Dark RPGs and Board Games For Your Tortured Soul
Do you want to pick an RPG for that specific vibe? Is that vibe just a little bit spooky and tortured? These may be the goth games for you.
Are you a little odd and spooky? Is black your color? Did you ever get sent home early from day-camp and had a councilor tell your parents that you’re a ‘cold prickly’ and not a ‘warm fuzzy?’ Do you just enjoy basking in the goth aesthetic from time to time? Or do you just live in a city that all of the spooky kids like to visit? Whatever you reason, there are some tabletop RPGs out there that will speak directly to that mood for this spooky, spooky season.
1. Call of Cthulhu
Mystery, horror, and a little adventure. This game is one of the classics. There are a whole bunch of games you could play if you’re looking for that specific Lovecraftian vibe, but Call of Cthulhu is the original.
“Players take on the role of investigators of mysteries, uncovering dark secrets, encountering strange monsters, and thwarting sinister cults.
Together, you and your friends create and develop a story in which each of your characters plays a leading role, which could be foiling some dastardly plot or stopping horrors from beyond space and time! Roleplaying gaming is a social pastime.”
2. Leagues of Gothic Horror
Leagues of Gothic Horror is the offshoot of Leagues of Adventure that has to do with everything…. you guessed it. You know the schtick. Monsters, tomes, occult relics, and nightmare locations are all part of this book, along with everything your DM will need to turn your regular weekly game into a nightmare. But like a fun nightmare? A funmare.
3. Vasen
Vaesen is a game that wants you to explore the cold, dark wilderness of the Nordic forests. Only, while in real life the monsters living in that forest are only probably real, within Vaesen they are definitely real. The world of 1800 is quickly growing and evolving, but that doesn’t change the people in these small villages know about what goes bump in the night. And you’ll need to go see which myths are real for yourself.
4. Blades in the Dark
Blades in the Dark is a game that looked at D&D and thought, “That’s cool, but what if we went in a hard ‘oops all rogues’ direction? And they did, and it was great.
“Blades in the dark is a tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. There are heists, chases, occult mysteries, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, and, above all, riches to be had — if you’re bold enough to seize them. You and your fledgling crew must thrive amidst the threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, Vengeful ghosts, the bluecoats of the city watch, and the siren song of your scoundrel’s own vices. Will you rise to power in the criminal underworld? what are you willing to do to get to the top?”
5. Vampire the Masquerade
I think it may actually be illegal for me not to mention Vampire: The Masquerade in a list of goth-adjacent-games. A little politics, a little horror, a little just being a messy bitch for the drama of it all.
“You are a vampire, struggling for survival, supremacy, and your own fading humanity—afraid of what you are capable of, and fearful of the inhuman conspiracies that surround you. As a vampire, you suffer the pangs of the Hunger, the relentless and terrible thirst for human blood. If you refuse to deal with it, it will overcome your mind and drive you to terrible acts to slake it. You walk this razor’s edge every night.”
Oh hey! BoLS might make a little dolla-dolla if you decide to buy these items. We need that money to buy raw meat to feed to our carnivorous plant from outer space. If we don’t feed him, he’ll turn on us.
