#ttrpg spotlight

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RPG Spotlight - Vaesen

In addition to writing the Strange Times RPG, Gavin also writes for a local newsletter! Once a month, he showcases a non-dnd ttrpg. This month, it's Vaesen, a game where players are part of a secret society that protects society from the creatures of Nordic folklore.

"These spotlights are not reviews. I don't aim to criticize games here, but rather showcase what I liked about them, what design choices I feel worked, and what makes them special."

See the full spotlight under the read more!

For millennia, you have been an ally to the court of man. When they had nowhere to rest, you offered them the shelter of your forest. When they needed food, you provided rich and plentiful harvest. When they were dying from illness, you gave remedies and cures. But that was long ago. Offerings no longer appear under your nest. The effigies of your likeness, once worshipped, are now being taken down. Most don’t even possess the sight needed to see your greatness. The humans have moved on to their new gods of “science” and “technology.” Abominations of iron and smoke destroy the very forest you reside in—the forest you once shared out of the kindness of your heart. They have forgotten your generosity. Now they will learn your wrath.

This is the experience of the vaesen. Monsters and myths of folklore that once were a cornerstone in the culture of civilizations, now relegated to examples of the ill-informed traditions of the past. But what if they are more than just legends? What if fairies, trolls, and centaurs all exist? And what if we have angered them by no longer believing in them? These are the questions asked and answered by Vaesen, an investigative horror RPG about these titular creatures and those who protect society from their malicious presence.

Vaesen takes place in Sweden during the turn of the 20th century. This new era of technology has pushed the spirits of the forest to their breaking point, and they are beginning to lash out against the progressive society. Players will take on the role of members of a secret society sworn to protect the unsuspecting public from the invisible vaesen. Oh, I forgot to mention that; most people can’t even see the monsters trying to kill them. That is why every player character has “the sight:” an ability that lets them see and interact with vaesen. While this might seem like a small detail, this is what makes the game so unique. Anyone in Call of Cthulhu can see the Shaggoth at the end of the hall and know to run, but, in Vaesen, most people aren’t even aware of the elf standing with a knife in the corner. If there is a reason to play Vaesen, it is for this constant and suspenseful dramatic irony. I won’t be saying it enough throughout the review, so let me say it now; Vaesen makes fairytales scary again.

This is exactly what you want out of a game setting. A backdrop with an interesting premise, a reason for the players to engage with that premise, and a reason why it must be the players and no one else. There is no question why the players are engaging with the story and hunting vaesen; it is literally their job description. This is what allows players to dive into the cycle of play: players will be notified of a weird thing happening nearby, they will travel to that location to solve the mystery, and then they will head back home to recoup before the next adventure. This is a perfect “monster of the week” system (as in the genre, not the game Monster of the Week). Each session will bring with it a new mystery and a new puzzle to solve. So, what mechanics back up this play cycle?

Vaesen is created by the company Free League, and if you know anything about Free League, then you know that this game uses the Mutant Year Zero engine. This is the system used by, you guessed it, Mutant Year Zero. The basics of the MYZ system is that players have stats that communicate how many d6s they will roll for certain tasks. Let’s a say a character is trying to escape from a troll but runs into a locked door. The character tries to break the door to escape, so the player needs to roll Force which is connected to Physique. The characters Force Skill is 2 and their Physique Attribute is 3 so they will roll 5 dice, and as long as any dice rolls a 6, they succeed at their task.

And that is it! Players pool dice based on their stats and roll for 6s. There are a few things I really like about this. First, it is almost indecently satisfying to roll big handfuls of d6s (there is a reason every wizard takes fireball). There is just a feeling of power when you are rolling your best stat. Second, the dice communicate an immediate result. There aren’t any modifiers or math needed; either you rolled a 6 or you didn’t. I think this is really nice in all games, but I think it is particularly important for horror games such as Vaesen where you want dice rolling to be suspenseful and the payoff to be immediate. Finally, I love how easy it is to modify difficulty. Is a player doing something that is rather difficult? The GM just strips away a few of their precious d6s from their pool. Did the player prepare for this roll ahead of time? The GM gives them a couple extra dice as a reward. The game just flows.

However, this is not the end-all-be-all of MYZ. A major part of the system is how characters tend to get worse over the course of play. If a player decides that they want to reroll a skill check or if they fail at a particularly dangerous time, then the character receives a condition. Conditions are debuffs that subtract 1 die from associated checks. This means character evolve over the course of play. A character might start a session with an incredible gift of gab, but end it angry, frightened, and hopeless—conditions which make them just unpleasant to be around. This system is an incredibly elegant way to model the exhaustion the characters accumulate, but it also encourages players to equally participate in skill checks.

