Indie horror RPG bundle gathers haunted cabins, vampires next door and trans necromancers for a Halloween game night
Includes games inspired by Scooby Doo, House of Leaves and the nightmare of the NHS waitlist.
A new bundle on indie marketplace Itch.io is offering a readymade collection of horror RPGs to play this Halloween.
The TTRPG Halloween Spooktacular bundle curated by Cat Elm features 10 tabletop roleplaying games from as many indie creators, ranging from standalone RPGs - some requiring a GM, some GM-less - to tools and adventures for other games.
Elm’s own The Vampire Next Door takes inspiration from animated mystery shows Scooby Doo, Mona the Vampire and Gravity Falls as players investigate would-be bloodsuckers living next to their grandparents in rural Yorkshire. The one-shot RPG puts three of seven players in the trashed trainers of late-2000s kids as they rescue adults oblivious to the supernatural threat.
The Walls Will Swallow You sees designer Will Uhl draw from a very different influence: the unsettling psychological architecture of horror book House of Leaves. The micro-RPG has players step into a house where the very building is the thing to be feared.
Laurie O'Connel’s Lichcraft puts a satirical spin on the very real nightmares faced by trans people in the UK. Here, the players’ trans characters also happen to be necromancers - which is helpful, given the literal centuries they must wait on the NHS waiting list for transgender healthcare. Combining supernatural humour with poignant commentary, it's a Queer tabletop RPG that everyone should play.
Monkey's Paw Games’ contribution to the bundle is The Forest That Knows Your Name, an adventure for OSR RPGs such as PINKHACK that takes place in a classic horror setting: a spooky woods. The 30-page adventure provides tools for players to generate phantasmagoria and other supernatural events and encounters as they explore, as well as featuring a bestiary of mysterious inhabitants within the forest.
Speaking of forests, Bar The Windows, Bolt The Doors borrows another trope of horror movies - the cabin in the woods - as players safeguard their isolated dwelling from all manner of terrifying forces outside. They’ll need to survive the night, drawing cards to see what horrors await them in the GM-less RPG.
The other games in the Spooktacular bundle include Alicia Furness’ RPG about teen femme high-scool spellcasters, Basic Witches; sci-fi journaling game Familiar Unfamiliar; folk storytelling experience The Hunted - which combines gameplay elements from Forged In The Dark Powered By The Apocalypse and Belonging Outside Belonging - No Glimmer Through The Night, which delves into the mysterious disappearance of lighthouse keepers on an isolated island; and haunted house dungeon generator There's Ghosts In Them There Rooms.
The TTRPG Halloween Spooktacular runs until the end of October, with the ten games able to be grabbed for $20 - a saving of around 85% on their combined $138 value.