First Impressions - Vaesen - A Wicked Secret and Other Mysteries [No Spoilers]

A Wicked Secret.

This compilation of four mysteries came from the stretch goals in the Vaesen Kickstarter and takes you all over Scandinavia investigating the Vaesen. It is an attractive 104 page hardcover book, beautifully illustrated and laid out. Each of the scenarios has a very distinct feel and I will focus on that rather than the stories inside.

The Silver of the Sea takes the characters to a remote northwestern island booming on the herring trade. There's a feel of the frontier in this, with icy seas and a potentially apocalyptic catastrophe.

A Wicked Secret is the title mystery, and my favourite. It evokes claustrophobic fear in the depths of the northern Swedish forests as the characters try to find out what caused a logging company agent to disappear and his colleague to lose his mind.

The Night Sow is set on a cold, snowy and windswept peninsular by the town of Molle, where a decadent and sinful hotel has scandalised polite society through such decadence as allowing men and women to share the same bathing beaches. Now something evil has come.

The Song of the Falling Star changes gear again, and the characters will find themselves in an Estonian spa town investigating what has driven a young mother to try and kill her first born child. This mixes cities with the older world which surrounds them and has more of a mythical feel than the others.

All of the mysteries follow the same structure outlined in the core book and have a unique feel. They're sandboxes with a countdown of beats and an ultimate catastrophe if the characters fail. This could prove fatal to them in some cases. The scenarios do not shy away from evil and darkness; there are satanists and more, and blood sacrifices. I'm looking forward to running some of these.

Recommended.

15 August 2020