A big pet-peeve of mine at RPG tables is when I ask for a player to make a dice roll only for someone else to chime in with “Wait! Do you have the highest stat in that skill? Shouldn’t person X do that instead?” I understand why this happens. Winning is desirable, players associate succeeding checks with winning, thus players optimize rolls. However, this is undeniably meta-gaming. It detracts from the story as there is little incentive for players to step outside of whatever their highest numbers are. This is still present in Vaesen, but the game adds in a little nuance that makes the calculations more muddy. Since characters can get worse by failing checks and pushing rolls, who has the best investigation skill might change as the game goes on, encouraging others to participate when they normally wouldn’t.

I really enjoy this system, but just like when we had our Call of Cthulhu spotlight, I don’t actually think this is the most important part of the game. Investigation games usually treat the system as a side dish and let the intrigue of the story be the main course. While this is fantastic for GMs that want to run pre-written and vetted modules, this is extremely intimidating for those of us wanting to make our own content. A good GM can bluff their way through a bad story of Savage Worlds or Mork Borg, but fixing a bad mystery at the table is near impossible. GMs need to plan something engaging, logical, and solvable and I would argue that this is the biggest hurdle people face when trying out these investigative games—where do you even start with writing for them?

Thankfully, Vaesen has you covered. This book has one of the BEST guides for prepping a mystery I have ever seen in an RPG. From the moment the players learn about the weird thing happening in the woods to the confrontation with the monster behind it, Vaesen holds the reader’s hand and demonstrates that anyone can write a really good mystery just by following a few tried and true steps. One thing I especially appreciate is how it differentiates between vital clues, which should always be found without a dice roll, and peripheral clues, which need a dice roll but will only provide extra context and aren’t necessary. This is something even experienced writers sometimes get wrong, so it is great to see it spelt out here for those new to the genre. Even if you don’t plan on running Vaesen but do want to run a mystery game, it is worth checking out Vaesen’s prepping section.

Of course, “investigative” is only half of “investigative horror” and Vaesen has horror in spades. Some people forget that fairy tales were originally frightening stories used to keep children from misbehaving. “Don’t be messin’ with farmer Bjur’s horses, else the Nisse will come after ya’.” Vaesen takes the Disney-ified creatures of folklore and returns them to their rightful place as mischievous, murderous nightmares. It won’t take long for players to shudder at the thought of a swarm of fairies or, God forbid, a mermaid. The book has over 20 vaesen, each with a 2-page spread covering why they should be feared and, more importantly, why they can’t be fought. Players will need to find clever ways to get rid of these monsters; all weapons will do is provide false comfort to their wielders.

Now, if all Vaesen offered was its sleek and dynamic dice system with a terrific section on how to plan engaging sessions, I would consider it worth your time. However, Vaesen has one more trick up its sleeve. Remember way back in the beginning when I mentioned that player characters are members of a secret society? Well, that membership card comes with perks, one of which is a giant castle for the characters to live in. A castle players get to upgrade by roleplaying well and solving mysteries. Here are all the reasons why this is so much fun. First, players love upgrades. The problem with most games is that upgrades are private and thus players don’t get to share the experience. At best, levelling sessions consist of players shouting at each other to try and get the others to care about their character’s new “+2 to bird watching” as much as they do. But when levelling sessions contain communal upgrades, all of a sudden it becomes a discussion about what the group needs. What the group cares about. That is just so much more interesting for all parties involved.

The second reason this castle rocks is a little more abstract. I love it when characters get to argue and bicker and fight with one another. However, in most games, I can’t have that happen without pausing the game to figure out why they would still work together afterwards. Vaesen answers this question handily: they are roommates! No matter what happens on a mission, they still have to come back to the same place and eat dinner in the same room and you know it is going to be awkward. No matter how much the characters hate each other, the job needs to get done and it isn’t like they can find a replacement on short notice. These characters are stuck together no matter what, and that means there is a lot of freedom in how players define their relationships.

Finally, I love how the game encourages players to have scenes in their castle. Basically, after every horrifying mystery that ramps up the drama and tension in the game, there is a B-plot episode that resets everyone back to their starting places and acts as the game’s metanarrative. Every encounter with a vaesen is expected to be largely self-contained, so these “beach episodes” in the mansion are really the only throughline, and the game offers some great ideas as to what conflicts could be impacting the character’s home life. Here are some suggestions the book gives for who could knock on the front door at any time:

Bank clerk who comes to collect an old debt connected to the castle’s previous owner.

Criminal friend or relative in search of help.

A vaesen posing as a child.

These are all fantastic ideas that really help break up the game and prevent it from feeling like an endless cycle of individual mysteries. These home scenarios give the characters opportunities to show a different side of themselves. Sure, we know Johan is the best tracker in Sweden and can kill a bear with their hands, but what will they do when their mother insists she comes to visit? It is just such a fun system.

