Gothic Fables
Gothic Fables takes gothic horror and mashes it with heroic fantasy roleplaying. This isn't about just hacking through monsters or slinging spells. It's a story-focused, character-driven experience where the decisions you make—yes, you—will haunt you long after the dice stop rolling.
The real magic here lies in the imagination, collaboration, and agency baked into every session. You’re not just following a script. You and your fellow players are creating the story as you go, with every action shaping the narrative. Make a bad choice? Get ready to live with the consequences. Embrace your fate? You just might survive, but probably not in one piece.
Fans of gothic horror are going to love the brooding atmosphere and the dark, twisted tales, but this isn't just your standard "creepy mansion and foggy graveyard" deal. Sure, those might make an appearance, but Gothic Fables brings something fresh to the table. This is gothic horror with a fantasy edge—heroes pitted against ancient curses, forbidden magic, and unsettling mysteries lurking in every shadow.
If you're looking for a new way to scare the life out of your characters while keeping the stakes high and the drama intense, this is the game for you.
A Universal Sourcebook
You don’t need it to play any of our games using The Simple Approach, but it’s here to spice things up if you want. It’s also written to be functionally system-agnostic, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. There are notes at the end to help with conversion, and if you’re need more advice in translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Legacy Editions
Legacy Editions are classic Lightspress titles, refreshed with updated design and a quick pass from our current editorial team. While they may not hit the same marks as our latest releases, they still bring solid value to your roleplaying collection without breaking the bank.
Terminology
This book comes from a time when a certain massive corporation thought it could rewrite the rules and claim ownership over everything, including words that existed long before it did. Even though we weren’t doing anything wrong, we decided to tweak a few common terms—mostly to protect ourselves, but also a little bit to declare that we can all keep playing without them if it came down to it. Not that they noticed, because in the grand scheme of things, we’re just a bug on their windshield.
Anyway, if you can’t figure out that a berserker is basically a barbarian, a knight is more or less a paladin, and the damned are warlocks, you’ve got bigger problems than a glossary or a few vocabulary swaps will fix.
Navigating This Book
Inside Gothic Fables, you'll find everything you need to run a world where gothic horror meets heroic fantasy. Expect dread, mystery, and choices that will leave your characters questioning their every move.
Worldbuilding: Forget the cheerful villages and lush forests. This is a land where the past never dies, and old curses cling to every stone. From decaying manors haunted by unspeakable horrors to crypts housing restless spirits, you’ll shape a setting steeped in decay and fear. It’s a world where ancient forces toy with fate, and the line between hero and victim is thin.
Characters: This isn’t about how high you can roll. It’s about who your characters really are and what drives them. Fear, ambition, desperation—these will be your tools. Characters will struggle with their pasts, haunted by dark secrets, while confronting forces beyond their understanding. And let’s be clear: not everyone makes it out with their sanity intact.
Factions: Power isn’t clean or simple. It’s shadowy, hidden, and corrupt. Secret brotherhoods plotting dark rituals, twisted nobility enforcing cruel laws, and clergy that seem more aligned with the underworld than the heavens. Every faction has its own agenda, and they’re not above using your characters as pawns in their games.
Creatures: Monsters aren’t just obstacles to be cut down—they’re the stuff of nightmares. Twisted by magic, tragedy, or vengeance, these creatures embody the fears lurking in dark corners of the world. They’re symbols of the land’s decay, forces that can’t be easily defeated. Your characters will face beasts that challenge not just their strength but their very will to survive.
Magic: Here, magic is dangerous. Forget fireballs and lightning bolts—this is old magic. Dark, ritualistic, and costly. Spells come with risks, rituals demand sacrifices, and even the most powerful mages are never truly in control. Every choice to use magic is a gamble, one that could cost your character their soul.
Magic Items: Artifacts carry a price. They’re cursed relics, heirlooms tied to bloodlines and dark histories. Wielding one might give your character an edge, but it’ll come at the cost of their humanity. These aren’t shiny baubles; they’re traps waiting to spring.
