Tags
18th Century, black powder, Eighteenth Century, First Empire, Folklore, Free RPG, Georgian, Ghastly Affair, Gothic Gaming, Gothic Horror, Gothic Literature, Gothic Romance, Gothick, Libertine, Napoleonic, OGL, pre-Victorian, Regency, role-playing game, Romantic Horror, rpg
The FREE PDF version of the “Ghastly Affair Player’s Manual” is now available. Bookmarked, hyperlinked, and screen-optimized. Download it here.
Ghastly Affair is the Gothic Game of Romantic Horror, where players take the roles of the Bandits, Libertines, True Innocents, and other characters of classic Gothic fiction. Immerse yourself in the historic Ghastly Age of Marie-Antoinette and the Marquis de Sade, of Napoleon and Lord Byron. Experience a haunted and decadent world, where beauty and abomination are twisted together, and terror and love are close kin.
Ghastly Affair supports the full rage of classic Gothic stories, from romantic dramas of redemption, to shocking tales of dark indulgence. Your character might fight the monsters that haunt the night, or rob graves for profit. Defy convention to follow your heart, or master the Dark Arts of sorcery. Be a beacon of virtue amid perverse aristocrats, or gleefully embrace depravity. The choice is yours.
Ghastly Affair has been revised, reorganized, and reformatted for easier on-screen viewing and use. Its now been reissued as two books: the “Ghastly Affair Player’s Manual”, and the “Ghastly Affair Presenter’s Manual” (coming very soon). Typos, misspellings, and inaccuracies in the original release have been corrected for the revised edition. Its still the same game of full-blooded Gothic action for mature players, where you can be virtuous or villainous, and the denizens of High Society are crueler than the most vicious werewolf. Now its just prettier and easier to use!
Coming Very Soon: The Free PDF version of the “Ghastly Affair Presenter’s Manual”. It includes extensive notes on running the game, a full list of Creatures and Adversaries, alternate and expanded rules, and a full chronology covering the Incidents and Scandals of the Ghastly Age!
Coming by June 2016: You’ll be able to sink your claws into illustrated hardcopy editions of both the “Ghastly Affair Player’s Manual” and the “Ghastly Affair Presenter’s Manual”!
“Ghastly Affair Player’s Manual” Free PDF – Intended for Mature Audiences
The darkness beckons to you. Run to the darkness.
The Engine of Oracles 
Fantastic news; the pdf looks gorgeous! Any major changes in particular to the rules?
Thanks! The rules in the Player’s Manual are mostly the same as the original release, but some inaccuracies and omissions have been corrected (such as correcting the ranges on guns, and emphasizing the importance of letter writing in the Ghastly Age). The Presenter’s Manual will contain a lot of new material, however, including a full chronology of Incidents and Scandals from 1765 to 1820, and the Incarnations rules for depicting figures like Death and The Devil in-game.
Sounds neat 🙂
Do you think the system can handle a bunch of characters exploring haunted mansions? Like, something very similar to regular dungeon crawling, only with more opportunities to interact with the “surface” world. I have an idea for a creepy cursed castle of sorts, full of monstrous abominations, but also crazy inhabitants presenting unique social encounters.
Absolutely! What you’re describing sounds like a lot of fun, and would actually show the system off to its best advantage. It was designed for a style that mixes action and deep role-playing. Fight resolution is fast, and the flexible rules won’t break down if you forget to apply every single modifier in the heat of the moment. Meanwhile, social-oriented characters have a lot to do, and because XP isn’t tied to combat, the players are motivated to also spend time role-playing. The players in my own game group (who were the playtesters) range from combat-focused to almost pure role-players, so the game had to be able to accommodate all their different preferences.
If you like the free PDF, the illustrated print edition of the “Ghastly Affair Player’s Manual” is now available on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Ghastly-Affair-Players-Manual-Daniel/dp/1535235063