The Between - Victorian hunters of the supernatural

[Silva]

This looks good and i'm considering getting the PDF. Anybody here played or read it?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/360858/The-Between

https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/blog/design-diary-the-between-01

"What is The Between?
The Between is about a group of monster hunters in Victorian London. It is directly inspired by the TV show Penny Dreadful, but also takes inspiration from British horror classics like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and various Sherlock Holmes stories, as well as the comic books The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell.

The game is called The Between because we find the characters in a very liminal moment–caught between a mysterious past that is trying to catch up to them and a future that is cloaked in darkness. It is also called The Between because, unlike many tabletop roleplaying games, the players in this game do not live solely behind their character’s eyes; rather, at specific times they are called upon to help the D.I. (this game’s version of a GM) fill in many of the details related to the world.

What is it like to play?
In The Between, the D.I. presents and tracks an ever-growing list of Threats across the city of London. The players, collectively called Hargrave House (which is the name of their base of operations) conduct investigations related to these Threats and either engage in hunts to destroy them or otherwise enact plans to manage the danger they pose to the city. The D.I. is also responsible for developing an uber-Threat called The Enemy, a Moriarty-style criminal mastermind and the true villain of the story.

Gameplay is divided into two phases: the Day phase and the Night phase. The Day phase has a languid, almost casual pace. The scenes in the Day phase are largely framed by the players, and the goals of those scenes include some combination of: exploring conflicts and tension between the player characters; relieving Conditions, which are negative traits the players can acquire during play; observing the player characters at leisure; and conducting light, daytime-appropriate investigation of Threats.

The Night phase, on the other hand, is more visceral. The scenes in this phase are framed by the D.I. and focus on the intense, bloody business of hunting vampires and serial killers on the lamplit streets of London. The pacing of this phase is governed by a special procedure called the Overscene, which I will discuss a bit below..."

 

[deuxhero]

the players in this game do not live solely behind their character’s eyes; rather, at specific times they are called upon to help the D.I. (this game’s version of a GM) fill in many of the details related to the world.

So they're selling a world, but that world isn't even complete? Why not just play a 19th century set Monster Hunter International game?

 

[Silva]

Players contributing to the world is not so rare in more narrative games like Fate, Cortex, Blades in the Dark, etc. which seems to be this game's style.

What I'm intrigued about is the mysteries system, which apparently have players solving them by cumulating clues and then coming uip with the solutions themselves (?) / aka the GM has no idea what's going on either. Some friends played it and swear it's a super cool little system.

I'll try to read it and post some impressions.

 

[Eldagusto]

This game sounds very crisply focused color me interested. I love the mix of Victorian Era and Horror, that is why Bloodborne and A Study in Emerald are so groovy.

 

[Silva]

This game sounds very crisply focused color me interested. I love the mix of Victorian Era and Horror, that is why Bloodborne and A Study in Emerald are so groovy.

Indeed. There's even a class that's exactly like a Bloodborne protag: the American, which is a gunslinger thats also cursed/a werewolf.

That said, the classes that excite me the most are the mundane ones, Factotum and Explorer.

 

[Arbaces]

So they're selling a world, but that world isn't even complete?

Almost all mediocre RPG and wargame kickstarters are like this. The mechanics are inevitably a legal fiction, only the bare minimum of rules ripped off from better games to serve as a vessel for the art and writing that is the real passion of the authors. The whole collaborative storytelling things is just a fad caused by the attention Apocalypse World received (possibly due to the fact that one of the biggest streamed tabletop game I can recall from before Critical Role existed was AW). I believe they are so barebones because actual games designed by people who know what they're doing can find a publisher, so Kickstarter catches all the vanity press art projects with style but no substance.

 

[Alex]

(...snip)
What I'm intrigued about is the mysteries system, which apparently have players solving them by cumulating clues and then coming uip with the solutions themselves (?) / aka the GM has no idea what's going on either.
(snip...)

Damnit. I blame Ron Edwards for this.

 

[Silva]

So they're selling a world, but that world isn't even complete?

Almost all mediocre RPG and wargame kickstarters are like this. The mechanics are inevitably a legal fiction, only the bare minimum of rules ripped off from better games to serve as a vessel for the art and writing that is the real passion of the authors. The whole collaborative storytelling things is just a fad caused by the attention Apocalypse World received (possibly due to the fact that one of the biggest streamed tabletop game I can recall from before Critical Role existed was AW). I believe they are so barebones because actual games designed by people who know what they're doing can find a publisher, so Kickstarter catches all the vanity press art projects with style but no substance.

What a load of bullshit.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I don't do kickstarters but I'm interested.

 

[Erebus]

Someone who just took a look at the illustration and didn't read the description in detail would be entitled to think that this is going to be a supernatural romance RPG.

 

[Silva]

Season 2 is out on Drivethrough.

"Season 2 of The Between expands the innovative game of gothic horror with a new playbook, a new Mastermind, and 4 new Threats. You must have a copy of The Between to use this material.
Details of what you'll find in Season 2:

The Unquiet A new hunter is joining Hargrave House: The Unquiet! This character is the ghost of a hunter who lived in Hargrave House many decades ago. They were betrayed by one of their contemporaries, and are now haunting Hargrave House until they can destroy the descendant of the one who betrayed them. They will help the current residents of Hargrave House until they are able to exact their revenge.
Admiral Flagg A new, terrifying enemy has appeared to challenge Hargrave House: Vice Admiral Flagg! Unlike Theodora Brathwaite, Admiral Flagg considers himself a loyal servant of the Queen. Unfortunately, that loyalty entails destroying the city of London itself, which Flagg considers to be a rot and stain on the British Empire. Admiral Flagg introduces elements of cosmic horror to your campaign of The Between.
The Spider Silk Seamstress The Spider Silk Seamstress is a new Threat by Gabriel Robinson. It introduces the world of the Fae to The Between. Sir Richard Harlowe, an ally of Hargrave House, has been found dead, hollowed out and wrapped in silk-like threads. Hargrave House learns that a Fae creature in the guise of an alluring fashion designer is behind the murder. Can they stop the Fae creature before she claims more victims among London's social elite?
The Demon of Kilburn Abbey The Demon of Kilburn Abbey is a new Threat by Petra Volkhausen. It introduces demonic terrors to The Between. The monks of Kilburn Abbey are being tormented by an unholy entity after recent renovation work: the corpse of a young girl was found walled up in the abbey, and whatever dark forces she summoned to her while trapped there is now loose in the world. Can Hargrave House banish the demon... or will they choose a darker path that sees them trying to control it for their own ends?
The St. Petersburg Mirror The St. Petersburg Mirror is a new Threat by David Morrison. Along with The Whateley Camera from Season 1, it's the second Threat that focuses on an object of power. A young civil servant is being blackmailed by shadowy forces that use a supposed medium, Madam Serafima, to gather information about their marks. Hargrave House wouldn't normally be interested in such a matter, if not for some details that indicate Madam Serafima might possess an actual object of power, the legendary St. Petersburg Mirror.
The West End Wraith The West End Wraith is a new Threat by David Morrison. It's inspired by The Phantom of theOperaand The Hunchback of Notre Dame. A popular musical venue in the West End is being "haunted" by the so-called West End Wraith. But is the Wraith really a wraith, and are their intentions actually foul, or are their actions a misguided attempt to protect someone who works at the venue? Hargrave House investigates to uncover the truth of the matter. "