So that is Vaesen. Players will go out to solve mysteries and find ways of banishing vaesen before returning home to deal with their own lives and start the process over again. It has a system that sings, some of the best GM advice for running mysteries out there, and unique concepts that help make the game more than the sum of its parts. Normally, I try and tie these things together with a grand point about RPGs as a whole, but sometimes the game is just good. “Scary fairy tales” is an excellent premise and Vaesen executes it flawlessly. I can’t really say anything more than that. If you are looking for a good game for this year’s Halloween season, you will be in very safe hands with Vaesen. Just… make sure to count the fingers on those hands…

[strangetimesrpg]

RPG Spotlight - Blades in the Dark

In addition to writing the Strange Times RPG, Gavin also writes for a local newsletter! Once a month, he showcases a non-dnd ttrpg. From the archives (June 2025), we have Blades in the Dark. You probably know it, you might love it, this game sees players embodying crooks and criminals in the gothic city of Duskvol.

"These spotlights are not reviews. I don't aim to criticize games here, but rather showcase what I liked about them, what design choices I feel worked, and what makes them special."

See the full spotlight under the read more!

I want a redo. This time last year, I published a review of Blades in the Dark to a whopping 15 people and it was bad. Not only was it my first review before I really understood what I was doing (at least to whatever extent I understand it now), but I wrote it in 4 days as a last-minute substitution.  I look back on that Blades spotlight and cringe; it was rushed, poorly written, and my arguments did not convey my feelings. D+ work at best. However, I don’t blame myself. With a year’s worth of experience under my belt, I still find it difficult to adequately articulate all of the things that make Blades such an amazing system within a reasonable word count (or what I consider to be a reasonable word count). But I think I am approaching this thing all wrong. Blades is a game about thieves, right? So rather than try and explain the system like I normally do, I am just going to tell you all of the rules I think more people should be stealing from this book. Most systems are lucky to have one system worth taking, Blades has a dozen, so let’s get into it.  

Clocks

Clocks are timers counting up to an event happening. They are usually either 4, 6, or 8 segments, and once all segments are filled, the thing occurs. Let’s look at an example that uses a positive and negative clock. Maybe the players are trying to escape a crumbling necropolis before the doors are sealed shut. Did the players succeed at jumping over a destroyed bridge? Add a segment to the “Escape” clock. Did a player fumble sneaking past the wandering ghosts? Add two segments to the “Locked In” clock. Any roll can contribute to either clock depending on the result, and, since clocks are made public, there is a visible threat/reward the players are aware of. They know the consequences of rolls, which makes the dice all the more thrilling. It is also a perfect way of modelling otherwise abstract outcomes to make them feel less arbitrary. If I say “the door shuts” after a series of bad rolls, it will feel like I just decided that’s what should happen, versus a clock that signals the risk ahead of time.

Stress

Stress is a penalty in Blades that players can optionally gain to help shape the story the way they want. The most simple example of this is that players can choose to gain stress to give themselves or another player a bonus on a roll. This is great. Giving players agency to give themselves an advantage allows them to signal to the GM what they care about and what they want to have happen in the story. Shouldn't there be a reward for caring? Stress can also be gained to let the characters say “no” when something bad is happening. If the GM narrates how the character gets stabbed with a sword or is seen by a guard, the player has full control to refuse by explaining how their character avoids the consequence and then takes a variable amount of stress. This allows for players to always feel like their characters are competent and aren't at the mercy of the dice. Should the character ever reach their stress limit, the character gains a Trauma; something that makes their character a little worse, but also a little more interesting. This makes gaining stress a gamble that players will need manage, but it is often worth the risk. Of course, there needs to be a way to clear stress, which brings us to…

Downtime

Downtime is a part of all RPGs, but Blades makes it a clear system with listed options. Think of it as a mini game between events players can engage with. During downtime, players can make fortune rolls to acquire items, train skills, reduce stress, and heal. The thing is that they can only do two of these things each downtime, which makes for really interesting decisions. Did you spend a large amount of stress in your last outing? Then you probably need to spend time gaining that back. Want to purchase a specific magic item? Make a luck roll to find it in the city. Do you think you need to heal now, or can you wait another day? It turns sitting around the campfire into an engaging activity that players are interested in and skips all the boring stuff in the way of the story progressing. Though, I have left out the most interesting downtime activity.

