received your package by the completion of the shipping process, you will have an extended period of time to contact us about a missing package. If you do not contact us within that extended period of time about a lost or never received package, you will forfeit your rewards and we will not provide a refund or re-ship your rewards.