Kids on Bikes co-creator’s next RPG invites you to build your own haunted house
Welcome home.
A co-creator behind Kids on Bikes, Doug Levandowski, has co-designed a new tabletop roleplaying game where players build their own haunted house.
In Home, players collaborate together to create their own haunted house, one that holds a terrible secret that draws victims in and traps them. An upcoming roleplaying game, Home has players using a variety of tools – such as cards and pens – in order to form their haunted abode, with their characters exploring it as they go. Though the players are building the house, they don’t necessarily have complete control over it and may fall prey to its depths if they can’t find a way out.
A horror tabletop RPG, Home takes place in a house that is being plagued by supernatural terrors, ones that have already claimed multiple lives. The nature of the supernatural events and behaviours will be decided by the players, as well as the cards they draw from whichever Haunting Tales decks they choose to draw from. Each Haunting Tales deck will provide players with different events and storytelling elements, with examples being the Echoes of Childhood and Witch’s House.
Before their characters enter the house, the players will establish a series of details about it. Once players have brainstormed their haunted house their characters will enter it. Characters are created using a selection of archetypes inspired by a history of horror stories, with each archetype driving that player’s behaviour and their choices. For instance, the ardent believer desperately believes that the supernatural is real, whereas the rattled skeptic is on the cusp of believing but continues to cling to rational explanations
.When exploring the house in the tabletop RPG, players will take turns drawing cards from the Night Deck, each of which contains a series of questions that will determine the course of their characters’ journey through the night. Whenever a player is the Director, they will decide which questions are answered and how. As players walk through doors they’ll draw new rooms - the contents of which are taken from the Night Deck. Characters can run afoul of danger whilst exploring the house, gaining wounds along the way. Players will ultimately be looking to fulfill their character’s specific need, even at the risk of being lost within the house forever.
Besides Levandowski, Home was co-designed by Yeonsoo Julian Kim, who has previously contributed to Kids on Bikes, as well as Avatar Legends – the upcoming TRPG based on the animated series – and created their own titles such as Battle of the Boybands and Women are Werewolves. Kevin Spencer is the card and interior artist for Homes, with the cover art being created by Sarah MW Miller.
Home is set to be published by Wet Ink Games, a studio that has previously released tabletop roleplaying games such as Heckin’ Good Doggos – a game about being dogs doing dog stuff – and the horror TRPG Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall.
The Kickstarter campaign for Home is live until November 13th, with a pledge of $40 (£36) getting backers a physical copy of the game in June. Alternatively, a print-and-play version is available for a pledge of $20 (£18), which will be released in December.