Jason Anarchy talks about Liquor Before Honor

Fantasy settings make up a large portion of tabletop games, particularly roleplay. But there isn’t anything quite like Drinking Quest. Part fantasy roleplay, part drinking game, Drinking Quest has gone from strength to strength since it first landed with players in 2011.

More Drinking Quest is on its way with a Kickstarter for the series next instalment, Liquor Before Honor, going live this week. I caught up with the games designer and publisher, Jason Anarchy, and ask him the hard questions about questing, artist, and inter-dimensional beings underpants.


ML: Tell us about Liquor Before Honor. What will attract fans of Journey into Draught? And what can those who haven’t played Drinking Quest before look forward too?

JA: Like all the Drinking Quest games, it’s a really strong mashup of two opposing genres: Drinking Game and Tabletop RPG. It’s a fun adventure that only takes a few minutes to learn and will lead to some epic game nights!

The main hook is that it’s like a really simplified Dungeons & Dragons but when your hero dies, you chug your drink in real life to continue. Depending on what you’re drinking, there’s a bit of real life danger in this adventure.

Liquor Before Honor specifically is the most refined version, has the highest art budget, some of the funniest jokes and will be the best Drinking Quest game released yet!

ML: Of the six new quests do you have a favourite? Why this one?

JA:  I’m definitely proud of all six of them but if I had to pick one that stands out the most, it’s the quest about BEES. One of the quests just has the heroes side-tracked and trying to harvest honey from these bee-people.

It’s so silly and ridiculous but I kind have had to lead up to it with more familiar tropes like “Pirates” and “Stranded on an Island”. It’s important to have proper build up before you get to something truly bizarre.

Liquor Before Honor

ML: One of the reward tiers contains a dice tower with the Drinking Quest main character Chuglox etched into it. What possessed you to include this as a reward?

JA: That was the original Drinking Quest artist Carole Nelan who drew that face of Chuglox and it’s been an icon from the very first game. That kind of passive, excited and sort of unstable expression is a good representation of what the series is all about.

As for the dice towers themselves, I saw my buddy Peter (from webcomic Rock, Paper, Cynic) selling funny dice towers at a convention and I joked “I should do these but with the Chuglox face” and then I did.

They’re super cool, they stop your dice from flying off the table and your rolls will be blessed by the mighty facial expression of Chuglox!

ML: Is all of Liquor Before Honor ready to go straight to the printer once the Kickstarter is over? Or are there still some elements which need finishing off? If there are, what chance is there that this will hold up the delivery of the game?

JA: It’s about 85% done, I still have to do the rulebook and go over the card text a few more times. The last Drinking Quest Kickstarter for Journey into Draught I had the game completely print-ready by the end of the campaign.

There should be no delays at all and I even added a bigger bubble of space so it would be July shipping which is an ideal month to ship.

ML: Some of the artists for Liquor Before Honor  contributed to Journey into Draught. You have also brought in a bunch of new artists as well. What qualities does an artist, or their art, have to have that makes you want it in the game?

JA: I just have an idea for what the quest should be and why it should be funny… then I try and think of an artist that could really sell those jokes. I want the game to be funny for different reasons and having a different artist on each quest really helps with that.

The art team has been amazing to work with and I can’t believe how much artistic talent was dedicated to such bonkers ideas J.

Liquor Before Honor

ML: The picture on the Kickstarter page of an oozing Sexy Cthulhu in a bulging lolly-bag is terrifying.  No question here, I just wanted you to know. I expect my dreams to be haunted by the image.

JA: One time I had a guy come up to me at a convention and say “I want to have this framed over my fireplace while I’m wearing my housecoat and drinking Cognac”

ML: Thanks for your time. And good luck with the campaign.

JA: Thanks so much, I really appreciate it! Cheers!


Drinking Quest: Liquor Before Honor is on Kickstarter right now. You can read about the development of Drinking Quest in Issue 16 of The Campaigner, or see me talking to Jason at PAXAus last year on our YouTube Channel.

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