This isn’t my first time talking about Mere Pursuit and G. Wesley Cone. In 2024, I had the opportunity to meet with Cone via Zoom, and we had a conversation about The Upgrades, an expansion to The Market, a pocket-sized card game. You can read about it or watch it here.

Mere Pursuit is planning to crowdfund another game, this time intending to release a roguelike board game via Kickstarter. The campaign starts September 1, 2025.

The Calling was created as a solo board game, which makes sense, as many roguelikes are single-player video games. The initial iteration garnered very positive feedback from playtesters. Among the feedback was an underlying hope for an expansion to more players. Board games can be extremely successful as solo plays, but board gaming is also historically a group event, so why not marry the two ideas? The Calling can be played with up to 4 players, all of whom go through the same steps simultaneously. Each player keeps their own points and can use unique strategies, adding a great amount of replayability to the game.

Cone pours a lot of work and intentionality into his projects, and that shines with The Calling. The universe of Tempo (a future Earth), where The Calling takes place, is bustling with mystery and intrigue, taken straight from the pages of The Empyrean Call: Isaac’s Story (another of Cone’s works). We find ourselves making a mad dash out of the Market, escaping the ominous Suit.

For a demonstration of what a turn looks like and some additional thoughts, watch the video above and consider backing this project.

You can back The Calling here.