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Message: <blockquote data-quote="robowieland" data-source="post: 9753307" data-attributes="member: 7026452">[ATTACH=full]418045[/ATTACH]We are surrounded by darkness. Our world is a beacon of light in a void. Our stories reflect our fears and desires reflected back on us as monsters. Ex Tenebris, the latest game from Black Armada <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blackarmada/ex-tenebris" target="_blank">currently on Kickstarte</a>r, aims to take gothic, mythic space mysteries in a whole new direction. We spoke with the creator in advance of the Kickstarter running from September 9th through October 9th, 2025.“Ex Tenebris brings together two passions of mine: supernatural investigation and epic dark space stories,” said Josh Fox, creator of Ex Tenebris. “I'd been working on this mystery/investigation system for many years - I've got many more games to create with it - but this setting was just calling to me. I've channelled my love of science fiction universes like Alien, Dune, Warhammer 40k, Ninefox Gambit and Gideon the Ninth to develop a rich, exciting gothic setting, built with loads of juicy mystery scenarios. And, I've taken my years of experience running and designing investigative games and emergent mystery games, to create a set of rules that really does the genre justice.”Space horror has been a popular genre on tabletop as of late thanks to games like Alien, Mothership, Coriolis and more. Gaming stalwarts like Warhammer 40,000 have gotten a tighter hold on pop culture. It’s a fertile ground for dark places, isolation and the thought that there’s something more to our universe than the rules we’ve figured out for ourselves.[ATTACH=full]416826[/ATTACH]“I wanted horror in space,” said Fox, “and for me the future and space go hand in hand. I love present-day/near-future space stories, especially space horror stories, but they tend to be limited in scope by our limited exploration of space. Here I wanted something that would open up a more epic scope, with stories unfolding across the vastness of the stars. Mysteries that are found in dark isolated space stations, of course, but also those that lurk beneath the glittering spires of hive cities or jungle-covered planets. Horrors combine the supernatural with technology, with sorcery and dark science being two sides of the same coin. Think: out of control AIs and ancient war machines alongside blood cults and forgotten gods of torment.These sorts of stories tend to start dark and get grim. Ex Tenebris does have a dark future, but the players are cast in the roles of investigators trying to solve these strange mysteries in space. They have something worth fighting for whether its people, places or ideals back home.“I would actually say the universe is a mix of light and dark,” said Fox. “The universe is filled with frightening supernatural threats, and equally horrifying mundane threats - rapacious plutocrats, scheming politicians, bloodthirsty mobs, and so on. Yet the core of the setting, the Republic Of Stars, is created to be a place of hope, a place where democracy, freedom and tolerance are beloved and protected. That's because I wanted it to feel like a world under siege from dark forces, but also a world that was worth protecting from those forces.”Character archetypes mix the mystical with the mundane and the futuristic. Out on the frontier, they are the closest thing to family anyone has, so it’s important for them to put aside squabbles for the greater good. Where it’s shadowy spells or a trusty future firearm, it will take all kinds of things to hunt down the demons causing trouble in the universe.“You've got skills-expert characters like the Tarnished Badge,” said Fox, “an ex-cop who can call in favours to get things done - their power called "long arm" has you using resources and pulling favours to  lock down a city block to trap a demon, or commandeering a police unit to smash a blood cult. You have sorcerous characters like the Thanaturge, who can physically enter the Tenebrium, the shadowy other-realm that is home to demons and ghosts, and hunt for clues. And you have technological characters like the Relic, an ancient war machine armed with super-senses, and traumatic memories of their time as a living weapon - which they can draw on to discover past secrets.”Fox calls the system for mysteries Spawned By Tenebrium which he first used in his previous design, Lovecrafteque. It takes cues from games like Brindlewood Bay where the path of the mystery isn’t pre-determined. The clues light the way and dice rolls determine if the players are on track or if the Game Master gets to add some delicious twists.“The first big change is that the game asks both the GM and the players to create a theory as to what's going on in the mystery,” said Fox. “When the players roll the dice, on a good roll the GM will lean into the players' ideas and hand them clues that tend to confirm what they were thinking. On a bad roll the GM presents clues that support their own theory. Both GM and players update their theories as they go. This is a mechanic taken from Lovecraftesque,  it helps guide and shape the mystery so that it feels solid and coherent, even though by the end the answer will likely surprise both the players and the GM. The second change to mention is that I've broadened the information economy - what I mean by that is, instead of just having clues as you do in a lot of Brindlewood-style games, in Spawned by the Tenebrium you have clues and leads. Clues are your weird stuff: a spooky ectoplasmic residue, a mutilated ritual doll. Leads are mundane stuff that you can link to the clues, like a rivalry between two NPCs, or CCTV footage showing a particular person's car parked near a crime scene. The leads create a trail to follow that you don't get when you just have weird clues, the combination of clues and leads is what makes the mystery so satisfying. You want a mix of both in the game. The players then combine them to make their theory: the clues hint at what weird thing is happening here, and the leads help you work out why it is happening and who is responsible.”</blockquote>

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