Nepenthe Blog
Gothic Stories That Inspired Nevermore, Part II
Today I'm back with a few more gothic tales that inspired Nevermore. I think the previous one of these was my most popular post, and I hope you enjoy this one just as much. As I did the last time, I'll give a brief summary of the story in question and then explore...
Creative Destruction (And a BIG Nevermore Rules Change)
What is Creative Destruction? For those who aren’t familiar, it essentially means dismantling (or destroying) existing work to make way for something new. When creating a roleplaying game this can refer to both the setting and the rules. Currently, with Nevermore, it...
Fortune and Doom
The rules for Nevermore include a resource or meta-currency called Fortune (or Fortune tokens) which players can use to give their protagonist an edge and to employ their Cabal Gifts. Fortune's flip side is Doom (or Doom tokens), which the narrator gains when a player...
Gothic Horror in the Modern World
More than a few folks have noted that Gothic Horror has seen something of a resurgence as of late. I can think of a number of reasons why this might be. It could just be the cycle of popularity. I've noticed that different genres cycle through public consciousness and...
Antagonists of Nevermore
Almost every tabletop roleplaying game has villains and antagonists. The conflict against these foes creates dramatic tension, risk, and obstacles for the protagonists. Antagonists give the protagonists something to fight against and opportunities for harrowing...
The Esoteric Order of the Illuminous
The default setting for Nevermore assumes that all of the protagonists are part of the same mystical organization, the Esoteric Order of the Illuminous. The existence of the Order gives the protagonists common ground to start from and reason to be working together....
Gothic Stories that Inspired Nevermore, Part I
For today’s post, I’m going to step away from the rules and write a little about some of the stories that are the inspiration for Nevermore. Of course, stories of American and even Victorian Gothic Horror are the game's foundation. So today, I offer a list of a few of...
Foil Cards
EDIT: This system is effectively dead. I really liked it, but the probabilities turned out to be too hard to discern so now the narrator plays makes tests for NPCs the same as players. In the last post, I went over the basics of test resolution in Nevermore. There, I...
Cards Not Dice
I’ve always been of the opinion that a game system can be designed ot mesh with and even enhance the roleplaying experience of a specific setting. As a result, I’ve tended to shy away from generic systems, preferring something that supports the setting. Now, before I...
American Gothic Horror
Nevermore rips its themes stories straight from the pages of American Gothic writers such as Washington Irving, Herman Melville, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Henry James, Ambrose Bierce, Edith Wharton, and of course, Edgar Allen Poe. Family curses, haunted forests,...