Ubique Publication’s Welcome to Grimsbury: Player’s Guide is 60 pages of folk horror, rated 4.5/5 and entirely free from DriveThruRPG.
The game uses the Year Zero Engine, as developed by Free League Publishing and author Chris Chaudruc describes it;
Welcome to Grimsbury is a TTRPG of English folk horror, occult activity, errant scientific experiments and otherworldly encounters centered around the fictional English region of Grimsbury. Players take the roles of visitors to Grimsbury and its environs, investigating, adventuring and working to survive the forces arrayed against them.
Fans of The Wicker Man, Dr. Who, Children of the Stones and Folk Horror Hauntology will feel right at home in Grimsbury. It might be the Go-Go 60’s in “Swinging London” but out in Grimsbury things are odder, more sinister and the mystery is waiting to be discovered.
There’s a deluxe version coming next year, but for now, the freebie has character generation rules, including five character archetypes, over a dozen skills and nearly two dozen talents.
The download has rules and mechanics for resolution, combat and magic. There’s an overview of the English town of Grimsbury.
The deluxe version will add twice as many archetypes, such as the Summoner and Antiquities Dealer, new skills and talents, more magick, new locations and NPCs.
The system uses dice pools with difficulties and bonus or penalty dice.
Grimsbury is a town built in an ancient region with rivers, hills, forests and limestone caves. It was settled by nomadic hunters over a thousand years ago and left many mysterious monuments and artefacts. After the second world war, the area converted to civilian production and a nuclear power plant was built in the mid-1950s.
In the game, the mines up north still send coal down the river, and the new scientists and engineers in the town are finding the dialect and customs difficult to understand. For the NPCs players might encounter, the region’s old ways are still the best, and real change will not be easy.
Quick Links
- Download Welcome to Grimsbury: Player’s Guide
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