FAQ – Argo Games

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About Argo

Argo is a cross platform RPG engine with a native desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You log in, choose a game system from your library, launch your campaign, invite your friends, and run sessions. It provides context-aware controls to help apply rules and track game state, while keeping the GM and players in control. The interaction model stays consistent across systems, with bespoke themes that change the visual style per game world.

in the words of our technical director, Beto Bandeira:

“VTTs are great, and I use a couple myself. Argo Engine instead is built as a dedicated tabletop tool with strong foundations and intuitive controls that stay out of your way. The rules system is integrated, so things like distance, modifiers, time, light, and outcomes are handled by the engine and shown directly in the scene. The goal is a shared space where players and GMs understand what’s happening at a glance. It may not be for everyone, but it offers a modern and fun way to play in 3D, even if you’re not a gamer.”

We’re aiming to grant early access to a selected group of backers in Q3 2026, with an MVP featuring a playable Forbidden Lands ruleset by the end of 2026.

Argo is a cross-platform system with centralised campaign data you can access anywhere. Your campaigns, lore, notes, NPCs, handouts, and worldbuilding live in one place and can be read, edited, and published through the web.

When it’s time to play, the Unreal-powered native desktop client runs the actual session on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Next up are mobile and tablet companion apps, and later a console “Party Mode” for PS5 and Xbox.

Your campaign lives in the cloud so it stays synced and persistent. The live session runs peer-to-peer, hosted by the GM or whoever has the best connection. We chose this hybrid setup to keep server costs down without sacrificing scalability or a high-quality play experience.

Argo believes how you build matters as much as what you build.

We believe in craft: a clear quality bar and a cohesive creative direction. Strong art direction, consistent visuals, readable UX, and the kind of careful detail work that makes a world feel intentional. We’d rather ship fewer things at a high standard than flood the tool with uneven output.

We believe in talent: experienced artists, designers, and engineers who love RPG, given the time to do their best work. Your support helps us bring great people in, keep them focused, and build a singular experience that respects both the craft and the creators behind it.

We believe in community: Argo comes from the RPG scene and stays accountable to it. Trust, honesty, and transparency are how we operate. We’ll share progress, communicate clearly, and make decisions in conversation with the people who back us.

Game Systems & Features

Forbidden Lands is the ideal proof of concept for Argo. Its exploration loop and world map with fog of war fit a digital playing environment naturally, and the rules are simpler with no legacy iterations and consistent to implement. Shipping it first also lays the groundwork for other games built on the Mutant: Year Zero Engine.

A bespoke art style adapts Argo’s visual look and UI styling to match the game’s setting and mood, while keeping the way you play consistent across systems. At launch, that means menus, typography, icons, layout, and UI details based on our in-house interpretation of the original source. Over time, art style can expand with custom 3D assets and shaders in the same art direction.

Because we love a visually appealing theatre of the mind experience. And we have a lot of admiration and respect for the visual art craft. Argo’s engine is built to scale, so integrating new game system rules gets faster and cheaper over time. We use that efficiency to fund bespoke visual experiences instead.

Yes. You are still in control. We would not have it any other way. Argo is a tool built to support you, not a game that tells you or your players what to do. Automation cuts busywork and keeps storytelling central, but you always have the final say. Change rolls, adjust outcomes, edit values, and make the call on any rule or decision. Override anything at any time. Argo follows your flow.

Argo is built as a community platform where stories and content can be shared, reused, and improved together. Creators will be able to publish and sell campaign-ready content like maps, dungeons, villages, NPCs, lore, quests, and full adventures. GMs can browse, buy, and drop content directly into their campaigns. We also plan a “GMs for hire” area. You can list yourself as a GM 'for hire', set your availability, let players book slots, and manage paid sessions in your built-in calendar.

Our desktop application includes built-in voice and video because that is how RPGs are played at the table, and generic conference tools do not fit how sessions actually run.

Argo’s video chat is built around RPG needs. The GM can create rooms and pull one or more players aside for private scenes, secrets, and one on one moments, while the rest of the group stays connected and can chat without interruption. It keeps the social table feeling intact, and makes secrecy and pacing easy to manage during the session.

We believe human creativity still reigns supreme, and we back that by investing in artists to create original artwork for Argo. At the same time, AI can help us move faster by speeding up workflows and clearing out admin and tedious tasks, so our time goes into the creative work that matters: making better decisions, refining the experience, and focusing on the hard creative problems we love tackling.

We take an experimental approach and stay open to changing our minds. Right now, Argo includes built-in LLM support for GMs to help you prep and improv faster with ideas, scenes, NPCs, hooks, and continuity, while you stay in control of tone and canon. This is completely optional, runs only when you request it, and is never on in the background. All AI-generated content will be clearly labeled with an AI tag in the marketplace. We’re also working on additional AI frameworks to help you apply your own judgment and make informed choices about what you use.

Your data is always safe, and we will not use it to train any models.

Support & Business

We want you to be able to play Argo free to play over time. At launch, you will start with a very low entry fee, and you will get 100% cashback on marketplace purchases. This helps creators publish content and gets the marketplace micro economy moving. As the ecosystem grows, the platform can run on marketplace activity instead of ongoing fees.

Another important aspect is that Argo is built to stay cheap to run as it grows. Your campaign data lives in the cloud, so your group can access it anytime, and you do not have to rely on the GM being online to host everything. Live sessions are designed to avoid heavy server costs. Multiplayer runs peer to peer, and voice and video are peer to peer too, so costs do not scale up with every extra group that plays.

Argo wants to keep creative control, it’s that simple. We have an unfolding list of features and we work towards ambitious goals with a clear vision. We also have a pretty strong view on how we want to work (see What does Argo believes in?). Crowdfunding lets us move faster while staying fully in charge of how and what we build.

In February 2026 we’re kicking off our pre-launch campaign on Backer Kit (Link), you can give us a follow right now. Be part of the conversation on Discord (link) or be an ambassador (link).

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