She was lost. Through the dense foliage she thought she heard movements. Heavy breaths from the darkness between the tree trunks. A raven cawed ominously. She held her breath and listened. The darkness of the forest was almost impenetrable – she would never find home without light.

Carefully, she picked the cell phone from her pocket. With her heart in her throat she unlocked the phone, increased the brightness, and directed the screen toward the ground. Before she could even take a single step until something hurled against her from the darkness. She started running. Exalted caws echoed between the trees.

 

 

SKRÔMT is a horror role-playing game that focuses on relationships and drama. It takes place in present-day Sweden—a version of Sweden where creatures from nordic folklore exists.

The horror in SKRÔMT is on one hand based on the creatures that is the base of the norse folklore—trolls, necks, witches, mylings, draugs, werewolves and many more.

The other side of the horror is the personal—human madness and broken psyche when confronted with the supernatural and other horrors. The characters dig deeper into the insanity the more they learn about a world they were previously unaware of.

 

THE GAME

Horror in role-playing games is as popular today as it has ever been. Most horror games focus on solving mysteries—staying sane long enough to successfully solve the puzzle. The characters in those games are often professors, archaeologists or detectives in search of the great truths of the world.

SKRÔMT on the other hand is grounded in everyday life—it is a game about ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary situations. The game focuses on personal stories rather than on epic mysteries. It is about warding off horrors that threaten one’s everyday life and one’s loved ones.

The game is played by 3-5 players, including one game master. The rules have been developed to help the group to create dramatic and engaging stories. Theories from film and literature have been adapted for a role-playing context, which provides the basis for how character development works in the game.

Inspiration

SKRÔMT draws inspiration from both new and old works. Some examples are TV series such as Dark and Channel Zero, books such as Johan Egerkrans’  De Odöda, films such as The Ritual and Blair Witch Project, and music such as Väsen, Skrömta and Wardruna.

Among the older influences are Ebbe Schöns and Bengt af Klintberg’s works, as well as numerous recorded stories from the Institute for Languages ​​and Folk Memories.

The rules

The ruleset is classic. The characters have skills, attributes and knowledge areas. When a character wants to perform an action, the player rolls as many dice as the skill value. Any die showing below or on the attribute value is a success. The more successes you get, the better results you achieve. Knowledge areas succeed automatically as long as you have a value in the knowledge area.

Battles are fast, dynamic and deadly. As in other parts of the game, the game master does not roll any dice. Instead, each enemy has a number of different actions with attack values that the character needs to defend against. The characters in SKRÔMT have no health points—instead, more abstract descriptions of injuries are used.

The rules of magic in SKRÔMT are adapted to allow the group to decide how magic works in the world. All the player needs to do is announce the role person’s intention (”I want to read her thoughts …”) and degree of effect (”… with great effect”). The game master is given tools to convert the statement into game terms. In addition, there are guidelines for rituals, magic components and talismans that add additional layers to how magic can be used.

During the course of the game, the characters’ mental health will be challenged. When they witness or perform horrors, encounter supernatural beings or use magic, the character’s madness increases. The more insane they get, the more risk they run into severe mental trauma.

In each character’s background is an event that still affects and haunts them. This event is called the ghost. From the ghost a fear and a lie is born. The fear describes the experience that the character wants to prevent at all costs. The lie is the lie the character believes to feel safe—a defense mechanism to avoid confronting his ghost and dealing with his fear. These three parts are collectively referred to as the character’s identity and they form the basis for how character development works in SKRÔMT.

The characters have personal goals that are defined by the player himself or by other players at the table. These goals are called hooks and act as short-term driving forces for the character to pursue. A character who aims to fulfill a hook gets experience points.

Inside the book

SKRÔMT has a black and white inlay with color illustrations and color covers. We have strived for stylish design, good language, efficient wording and clear disposition. Good information design—but also with a healthy dose of atmosphere.

The content is divided into four parts: Characters and rules, The player’s chapter, The game master’s chapter and Monsters and creatures.

• Characters and rules includes instructions on how to create a character and the rules required to play the game.
  
• The player’s chapter includes tips and tricks for the players.
  
• The game master’s chapter includes tips and tricks for the game master. This part also includes instructions for how to create scenarios for the game.
  
• Monsters and creatures describes the creatures found in nordic folklore. The chapter also includes some secret societies.

REWARDS

SKRÔMT will be available in three different formats: digital, printed standard edition and printed limited special edition. You decide how much you want to contribute and thereby what product you want.

Skrômt PDF

The content of the PDF version of SKRÔMT is the same as the printed version. It will be hyperlinked.

Skrômt standard edition

The standard edition of SKRÔMT is a hardcover book in size G5. This is the version of the book that will be sold in retailers if the campaign is successful.

