Here's A Preview of Robin Laws' Reality-Bending THE YELLOW KING RPG

Robin D. Laws - creator of the GUMSHOE game system - has created a new game called The Yellow King Roleplaying Game, inspired by the short stories of Robert W. Chambers. Publisher Pegrane Press describessays that the game "pits the characters against the reality-altering horror of The King in Yellow. This suppressed play, once read, invites madness. Or a visit from its titular character, an alien ruler intent on invading and remolding our world into a colony of their planet, Carcosa." They've very kindly sent along a 13-page PDF preview of the game, containing the introduction, and some of one of the game's four settings, Belle Époque Paris.

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The four settings included in The Yellow King are:

• Belle Epoque Paris, where a printed version of the dread play is first published. Players portray American art students in its absinthe-soaked world, navigating the Parisian demimonde and investigating mysteries involving gargoyles, vampires, and decadent alien royalty. (Includes the core rules.)
• The Wars, an alternate reality in which the players take on the role of soldiers bogged down in the great European conflict of 1947. While trying to stay alive on an eerie, shifting battlefield, they investigate supernatural mysteries generated by the occult machinations of the Yellow King and his rebellious daughters.
• Aftermath, set later in the same reality, in 2017 North America. A bloody insurrection has toppled a dictatorial regime loyal to Carcosa. Players become former partisans adjusting to ordinary life, trying to build a just society from the ashes of civil war. But not all of the monsters have been thoroughly banished—and like it or not, they’re the ones with the skills to hunt them and finish them off.
• This is Normal Now. In the 2017 we know, albeit one subtly permeated by supernatural beings and maddening reality shifts, ordinary people band together, slowly realizing that they are the key to ending a menace spanning eras and realities.

It's a GUMSHOE game, with some new features -- there's a new combat system, a new approach to physical and psychic wounds, and a way to link characters across settings.

The Yellow King launched on Kickstarter yesterday, and it has already funded. Download the 13-page preview here.

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[Thunder_Cats_HO!]

Hum, this looks pretty interesting.. I'll be keeping an eye on it for sure..

 

[Jhaelen]

Interesting.
I wonder how different this is from 'Trail of Cthulhu', though.

 

[Arilyn]

Interesting.
I wonder how different this is from 'Trail of Cthulhu', though.

Been streamlined. Combat is one roll and narrative built around that. Injury handled with a consequence system similar to Fate and very much what he did for Cthulu Confidential. It is a tweaking of Gumshoe. I think the important aspect of this system is the background and campaign.