Adventures: Ready-made stories will throw your characters into tales of gothic horror, where choices aren’t just hard—they’re impossible. Expect betrayal, madness, and endings that leave scars. Your characters won’t just face challenges; they’ll face the consequences of their every decision.
Reference: You’ll get stock characters, creatures, and items to flesh out your world, along with tips for adapting everything to your system. There’s also a glossary to help you get a better grip on the world of gothic horror and heroic fantasy.
The Simple Approach
To understand this book, you need to know the context in which it was written and the philosophy that runs through it. At its core, The Simple Approach emphasizes the elements that truly matter in roleplaying: narrative depth, character complexity, and player agency. While plenty of systems are still obsessed with combat, loot, and grinding, we know roleplaying can be so much more. This system is all about immersive storytelling, meaningful choices, and characters you actually care about. Whether you're uncovering hidden secrets, solving a gripping mystery, or exploring the complexities of romance, The Simple Approach offers a fresh take on traditional genres like fantasy, science fiction, and horror, along with modern and underserved ones like crime & mystery, cottagecore fantasy, dark academia, magical realism, romance, and espionage.
Narrative-Based Mechanics
At the heart of The Simple Approach are narrative-based mechanics that are easy to learn and designed to grow with you as you play. They let you tweak what’s here and add things we haven’t thought of yet. The journaling system replaces those one-size-fits-none character sheets, giving gamemasters a flexible tool for organizing worldbuilding, adventure design, and session notes and players ample room to allow their character to grow. Every character, setting, and adventure becomes a unique creation shaped by your choices.
Seamless Integration and Flexibility
Gothic Fables isn’t a standalone roleplaying experience. You can blend it seamlessly with other Lightspress publications to create one-of-a-kind stories and settings or bring elements from other systems into your Lightspress game. If you want to use our material with your favorite system or setting, go for it. The conversion notes in the Lightspress Handbook give you the flexibility to play how you want.
Our Philosophy
We believe the true essence of roleplaying happens around the table, where creativity and collaboration come alive. It’s not about a book, a brand, or a company. It’s about the people playing together, creating something special. Our focus on cooperation, interaction, and investigation ensures that every session is more than just a game; it’s a journey filled with compelling adventures and meaningful connections. We stand by our belief that the heart of roleplaying is found in shared experiences and stories crafted by the players. This philosophy drives everything in The Simple Approach and underpins our commitment to delivering content that champions the true spirit of roleplaying, free from superficial constraints.
Commitment to Creative Freedom
This philosophy also guides our belief that creators should own their work and not be beholden to licensing terms that only benefit fickle corporations. We draw inspiration from historical, mythological, and literary sources, tapping into our shared heritage to fuel creative exploration. We maintain full copyright ownership, ensuring that our work stays independent and true to our vision. Using style guides to keep a cohesive voice and narrative structure, we deliver exceptional content free from external influences, preserving the integrity and creative standards of our work.
Accessible and Affordable Roleplaying
We’re committed to keeping our games affordable so that more people can enjoy them. Our focus isn’t on producing overstuffed, expensive books filled with art to collect dust on a shelf. We’re here to create material meant to be played, not displayed. You won’t find us chasing awards or turning our games into glorified coffee-table books. Our goal is to facilitate roleplaying, pure and simple, keeping the price points low so you can focus on the game, not your wallet.
Stay Connected and Join Us
If you’re tired of the same old grind and ready to try something that actually respects your input, then The Simple Approach is calling your name. We’re not just offering a game. We’re inviting you to join a movement, a way of playing that values your time, creativity, and agency.
For more on The Simple Approach and our unorthodox take on roleplaying, visit lightspress.com. Subscribe to our newsletter, The Manifesto, for updates on new releases, roleplaying advice, and a healthy dose of our opinions. If you’re ready to embrace something different, download the free Lightspress Handbook—your guide to what we’re all about.