Skrômt limited special edition

The limited special edition of SKRÔMT is a hardcover book in size G5. This edition has a cover that is unique to Kickstarter and will never be printed again. The book also comes with a cord bookmark.

Beta rules PDF & discount

Would you like to start playing right away? The beta rules to SKRÔMT —including the scenario Vid sjöns rand—is already available for purchase.

If you back the game on pledge level MYLING and above, you’ll get the beta rules right away. Just send us a message on Kickstarter. You’ll then get a discount code worth 50 SEK to use in our webshop for buying the beta rules. You can use the code to get the PDF for free right away or buy the printed version of the book for 99 SEK, including shipping (inside Sweden only).

The beta rule book is not the final version of the game.

Troll cross

On the pledge levels DRAUG and SKOGSRÅ you’ll get a troll cross in iron with a leather band.

Unique charcoal drawing

Five backers will get a unique charcoal drawing made by Henrik Rosenborg, the illustrator of the game. You get to decide what creature he will draw.

Contribute to the game

You’ll get to contribute to the game together with the game’s author. As soon as the campaign is over we will contact you to discuss your contribution to the game.

Please note that the contribution must be completed before the end of September. If we cannot reach you well in advance, there is a risk that you will not be able to contribute. This is because there must be time to proofread and to layout the text.

 

ADDONS

If you want to buy addons, you simply add extra money to your pledge when you back the campaign. You add as much extra as the cost of the addon(s) you want.

If you back at the level SKOGSTROLL and want a copy of Traffic Lights, you back for 400 + 75 SEK—a total of 475 SEK. If you back at STADSTROLL and want to buy an extra copy of the standard edition as well as a copy of Traffic Lights, you add 450 + 350 + 75 SEK—a total of SEK 875.

When the campaign is over, we will send out a survey asking you to fill in the addons you paid for.

If you want to add or remove addons after you have backed, you can select “Manage my pledge” at the top of the page. There, you can increase or decrease how much you pay, adding or removing addons.

Extra copy of the standard edition            + 350 SEK

Do you want to avoid passing a single book around the entire gaming table? Buy one or more copies of the standard edition of SKRÔMT.

Traffic Lights               + 75 SEK

SKRÔMT is a game where you often explore dark and unpleasant themes. That is part of the charm, but there is always a risk of accidentally stepping over another player’s boundaries.

Traffic Lights is a supplemental signal system for roleplaying games. Use a card to signal to your fellow players how you feel about what’s going on—without interrupting the flow of the game. The card also acts as a pause button when you feel that things have gone too far.

Includes one instruction card in English and nine double-sided Traffic Lights cards.

 

STRETCH GOALS

Stretch Goal 1: Cord bookmark

When we reach this level, the standard edition of the book will also contain a cord bookmark. The special edition is also updated to have two cords instead!

Stretch Goal 2: Scenario by Gabrielle De Bourg

The multiple award-winning Gabrielle De Bourg will write a scenario for SKRÔMT! Gabrielle has previously written for many high-profile games on the Swedish role-playing scene, such as Tales from the Loop, Kutulu, Chock: Åter från graven and the Swedish translation of Call of Cthulhu.

The scenario will be released as a PDF within six months after the release of SKRÔMT. It will then be available for purchase—but backers at the level STADSTROLL and higher will get the scenario for free.

 

HELP OUT

Whether you decide to donate or not—please feel free to help in other ways!

Is there something you don’t understand in the material presented so far? Is there something that you find particularly interesting? Feel free to contact us with comments and questions.

We will also be extremely grateful for help with proofreading, additional playtesting and such. You can then help create a better game for all of us. Do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in helping further!

It’s also fantastic if you spread the word and share the campaign with others. The more who support the campaign—the better game we get in the end. All help is greatly appreciated!

Facebook

SKRÔMT and Bläckfisk Publishing are on Facebook. You’re very welcome to follow the project there!

 

BACKGROUND

The idea for SKRÔMT was conceived in early spring of 2016. Since then, the game has gone through three different rule systems and a handful of different focuses. It is a very different game today than it was when it was first tested. With the start of Bläckfisk Publishing, SKRÔMT went from being an idea of ​​a game that might one day be completed, to being the next project the company is about to publish. It was a great feeling.

SKRÔMT has been playtested for a long time. For the past two years we have organized games at GothCon and other conventions around Sweden, it has been played in both Svartviken Rollspelspodd and Rollspelsfika—and this autumn, SKRÔMT will be Svartviken Rollspelspodd’s new campaign.

 

PLAN

Bläckfisk Publishing is a budding publisher with too limited capital to release a game of this size without help. We want to fill the book with imaginative and evocative illustrations—but professional illustrations cost a lot. That’s why we turn to you to make SKRÔMT possible.

Budget

The proceeds from the campaign will go towards paying for:

• Printing—to produce the book in physical format.
  
• Distribution—to ship the book to you.
  
