Candela Obscura has quickly become an RPG favorite among fans of Tabletop Roleplaying Games. For those who favor Cthulhu style beasts, horror/mystery storylines, turn of the century industrialism, or steampunk content this should be at the top of your next TTRPG list.
For context: The Candela Obscura Core Rulebook is a fully detailed guide on playing and gamemastering the collaborative investigative horror tabletop roleplaying game. As an investigator of the paranormal secret society Candela Obscura, you and your circle are charged with exploring, fighting, and protecting the people of Newfaire from supernatural dangers lurking in the folds of a bustling world unaware of the occult magick simmering beneath. Candela Obscura is the very first game to use the Illuminated Worlds System as well as the first full RPG from Darrington Press, as featured in the ongoing anthology series on Critical Role.
Inside of the Candela Obscura Core Rulebook you’ll discover:
- 204 detailed pages, with a satin ribbon to keep your place.
- The core rules to play and create your Candela Obscura investigators and their circles.
- Over 90 pages detailing the turn of the century-inspired setting of the Fairelands, and in detail the city of Newfaire and the ancient ruins beneath known as Oldfaire.
- 4 full example assignments for gamemasters to dive in with their players.
- Over 30 example assignments to explore far-flung corners of the Fairelands and the organizations and people operating within it.
- An extensive guide to preparing for and gamemastering Candela Obscura.
- Immersive, in-world ephemera and notes strewn throughout the chapters—illustrations, sketches, research notes, correspondences, advertisements, maps, and more to bring the Fairelands to life.
We had the privilege of obtaining a collectors edition of the Candela Obscura Core Rulebook and were blown away by the detailing and quality of the cover. Eager to see what else the new game had to offer we poured over the pages admiring the artwork, learning more about the areas of Newfaire, Fairelands, and Oldfaire that were NOT shared (yet) in the Candela Obscura playthrough’s online, and intrigued by the level of freedom players and Game Masters alike can enjoy with this new system.
Without spoiling any of the goods, this game does have a learning curve for fans who may be used to using a polyhedral dice set and standard character sheets for games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and the upcoming Daggerheart. Candela Obscura uses its own dice system consisting of 3d6 “gilded dice” and 6d6 standard dice. If you do not purchase an official set of Candela Obscura dice, be sure to have a way to keep track of your gilded dice vs. your standard array. This will affect your gameplay/outcome if you do not have dice separation.
Additionally, Candela Obscura does require close attention to your character sheet and activities. If you gain or lose too many points in certain categories things will start to get VERY interesting (perhaps even dire!).
If you have trouble with games that require frequent revision/monitoring of a character sheet, dislike horror/mystery/suspenseful storylines, or generally distain anything that goes bump in the night, this game is probably not for you or young players. But, if you love adventure, crave to learn more about a lost or new world, and enjoy thrilling stories we highly recommend getting started with the Candel Obscura Core Rulebook.
To order your copy of Candela Obscura by Darrington Press today, CLICK HERE.
Confused or not quite sold on Candela Obscura being for you? To combat the intense amount of information this game has to offer, the team at Critical Role along with the Candela Obscura’s co-creator Spenser Starke have kindly created a detailed “How to Play” video to help you get started. Additionally, you can find several different Candela Obscura mini-series on Critical Role’s YouTube Channel or available to stream on Beacon.tv. Watch the tutorial below:
Photo Credit(s): Critical Role/Darrington Press
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