Gothic Fables takes gothic horror and mashes it with heroic fantasy roleplaying. This isn't about just hacking through monsters or slinging spells. It's a story-focused, character-driven experience where the decisions you make—yes, you—will haunt you long after the dice stop rolling.
The real magic here lies in the imagination, collaboration, and agency baked into every session. You’re not just following a script. You and your fellow players are creating the story as you go, with every action shaping the narrative. Make a bad choice? Get ready to live with the consequences. Embrace your fate? You just might survive, but probably not in one piece.
Fans of gothic horror are going to love the brooding atmosphere and the dark, twisted tales, but this isn't just your standard "creepy mansion and foggy graveyard" deal. Sure, those might make an appearance, but Gothic Fables brings something fresh to the table. This is gothic horror with a fantasy edge—heroes pitted against ancient curses, forbidden magic, and unsettling mysteries lurking in every shadow.
If you're looking for a new way to scare the life out of your characters while keeping the stakes high and the drama intense, this is the game for you.
A Universal Sourcebook
You don’t need it to play any of our games using The Simple Approach, but it’s here to spice things up if you want. It’s also written to be functionally system-agnostic, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. There are notes at the end to help with conversion, and if you’re need more advice in translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Legacy Editions
Legacy Editions are classic Lightspress titles, refreshed with updated design and a quick pass from our current editorial team. While they may not hit the same marks as our latest releases, they still bring solid value to your roleplaying collection without breaking the bank.
Terminology
This book comes from a time when a certain massive corporation thought it could rewrite the rules and claim ownership over everything, including words that existed long before it did. Even though we weren’t doing anything wrong, we decided to tweak a few common terms—mostly to protect ourselves, but also a little bit to declare that we can all keep playing without them if it came down to it. Not that they noticed, because in the grand scheme of things, we’re just a bug on their windshield.
Anyway, if you can’t figure out that a berserker is basically a barbarian, a knight is more or less a paladin, and the damned are warlocks, you’ve got bigger problems than a glossary or a few vocabulary swaps will fix.
Navigating This Book
Inside Gothic Fables, you'll find everything you need to run a world where gothic horror meets heroic fantasy. Expect dread, mystery, and choices that will leave your characters questioning their every move.
Worldbuilding: Forget the cheerful villages and lush forests. This is a land where the past never dies, and old curses cling to every stone. From decaying manors haunted by unspeakable horrors to crypts housing restless spirits, you’ll shape a setting steeped in decay and fear. It’s a world where ancient forces toy with fate, and the line between hero and victim is thin.
Characters: This isn’t about how high you can roll. It’s about who your characters really are and what drives them. Fear, ambition, desperation—these will be your tools. Characters will struggle with their pasts, haunted by dark secrets, while confronting forces beyond their understanding. And let’s be clear: not everyone makes it out with their sanity intact.
Factions: Power isn’t clean or simple. It’s shadowy, hidden, and corrupt. Secret brotherhoods plotting dark rituals, twisted nobility enforcing cruel laws, and clergy that seem more aligned with the underworld than the heavens. Every faction has its own agenda, and they’re not above using your characters as pawns in their games.
Creatures: Monsters aren’t just obstacles to be cut down—they’re the stuff of nightmares. Twisted by magic, tragedy, or vengeance, these creatures embody the fears lurking in dark corners of the world. They’re symbols of the land’s decay, forces that can’t be easily defeated. Your characters will face beasts that challenge not just their strength but their very will to survive.
Magic: Here, magic is dangerous. Forget fireballs and lightning bolts—this is old magic. Dark, ritualistic, and costly. Spells come with risks, rituals demand sacrifices, and even the most powerful mages are never truly in control. Every choice to use magic is a gamble, one that could cost your character their soul.
Magic Items: Artifacts carry a price. They’re cursed relics, heirlooms tied to bloodlines and dark histories. Wielding one might give your character an edge, but it’ll come at the cost of their humanity. These aren’t shiny baubles; they’re traps waiting to spring.