• Illustrations—to fill the book with atmospheric images.
  
• Administration—to pay for marketing, proof of print, publishing costs and Kickstarter fees.
  
• Stretch goals—to cover the fees and costs of any stretch goals.
  

Budget for the base goal.

Schedule

Large parts of the text have already been written and during the summer we are working intensively to get the rest done. During the fall, we release one part at a time for backers to take part in and comment—the more people read the text, the more mistakes we can catch and correct.

In the autumn / winter we layout the book and send it to the printing press for proof. The goal is that you who have backed the book should have it this spring, probably in late March or early April.

Wide release of the game takes place this Easter, just in time for GothCon. Any stretch goals will be released somewhat later in the year.

 

ABOUT US

Bläckfisk Publishing

Bläckfisk Publishing is a collective of idea generators, dreamers and workhorses. We want people to feel, create stories and explore the unknown. That is why we focus on developing tools for empathy, improvisation and community—usually in the form of roleplaying games.

The company was founded by three independent game creators—Kristoffer, Lucas and Peter. Previously, we developed games individually, but since we shared both approach and ambition, we joined together—to increase our shared capacity and competence.

The team

Kristoffer Warnberg is the game’s developer and lead author. He has a passion for storytelling in all forms and strives to draw influences from all the media he consumes, in order to develop as a role player. Kristoffer works as a librarian, is a quarter of the role-playing podcast Svartviken Rollspelspodd, and is one of the creators of Gudasaga. He also makes a mean oven pancake.

Lucas Falk is in charge of the game’s design and helps with the editing of the text. He has a background as an information designer and has worked with designing and editing books, as well as with layout and copywriting of information material. In addition, he is a dedicated role player, host of the podcast Fummelpodden, plus one of the creators behind the game Gudasaga. However, he cannot perform handstands or cartwheels.

Peter Malmberg mainly manages the publisher’s finances and administration. He is an economist and has a professional background as a producer for cultural events. In the publisher’s selection, Peter is the author of Fornsaga and Traffic Lights, with Anno Daemonum up next. Peter is also one of the hosts in the podcast Rollspelsfika.

Henrik Rosenborg is the one who illustrates SKRÔMT. Henrik has illustrated for games such as WarHammer 4ed, Pathfinder and for Riotminds. You can find more of his amazing illustrations at his ArtStation. Since the first time Henrik heard about SKRÔMT he has been passionate about it—there was no doubt that he was the right person to put his mark on the game with his pictures. With his unique sense of capturing the depth and feeling of Nordic folk belief, Henrik takes SKRÔMT to a whole new level.

PAST KICKSTARTERS

In Gudasaga, you portray your own æsir, ásynjur and vanir. Together you embark on adventures in the Nine Worlds. But each of you wants to be the deity who gets the most glory—often at the expense of your kinsmen.

The Gudasaga campaign was run by Kristoffer Warnberg and Lucas Falk, autumn 2018. The initial aim was to finance a few illustrations and the initial printing costs for the game, but in the end the campaign brought in over 1 000% of the basic goal and the result was a relatively thick book. The completion was carried out by Bläckfisk Publishing—and the game was delivered before the appointed time.

The Norse Iron Age—the era of tales. In ancient times, the tales are as alive as us human beings of flesh and blood. They are constantly wandering from old to young, from near to far, and their true origins quickly fall into oblivion. Welcome to a time when the tale

immortalizes men as men immortalize the tale—almost as if it were a pact with ancient spirits.

The campaign for Fornsaga was carried out by Peter Malmberg in the spring of 2017. The idea was to raise money for the game’s illustrations and initial printing costs. The Kickstarter earned just over 250% of the base goal and was delivered with about a month’s delay.

 

RISKS AND CHALLENGES

This is our third Kickstarter campaign. In previous campaigns we were young and inexperienced, but everything went surprisingly smooth. Now we have joined forces and have started a publishing publishing—and have unified the experiences from previous Kickstarter campaigns.

With that said, problems will surely accumulate. Things will cost more than estimated and drag past the deadline, someone will get sick, the printing press will break down and lightning will ruin the computers plus all the backups.

But we want you to play this game. We make sure everything is resolved as neatly and smoothly as we can. Should anything occur, we will of course make sure to inform you about it immediately. And in the end you will get the game.

This is our third Kickstarter campaign. In previous campaigns we were young and inexperienced, but everything went surprisingly smooth. Now we have joined forces and have started a publishing publishing—and have unified the experiences from previous Kickstarter campaigns.

With that said, problems will surely accumulate. Things will cost more than estimated and drag past the deadline, someone will get sick, the printing press will break down and lightning will ruin the computers plus all the backups.

But we want you to play this game. We make sure everything is resolved as neatly and smoothly as we can. Should anything occur, we will of course make sure to inform you about it immediately. And in the end you will get the game.

PLEDGE LEVELS