Game Brief Example: PaleBlood Moon

Thanks to some scheduling mistakes in an automated system, this went up and down a few times when it shouldn’t. Thanks for your patience.


Every year, some of our friends visit from Melbourne to come play D&D. Every year, Fox and I pitch games, and we decide which one people want to do the most. This year, this is my pitch, which I wrote all the way back in December.

Now, I’m making this blog post now, but it’s a bit of a hedge. See, there’s a really good chance this pitch won’t get used at all, in which case, I’ll just brush it up a little bit and add an explantion for any twists in this three-day campaign that were coming. But for now, here, check out the Bloodborne inspired game pitch for a game I’m probably not running next weekend.


The Pale Moon Rises

The lamps are lit, the doors are barred, and the hunt begins. The hunters of Cainwicht have been training and hunting, listening at the doors and windows, and as the night of the hunt begins, stepped out onto the streets to take to the grim and bloody task of slaying the predators upon humanity.

People are not to be about on the night of the Pale Moon.

But in the Cathedral Of The Ministration in Finhbrigg, something has gone awry. Finhbrigg’s hunters have gone out – but the clocktower light that signals the Hunt has begun is out. Thick fog clings to the ground, and without the light, Hunters from Cainwicht are not going to come – leaving Finhbrigg to fend for itself.

But the Cathedral is not without defenses – and you, whether hunters in training, older veterans of the hunt, or travellers in the wrong place at the wrong time, have a chance to fix it.

Character Creation

  • This game is designed to be run in Heroic level, currently at level 7. This can be negotiated upwards, but I want the game to run smooth and quick.
  • Everything official is fair game, plus Escarnum material. (Now online at https://escarnum.invincible.ink). Knock yourselves out.
  • There is a contingency in-setting for players who die and you’ll probably die once
  • Aesthetically, think Bloodborne or similar Gothic Horror settings.

House Rules

  • One free expertise feat
  • Revised immunity rules (poison immunity doesn’t make you immune to secondary effects of power sthat do poison damage)
  • The Blackguard is replaced by the Vindicator

UPDATE: Holy shit, my players went for it.

Tune in Tuesday to find out the twist.