PALE TIDES: A Game of Folk Horror and Witchcraft

🌕 WELCOME TO PALE TIDES 

Pale Tides is a brand-new horror TTRPG created by artist Paul Scott Canavan.

Set against the backdrop of a dark fantasy world steeped in folklore and wild magic, players take on the role of Hexen, an ancient cadre of witches dedicated to protecting the land and its people from earthly oppressors and otherworldly entities.

Fear and mystery are at the heart of this RPG, with Pale Tides built from the ground up to delight (and terrify) players. Roll dice, draw tarot cards, light candles, and consult your grimoire to identify and fight back against the horrors that assail you.  

Careful detective work and divination can be the difference between life and death for your characters.

⚔️ BECOME HEXEN

In the heart of the old forest stands a solitary figure. Her hair frames broad shoulders as it cascades down her back, crow-feather black, burnished silver in the fading sunlight. She is tense as she peers into the gloom. Her fingers drift instinctively to the wand of crooked ash hanging at her hip. Yet her eyes hold the truest danger: smouldering coals, remnants of an inferno that threatens to reignite at any moment. 

You are Hexen. War witches. With flame and thorn and sword and staff, you fight to preserve the sanctity of nature in a cursed land. 

Do you walk the Path of the Wilde, bending nature to your will? The Path of Blood, drawing strength from the bodies of your foes? The Path of Ash, blazing with the transformative power of passion? The Path of the Seer, imbued with the power of foresight? Or will you dare to tread The Path of Death, drawing power from the beyond?

Build a unique character in minutes, with each choice impacting how the game is played – from the type of magic you wield, to the tarot cards with which you share affinity, to the familiars you bond with.

🗺️ EXPLORE A CURSED LAND

The world of Pale Tides draws on inspiration from Scottish and European folklore to create a dangerous, enchanting place full of wonders and terrors. The period is roughly analogous to our world in the 17th century – a period of so-called enlightened thinking, of burgeoning science and the allure of exploration:

Seek the labyrinthine city of Deepburgh, where towering spires pierce the smog-choked sky, gas lanterns struggling to hold their ground against the creeping shadows that slide silently over cobblestone streets. Its inhabitants hasten their steps, seeking solace behind tightly shuttered windows and bolted doors.

Scale the imposing highlands of Caledon, a great, rugged landscape of ancient forests, deep, dark lochs, and weathered ruins perched upon misty hilltops.

Discover the fishing town of Tromory, nestled in the shadow of jagged cliffs where the salt-laden winds howl mournfully. Hardened faces ply their trade, dragging great leviathans from the black ocean, the air heavy with the stench of brine and blood and oil.

Explore the snow-laden forests of Suomaa, ever blanketed in a pristine white veil. Here, where the whispering pines and murmuring rivers weave tales of old, lies a realm untouched by time, where the boundaries between the mortal world and the realm of the unseen blur.

The Norric Isles, steeped in ancient, primal magic.

The Caledon Highlands are beautiful, but unforgiving. 

The Greyshire marshlands are haunted by the ghosts of those felled in battle.

A thick haar is spreading over the west coast, swallowing ships and towns.

Through it all, the threat of the vampiric Church is omnipresent. Its crusade against witches, both real and imaginary, has unleashed chaos upon the land. Ancient creatures rise from the lakes and forests, the dead are unsettled, and the black ocean churns in the night.

🧠 HOW DOES IT WORK?

Pale Tides consists of a 250-page tome and a custom, 5-suit tarot deck. It is a rule-light custom system, with rich mechanics and an emphasis on mood and story. One player assumes the role of Storyteller (GM in other games), and the rest are Hexen. 

Because the game has a large focus on mystery, the book is split into two halves. 

The Book of Hexen serves as a player’s guide, introducing the world, detailing character creation, the casting of spells, and including The Hexen’s Grimoire, an in-world collection of lore about the beasts haunting the isles of Caledon. 

The second half, The Book of Tides, is for the Storyteller, with sample cases, rules, and essential gameplay details as well as tips for running horror games. Whether you're a seasoned GM or someone brand new to running a RPG, this book will take you through the process.

The Book of Hexen is a grimoire. Players need to search through it to identify the various entities they encounter.

Pale Tides focuses on one-shot investigations that can be strung together for longer campaigns. Each session takes the form of a Case where players travel to a location, and search for clues to identify and confront supernatural threats. 

The more the Hexen know about their foe, the more likely they are to survive. Every entity in the game can even be dealt with non-lethally if the party knows exactly what they are dealing with!

The Hexen's grimoire doesn't feature creature stats or full artwork depicting them in great detail. Instead, it's full of collected lore, sketches and hints for how to approach and deal with each threat.

