Nowhereville is a horror RPG inspired by Stephen King novels and Twin Peaks

Attempt to escape a small town that traps its inhabitants in Nowhereville, an upcoming roleplaying game with some key horror influences.

Inspired by the likes of Twin Peaks - a classic television show about an unsolved crime in a strange town directed by David Lynch - the X-Files, a cult sci-fi series about two agents investigating the extra-terrestrial and paranormal, and the early works of famous horror book author Stephen King, Nowhereville strands players in an unnerving environment that they must try to break free from. A horror tabletop RPG, Nowhereville will see players encountering monsters and stopping dreadful plots in the hopes of one day leaving the terrible town they find themselves in.

Players will have six different archetypes to choose from when creating their character in the roleplaying game, with each one providing a variety of supernatural abilities - such as the Returned, an archetype of a character that previously left Nowhereville but has since come back with a fresh perspective. Characters have four main traits that determine how accomplished they are at performing different types of actions. Players use their character’s body, mind, charm and heart throughout the game, rolling a number of dice equal to the associated trait. If the player’s roll manages to beat the game master’s target number - which will be between four and six - then they are successful in performing their action.

Whenever players use their traits, regardless of the outcome, they’ll acquire a point in one of three potential areas: skill, spirit or sway. Players can spend their skill points to improve their character, whereas spirit can enable the player to gain an advantage within the game itself. A character’s level of sway signifies how far they’ve managed to break free from the influence of Nowhereville. Should a player character get enough sway, they may be able to gain their freedom.

The RPG comes with a set of tools to help the GM run a session of Nowhereville, including a complete overview of the town map and the various organisations, non-player characters, monsters and hidden secrets found therein. It also comes with advice for the GM and guidelines for ensuring that players are comfortable during their experience of the game.

Nowhereville was created by Craig Campbell, the designer responsible for several tabletop roleplaying games such as Low Stakes - an RPG inspired by the comedy series and film What We Do in the Shadows, that was released earlier this year - and the owner of the publishing studio Nerdburger Games.

The Kickstarter for Nowhereville is live until June 4th, with a pledge of $20 (£15) giving backers access to a PDF of the completed RPG in October.