Against the Gloom is a TTRPG of melodic mayhem where you play as touring musicians who sail across a vast and dangerous void—the Gloom—aboard a ramshackle ship propelled by the power of song. Use your sonic powers to push back the Gloom as it seeks to obliterate any pockets of community that dare to resist it. 

The Gloom is a sentient, fog-filled purgatory world of bleakness and despair, and there is no escape. It is alive, quite intelligent, and it wants to hurt you. 

Fortunately for you, the Gloom is vulnerable to one thing: music, especially amplified music. In the Gloom, music is a powerful kind of magic. And you know how to play, because you are all Gloomfarers, a kind of pirate troubadour. You sail aboard fantastic ships powered by music across this vast world, using your best songs to fight back against the Gloom and keep your band moving.

Scattered around this miserable realm are the Anchora, floating islands, pockets of civilization, stops on this surrealist concert tour. And they are constantly in trouble from the Gloom. The Gloom wants to tear them down and destroy them. Only you can stop it. 

But as you sail through the fogs of confusion and woe that blanket your world, you can feel the Gloom watching you, a twisted elder god with a hunger for misery.

It’s a little like if the Ghostbusters were also Van Halen, who were also heroic pirates. 

Against the Gloom is a facilitated tabletop roleplaying game that encourages collaborative storytelling. The facilitator, your "roadie," will help move the story along and call for dice rolls, but the spotlight is on the band. 

Together, you'll tell stories that explore the power of art, song, and being LOUD. Imagine a community of weirdos in a dark and desperate world: what would it be like if rockers were our most needed heroes, and playing with wild abandon was the true key to salvation?

Against the Gloom is a modern storygame that encourages both players and characters to wield personal autonomy and collective—rather than purely individual—power. It is about finding your community, crafting your vessel, and playing music together to push back existential dread, despair, and the weathering of grief and time.

Against the Gloom will be published as a ZineQuest project in February 2024. The follow up to Scryptid Games' smash hit ZineQuest debut Psychic Trash Detectives, this TTRPG will bring the same queer, punk ethos that you know and love. In addition to the full game, we will also bring you exclusive fiction set in the game's world written by the author, stunning art by musician-artist Jupiter V, and more.

Dustin (he/him) is, among other things, a musician and game designer living in the woodsy ‘burbs near Baltimore, MD. As the lead designer, Dustin brings his love of music and encyclopedic brainful of rock-and-roll trivia aboard this fine ship. You can expect him to bring his interest in stories of found family, polyamory, and casting rad spells to this project. He can be found on social media @NeverSayDustin.

Collaborating Writer: Brigitte Winter
Brigitte (she/her) is a writer, photographer, and game designer based in Maryland. She is also the Executive Director of Young Playwrights' Theater, a DC-based company that inspires young people to realize the power of their voices through storytelling. The capacity of storytelling to connect, inspire, and incite is central to Brigitte's art and her activism. She consumes and creates stories and games that are queer, feminist, intimate, and deliciously weird. You can connect with her on Instagram @bwinterose.

Scryptid Games started in a remote cabin somewhere in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York. There, we five friends, gathered from all over the east coast, gazed up at the stars, circled around a bonfire on the last night of a writing and gaming retreat.

We talked about the games we had played, the games we wanted to play, and the games we wanted to see in the world. We lamented that we were not in a position to make those games happen. But then again, weren’t we? What was holding us back? And there, under the stars, lit by flame, we resolved to forge, in secret, that most perilous of things: a game company. 

Little did we know, something strange was watching us from the shadows. Something that would follow us long after we left…

Today, we are proud to publish innovative narrative games that encourage aspirational, immediate, and collaborative storytelling—games that demand a shift in how literature and gaming are defined.

Beginning with Nat Mesnard's signed ZineQuest 4 game Ball of the Wild, and Brigitte Winter's ZineQuest 5 smash hit Psychic Trash Detectives, we have been bringing beautiful game books to you since 2021, and cannot wait to show you what Against the Gloom has in store.