The Tides system uses dice for physical actions and tarot for magic. As players draw cards and the deck is exhausted and reshuffled, the phases of the moon shift, with their actions altering the game’s dynamics and deepening the atmospheric experience. 

Be careful though: the gratuitous evocation of wilde magic can rouse the attentions of the Church and its Inquisitors. They will hunt you to the ends of the earth.

The Inquisition can appear out of nowhere when roused. They are deadly foes.

The pace of Pale Tides is quite unique: a mix of careful detective work and fast-paced, unpredictable action. Inspirations for the system include Bloodborne, Hunt: Showdown, Phasmophobia, Blades in the Dark and Numenera. 

Beware the deep, dark woods. Ancient things lurk here.

The tides have changed, shores littered with the carcasses of sea beasts and ships.

Every entity in Pale Tides can be dealt with non-lethally. Even this guy.

The unsettled dead can take many forms. Identifying them correctly is crucial.

Want to understand the system in more depth? Here is a nearly 40 minute deep dive into the game systems and concepts of Pale Tides!

✍️INTERVIEWS

The brilliant Marsh Davies (co-creator of Teeth, one of my favourite TTRPGs of the last few years) interviewed me about Pale Tides. I chat a little about the mechanics and feel of the game there: Read it here!

💰 REWARDS

Having dreamt of this game for the last nine years, I want to make sure that the package you receive is something special. The hard-back book is packed with stories, art and little pieces of lore that will set your mind racing, written by myself and some special guests. 

The Deck of Tides tarot matches this concept - 92 cards, each with original, hand-drawn art, further fleshing out the world of Pale Tides.

The High Priestess symbolises knowledge beyond the physical realm, mystery and intuition, and when drawn reversed, secrets, repression and a lack of trust.

And of course, it goes without saying that there's no AI trash here. I've worked as an artist in the games industry for over 15 years, and really value the work of artists. While 90% of the artwork is being made by me, I'm also bringing on some incredibly talented friends who you may have seen in games like Magic: the Gathering and DND.

I kept the tiers fairly simple:

To play the game, you'll need the book and tarot deck, plus some D6 dice. There are 2 editions of the box set: the Core Set and Deluxe Set.

You can also purchase the book and tarot alone as addons! 

The tarot is fundamentally linked to the game design of Pale Tides, each suit representing one of the 5 Paths of the Hexen, so I tried to make sure the book and tarot combo wasn't too expensive!

As a bonus, you can now add ORIGINAL TAROT ART as an addon when you pledge at any level! I'll be contacting all backers at the end of the campaign to discuss which piece you'd like to own! These will be shipped separately to the rest of the order, carefully packaged to ensure that they arrive safely.

🎁 STRETCH GOALS

ALL STRETCH GOALS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED!!!
All future funds beyond that point will be put into developing the game further, bringing on amazing artists and writers to help!

✈️ SHIPPING ESTIMATES

All shipping will be collected via a pledge manager once the game is complete. This will be used to collect your shipping address, and deliver all digital files. Shipping and taxes are therefore NOT included in this campaign, and the below are estimates based on 2024 shipping rates.

The hardest part of this entire Kickstarter project was picking a photo which I liked.

👁️ WHO AM I?

I’m Paul, a veteran Art Director, illustrator and concept artist with 15+ years in the games industry on titles like Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: the Gathering, Daggerheart, Warhammer, Silent Hill: Townfall, Destiny 2, Guild Wars 2, and The Witcher.

While art and world-building have been the focus of my professional career, I’ve been incredibly passionate about game design and writing since I was a child. I grew up obsessed with Choose Your Own Adventure books and text-based RPGs, and this rapidly led to me writing my own little pen and paper games for my sister to play. Once I discovered TTRPGs like Shadowrun, Vampire the Masquerade and D&D, as well as video games like Exile, Planescape Torment, and Diablo, I was hooked.

I have always had a deep love of horror, whether it be horror films, games or books, and I truly believe that TTRPGs are the best medium for the genre. The sharing of scary stories is embedded in every culture, and combining that with theatre of the mind roleplaying only elevates this experience.

Back in 2016 I had a vision for a truly scary horror game that was constantly unpredictable, and that anyone could pick up and play – a game inspired by my love of Scottish folklore and the ghost stories I loved as a child. A game which felt just a little dangerous: like a real ritual. And so, Pale Tides was born. 

Fast forward 9 years, and here we are!

Thank you so much for reading - I hope you're as excited about Pale Tides as I am 🖤

Follow me on social media for updates on the game development!

BSKY- I'm mostly posting here these days (Twitter is awful)
PATREON- If you want to support the game development further!

And here are the official Pale Tides socials:

PALE TIDES YOUTUBE - follow for the deep dives
PALE TIDES TIKTOK - follow for short form content!