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The Gloom is now out in PDF on DrivethruRPG!
The Gloom is a role-playing game for kids (and the kid-at-heart) where you play kids on spooky adventures. The rules are simple enough for kids, but meaty enough for grown-ups to enjoy too. For ages 6 and up.
In The Gloom you play modern elementary school kids living in a small town. The town seems ordinary at first glance, but strange, inexplicable things happen there. Sightings of ghosts, monsters, and fairies, unexplained disappearances — the list goes on and on. And you’re not just an ordinary kid: Maybe you can read minds or maybe you are part werewolf, vampire, or elf.
Although most dismiss the town’s mysteries as rumor and legend, in reality it is a place where the veil between worlds is thin. Imperceptible to most, there is a whole other world overlaying our own — a world of shadow called “the Gloom” — and a secret war between the creatures of shadow and our own.
The Rules: Players make checks based on one of four Traits, which can be modified with abilities or by spending Essence. Essence is also used to active some abilities. Players can also alter their luck or even the story itself by spending Story Points.
Character Creation: Choose one of six roles such as Nerd or Weirdo, and four ancestries like Werecreature or Psychic. Later as you discover the true nature of the world and join the battle against the creatures of the Gloom and their allies, you pick your athame — a mysterious weapon that grants special abilities. You can customize your character further with gear and mystical items.
The book includes around 30 creatures, printable mystical item cards and tokens, and a sample adventure.
The Gloom is a role-playing game I made for my kids who were at the time too young to play most of the other games I had on my shelf. It is based on the same rules as Six Realms — a fantasy RPG my kids and I made together — with some tweaks here and there. They loved it, so hopefully others will too.
The Gloom is a role-playing game for kids (and the kid-at-heart) where you play kids on spooky adventures. The rules are simple enough for kids, but meaty enough for grown-ups to enjoy too. For ages 6 and up.
In The Gloom you play modern elementary school kids living in a small town. The town seems ordinary at first glance, but strange, inexplicable things happen there. Sightings of ghosts, monsters, and fairies, unexplained disappearances — the list goes on and on. And you’re not just an ordinary kid: Maybe you can read minds or maybe you are part werewolf, vampire, or elf.
Although most dismiss the town’s mysteries as rumor and legend, in reality it is a place where the veil between worlds is thin. Imperceptible to most, there is a whole other world overlaying our own — a world of shadow called “the Gloom” — and a secret war between the creatures of shadow and our own.
The Rules: Players make checks based on one of four Traits, which can be modified with abilities or by spending Essence. Essence is also used to active some abilities. Players can also alter their luck or even the story itself by spending Story Points.
Character Creation: Choose one of six roles such as Nerd or Weirdo, and four ancestries like Werecreature or Psychic. Later as you discover the true nature of the world and join the battle against the creatures of the Gloom and their allies, you pick your athame — a mysterious weapon that grants special abilities. You can customize your character further with gear and mystical items.
The book includes around 30 creatures, printable mystical item cards and tokens, and a sample adventure.
The Gloom is a role-playing game I made for my kids who were at the time too young to play most of the other games I had on my shelf. It is based on the same rules as Six Realms — a fantasy RPG my kids and I made together — with some tweaks here and there. They loved it, so hopefully others will too.