Long Term Projects

Long Term Projects are another downtime activity, but I think you can add them to your games without the needing the downtime portion in its entirety. Long term projects are goals the players can work towards in the background (modeled by a clock). Whenever they have a minute to work on a project, they can make a roll to increase the project’s progress until its clock is full and the project is finished. The project can be anything: hire underlings, bribe city officials, make robotic constructs, create a ritual, etc. A player can really dictate whatever they want as a project, but it is up to the GM to determine how long it will take. A simple task such as translating a book might only be a single 6 segment clock, whereas constructing a jet-pack might require multiple clocks and exotic materials that need to be sought after. Again, this is clear way for players to tell the GM what they want in the story and give them a mechanical way to work towards it.

Flashback

Flashbacks are ways for players to communicate actions their character would have taken in the past to assist with the present situation.. If there is a guard in front of a door, a player can call for a flashback where they befriended that guard at a local pub. There is some drawback to this (often the character gains stress based on how unlikely the flashback is), but it is still an incredibly useful tool for players. They no longer have to worry about saying everything their character does to prepare for a mission; they can determine it in the moment. This is probably the founding ethos of Blades: less prep, more action. An easy addition to any system.

Players Determine Attribute Rolls

Rather than the GM telling players what attribute to roll, the players dictate and justify the attribute to the GM. This seems small, but it can be a feel-bad when a player assumes one stat is used for an action only for the GM to have a different opinion. It also allows players to approach obstacles in different ways. If there is a locked door, one player might choose to lock-pick the door with Finesse while another player justifies how they would roll Wreck (they have a more liberal definition of "lock-pick"). This creates an opportunity for their character's personality to really shine through their actions, but the GM still has power by altering the consequences depending on what approach was used. The player using Finesse can probably get away without much issue, whereas the player using wreck might damage the lock making it obvious someone broke in regardless of the roll. This further helps color the action with the character's personality and also prevents players from always choosing a single attribute for every task as it might be harder to justify or cause more problems.

Players create NPCs

Going further with player agency is how NPCs are created. More often than not, significant NPCs are created by the players, not the GM. If a player decides that they want to meet with a friend who can get them inside the mayor’s house, then that just happens. That friend exists. The player even gets to name them! I have talked about before about why I think this is such a good decision, but to recap, players will be far more invested in characters they created. It also is more fun for the GM who has to worry less about making engaging NPCs and focus more on playing with the player's creations. What is that? A player wants to meet with a war buddy who is neurotic and makes experimental weapons? I can’t wait to play that character!

Group Character Sheet

In Blades, every crew of characters has a crew sheet. Functionally, this is a character sheet for the party that, just like PC character sheets, can level up, gain abilities, and increase its stats. Typically, the improvements on the crew sheet are way more powerful than those on the individual character sheet, meaning that if characters really want to expand their capabilities, they need to work together to upgrade the crew, not just themselves. This is such a great way to break "main character syndrome." By putting more emphasis on the group, players feel more compelled to interact and negotiate with one another to make sure the group's goals are met. It also allows for more interesting roleplay as characters now have a real justification for being with the other PCs even if they don't like them. Enemies can still work together because, at the end of the day, they both care about the group. We might even get to see them overcome their differences, or fall in love, or kill each other!

 Roleplay for XP

If you are going to take one thing from Blades, it should be its experience system. XP is the easiest tool for encouraging player behavior, and yet most GMs remove it from their games. This isn't without reason. XP is tedious! But I think that is often a failure of game systems. How many games reward XP only for slicing down monsters? Players were going to do that anyways, so what is the point other than an accounting exercise? This is a real shame because gaining XP is exciting; players like to have clear progress towards gaining power. So, what does Blades do differently than most other games? It rewards XP based on three questions asked to every player at the end of each session.

Did your character do things specific to their class?

Did your character express their goals, beliefs, desires, or background?

Did your character cause problems due to their vice, trauma, or troubles? 

Every questioned answered “yes” rewards the player with XP. Set this rule and see players find excuses to talk to each other about their characters' backstories. Watch them play into their class and engage with its aspects. Observe how they will create more compelling drama and problems by showing off their character flaws, bringing their PC into the 3rd dimension. These are aspects I feel every player should strive for and it is great to have a system that rewards them.

Conclusion (Not a Mechanic)

I could go on, but there is just too much in this system to love.  The beauty of Blades in the Dark is seeing all of these mechanics work in symphony together, each one contributing to the system’s goal: to tell interesting, player driven stories with the least amount of fluff in the way. Players get to tell the stories they want, GMs get to be surprised and delighted, and more games will be unique as everyone works together to find the narrative. There is a reason so many new RPGs are using the Forged in the Dark system for their games. If you aren’t interested in the supernatural criminal underground of Blades in the Dark, you can still experience these systems in the mech fighting game Beam Saber, or the military conquest game Band of Blades. You can even set sail with a chainsaw boat along tree tops in the fantastical far future of The Wild Sea. But no matter what you are playing, I think adding in some of the magic of Blades would go a long way.