Die (stylized as DIE) is both a horror/fantasy comic book about role-playing games, and an interconnected tabletop role-playing game system. The comic book and role-playing game were developed simultaneously, with content from one crossing into the other, and vice versa. Both the comic book and the role-playing game were written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Stephanie Hans. Die was influenced by the portal fantasy and LitRPG literary genres.
The comic book series focuses on a group of British adults who are drawn back to an icosahedron-shaped world they originally visited as teenagers; the group left behind a friend upon their original escape and never discussed the experience. 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. The comic won the British Fantasy Award for "Best Comic / Graphic Novel" in 2020 and 2021 and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story or Comic three times.
Gillen and Hans created the role-playing game complement to the comic book with British publisher Rowan, Rook and Decard. The game was funded via Kickstarter in May 2022. The digital edition was released in November 2022 with the hardcover edition following in June 2023. The game won "Best Role-playing Game Core Product" at the 2023 Origins Awards.
A sequel, titled Die: Loaded, began in November 2025.
Creative origins Gillen has stated that the idea for Die came from a conversation with his longtime collaborator Jamie McKelvie about the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, in which a group of children are magically transported to the fantasy world of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. 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. Additionally, Gillen was inspired by Stephen King's horror novel It, and particularly the theme of adults returning to childhood experiences of horror. Die's focus on role-playing games and game mechanics was born from Gillen's own interest in role-playing games. 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." These ideas became core themes in Die.
Gillen collaborated with artist Hans during his run on Journey into Mystery, after which they began discussing a collaboration on an ongoing comic. Hans had primarily worked as a cover artist, and Die was her first ongoing comic. Gillen developed the role-playing game and the comic concurrently. Ideas developed for one then crossed over into the other. For example, the secret of the Fallen originated in the game. He stated:I actually tend to think of the comic and the game as two lenses of examining DIE. [...] It's also telling that when developing the game and writing the comic, ideas bounced between them freely. It was never me trying to adapt one to another, really. I was trying to do the idea as well as I could in two separate forms.
Comic book synopsis Volume One: Fantasy Heartbreaker Title Issue # Release date The Party 1 December 5, 2018 In 1991, Dominic Ash spends his 16th birthday playing a tabletop role-playing game with his younger sister Angela and friends Solomon “Sol”, Isabelle, Matt, and Chuck. Sol created the game for Ash and plays as the gamemaster. When the group rolls their dice for the first time, they disappear. Two years later, Ash, Angela, Isabelle, Matt, and Chuck reappear, refusing to speak about where they went or what happened to Sol. Twenty-five years later, Ash receives Sol's original 20-sided die from the night of the game and reconvenes the party to discuss what to do with it. The die activates and all five are transported to the fantasy world of Die, where Ash takes the form of a woman. Before the party can enact the ritual to return to Earth, Sol appears, refusing to let them leave. Players 2 January 9, 2019 25 years ago, the party fought and defeated the Grandmaster, the ruler of Die. The Grandmaster revived and captured Sol just as the return ritual completed, trapping him while the rest of the party returned to Earth. Sol killed the Grandmaster and took his place. Sol insists that the party 'play' and leaves. Since the return ritual requires the players to unanimously agree to go home, they must find Sol and convince him to leave as well. The party decides to hike across the dangerous Front instead of the more civilized areas they explored as teenagers, rationalizing that they “can survive anything but our past”. Dungeons 3 February 6, 2019 The party is attacked by a mechanical dragon while travelling through the Front, and Ash shelters in a trench with a unit of English soldiers. One of the soldiers asks Ash to get a message to his family before dying. A man who appears to be J. R. R. Tolkien arrives, identifying himself as the unwilling ‘Master’ of the Front. He sends the soldier's message via a giant eagle. Matt manages to kill the dragon. The party decides to head to Glass Town to recover. The eagle is shot down and the soldier's message burned. The Front is based on the World War I European front and trench warfare, and the war experiences of J. R. R. Tolkien. The Inn 4 March 6, 2019 The party arrives at Glass Town, where they are hailed as heroes called the Paragons. The Paragons learn that the way to Sol's realm involves a lengthy dungeon crawl, and decide to get Sol to come to them instead by destroying Glass Town.
