At Gen Con this year, R. Talsorian Games will launch a new RPG and IP with the Shadow Scar Starter Set. The box will be available from Booth #249.
There’s already a free-to-download sample thanks to the Free RPG Day offering of Shadow Scar – Eyes in the Darkness.
While the Starter Set, which is a box set, will launch at Gen Con the upcoming Core Rulebook hits for PAX Unplugged 2024.
The Shadow Scar was created by Cody Ponsmith, son of Mike Pondsmith and is a game he has been working on for years. The TTRPG draws from anime and computer games.
What’s in The Shadow Scar Starter Set
- One booklet of lore on the worlds and factions of Shadow Scar.
- One booklet with essential rules to play right out of the box.
- One booklet containing the 50-page Mask of the Green Demon adventure.
- Six customisable characters.
- A set of Shadow Scar-themed dice
- Maps and tokens to help bring the world of Shadow Scar to life!
Eons past, a divine war ravaged the countless realms of the Mosaic, unleashing monstrous yokai into the myriad dimensions. These creatures lurked in the shadows, preying on unsuspecting inhabitants. To combat this menacing threat, the Shadow Scar Agency was born. A clandestine organization of skilled agents, honed in the ancient arts of Ninjutsu, they traverse the multiverse to hunt down the yokai and thwart their sinister schemes.
A digital edition is also expected via DriveThruRPG.
Eyes in the Darkness, which you can get today, also has a free Syrinscape soundset.
The Beginnings of the Veil War
R. Talsorian Games has revealed some more of the lore of the setting.
Once there was a world called Nakatsukuni, a peaceful land created by the Kotoamatsukami, the First Great Spirits of the Land.
This lush paradise was home not only to humans but to magical spirits called Kami as well as fantastical creatures called Yokai. But as it so often does, tragedy came to Nakatsukuni. The Great Mother Spirit Izanami perished giving birth to the Spirit of Fire. Blinded by grief, Izanami’s husband, Izanagi, traveled to Yomi No Kuni, the Afterlife, to retrieve her spirit – but he was too late.
Izanami had already been claimed by the Afterlife and she could only return with the permission of the Ruler of the Dead. But the Ruler of the Dead had other plans. They deceived Izanagi and corrupted Izanami, transforming her into a monstrous shadow of her former self. Izanami swore that she would return one day to destroy all that lived and unfortunately she made good on her promise millennia later.
The next century was one of near constant war in which the forces of life itself fought against the corrupt power of the Afterlife. Millions died and Nakatsukuni was nearly destroyed. In the end, the Kami resorted to their riskiest scheme: to wound Izanami and banish her into the void. And so, in the midst of the Final Siege of Kyoto, Izanagi battled his fallen wife for the last time and cast her into the void through a Shadow Scar.
Now, we come to present day, and the unfortunate circumstances of that banishment. As she was banished, Izanami and all of her minions were scattered throughout the Mosiac, a web of worlds interconnected by an unknown force.
To combat the consequences of their plan, the Kami created the Shadow Scar Agency from the Six Great Clans of Shadow to deploy across the Mosiac and bring an end to the Yokai threat. This is the Veil War, and it rages still today. And this is where you come in…
Quick Links
- The Shadow Scar landing page.
- Eyes in the Darkness: free at DriveThruRPG.
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