Pelgrane Press is a UK-based tabletop roleplaying game publishing company which publishes character-focused and story-driven tabletop RPGs.
Our groundbreaking GUMSHOE roleplaying system shifts the focus of investigative play from finding clues (or worse, not finding them) to interpreting clues, solving mysteries, and moving the action forward. Each GUMSHOE game includes the system adapted for that setting. The first GUMSHOE game, The Esoterrorists, along with its sibling system Fear Itself, both by GUMSHOE system designer Robin D. Laws, remain two of the most accessible to GMs and players new to the system. Its collaborative mystery-solving play structure is exemplified by the mythos RPG Trail of Cthulhu, and the high-octane spies-vs-vampires RPG Night’s Black Agents, both by Kenneth Hite. Kevin Kulp’s game of timeline-preserving time-travelling agents, TimeWatch, and new swords and sorcery RPG Swords of the Serpentine with Emily Dresner, take GUMSHOE in a more pulpy, action-packed direction.
We’ve recently adapted the GUMSHOE system for one player, one GM play in the GUMSHOE One-2-One system; this can be seen in the noir mythos Cthulhu Confidential, and the intense spies-vs-vampires thriller Night’s Black Agents: Solo Ops.
Our DramaSystem, found in Robin D. Laws’ Hillfolk, facilitates interpersonal relationship building, which promotes affecting dramatic interactions between characters – as do our story game anthologies, #Feminism, Seven Wonders, Honey & Hot Wax and Suburban Consumption of the Monstrous.
We also publish 13th Age by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet, an epic fantasy game using the d20 system familiar to many gamers, which weaves characters’ backgrounds and unique traits into every narrative, resulting in engaging, heroic adventures.
Pelgrane Press is also the home of the webzine See Page XX, The Birds comic, and RPG soundtracks by James Semple and fellow composers.