Glass Town is based on the paracosm of the same name created by the Brontë siblings as children.Premise Rejection 5 April 3, 2019 The Paragons destroy Glass Town using the robot forces of Eternal Prussia. The Paragons manage to incapacitate Sol, but he refuses to let them leave, telling Ash that he made Die "all for you". Ash, seeing no alternative, kills him. Isabelle and Chuck refuse to do the return ritual. Sol revives as a Fallen, revealing that all Fallen are real people who died in Die who can properly resurrect if they kill players. The remaining Paragons realize that, to make the party unanimous to enact the return ritual, they need to kill Isabelle and Chuck.
Eternal Prussia is based on wargames and the history of the genre, particularly Kriegsspiel and its effect on the Franco-Prussian War.
Volume Two: Split the Party Title Issue # Release dateThe Grind 6 August 7, 2019 Ash, Isabelle, Angela, and Sol are trapped in Glass Town, which is now occupied by Eternal Prussia. Ash interrogates Sol on how he created Die. The party escapes Glass Town and head to Angria to meet with allies from their past. They are greeted by Augustus, Ash's son from their original visit to Die. Wisdom Check 7 September 4, 2019 Isabelle, Chuck, and the Glass Town refugees were teleported to a desert on the other side of Die. Isabelle and Chuck argue and Isabelle sets Mistress Woe on Chuck to teach him a lesson. The company is joined by the Elf Queen of the Dreaming Lands. Mistress Woe allows a Titan to sneak up on the company. Isabelle apologizes to Chuck, who kills the Titan and then has sex with the Elf Queen. They discuss wisdom and how it relates to Chuck's hedonistic attitude towards life. The next morning, the company is joined by Lord Zamorna, the deposed vampire ruler of Angria and Isabelle's former lover. Legacy Heroes 8 October 2, 2019 Ash, Angela, Matt, and Sol have taken up residence in Verdopolis, the capital of Angria. Matt and Ash discuss Augustus, who is Ash's son by Zamorna. Matt wins a battle with the Knightly Orders in exchange for their support of the Paragons against the Angrian Ruling Party. Angela finds out that Eternal Prussia is building a forge in Glass Town, though she can't tell what it's making. The Ruling Party agrees to help find Isabelle and Chuck, but are interrupted by Isabelle who confesses that the Paragons orchestrated the destruction of Glass Town. Self-Insert9November 6, 2019 The Paragons (except Chuck) are jailed in response to Isabelle's confession. Isabelle realizes the jail warden is Charlotte Brontë, who explains her past. The Brontë siblings created a fantasy world, and Charlotte and Branwell called their section Angria. Angria, Gondol, Glass Town, and characters such as Zamorna were all creations of the Brontë siblings that now exist in Die. Charlotte found a way to directly manipulate Angria. As adults, however, the worlds of Gondal and Angria began to bleed into reality. Charlotte decided that Angria was gaining too much power and needed to be destroyed. Branwell refused and was consumed by his own imagination, soon followed by Emily, Anne, and finally Charlotte. When she died, she awoke in Die as the Master of Angria. Zamorna arrives as part of Isabelle's plan to take over Angria to set up a united front against Eternal Prussia. He frees Ash and Isabelle, who convinces Ash to work with her for the sake of her son. The X-Card 10 December 4, 2019 Ash, Isabelle, and Zamorna execute their plan to take over Angria. Since Ash can only do one compulsion at a time on an unwilling subject, she convinces other Dictators to join her; however, she has to kill an enslaved Dictator who tries to stop her. She frees Augustus and enchants Zamorna to keep him under control while giving her the political power to take over Angria. Chuck breaks Angela and Matt out of prison, revealing that he is dying and needs to find a healer; they leave a content Sol behind. Ash is crowned Queen of Angria upon marrying Zamorna. Isabelle begins to question Ash's nature and intentions as Ash takes the throne.
Volume Three: The Great Game