The Grim Gazette - A Collection Of Victorian Horror TTRPGs
Created by Parable Games
Five sinister games, one cruel campaign. A collection of rules-light TTRPGs delving into the creeping horrors in Victorian London.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Under 72 Hours Remaining! - Grim Gazette Game #5 - Monkey’s Paw
6 months ago
– Mon, Nov 03, 2025 at 08:37:07 AM
Welcome to the Grim Gazette, dear reader, where each turn of the page is a new adventure, a surprise tragedy to overcome, or a fresh mystery to uncover…
We should always be careful who we trust and get close to us, you never know what their past may be, what grudges they may hold, or links to the occult they may possess. They could be your end, murdering you when you least expect it. But dark magic always has a price, rarely in the users favour. What if your death wasn’t your end, but an opportunity to seek justice for your own murder?
Just remember, revenge is a rotten business, even for the undead…
What is Monkey’s Paw?
Monkey’s Paw is a solo roleplaying game where you have risen from the dead to seek revenge on your five murderers, using the corruptive power of a strange artefact, a Monkey’s Paw, to do so. This petrified hand works like a genie's lamp, but with 5 wishes instead of 3, each wish cracking a finger down until the hand is fully closed.
Be warned, your revenge has a price, and although the Monkey’s Paw will help you get what you want, it will hasten your return to the grave in a grisly fashion.
An undead adventurer plots his next move...
The World of Monkey’s Paw
Victorians had a fascination with the occult, the upper classes holding seances, researching magic, and telling ghost stories all in the pursuit of entertainment. In the world of the Grim Gazette however, this is not just some fad for the rich, the occult is very much real and has dark and deadly consequences, often used to gain riches, power and control.
Communing with a demonic deity, dark pacts made with beings in the shadows, and cursed artefacts of immeasurable power, are all things sought by these power-hungry characters, and you have found yourself an unfortunate victim in their crosshairs.
In this world of dark magic and occult deals, sometimes the only way to get justice is to fight fire with fire, or in this case, dark magic with something even darker.
Gameplay
Monkey’s Paw is a blend of solo roleplaying, journaling, and dice rolling, all coming together so you can plot your vengeance for the five fiends responsible for your death. Start the game by creating the devious villains from your character’s past, build up their dark deeds, and then plan their downfall.
Armed only with your cunning, occult knowledge, and (most importantly) a fistful of wishes from the cursed Monkey’s Paw. With each wish upon the paw that you make, your mind and body will decay further, as you descend upon the damned road of vengeance.
When all five fingers are curled up into the monkey's palm, there will be no more wishes. The afterlife awaits you, as you fade away and return one final time to the land of the dead.
The Campaign Guide - Death, Resurrection and Revenge
This marks the end of your character’s life, their last hurrah. You have died. But its not over, not quite yet. Letting your murder slide is something you are not willing to do, so you are back with a vengeance before dying for a second time.
The identity of your murderers may seem familiar in the campaign mode of the Grim Gazette, the option to bring back enemies from any chapter you have played as one of your killers being a main feature. This is where your legacy has come home to roost, the enemies you made in your past being your end. Doesn’t mean they can get away with it though…
Under 72 Hours Remain to Back!
We have under 3 days left in the campaign for you to back the Grim Gazette! Please let us know if you have questions, things you'd like to see, or things you're excited for in the comments below!
Happy Halloween! Let's explore the Grim Gazette: Game #4 - The Haunted Manor 👻
6 months ago
– Fri, Oct 31, 2025 at 06:23:36 AM
Happy Halloween from Parable Games! 🎃
Happy Halloween our dear ghosts and ghouls, we hope you are all delighting in tricks, treats, and other spooky delights this season! Speaking of creepy goodies, lets take a peak inside our own haunted house and see what waits inside...
Grim Gazette: Game #4 - The Haunted Manor
Welcome to the Grim Gazette, dear reader, where each turn of the page is a new adventure, a surprise tragedy to overcome, or a fresh mystery to uncover…
Your characters life is drawing to a close and retirement beckons. Time to hang up the binoculars, light your pipe and sink deep into that wingback chair.
Unfortunately you may be done with your past but it certainly isn't done with you. The horrors of your life, your choices and your ghosts are here to haunt you in your twilight years. So get ready to build your haunted house, fill it with unresolved skeletons in numerous closets and get thoroughly spooked in 'The Haunted Manor'.
What is The Haunted Manor?
The Haunted Manor is a Multiplayer/Solo roleplaying game where our Victorian characters are entering their final years and wish to retire. But their ghosts will not let them retreat quietly into the night.
Together (or alone) players will creates a haunted house and then populate it with their character's darkest secrets and past misdeed in the form of spirit, ghouls and other denizens of abodes under a spiritual malaise.
After building their house and filling it with unpaid spiritual debts its up to them to explore their new home and try and put those spectres to bed before they become their doom.
The World of The Haunted Manor
This interconnected world of Victorian horror that the games of the Grim Gazette are set within is positively packed with places your character could retire to and become haunted.