Adventures: Ready-made stories will throw your characters into tales of gothic horror, where choices aren’t just hard—they’re impossible. Expect betrayal, madness, and endings that leave scars. Your characters won’t just face challenges; they’ll face the consequences of their every decision.
Reference: You’ll get stock characters, creatures, and items to flesh out your world, along with tips for adapting everything to your system. There’s also a glossary to help you get a better grip on the world of gothic horror and heroic fantasy.
The Simple Approach
To understand this book, you need to know the context in which it was written and the philosophy that runs through it. At its core, The Simple Approach emphasizes the elements that truly matter in roleplaying: narrative depth, character complexity, and player agency. While plenty of systems are still obsessed with combat, loot, and grinding, we know roleplaying can be so much more. This system is all about immersive storytelling, meaningful choices, and characters you actually care about. Whether you're uncovering hidden secrets, solving a gripping mystery, or exploring the complexities of romance, The Simple Approach offers a fresh take on traditional genres like fantasy, science fiction, and horror, along with modern and underserved ones like crime & mystery, cottagecore fantasy, dark academia, magical realism, romance, and espionage.
Narrative-Based Mechanics
At the heart of The Simple Approach are narrative-based mechanics that are easy to learn and designed to grow with you as you play. They let you tweak what’s here and add things we haven’t thought of yet. The journaling system replaces those one-size-fits-none character sheets, giving gamemasters a flexible tool for organizing worldbuilding, adventure design, and session notes and players ample room to allow their character to grow. Every character, setting, and adventure becomes a unique creation shaped by your choices.
Seamless Integration and Flexibility
Gothic Fables isn’t a standalone roleplaying experience. You can blend it seamlessly with other Lightspress publications to create one-of-a-kind stories and settings or bring elements from other systems into your Lightspress game. If you want to use our material with your favorite system or setting, go for it. The conversion notes in the Lightspress Handbook give you the flexibility to play how you want.
Our Philosophy
We believe the true essence of roleplaying happens around the table, where creativity and collaboration come alive. It’s not about a book, a brand, or a company. It’s about the people playing together, creating something special. Our focus on cooperation, interaction, and investigation ensures that every session is more than just a game; it’s a journey filled with compelling adventures and meaningful connections. We stand by our belief that the heart of roleplaying is found in shared experiences and stories crafted by the players. This philosophy drives everything in The Simple Approach and underpins our commitment to delivering content that champions the true spirit of roleplaying, free from superficial constraints.
Commitment to Creative Freedom
This philosophy also guides our belief that creators should own their work and not be beholden to licensing terms that only benefit fickle corporations. We draw inspiration from historical, mythological, and literary sources, tapping into our shared heritage to fuel creative exploration. We maintain full copyright ownership, ensuring that our work stays independent and true to our vision. Using style guides to keep a cohesive voice and narrative structure, we deliver exceptional content free from external influences, preserving the integrity and creative standards of our work.
Accessible and Affordable Roleplaying
We’re committed to keeping our games affordable so that more people can enjoy them. Our focus isn’t on producing overstuffed, expensive books filled with art to collect dust on a shelf. We’re here to create material meant to be played, not displayed. You won’t find us chasing awards or turning our games into glorified coffee-table books. Our goal is to facilitate roleplaying, pure and simple, keeping the price points low so you can focus on the game, not your wallet.
Stay Connected and Join Us
If you’re tired of the same old grind and ready to try something that actually respects your input, then The Simple Approach is calling your name. We’re not just offering a game. We’re inviting you to join a movement, a way of playing that values your time, creativity, and agency.
For more on The Simple Approach and our unorthodox take on roleplaying, visit lightspress.com. Subscribe to our newsletter, The Manifesto, for updates on new releases, roleplaying advice, and a healthy dose of our opinions. If you’re ready to embrace something different, download the free Lightspress Handbook—your guide to what we’re all about.
