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Children of Time is among the most popular modern-day sci-fi sagas out there, becoming quintessential reading since Adrian Tchaikovsky's first novel was released 11 years ago now in 2015. Winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the book earned widespread acclaim for its ambitious exploration of evolution, AI, and humanity's struggle for survival, all while telling an unforgettable story from the perspective of an unexpected new dominant species.
Its success paved the way for three acclaimed sequels, Children of Ruin in 2019, Children of Memory in 2022, and the recently released Children of Strife, each expanding the universe with new civilizations, unique depictions of first contact, and Tchaikovsky's signature philosophy-driven style of storytelling.
Together, the series has become beloved among sci-fi enthusiasts thanks to its imaginative world-building, and now the original story is getting a brand-new adaptation that fans of the novels will not want to miss (via Kickstarter).
Children of Time: The Roleplaying Game is a new tabletop RPG from Rowan, Rook and Decard that officially adapts Adrian Tchaikovsky's acclaimed science-fiction universe in a brand-new medium, allowing players to tell their own civilization-spanning stories inspired by the award-winning novel series.
The Kickstarter campaign just launched and runs from July 14 through August 11, 2026, giving fans just under a month to back the project before crowdfunding closes. The RPG focuses on the rise and fall of entire societies over thousands of years, where players can design their own ark ships, guide animal species as they evolve into intelligent civilizations, discover and colonize new worlds, or even recreate iconic events from the original novels, including the journey of the Gilgamesh and the evolution of the Portiid spiders on Kern's World.
The game is built around collaborative storytelling, with campaigns spanning multiple generations instead of traditional adventures focused on individual characters. Decisions made in one era echo across to future generations, giving players a sense of scale with a time-spanning narrative centered on survival and adaptation, diplomacy, and first contact.
The Children of Time RPG is also structured across multiple books, covering humanity's collapse, its interstellar expansion, and the existence of competing intelligent species, so players will experience the same grand sense of scale that made Tchaikovsky's novels such a standout in modern science fiction.
If you're a fan of the original books and are looking to immerse yourself in the Children of Time universe in a brand-new way, there are several pledge options available, from a simple PDF download to an entire book set with character sheets, planet maps, tearout sheets, etc., and you'll have until August 11 to claim yours via the official Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.
