A new tabletop RPG hit Kickstarter in late October and successfully achieved its funding goal within 24 hours. Shiver is a tabletop roleplaying game system from UK-based Parable Games designed to bring “your favourite Scary Movies, Pulp TV Shows & Stories to life.” The Kickstarter has already more than doubled its original goal of $13,157 and still has almost a month left in its support drive.
Shiver’s eight pledge levels range from £10 (about $14) to £499 (about $657), with its highest level already sold out. It’s only a couple thousand dollars away from unlocking its sixth and final stretch goal, which includes PDF adventures, expanded story elements, and a new slasher NPC called The Woodsman. Other products include a pack of 14 Shiver-exclusive dice, the Cursed Library hardcover book of stories (scenarios), a 36-page softcover art book, and a 3-panel GM screen.
Shiver is both a tabletop RPG and an RPG system, much like the Cypher System from Monte Cook Games. Shiver is specifically designed to roleplay stories in the horror and mystery genre. According to the Kickstarter notes, much of its RPG stylistic inspiration was influenced by “Stranger Things, Jurassic Park, Friday the 13th, The Thing, Aliens, Dracula, The X-Files and many other peculiar tales.” If you’re wanting to build and experience RPG tales of the strange and weird, Shiver is what you’re looking for.
And as for its RPG system build, “Shiver lets you play any story, any time, as anyone” — as the Shiver RPG Trailer video describes it. Group of teens in the 1980s? Band of Medieval adventurers? Spaceship crew in the uncharted depths of deep space? The Shiver RPG system can handle all those, and more. By using an Archetype system, Shiver lets you choose from seven roles to play that you are probably already aware of from your favorite stories:
- The strong and physical Warrior.
- The dextrous and wily Maverick.
- The smooth-talking and magnetic Socialite.
- The intelligent and innovative Scholar.
- The loveable and completely clueless Fool.
- The mysterious and peculiar Weird.
- The regimented and resolute Survivor.
Along with utilizing game elements you’re familiar with, Shiver also adds in its own unique gameplay flavor, particularly with its Archetype dice system consisting of Skill Dice and Talent Dice. Skill dice are d6s with symbols on each side representing the six Core Skills of Grit, Wit, Smarts, Heart, Luck, and Strange. If you’ve played the most excellent Weave RPG, then you’re familiar with dice such as these. The Talent dice are d8s with two sets of symbols: the Strange symbol, and symbols that represent the five non-strange core skills. To see these dice in action, click to the free-to-use Shiver Dice Roller app and watch the accompanying video.
Read all the spine-tingling details on the SHIVER: Roleplaying in the Strange & Unknown Kickstarter page, and tune in to the game’s Twitter and YouTube channels.