Gothic Fables takes gothic horror and mashes it with heroic fantasy roleplaying. This isn't about just hacking through monsters or slinging spells. It's a story-focused, character-driven experience where the decisions you make—yes, you—will haunt you long after the dice stop rolling.
The real magic here lies in the imagination, collaboration, and agency baked into every session. You’re not just following a script. You and your fellow players are creating the story as you go, with every action shaping the narrative. Make a bad choice? Get ready to live with the consequences. Embrace your fate? You just might survive, but probably not in one piece.
Fans of gothic horror are going to love the brooding atmosphere and the dark, twisted tales, but this isn't just your standard "creepy mansion and foggy graveyard" deal. Sure, those might make an appearance, but Gothic Fables brings something fresh to the table. This is gothic horror with a fantasy edge—heroes pitted against ancient curses, forbidden magic, and unsettling mysteries lurking in every shadow.
If you're looking for a new way to scare the life out of your characters while keeping the stakes high and the drama intense, this is the game for you.
A Universal Sourcebook
You don’t need it to play any of our games using The Simple Approach, but it’s here to spice things up if you want. It’s also written to be functionally system-agnostic, so feel free to throw its elements into any other roleplaying system your choice.
If you’re looking to use it with a different roleplaying system, don’t worry. There are notes at the end to help with conversion, and if you’re need more advice in translating material between systems, grab the Lightspress Handbook, available wherever you found this book.
Legacy Editions
Legacy Editions are classic Lightspress titles, refreshed with updated design and a quick pass from our current editorial team. While they may not hit the same marks as our latest releases, they still bring solid value to your roleplaying collection without breaking the bank.
Terminology
This book comes from a time when a certain massive corporation thought it could rewrite the rules and claim ownership over everything, including words that existed long before it did. Even though we weren’t doing anything wrong, we decided to tweak a few common terms—mostly to protect ourselves, but also a little bit to declare that we can all keep playing without them if it came down to it. Not that they noticed, because in the grand scheme of things, we’re just a bug on their windshield.
Anyway, if you can’t figure out that a berserker is basically a barbarian, a knight is more or less a paladin, and the damned are warlocks, you’ve got bigger problems than a glossary or a few vocabulary swaps will fix.
Navigating This Book
Inside Gothic Fables, you'll find everything you need to run a world where gothic horror meets heroic fantasy. Expect dread, mystery, and choices that will leave your characters questioning their every move.
Worldbuilding: Forget the cheerful villages and lush forests. This is a land where the past never dies, and old curses cling to every stone. From decaying manors haunted by unspeakable horrors to crypts housing restless spirits, you’ll shape a setting steeped in decay and fear. It’s a world where ancient forces toy with fate, and the line between hero and victim is thin.
Characters: This isn’t about how high you can roll. It’s about who your characters really are and what drives them. Fear, ambition, desperation—these will be your tools. Characters will struggle with their pasts, haunted by dark secrets, while confronting forces beyond their understanding. And let’s be clear: not everyone makes it out with their sanity intact.
Factions: Power isn’t clean or simple. It’s shadowy, hidden, and corrupt. Secret brotherhoods plotting dark rituals, twisted nobility enforcing cruel laws, and clergy that seem more aligned with the underworld than the heavens. Every faction has its own agenda, and they’re not above using your characters as pawns in their games.
Creatures: Monsters aren’t just obstacles to be cut down—they’re the stuff of nightmares. Twisted by magic, tragedy, or vengeance, these creatures embody the fears lurking in dark corners of the world. They’re symbols of the land’s decay, forces that can’t be easily defeated. Your characters will face beasts that challenge not just their strength but their very will to survive.
Magic: Here, magic is dangerous. Forget fireballs and lightning bolts—this is old magic. Dark, ritualistic, and costly. Spells come with risks, rituals demand sacrifices, and even the most powerful mages are never truly in control. Every choice to use magic is a gamble, one that could cost your character their soul.
Magic Items: Artifacts carry a price. They’re cursed relics, heirlooms tied to bloodlines and dark histories. Wielding one might give your character an edge, but it’ll come at the cost of their humanity. These aren’t shiny baubles; they’re traps waiting to spring.