An archaic schloss in the mountains abroad. A creaking manor in the woods. Your childhood home fallen to wrack and ruin. A haunted house doesn't have to have turrets, stained glass and flickering candles to be filled with terror.
Gameplay
Games of 'The Haunted Manor' are split into two parts. Creating the house, and the haunting.
In the first phase of the game the house is created. In a multiplayer game this is led by 'The Architect', in a solo playthrough the player becomes the architect as well. This means two things. Initially creating the physical house itself. Descriptions, rooms, special items and features which players will combine together to create the location in which the haunting takes place.
Secondly they will then populate the house with their characters past misdeeds and regrets coming back to haunt them. This process sees players dig into their characters experiences in previous stories and unearthing their darkest secrets that they'd like to explore and perhaps resolve.
Once both these steps have been completed players move on to the haunting itself. In a multiplayer game the haunting is controlled by the Architect, in a solo game it is controlled by the game itself.
Players will then guide their characters through the house solving the mysteries that are causing the haunting and hopefully finding some interesting things out about their own and others characters along the way. They may also be brutally murdered by ghouls...
The Campaign Guide - On the shores of the Styx!
As the penultimate game in your character's journey from cradle to grave this game gives you a chance to explore all the stones they've left unturned. A final chance to make amends, resolve things unsaid and hopefully pay the ferryman with no regrets.
It is also an opportunity to bring back past foes, betrayals and regrets of your characters past. Your past games will literally haunt you and add a personal touch to this phantasmal fright fest!
Grim Gazette Game #3 - Stolen Child
6 months ago
– Wed, Oct 29, 2025 at 07:18:32 AM
Grim Gazette Game #3 - Stolen Child
Welcome to the Grim Gazette, dear reader, where each turn of the page is a new adventure, a surprise tragedy to overcome, or a fresh mystery to uncover…
When a life of galivanting around the globe begins to feel tiresome, you may long for something else, a chance to settle down - a family. Retreating away from the hustle and bustle of the Old Smoke, you take to the country, a quiet town or village, nestled in nature and safety. Or so you thought…
Horror has a funny way of finding you, and has now taken less of an interest in you, but your offspring instead. What lengths would you go to, to save your family?
What is Stolen Child?
Stolen Child is a Multiplayer/Solo roleplaying game where players roleplay as desperate parents hunting down their children who have been whisked away by malicious faeries.
Follow the trail, interrogate tricksy fae creatures, and discover the faery door to another world and your children.
The World of Stolen Child
Inspired by old folklore tomes, local legends, and Celtic Revival poetry (the W.B Yeats poem being where the game gets its name!), the world of Stolen Child takes the countryside idyll and turns it into a labyrinth of panic and terror.
The Fae have power over the natural world and warp it to keep their pursuers at bay, a once-friendly forest becoming a confusing nightmare for those brave enough to enter it. The world the players know will become more twisted the closer to their goal they become.
This hunt culminates in a Faery Door, an entrance to the Fae Realm, a cold and unwelcoming place, somewhere completely alien to humans, and the stolen children’s new home. Each Faery’s home beyond these doors is unique and strange, their environment reflecting their capricious and unstable nature.
Gameplay
The Courtmaster runs the game in multiplayer, embodying the faeries, telling the story and setting scenes and challenges for players to overcome. A variety of roll tables can help them quickly decide which faery is the cruel kidnapper, all the way to what season the kidnapping takes place in.
Working together, to save your stolen loved ones, the game has players work together using a pack of regular playing cards to overcome obstacles and enemies. Players will bluff, gamble, play card hands, and use special abilities in their challenges - set facedown by the Courtmaster.
The character's background and profession give them abilities, usually associated with a particular suit, in order to play tricks of their own against their faery foes.
You will progress through the material world and into the fae realm playing through scenes in your story. In each scene, characters face a set of challenges that they must overcome to discover clues and information to let them carry on in their quest. This could be anything from punching a Pixie, to bribing a Redcap with fresh meat.
The Solo mode sees players laying cards facedown ofr themselves to uncover and overcome, taking notes, and journaling how their scenes play out as they hunt for their missing child.
Be careful not to overplay your hand, lose all of your cards, and you will perish, your child lost to the Faerie Realm forever. And remember, faeries are not afraid to play dirty…
The Campaign Guide - Fractured Families
This was meant to be a quiet moment in your character's life, a time to settle down and put adventure and danger behind you. However, even though you may be done with the weirdness in the world, it's not done with you.
Introducing new characters, family, and people who are not of the adventuring life adds a new point of fragility to your character. You may have survived the horrors of your past, but your new family are now in danger due to their proximity to you. Losing someone here will have an impact moving forward…
Cover Close Look
Want a closer look at the cover design for this book? Here it is, depicting the moment a group of parents catch up with the kidnapper as they reach the faery door:
Let us know what kind of faery you are looking forward to facing down in the comments!
