Check out The Darkest House yourself! Download the preview for Mac OS or Windows to experience this new product format and explore a few rooms in the House that Hungers!
That house on the outskirts of town, sitting empty behind a crumbling wall. The one people whisper about. The one that has gone unlived in for years. Sometimes a few hearty souls creep in, it is said, to see what treasures or secrets they can find. Most find nothing—just an empty old house. Some return shaken. A few don’t return at all.
You’ve seen this house before. If not in this city, then in some other. You’ve heard the rumors—and if not, well, someday they’ll find you.
What happens to a house when it sits alone for so many long years? What jealousies and hatreds does it quietly nurture? What whispers echo through its empty hallways? What waits, crouched within its dark rooms, hungering for the return of life?
For you.
The Darkest House is an entirely new type of tabletop RPG product. It’s made for the game you’re playing right now, to be integrated into—and to improve—your campaign regardless of the setting or game system. And its new form factor is uniquely optimized for online play. The Darkest House will improve the way you run and play RPGs online, and it’ll improve the characters, party, and campaign you’re currently playing. Along the way, you’ll immerse yourself in an incredible horror experience unlike anything you’ve encountered before!
A New Type of RPG Product
The Darkest House is a digital product designed for the needs of a game being run and played online—and built to take maximum advantage of that mode of play. Think of it like an RPG book that’s been reimagined from the ground up for the online environment, with pages formatted for your screen, easily-sharable resources, no page-flipping, intuitive navigation, and additional features that don’t just make online gaming easier—they take advantage of its unique nature to deliver a better RPG experience. Your players may find the Darkest House a daunting challenge, but you’ll find it amazingly easy to GM.
The Darkest House works with your preferred online TTRPG platform. You run it on Zoom or Discord, or a virtual tabletop like Roll20 or Astral, or however you normally run online games. Only the GM needs a copy of The Darkest House, just like only the GM needs a copy of a conventional adventure book or PDF.
Taking Root in Any Setting
That old house that everyone whispers about; that apartment at the end of the hall where no tenant ever stays for long; that strange unit in the personal quarters sector, where everything seems a bit off. These are among the many entrances to The Darkest House.
Like an invasive vine or a creeping shadow, The Darkest House insinuates itself into any world. It is a malignant and primal force, unconcerned with the specifics of the worlds it seeps into. The Darkest House exists in our world—in your world—in any world. Wherever there is hunger, The Darkest House can gain a foothold. It is perfectly happy to take root in your campaign.
Making Your Game Better
The Darkest House is compatible with the game you’re already playing—in fact, it’s specifically made to be integrated into your current campaign. The House System easily converts characters from the game rules you’re currently using (it takes about five minutes), and then lets you return to your normal character sheets when your PCs emerge from the House. The House System is a sort of RPG Rosetta Stone, allowing easy translation from any game system—and even letting you bring characters from different games together.
The Darkest House is a crucible of sorts, where PCs’ mettle and minds will be tested. Those that fall short will suffer heavy consequences. Those that can hold their own, however, emerge not only stronger but with greater insight into their world, their companions, and most of all themselves. The House draws upon a character’s memories and personal fears. It challenges their very notions of morality, family, friendship, love, and truth.
Your regular, ongoing game will be better after you’ve experienced the Darkest House. PCs emerge more deeply developed. Parties emerge more cohesively, with stronger bonds.
The Next Big Innovation from Monte Cook Games
The Darkest House consists of:
- The downloadable product, containing the many dozens of rooms of the house itself. This is what the GM will primarily use during play.
- Scores of narrative props, maps, illustrations, and other resources, all designed to be easily downloaded, copied, or otherwise shared with the players, with minimal effort on the GM’s part.
- The Darkest House: Secrets of the House in PDF, a GM’s guide detailing the House’s background, conversion rules, and the House Rules set you’ll use as your PCs explore, and try to escape from, the Darkest House.
- The Darkest House Player’s Guide in PDF, which gives players the character conversion rules and everything they need to explore (and try to escape from) the Darkest House.
This unique format is unlike any existing RPG product. It makes online play fast-paced and easy on the GM, and provides an incredibly immersive experience for the players. The Darkest House is fully compatible with all virtual tabletops, as well as videoconferencing, Discord or Slack play, or any other platform gamers commonly use for online TTRPG games.
The Darkest House Is Out Now!
The Darkest House is now available!
The Darkest House hates you. The Darkest House wants you.
