Bleak Spirit

In explaining the system Chris Longhurst, the creator of  Bleak Spirit, states: "Bleak Spirit is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by the empty, haunted worlds of video games like Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, and Salt and Sanctuary." Now, I totally watch VaatiVidya, so for me this meant a whole heck of a lot... and literally every single person I tell that to as a selling point gives me the same blank, confused, look, including fans of Dark Souls and Bloodborne! Turns out that people, when they think of Dark Souls, do not think of the incredible lore and stories that are buried into the code of the game. Which is quite unfortunate. Of course I called my brother-in-law Kyle, who had introduced me to Dark Souls in the first place, and that's where I found out that by saying "stories like Dark Souls" means absolutely nothing.

So I described the basics of the game to him: there's one Player Character, the Wanderer, who walks into an area and attempts to take out the Big Bad of said area, all in one session. No dice are used, and there is no randomization beyond an *optional* set of cards. Nobody owns the Wanderer, and nobody stays as the GM. The three roles, Wanderer (the lone PC), the World (kinda like the GM of other games), and the Chorus (not available for two player games, helps the World), rotate each scene. The scene economy is relatively strict, allowing everyone to lean onto the structure and be as creative as they like.

But the key of the whole game is that you're not allowed to talk about what you think is happening and no explanations are allowed of any action. This absolute lack of information, which I'd normally abhor, makes the game incredibly tense. You are supposed to Leap to Conclusions, which is where you follow a series of prompts after every scene to write out what you think happened during that scene. These Leaps to Conclusions are meant to be wild, speculative, and utterly unsubstantiated. Well, unsubstantiated yet, at least. Because you then take what you think is going on and play it out against what everyone else thinks is going on.

And, since the roles switch every scene, that means that this almost baffling narrative unfolds, as the other players block your moves and you adapt your fiction, pushing your point with the narrative as it has played out.  This is where the *optional* cards fit in, because they break the rules in unexpected ways. For instance, in the game where Kyle and I played, he introduced a card that let him get two scenes in a row! I was completely floored, as he attempted to take even more control of the narrative and push his ideas as hard as he could. The joke was on him, though, because my plan was completely different than he'd thought it was, and so the extra push on his part was wasted. And this creates a unique tension, unlike any dice game I've ever played where, because everything is canon, you are not wondering if something is going to be successful, but what you're going to do about it.

I plan on making Bleak Spirit a part of my regular rotation, joining Burning Wheel, The Marvel Universe RPG, and Hearts of Wulin. It's fun to not have to GM, but to be involved in a struggle to make a story about one person trying to make a difference in a world that has forgotten itself. If you love having mystery and intrigue and shadow wars in your RPGs I really suggest backing Bleak Spirit. It's been a brilliant time for me. Even my brother-in-law, who normally doesn't like rules-lite games, found himself having a lot of fun.

Praise the sun indeed! And yes, that's the name of one of the cards. Dead serious. It's an awesome card too.