Handiwork Games, the company behind Beowulf and a|state, is working with Morgan Davie on a funded 5e horror game that promises to be different.
There’s already a 5/5 rated free download for the game called Splinters. The Kickstarter has hit its cash target, but there’s still time to join. What’s different? FiveEvil is about subverting expectations, and this is my first interview with a skeleton. The campaign runs until November 21st.
The horror in FiveEvil is less about werewolves with gnashing teeth and jump scares and more about moody modern horror we get from writers like Stephen King or we might remember from films like The Ritual and The Descent.
However, the system does use 5e, which includes familiar stat blocks for monsters and entities. In FiveEvil, the characters are regular people, not heroes, and rather than investigate, the goal is just to survive.
The Kickstarter has met funding goals so we can expect about 200 pages, hardcover, fantastic and those appropriately warped 5e rules.
The pitch page details some of the changes (as does Clive here), but they include;
- Intensity replacing classic DC.
- Desperation replacing Inspiration.
- Personality traits used to lower Desperation.
- Descriptions as shorthands for whole NPCs.
- Advanced Ability Checks because sometimes success is impossible (or seems to be) in a horror.
- Terror Encounter rules.
- Suffering rules.
- Doom Checks.
- New rules for Getting Hurt as characters in FiveEvil don’t have many hit points.
<blockquote>The book will contain 5 scenarios: The introductory Wakefield House, which our play testers will recognise, and four additional scenarios. As well as allowing you to get into playing right away, with expertly crafted scenarios that make the very best of FiveEvil, these scenarios also show you how best to work the levers and dials within the new rules, and explore the various themes they provoke. You can customise each one for maximum replay value.</blockquote>
Backers at £16 get the PDF of FiveEvil, due out before the end of the year.
Those supporters who step up to £40 will also get the full-colour book with the good news that Handiwork offers worldwide shipping. Alternatively, four Handiwork core rules are available at a different £40 tier: FiveEvil, Beowulf, a|state and the second edition of Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland.
FiveEvil’s intensity coasters are added to the physical rewards at just a little higher up, at the £45 tier.
The softcover of Splinters, currently free to download, is added to the rewards at £59.
While the PDF for the core rules is slated for this year, the physical books aren’t expected until July 2025.
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