Candela Obscura feels as if it's snuck through to become one of the biggest (and perhaps most unexpected) tabletop RPG launches of the year, and GamesRadar+ has an exclusive sneak peek at some pages from the rulebook for you.
Unveiled by Critical Role alongside an actual play series earlier this year, Candela Obscura follows an organization of supernatural investigators and leans on an accessible d6 system. This preview offers a better look at its bread and butter – things that go bump in the night. Besides giving an overview of how Candela Obscura's sorcery (AKA 'magick') works, it teases some of the monsters that players will have to face. Naturally, all this is wrapped in a bow of atmospheric, turn-of-the-century artwork.
I could ramble on, but a picture says a thousand words. With that in mind, have five:
The first page shows off a rather grim Fairelands custom, and one that makes the setting feel so much more lived-in: hat pins scattered across a cemetery to 'catch' wayward spirits. Many of the Fairelands folk believe that your spirit escapes with your final breath, so covering a dying person's mouth and nose will hold it in. But what if you're unlucky enough not to have that luxury? People think that your soul will then escape, allowing other entities to commandeer your now-vacant body. For reasons we don't yet know, hat pins are believed to be the only thing that can catch those wayward ghosts.
True or not, it's a fascinating idea that mimics our real-world superstitions – the kind we've long-since forgotten the origins of. It helps add depth to this world.
The second and third pages give an overview of how this setting's supernatural side work, with details on rifts between worlds that become a battleground for the members of Candela Obscura. It also delves into the 'Bleed' (which is best described as magical radiation) and creepy, cosmic-horror monsters that manage to deviate from the usual, Cthulhu-esque tentacles.
The final pages are illustrated with notebook art and a poster that tells you pretty quickly that we're dealing with 'alternate 1900s' here if you didn't already know.
We've still got a little way to go until players can check out the full rulebook, but it's not too far off – you can get it as of November 14. You can find out more about Candela Obscura – including where it's available – at the Darrington Press site.
Until then, you can get some recommendations on what to play next with our guide to the best tabletop RPGs. We should be able to get a bunch of them for less thanks to the upcoming D&D Black Friday deals and the Black Friday board game deals.
