Author – Matt Keck, Tony Marin, & others

Where to Buy – https://www.feastoflegends.com/

Ah, 2019. Remember 2019? Back when all our times were still precedented, an egg cream only cost a nickel, and you could stand in a crowded elevator with a bunch of strangers and not even think about the legion of germs being freely exchanged. It was truly a glorious time. A free time. And Wendy’s, for some reason, chose to use this freedom to create a food-based RPG nobody asked for.

Feast of Legends makes no sense. Not the rules of the game – they’re, surprisingly, pretty good. What doesn’t make sense is why Wendy’s would put out a full roleplaying game core rulebook, including evocative art, a great layout, player & DM rules, a full adventure, a plethora of character classes, a bestiary, etc. Even the website for the game shows an excess of effort for a joke game. It even has its own dice roller!

The whole thing boggles the mind, honestly. If Wendy’s wanted to make a gag game to capitalize on the TTRPG industry’s surge in popularity, there were a myriad of easier ways to do it. Why not make something simple like a Lasers & Feelings or Honey Heist hack that could fit entirely on a page or two? Why not just release a food-themed adventure or a custom class for 5E? Or make some custom dice? Instead, Wendy’s said, “Hold my Frosty” and made a brand new D20-based game from scratch. There’s even a table in the book that shows a variety of fishing poles players can purchase. WHY?!

The included five-part adventure at the end of the book takes players from first to fifth level as they combat the forces of the Ice Jester. That’s right, the end of the book contains a 40+ page adventure featuring open world exploration, dungeon crawling, puzzles, and more. Sure, it’s a bit linear and predictable but, one again, this is an RPG by Wendy’s! The fact that it even exists at all is insane!

You ever have a friend that pitches an idea for an activity under the guise of doing it ironically but, in their heart of hearts, they have a genuine interest or love for the thing they suggested? That’s what this strikes me as. Some marketing person went in front of the PR folks and said, “Hey, you know what would be funny? What if you gave me enough money to bring my glorious homebrew system to life…you know, for the memes!”

There is a sincerity to this game that exists under all the food references and bad jokes. In fact, I’d go so far as to say Feast of Legends is a good game, mechanically speaking. If you strip away all the “funny” food-based humor, your left with a very playable, surprisingly enjoyable game. The character powers are fun, the combat is as entertaining as a 5E (for better or worse), and everything feels balanced and logical. It does not make sense for Feast of Legends to be as good as it is.

DISCLAIMER: I do not know anyone involved with this game, nor did I receive anything for free in exchange for this review. Also, if you play this game while eating Wendy’s you can get buffs to your character depending on what you’re munching on. If you eat non-Wendy’s based food, you get a debuff. I wanted to include this in the main review but I ran out of words before I could fit it in. Don’t worry, if it’s part of the disclaimer at the end it totally doesn’t count…