The comic book and role-playing game were developed simultaneously, with content from one crossing into the other, and visa versa.
Both the comic book and the role-playing game were written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Stephanie Hans.
It was published by Image Comics and ran for twenty issues across four five-issue arcs (Fantasy Heartbreaker, Split the Party, The Great Game, and Bleed), beginning in December 2018 and ending in September 2021.
[3][4][5] Gillen and Hans created the role-playing game complement to the comic book with British publisher Rowan, Rook and Decard.
The final episode of the show, in which the characters return to Earth, was never produced, and Gillen wondered what might have happened to the children.
He has stated that while he played RPGs for most of his life, his interest was reignited in 2013, when he started to seriously consider "the nature of fantasy, and where this weird form actually came from.
Eternal Prussia is based on wargames and the history of the genre, particularly Kriegsspiel and its effect on the Franco-Prussian War.
The title of the issue refers to THAC0, an acronym for ‘To Hit Armor Class 0’, a roll system used in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition which was later discontinued.
We follow their separate paths before we end with them coming together and Ash taking over Angria becoming the quote-unquote evil queen.
[73] DIE: The Roleplaying Game was scheduled to launch on Kickstarter in October 2021, however, British publisher Rowan, Rook and Decard later announced a delay due to concerns around shipping and material shortages.
[85] In 2019, Io9 called Die "subversive" and "a heady combination of fascinating worldbuilding (and) compellingly broken characters tearing each other apart", lauding Hans' "vivid, striking artwork".
Over the past 3 years, DIE established itself as one of the most engaging and wondrously conceived series in serialized American comics.
Each issue read like a gift and engaged all of the facets that made this concept sing: richly-considered characters, fascinating settings and conflicts, a rigorous consideration of humanity's use of games and stories, and some of the most stunning artwork found in any comic from 2021.
[...] So whether you're finally coming to DIE as it concludes or, like many of us here at ComicBook, tensely awaiting one last issue, there has never been a better time to discover one of the absolute best comics series in years".
[...] The conclusion is fulfilling and satisfactory, so it feels like we can now confirm Die as a very good comic, one of the best mainstream offerings in years.
Hans' painterly art makes Die look uniquely distinguished from every other fantasy series on the shelf, and proves more than capable of tackling the many, many different kinds of stories Gillen brings into their orbit.
1: Fantasy Heartbreaker was #1 in "units shipped" and #9 in "dollars invoiced" on Diamond's "Best-Selling Graphic Novels" sales list for June 2019.
2: Split The Party was #2 in "units shipped" and #6 in "dollars invoiced" on Diamond's "Best-Selling Graphic Novels" sales list for February 2020.
3: The Great Game was #4 in "units shipped" and #6 in "dollars invoiced" on Diamond's "Best-Selling Graphic Novels" sales list for December 2020.
4: Bleed was #4 in "units shipped" and #11 in "dollars invoiced" on Diamond's "Best-Selling Graphic Novels" sales list for November 2021.
[...] It combines a very clever premise with the ability to do pretty much anything you want, but the consequences, the final decision, always looms large in the minds of you and your companions".