Kazmo Studios has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Outside the Wire, a tactical modern military tabletop roleplaying game designed by retired US Marine Derek Roberson. The system puts players into asymmetric small-unit counterinsurgency operations where squad choices alter the theatre through tracked metrics: Local Trust, Command Confidence, and Insurgent Activity.
The campaign funded in under three hours, securing more than £40,500 from over 590 backers against an initial £7,465 goal. Setting aside the hit-point attrition common to fantasy d20 systems, the design centres on a two-ten-sided dice probability engine where tactical planning, reconnaissance, and rules of engagement dictate survival.
Lethal Small-Unit Tactics and Consequence-Driven Combat
The rules take mechanical cues from classic 1980s tactical roleplaying games such as Twilight: 2000, MERC, and Recon, but rebuild the resolution loop around a bell-curve 2D10 roll-under check. This probability distribution gives trained operators reliable baseline competence, meaning poor tactical choices rather than unlucky dice rolls lead to casualties.
Combat strips away abstract hit points in favour of an Individual Effects Table, direct Health Status tracking, and component damage for vehicles. Individual actions, such as directed small-arms fire or grenade throws, resolve alongside broader Force-on-Force checks that determine whether hostile fire-teams are suppressed, wounded, or neutralised.
Roberson, drawing on 35 years of military service including combat deployments to Desert Storm and Fallujah, built the system around the friction of asymmetric combat:
The goal of building Outside the Wire was to create a modern war sandbox RPG about dismantling hostile networks in a volatile region while also building legitimacy. How do we add the pressure, frustration, and small triumphs during each session as the players advance towards their campaign goals? The game system strives to link sessions in an ecosystem that reshapes the human terrain based on player decisions or actions.
Living Sandboxes and Solo Automata
The 340-page hardback core rulebook includes five real-world regional profiles, three operational sandbox settings, and tools to generate custom conflict zones. Solo play is supported directly through reactive encounter cards and automata flowsheets, allowing an individual player to run complete, GM-less fire-team deployments.
The campaign has unlocked five digital stretch goals, adding the Scorpion’s Nest and Drop Dead Echo scenarios, additional patrol missions, and regional maps by cartographer Tiffany Munro. Backers will receive initial digital reward access in November 2026, followed by physical book and boxed set fulfilment in April and May 2027. The project operates on an all-or-nothing funding basis and closes on Thursday, 1 October 2026 at 12:59 PM BST.
Reward Tiers Summary
Entry-level backers can access the digital rule sets through standalone PDFs of the starter kit or the complete 340-page manual. Physical tiers scale from the printed Starter Box Set up to the core hardback volume, while the top-tier Deluxe Box Set delivers the full operational package, bundling the core rules with the hardback Operation Iron Crossing campaign, three scenario books, tactical counter sheets, reference cards, and a regional deployment map.
Pledge Tiers
- Pledge $18 (approx. £14): Starter Set (Digital). One PDF copy of the Ambush at Dawn Starter Set, including the 40-page scenario book, solo booklet, and rules-lite manual.
- Pledge $25 (approx. £19): Core Rulebook Digital Edition. Complete PDF of the 340-page core rulebook containing character generation, equipment guides from 12 nations, combat mechanics, and GM tools.
- Pledge $45 (approx. £34): Starter Box Set. Physical copy of the Ambush at Dawn Starter Set with softcover scenario book, rules booklet, tactical map, dice, and character sheets, plus digital files.
- Pledge $50 (approx. £38): Physical Edition Core Rulebook. Premium full-colour hardback edition of the 340-page core rulebook alongside the complete digital PDF package.
- Pledge $65 (approx. £49): Digital Deluxe Set. Comprehensive digital bundle featuring the core rulebook, the Operation Iron Crossing campaign, three scenario booklets, and the regional operations map.
- Pledge $110 (approx. £83): Deluxe Box Set. The complete physical bundle including the hardback core rules, hardback Iron Crossing campaign, three scenario books, tactical immersion kit, reference cards, dice, counters, and regional quad-fold map.
