Against The Gloom

Grab your instrument, crank the amp and sail into the fog. Against the Gloom is a collaborative fantasy tabletop roleplaying game where music is magic and your band is the last line of defence against despair.

You play a crew of punk-rock pirate bards sailing the Gloom, a living, fog-choked purgatory, aboard flying ships powered by song. The Gloom keeps trying to swallow the Anchora, the floating islands where people still make their homes. The one thing it can’t stand is loud, defiant music. So you tour from island to island, play your hearts out and push back the dark one set at a time.

The dice system is inspired by Yahtzee. Players roll six-sided dice and try to “harmonise” matching values to succeed, so the rolling feels like the band locking into a groove. As you play, the table earns songs and spends them on a shared playlist that grows into the soundtrack of your tour. One player takes on the role of the “roadie,” keeping the story moving and calling for rolls rather than acting as a traditional game master.

The game is about hope, found family and what people can do together. It works well for groups who want a warm, creative game that’s still full of adventure, and it’s beginner-friendly enough for first-time roleplayers.

Inside you’ll find:

Character playbooks, including the Thunderwell, the Soulbell, the Brightstring, the Heartkey and more
The harmonising d6 dice system and collaborative playlist rules
Rules for building the Anchora together, creating the islands your band will tour
Safety tools for consent-based play
Short fiction set in the world of the Gloom, written by the designer
Full-colour illustrations by Sarah Gavagan and Jupiter V

Specifications:

Designer: Dustin Patrick Winter
Studio/Publisher: Scryptid Games / Critical Kit
Format: Full-colour softcover (perfect-bound)
Pages: 110
Size: approx. 6 × 8.5 in (15.2 × 21.6 cm)
Players: 3–5, plus a facilitator (the roadie)
Age: 12+
Language: English
Requires: A handful of six-sided dice (not included)