Italian studio Two Little Mice has launched a BackerKit crowdfunding campaign for Twilight Sword: Monster Book, the first major expansion for its tabletop roleplaying game. The campaign opened on 10 November 2026 and has already raised over €451,185 from more than 2,812 backers against an initial €10,000 goal. Running until 3 December 2026, the project coincides with co-publisher Free League Publishing releasing the original Twilight Sword Core Rulebook, Lands of Radia setting guide, and Card Chest into hobby shops and online stores this week.
Founded by lead designers Riccardo “Rico” Sirignano and Simone Formicola alongside lead artist Daniela Giubellini, Two Little Mice is known for cinematic action in Outgunned and Broken Compass, as well as the tiny-folk Regency world of Household. With Twilight Sword, the Milan-based team shifted toward classic Japanese console roleplaying games and animation, citing The Legend of Zelda, Dragon Quest, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Ni No Kuni, and Studio Ghibli films as primary influences. Rather than using the studio’s Director’s Cut dice pool engine, Twilight Sword runs on an original ruleset called CAT (Created at Twilight), which uses a roll-under d12 mechanic where players act as Champions restoring Hope to the land of Radia.
What the Monster Book adds to the table
The 21 x 11.5 cm hardcover Monster Book expands the d12 system beyond a standard bestiary. Alongside new standard foes, Bosses, and Grim Variants, Riccardo Sirignano and Simone Formicola have built new player and Game Master subsystems into the book:
| Feature / Subsystem | Operational Details |
| Monster Builder | Rules and templates for Game Masters to assemble custom monsters and Grim Variants from scratch. |
| Monster Gear Crafting | A harvesting and crafting loop allowing Champions to collect monster parts and forge equipment from loot. |
| New Champion Ways | Includes the Way of the Beast (granting a customisable Beast Companion), the Way of Food (cooking monster parts with eight custom Feats), and the Way of the Fist (unarmed combat with eight Feats). |
| New Playable Kin | Introduces the Tamotta Kin, the pig-folk Pokona Kin, and the skeletal undead Grimma. |
| Monsterland Region | Unlocked at €400,000, this setting expansion within the book adds a new region of Radia complete with a dedicated map, travel chart, landmarks, non-player characters, and quest hooks. |
Visual art across the book and its 49-page preview is credited to Daniela Giubellini, Lodovico Sartirana, and Donata Poli, with an explicit “Human-Created Without AI” stamp on the project page. Composer Jeff Grammi also returns to score a six-track digital Boss Soundtrack unlocked during the campaign.
Italian tabletop momentum and the Free League partnership
The launch caps a busy season for Italian tabletop designers. Twilight Sword: Monster Book went live just days after the 60th anniversary Diamond Jubilee of Lucca Comics & Games, the Tuscan festival where Riccardo Sirignano and Simone Formicola previously won Roleplaying Game of the Year in 2019, and follows the expansion of PLAY: The Games Festival into the larger Fiera di Bologna venue earlier this year.
While Two Little Mice manages the crowdfunding campaign and creative direction, Stockholm-based Free League Publishing handles global retail distribution. However, a minor gap remains between the retail rollout and the crowdfunding page: while the Core Rulebook, Lands of Radia, and Card Chest arrived in stores this week, Free League confirmed that the retail Starter Set will follow at a later, unspecified date.
Solo rules, VTT promises, and the shipping breakdown
A closer look at the campaign updates reveals a few practical considerations for backers weighing up a pledge.
First, Two Little Mice is using this campaign to test a BackerKit beta feature called “Stretch Goal Add-Ons”. During the first Twilight Sword campaign in November 2025, backers unlocked a digital solo mode titled Not Alone, written by Matt Key. To get a physical print run of the Not Alone booklet in this campaign, backers must add it to a physical pledge for €15. It is excluded from the €299 Hero and €389 Twilight Hero all-in tiers, and Two Little Mice says the booklet will be printed only if at least 200 backers pre-order it during the campaign.
Second, the campaign unlocked an official Alchemy VTT module for the Monster Book at €350,000. Prospective digital players should note that while physical books from the first Twilight Sword campaign have just finished shipping to backers, the original campaign’s digital extras, including the first Alchemy VTT integration, the Solo Rules PDF, and the CAT Third-Party Licence, are still in development as of November 2026.
Finally, Two Little Mice plans to deliver the new digital rewards via DriveThruRPG in Q1 or Q2 2027, with physical rewards scheduled to ship at the end of October 2027. Shipping fees are excluded from pledge tiers and will be collected post-campaign via PayPal or Stripe in the pledge manager. Based on the studio’s campaign estimates, backers can expect the following shipping rates (excluding add-ons):
| Region | Core Rulebook / Monster Book (€40–€65) | Core Trio / Twilight Trio (€125–€185) | Hero / Champion / Monster Hunter (€150–€389) |
| UK | €12 | €14 | €15 |
| Italy | €10 | €12 | €15 |
| EU | €15 | €17 | €19 |
| Rest of Europe | €20 | €22 | €25 |
| USA | €25 | €27 | €30 |
| Canada / Aus / NZ | €30 | €32 | €35 |
| Rest of World | €40 | €42 | €60 |
Entry-level digital pledges start at €33 for Digital Monsters, while the standard hardcover Monster Book is €40 (or €65 for the deluxe Twilight Monster Book with a metallic-laminated slipcase). Returning backers seeking the new Monster Book, the 200-card Monster Chest, and the standee-filled Battle Chest can pledge €150 at the Monster Hunter tier.
Readers who want to inspect the CAT d12 rules and character creation before committing to a pledge can download the 49-page Twilight Sword – Preview in English and Italian for free on DriveThruRPG, or browse the existing digital library via the Twilight Sword Complete Bundle.
