Zach Cox reveals Atrapos with tactile mosaic cover and play-to-lose mechanics

British tabletop studio SoulMuppet Publishing will launch the crowdfunding campaign for its mythic fantasy roleplaying game Atrapos on 29 September 2026. Designed by Zach Cox, the game adapts Homeric tragedy into an explicit play-to-lose system where doomed veterans struggle against divine anger while sailing back from the sack of Aedica.

The game casts players as the crew of the Nostos, a vessel named after the ancient Greek concept of homecoming. Having razed a sacred city against the will of the immortals, the crew faces an inescapable divine curse: none will die in their beds of old age, and none will reach their ancestral homes safely. Instead of testing whether characters survive, Atrapos challenges players to manage how their heroes fall and what legacy they carve into myth along the journey.

The Homeric Play-to-Lose Rules Engine

Atrapos shares its foundational mechanical engine with Inevitable, SoulMuppet’s previous Arthurian Western title. The game relies on light, narrative-forward rules engineered around escalating stakes and heroic reputations rather than granular resource tracking or attritional combat.

Character creation builds legendary archetypes in minutes. Core character progression and table interactions revolve around Deeds and Reputations. How a hero acts in the face of impossible odds directly reshapes how allies, enemies, and the wider world speak of them. These shifting titles and public recognitions feed back into mechanical checks, driving characters inexorably toward their destined downfalls as their renown spreads across the wine-dark seas.

Zach Cox, Lead Designer at SoulMuppet Publishing, said in a statement:

The rules for Atrapos are so simple that we managed to fit them into a A4 quickstart ‘beakzine’ booklet, which you can print out at home or use digitally.”

Divine Trials and the Wrath of the Gods

Campaign play structures itself around overcoming Divine Trials presented by a furious pantheon. Rather than fighting standard monstrous encounters, players reckon directly with gods who embody psychological and natural turmoil.

The Stormlord rules over seas, tempestuous weather, and love, acting as an unpredictable, volatile force who pursues the crew for the slaughter of his mortal and demigod offspring during the siege. Facing his trial requires players to navigate encounters with his surviving children, bury his dead, and reckon with his lightning.

Equally dangerous is the Lady of the Slain, the patron of battlefield death and rulership. Following the assassination of her favoured demigod son Aegisax by the Vasilian infiltrator Matas, she has systematically blessed rival claimants across the islands. These uprisings pit the returning crew against newly crowned rebel champions in a fragmented geopolitical civil war.

To navigate these encounters, adventuring parties must select a tactical approach:

• Supplication: Perform heroic deeds to appease insulted gods and secure safe passage.
• Persuasion: Argue that divine fury is misdirected or that debts have been settled.
• Defiance: Gather mythic weapons and mortal allies to challenge the immortals directly.

Bristol Mosaics and Custom Pentecoster Dice

SoulMuppet has commissioned Bristol-based mosaic artist Catherine Parkinson to create the physical cover artwork for Atrapos. The original stone mosaic depicts the Stormlord cradling the ship Nostos within his hands.

To reproduce the piece on the physical hardcover, SoulMuppet collaborated with an arts digitisation team to generate a complete three-dimensional scan. The production run combines two print finishes to simulate authentic stonework:

• Tesserae Tiles: Finished with an individual high-gloss varnish.
• Grout Depressions: Debossed directly into the cover board and coated in a coarse sand varnish.

Alongside the book, SoulMuppet is offering custom inclusion dice produced by Myles at RuneFable. Each die encases a miniature 3D resin-printed pentecoster, sculpted by CJ Shearwood of Epigram Games, suspended within swirling blue and white resin to evoke the sea prison trapping the characters.

A free 16-page quickstart beakzine is currently available for digital download, providing six pre-generated heroes, complete starter rules, and an introductory adventure set on the isle of Masevos.

Quick Links

• Download the Free Quickstart on DriveThruRPG
• Back this Campaign on Kickstarter