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Roll dice. Build your playlist. Fight the Gloom.
Against the Gloom is a collaborative fantasy RPG for 3-5 players about the joy and power of music, chosen family, and building community in the face of the void.
What if our heroes exchanged their battle axes for Stratocasters? And what if lyrics and harmony were actual magic? Play as pirate rockstars touring across a vast and dangerous void—the Gloom—aboard a ramshackle ship propelled by the power of song. Use your favorite songs to create this world, then protect it from the Gloom, one rockin’ gig at a time. With an easy-to-learn d6 system inspired by Yahtzee, you'll harmonize dice values to succeed, earn and spend songs on a collaborative music playlist, and truly unite your band.
Against the Gloom is a facilitated tabletop role-playing game that encourages collaborative storytelling. The facilitator, your "roadie," will help move the story along and call for dice rolls, but the spotlight is on the band. Together, you'll tell stories that explore the power of art, song, and being LOUD. Imagine a community of weirdos in a dark and desperate world: what would it be like if rockers were our most needed heroes, and playing with wild abandon was the true key to salvation?
The Gloom is a sentient, fog-filled purgatory world of bleakness and despair, and there is no escape. It is alive, quite intelligent, and you don't even need to ask: it really wants to hurt you. Fortunately for you, the Gloom is vulnerable to one thing: music, especially amplified music. In the Gloom, music is a powerful kind of magic. And you know how to play because you are Gloomfarers, those brave and wild souls that venture out into the void. You sail aboard fantastic flying vessels, seeking new and powerful songs to strike back against the Gloom and keep your band moving. But as you sail on and rock out, you can feel the Gloom watching you, a twisted elder god with a hunger for misery. Scattered around this miserable realm are the Anchora, floating islands, your stops on this surrealist concert tour. And they are constantly in trouble from the Gloom. The Gloom wants to tear them down and destroy them. Only you can stop it.
So pick up a different kind of axe–or some drumsticks, or a mic–and take a stand and shine a light. Like Ghostbusters who are also Van Halen, who are also pirates.
The follow up to Scryptid Games' smash hit debut Psychic Trash Detectives, this TTRPG brings the same queer, punk ethos that you know and love. Printed 5.5" x 8.5", this stunning book includes exclusive fiction set in the game's world written by Dustin Patrick Winter, incredible art by Sarah Gavagan and musician-artist Jupiter V, and more. The game book includes:
- A set of unique character playbooks: the Thunderwell, the Soulbell, the Brightstring, the Heartkey, and more
- Guide to Against the Gloom's easy-to-learn d6 system inspired by Yahtzee — you'll "harmonize" dice values to succeed and earn and spend songs on a collaborative music playlist
- Rules for collectively imagining and building out Anchora to visit and explore as your band sails across the Gloom
- Safety tools and frameworks that support joyful, consent-based storytelling while roleplaying as messy musicians
- Gorgeous illustrations of weird musicians rocking it out in the face of despair, ennui, and self-sabotage
- Short fiction by the game's designer, Dustin Patrick Winter—also a fantasy fiction author—to set the tone and inspire you
You don't need to be a musician to play one in an RPG! Get loud, be weird, and lead on with your heart's song as Against the Gloom takes you on the wildest journeys you can imagine.
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