💀 Beasts & Horrors
10 upcoming board games, TTRPGs, and card games with a supernatural or horror twist
What’s Inside: It’s Friday the 13th and we’re heading to wastelands, crypts and spooky places to find beasts and horrors amongst the Kickstarter and Gamefound pages.
1. Scorched Basin
Upcoming Page | A Mad Max/Dune-inspired system
Having just successfully funded The Wandering Tavern, it looks like HomieandTheDude are finding their rhythm with another new project. A scorched dessert basin is where you’ll begin: a perfect place to try to survive in.
System-agnostic: works with any TTRPG ruleset.
Flexible setting: run a full campaign in the Scorched Basin or drop the crash site into any world.
Comes with everything you need: tribes, weather, terrains and player options.
Not just a book: brand new languages (one using ASL as its foundation), NPC voice-overs, music & more.
2. Vampire: The Masquerade - Palermo Conspiracies
Upcoming Page | A co-op faction experience to sink your teeth into
The second in the World of Darkness series from Teburu, and successor to the hugely successful Vampire: The Masquerade - Milan Uprisin. It’s a co-op faction based experience, so if you’re familiar with Gloomhaven or Pandemic, you’ll feel right at home. If you’ve never used Teburu, it brings together the physical and digital. Each game has a unique board that’s played played on top of Teburu, with the supporting app handling the rules and storytelling. It’s very neat and makes for accessible play sessions, without the need to know the game instructions inside out.
3. Erebus Mythos: Vampyr - A Folk Horror Shadowdark Adventure
Upcoming Page | Greek horrors await in Corinthia
We all know Lovecraftian and Nordic folklore, but Greek horror folklore? That feels a rarity, and the folks at Story Mode want to change that.
A TTRPG Based on the Shadowdark system (quick-playing, rules-light system).
Rooted in Greek folklore, inspired by real-life Corinthian events from 1846.
Explores the Vrykolakas, the vampire of Greek folklore.
Investigate strange happenings and use a branching narrative designed to test your morality.
With a team based in Athens and some stunning accompanying art, definitely one to watch.
4. Exclusion Zone Botanist: Epsilon
Upcoming Page | The hex crawl heads back to the exclusion zone
The original Exclusion Zone: Botanist is incredible. It’s a solo drawing and exploration game inspired by The Colour Out of Space and Annihilation, where you play as a botanist exploring the flora of an exclusion zone. It launched with a neat trailer two years ago and its PDF is available here. The standalone successor, Epsilon, is heading back to KickStarter with a brand new setting, rules, story and systems. This time you’re exploring the Western Exclusion Zone.
5. Shred of Redemption
Upcoming Page | Bag building and dice rolling brings redemption
Gabe-Barret, the founder of Best With 1 Games and the Board Game Design Lab has a solid track record delivering well-backed polished campaigns. Shred of Redemption goes the same way, and is another bag builder. This time, you’re a corrupt medieval noble who’s wanting to make amends for a life full of violence and betrayal. Early imagery looks promising, and I’m a sucker for a bag builder.
6. Tales from the Winter Veil
Upcoming Page | A chilling anthology
Michael TaylorLyfe has two successful Kickstarter projects under their belt. Scum Among Us: A Goblins Guide to Murder and Mischief and Chaotic Chronicles Presents: One-Page One-Shots Vol 1 were funded in a heartbeat earlier this year. Their latest offering is a little different. Low prep, unique adventure tones and short-form adventures set against the tundra. Plenty of scope for spooky campaigns among the frozen wastes.
7. Dying Hard on Hardlight Station: Anthology Edition
Upcoming Page | Return to the horrors
The original Dying Hard hit Kickstarter back in 2021 and was fully funded in minutes. Four years later we’re heading back to Hardlight Station with an Anthology Edition that’s much more than just a reprint.
Over 160+ pages with all new interconnected adventures and graphical upgrades
Expanded lore and appendices filled with bonus content
Over a dozen, fully keyed station locations, packed with NPCs, secrets, rumours, and gear.
Whether you’re returning, or missed out the first time around, it’s a good opportunity to return to the grim orbital outpost.
8. Harrowshade
Upcoming Page | Decaying towns and twisted encounters
Heltung Storytelling has created 6 previous Kickstarter campaigns inspired by MÖRK BORG. Their latest, Harrowshade, is a 60+ page physical print edition from from UnitSix, creator of A Damned Hermit’s Grimoire and A Dark Tide. Primarily designed for solo play but adaptable for GMs and small campaigns, UnitSix promises a weird and grim world brimming with stunning creature designs, if their previous campaigns are anything to go by.
9. The Coil
Upcoming Page | Lead a nation of uniquely twisted creatures
Developed by a small group of Tokyo-based game makers, The Coil will be their fourth Kickstarter project. With art provided by the incredibly talented Eisuke Gou, The Coil sees players take on the role of one of 5 nations as they battle for surpremacy. With troops represented by dice, and cards determining tactics, it should be a good mix of strategy and subterfuge, especially considering all scores will be hidden until the end of the game.
10. Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying
Upcoming Page | Explore a world beyond death
The original Danse Macabre, Prima Mors, is available now for $15.00 as a PDF and offers players a 64 page book where you play a Pilgrim sentenced to traverse the wilderness in pursuit of quintessence - the sole remedy against the curse of undeath. Medieval Horror is the new offering, where players reprise the role of a Pilgrim.
OSR based (these games often have fewer rules, are more streamlined and typically focus on dungeon crawling, combat, and exploring dangerous environments.
Illustrated by the brilliant Christopher Pickett
If you love Berserk, Castlevania, Between Two Fires, or Kim Eun-hee’s Kingdom, you’ll love this.
