Wrackhithe

The sea has gone out too far. Something underneath is breathing. England, the winter of 1923. St Ilda’s church fell into the sea a hundred years ago. Tonight its ruins stand on half a mile of exposed sand, and stairs lead down beneath them. Five people of Wrackhithe have agreed to go below. You have until the tide comes back. Five lives. One Undercroft. Wrackhithe is a standalone solo game of coastal eldritch horror. Make five investigators, then play them one at a time. Open doors, draw rooms on a hex map, and find the Drowned Altar. Destroy its Warden and speak the Rite of Closing before the sea returns. When an investigator dies, the next goes down into the same dungeon. Their predecessor’s gear stays where they fell. Lairs, lost investigators and the Warden’s wounds remain. The Undercroft remembers. Learn more than you can bear Mind dwindles as Lore grows. Strike a Horror with your weapon, or Steel yourself against it and use what you have learned to tear it apart. When Lore catches up with Mind, you become Unmoored: knowledge makes you dangerous, but a failed Steel can break you faster. New rooms, searching, resting and death move the Tide towards its fiftieth box. The drowned bell tolls at ten, twenty, thirty and forty. Every rest buys life with time you may not have. In the download 24-page illustrated rulebook in A5 reading order. A4 booklet-print edition for folding into an A5 booklet. A4 hex map and Tide tracker. The Five: an A4 investigator sheet for the whole expedition. £2.99 or more unlocks all four PDFs. Free play sheets are also available on the website. Bring to the table Polyhedral dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20), a pencil and an eraser. An extra d6 helps. One player; allow around 45–90 minutes. No other rulebook is required. Playtest feedback This is a playtest release. Any and all feedback on the mechanics is greatly appreciated. Leave a comment: how far did your Five get, did you manage the Tide, and which rules need another look? Visit Wrackhithe on the TR|||PLE Games website for previews, free play aids and updates. AI was used for the illustrations (I’m not an artist). All mechanics, game design and narratives are by me—a real, actual human.