horror – PopCult Reviews

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – A Torch in the Dark

A Torch in the Dark
Written and designed by NotWriting

Last year, I attempted to play Blades in the Dark using Parts Per Million’s solo guide. While there was some helpful advice in that book, it still felt like I was emulating a whole table of players rather than a singular protagonist. I had fun, but I wanted something that provided an actual solo tabletop experience. I decided to try A Torch in the Dark, a game that takes the systems of Blades and tweaks them for a solo play. There is a lot here I like a lot, but there were also elements of Blades that were missing, and I felt the game was lacking as a result. It provides a roguelike experience and uses 52 standard playing cards.

Book Update – January/February 2025

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen, edited by Ellen Datlow
Another year means another Ellen Datlow Best Horror of the Year. As with all of these, it’s a mixed bag. I loved some stories; others were fine, and even some I forgot as soon as I was done reading them. Here are the stories that were highlights for me.

The Importance of a Tidy Home by Christopher Golden

Set in the winter holiday season, this story follows two homeless men in Germany who encounter the Schnabelpercten. These diminutive creatives are said to go home to home during the Epiphany and inspect homes to ensure they are clean. In this story, if they are unhappy with the house’s tidiness, they murder the inhabitants inside. This is a genuinely creepy and very wintery tale.

PopCult Podcast – Eraserhead/Blue Velvet

In January we lost my favorite filmmaker, David Lynch. Today we pay tribute by talking about two of his best films. A young man wrestles with the horrors of adulthood. Another young man learns about the dark side of his small town.

31 Days of Character Creation #27 – Vampire: The Masquerade 5e

I can remember having a vague awareness of Vampire as a LARP from picking up magazines like Wizard or Inquest as a kid. It seemed like something “weird goth kids.” I don’t think I was completely wrong in that evaluation, but in the following decades I’ve learned a bit more and seems like a fine game. There is a solo ruleset for Vampire, so maybe one day I’ll give it a spin.

PopCult Podcast – Oops, All Nosferatus

A vampire from Transylvania seeks possession of a young woman and manipulates his way into coming to her home.

31 Days of Character Creation #20 – Heinrich’s Call of Cthulhu Guide to Character Creation

I’ve run through this character creator twice before and it is one of my favorite ttrpg tools I’ve ever played with. The characters you create are full of interesting hooks, conflicts, and contradictions. I decided to forgo building a whole Call of Cthulhu character as it is a little more time consuming than I would like. Here you’ll have a very strong foundation to stat out the character as you see fit.

31 Days of Character Creation #16 – Vaesen

Today’s game is a Norwegian tabletop RPG and I don’t think many people know that Norway has a quite robust ttrpg and larping community. Years I ago I remember reading an article about Norwegian roleplay and learning about a complex Mad Men-inspired LARP someone there designed. So they are doing things a little differently than the most popular games in the States.

31 Days of Character Creation #9 – Cabal

Cabal is a game where the character is the evil corporation you create. Employees are assets the company moves around to work towards its nefarious agenda. Essentially, if you want to play a mix of Succession with horror elements, you have found the game for you. Here’s how Cabal is described on its Kickstarter page:

Cabal is an RPG that works in reverse to the way tabletop RPGs usually function. Instead of each player creating their own character, you create a single character between you. This character is an organisation with its own secret plan and goals. It might be a conspiracy, a corporation, an activist group, an occult society of magicians or even a collection of hidden alien refugees. The size, influence, resources and pawns of the group depend entirely on what attributes the players choose between them for the organisation.

31 Days of Character Creation #8 – Pirate Borg

I’m fairly familiar with Borg subset of tabletop RPGs. They are bursting with personality and fantastic art. Of the many that exist I’ve played Mork Borg (with the excellent solo supplement Solitary Defilement), CY_Borg solo, and Corp Borg in co-op play with Ariana. Here’s the description of Pirate Borg from its official website:

A scurvy-ridden, rules light, art heavy tabletop RPG.

Inspired by history, fantasy, horror and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won’t save you from the hordes of skeletons, the Kraken, or even your own crew. PIRATE BORG is a complete game based on and compatible with the award -winning MÖRK BORG RPG. But it’s also a tool kit. Most of the tables can be hacked and used with any tabletop RPG.

31 Days of Character Creation #6 – Silent Legions

I plan to crack open at least one of designer Kevin Crawford’s tabletop RPG books and use it’s incredible tools this year. Before I do that, I thought I’d create a character in his cosmic horror RPG, Silent Legions. Here’s the description of this game from its official website:

The world is broken in hidden ways. The truth is concealed for the sake of mortal minds. The unendurable reality that boils behind the stars is veiled by the pleasant blindness that human sanity requires. Yet every comforting shroud must fall in time, and for these investigators, that time is now.