Adventures: Ready-made stories will throw your characters into tales of gothic horror, where choices aren’t just hard—they’re impossible. Expect betrayal, madness, and endings that leave scars. Your characters won’t just face challenges; they’ll face the consequences of their every decision.
Reference: You’ll get stock characters, creatures, and items to flesh out your world, along with tips for adapting everything to your system. There’s also a glossary to help you get a better grip on the world of gothic horror and heroic fantasy.
The Simple Approach
To understand this book, you need to know the context in which it was written and the philosophy that runs through it. At its core, The Simple Approach emphasizes the elements that truly matter in roleplaying: narrative depth, character complexity, and player agency. While plenty of systems are still obsessed with combat, loot, and grinding, we know roleplaying can be so much more. This system is all about immersive storytelling, meaningful choices, and characters you actually care about. Whether you're uncovering hidden secrets, solving a gripping mystery, or exploring the complexities of romance, The Simple Approach offers a fresh take on traditional genres like fantasy, science fiction, and horror, along with modern and underserved ones like crime & mystery, cottagecore fantasy, dark academia, magical realism, romance, and espionage.
Narrative-Based Mechanics
At the heart of The Simple Approach are narrative-based mechanics that are easy to learn and designed to grow with you as you play. They let you tweak what’s here and add things we haven’t thought of yet. The journaling system replaces those one-size-fits-none character sheets, giving gamemasters a flexible tool for organizing worldbuilding, adventure design, and session notes and players ample room to allow their character to grow. Every character, setting, and adventure becomes a unique creation shaped by your choices.
Seamless Integration and Flexibility
Gothic Fables isn’t a standalone roleplaying experience. You can blend it seamlessly with other Lightspress publications to create one-of-a-kind stories and settings or bring elements from other systems into your Lightspress game. If you want to use our material with your favorite system or setting, go for it. The conversion notes in the Lightspress Handbook give you the flexibility to play how you want.
Our Philosophy
We believe the true essence of roleplaying happens around the table, where creativity and collaboration come alive. It’s not about a book, a brand, or a company. It’s about the people playing together, creating something special. Our focus on cooperation, interaction, and investigation ensures that every session is more than just a game; it’s a journey filled with compelling adventures and meaningful connections. We stand by our belief that the heart of roleplaying is found in shared experiences and stories crafted by the players. This philosophy drives everything in The Simple Approach and underpins our commitment to delivering content that champions the true spirit of roleplaying, free from superficial constraints.
Commitment to Creative Freedom
This philosophy also guides our belief that creators should own their work and not be beholden to licensing terms that only benefit fickle corporations. We draw inspiration from historical, mythological, and literary sources, tapping into our shared heritage to fuel creative exploration. We maintain full copyright ownership, ensuring that our work stays independent and true to our vision. Using style guides to keep a cohesive voice and narrative structure, we deliver exceptional content free from external influences, preserving the integrity and creative standards of our work.
Accessible and Affordable Roleplaying
We’re committed to keeping our games affordable so that more people can enjoy them. Our focus isn’t on producing overstuffed, expensive books filled with art to collect dust on a shelf. We’re here to create material meant to be played, not displayed. You won’t find us chasing awards or turning our games into glorified coffee-table books. Our goal is to facilitate roleplaying, pure and simple, keeping the price points low so you can focus on the game, not your wallet.
Stay Connected and Join Us
If you’re tired of the same old grind and ready to try something that actually respects your input, then The Simple Approach is calling your name. We’re not just offering a game. We’re inviting you to join a movement, a way of playing that values your time, creativity, and agency.
For more on The Simple Approach and our unorthodox take on roleplaying, visit lightspress.com. Subscribe to our newsletter, The Manifesto, for updates on new releases, roleplaying advice, and a healthy dose of our opinions. If you’re ready to embrace something different, download the free Lightspress Handbook—your guide to what we’re all about.