Our first playtest files for upcoming Lovecraft Country card-based Playset 🎞️ are available now in the Tidal Secrets ⚓️ in our Booklet Storyset 📖 format. Just ‘Print-N-Fold’!
- Dive into the abyss of Tidal Secrets ⚓️ where ancient tales meld with the ocean’s roar, guiding the curious and ensnaring the unwary. A two-booklet Storyset 📖 with five Story Elements 📖, and our first playtest files for Lovecraft Country.
- Setting Lovecraft Country 🏘️: Venture through a land haunted by its own myths. Here, every wind whispers an old tale, every creak could be a beckoning from the deep.
- Setting Innsmouth 🏘️: Etched by time and tides, this quaint seafaring village echoes with the breath of the sea. Tradition seeps through its winding cobblestone streets, aged houses, and salt-encrusted boats, crafting a rhythm of life as enduring as the sea’s tides.
- Theme Family of Origin 💢: Dive deep into the heart of relationships, where every shared memory might be a treasure and every secret, a potential tempest.
- Genre Beats Generations 🥁: Embark on an odyssey through time, witnessing the rise and ebb of a family's legacy. But be wary, for every era brings its own trials.
- Faction: Kin of the Deep 🫂: Engage with the veiled guardians of the abyss. Some seek to preserve age-old rituals, some long for transformation, while others guard their secrets with a fierce determination.
My intention with this Storyset 📖 is to give you a taste of the direction I'm taking with the upcoming version of the Lovecraft Country: ‘A Study in Madness’ Playset 🎞️. Drawing inspiration from Lovecraft's "The Shadow over Innsmouth," you can either recreate the original short story or diverge significantly from it.
With the Innsmouth 🏘️ Setting, I aimed to make it adaptable to a broader range of stories, which could be set years before or long after the tragedy associated with the Innsmouth Look. Similarly, the Kin of the Deep 🫂 Faction can be approached traditionally but can also accommodate a distinct narrative where you empathize with a unique oppressed culture and its people.
While you can craft an Innsmouth narrative using the classic Plot-Focused Story 🥁 Beats (from the Core Rules ꩜ Booklet), I wanted to provide an alternative with a different style of story pacing—the expansive "family saga" of Generations 🥁 Beats. I've yet to explore it, but the Inner Calling 🥁 Beats (also from the Core Rules ꩜ Booklet) told the perspective of a Kin of the Deep's transformation could be captivating. Given the family ties in both, I've incorporated the Family of Origin 💢 Theme from the Improv Playset 🎞️, which I believe adds a unique spin to both Family stories and Innsmouth tales.
This segues into a brief discussion of one of the primary challenges with a Lovecraft Country Playset 🎞️. Crafting horror stories in TTRPGs has always been a complex endeavor. The issues of player consent in horror, especially in a GM-less cooperative game, combined with taking inspiration from a notably racist and misogynistic Lovecraft, make it even more challenging. With just these few cards, my objective is to encourage storytellers to view these issues from a fresh perspective. I eagerly await your feedback on whether I've succeeded, and constructive feedback if I can do better.
-- Christopher Allen