The Darkest House

Product Information

I think... that this is about as close as we're going to see for Monte leaving mechanics aside. As Hogarth observed, it's basically the simplest mechanical system one could imagine, with a handful of mechanical flourishes so it's not literally just "roll a die, add this one number, compare with a 1-10 rating." I think it's fine. It's basically clearing the "does this game have a game or are you just writing a purely narrative scenario" bar by the slimmest possible margin, and the product is, at least for me, less about the system and more about the scenario.

Essentially everything in the House System is modelled on a scale of 1 to 10, with ten being the weakest and ten the strongest. Those familiar with Monte Cook’s recent works, especially the Cypher System , will recognize this immediately. A beaded curtain would constitute a Rating 1 door, nearly effortless to get through. A bank vault door, by contrast, might be Rating 10. Inside the house everything is modelled in this way, and that includes your characters. A bad thing happened before Benson got to the house, or after, or during. It’s still happening. He brushed up against one edge of the wheel and boom.” Jared mimed a gun, brains blown out, suicide. Broadly, I think the system works, but isn't necessarily good. Hell, to be honest, my Yule Lads game's core system is a slightly more complex version of this thing. Yule Lads don't have an overall rating, they have abilities and skills, but the idea is essentially the same. I might actually steal the bane/boon idea for it.The house is too quiet, and so the artist hears all the wrong sounds. He hears the photographs rustling in the walls and beneath the floor, the sound of something perpetually trapped and perpetually climbing free. He’s excavated them, burned them, torn them to shreds, but they’re always there. They always return. Furthering the comparison, the house had been bone-white then, an un-pristine color like ivory or old lace. The roof was cedar shingle, and the whole building looked worn, leaning, as though the house was already tired, already old—youth carrying the seeds of age. It had been built sometime around 1910 or 1911, it seemed, though the precise date was uncertain. There are too many shadows in the house. They fill all the corners. And she is there in every one of them. Waiting. The Darkest House took the original app version and turned it into a book while retaining its amazingly useful design.

The Darkest House can be run in person—in fact, it’s great for that, too—but the GM will need a computer with internet access and the ability to share digital files with the players. Taking Root in Any SettingRuss and I had roomed together in college, but we’d mutually agreed we were much better off as friends if we weren’t living together. His design aesthetic was only one of our points of divergence. Another being that any leftovers, even ones clearly labeled, inevitably ended up devoured the second I left them unattended. Your regular, ongoing game will be better after you’ve experienced the Darkest House. PCs emerge more deeply developed. Parties emerge more cohesively, with stronger bonds.

The way we talk about games here is often like looking at a Tesla and saying "this thing would practically explode if you took it offroading!" Like... yeah. Probably. It wasn't made for that. Well, it's GM fiat. The Fly spell still lets you fly, but it's probably going to be more narrative ("sure, you can use magic to fly") than "you gain a flight speed of X ft, with (whatever) manurverability, for n (time units)." Eh, really it's more that I thought it would be interesting to talk about TDH since I need to read through it before I run it anyway. Just on the chance that someone might find this with a Google search- This review will include spoilers. If you're going to be playing in it, probably best to not read it (also if you raise some of my points with your GM, don't be a jerk, they're probably really excited to run it). Your regular, ongoinggame will be better after you’ve experienced the Darkest House. PCs emerge more deeply developed. Parties emerge more cohesively, with stronger bonds. The Next Big Innovation from Monte Cook Games

What I am Writing

The Historical Society maintained the microfiche archives the library no longer had room to store. They’d been hoping to digitize everything, the helpful woman named Beth explained to me, but they hadn’t received the grant they’d been counting on. She showed me how to use the machine, then left me alone.