House of Nerdery

Incredible results for Sweden’s Free League Publishing – who are most known in this House for Tales From the Loop RPG – who launched a Kickstarter campaign for Vaesen: Nordic Horror Roleplaying and had it fully funded in 13 minutes.

Vaesen is a Gothic horror roleplaying game heavily influenced by Scandinavian folklore and mythology. It features a fictional dark Nordic setting where a new civilization is dawning, and there are only a few industrialized cities. In the countryside, the old ways of life are still maintained, and terrifying myths lurk about the landscape. Players travel to remote villages to find out the truth about the supernatural, and try to reveal the secrets of the Mythic North.

The funds raised will go towards the production of a lavishly illustrated and beautifully produced book with more than 200 pages of content, which will contain all you need to roleplay in the Mythic North: rules, setting and an introductory scenario.

The Mythic North is described as northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark, and they know to fear it.

The dark forests, deep lakes and vast mountain ranges of Scandinavia are home to a multitude of supernatural beings. They are known as the little people, the invisibles, or simply the fair folk. When someone vanishes in the woods, when the milk curdles over night, when strange noises are heard in the loft or when an unexplained ailment strikes, it is said to be the work of such entities.

Players play as characters born with the Sight – the ability to see what ordinary people cannot. You know that vaesen have lived beside humanity for untold centuries,  in an uneasy peace. You follow rumors of kittens born with two heads, streams red from blood, groves lulling children into eternal sleep, fairies dancing through villages, luring the young into the woods to be forever enthralled.

The game rules of Vaesen are based on the award-winning Year Zero Engine, also used in Tales From the Loop. 

A pledge of around $53 AUD gets you the complete Vaesen printed core rulebook, all unlocked digital stretch goals, a complete Beta PDF version of the book, in early 2020 as well as the the finished PDF of the game. Sadly, it won’t ship free here at this stage.

There’s still time to back the Kickstarter here.