Against The Gloom

Against the Gloom is a modern story game 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 actual music together (with a collaborative playlist!) to push back existential dread and the weathering of grief and time.

• A set of unique character playbooks: the Thunderwell, the Soulbell, the Brightstring, the Heartkey, and more.


• Guide to Against the Gloom's easy-to-learn d6 (six-sided dice) system inspired by Yahtzee — you'll "harmonize" dice values to succeed, earn and spend songs on a collaborative music playlist, and truly unite your band.


• Rules for collectively imagining and building out Anchora to visit and explore as your band sails across the Gloom.


• Safety tools and frameworks that support joyful, consent-based storytelling while roleplaying as messy musicians.


• Gorgeous illustrations of weird musicians rocking it out in the face of despair, ennui, and self-sabotage.


• Short fiction by the game's designer, Dustin Patrick Winter—also a published speculative fiction writer—to set the tone and inspire you.

You don't need to be a musician to play one in a TTRPG! Get loud, be weird, and lead on with your heart's song as Against the Gloom takes you on the wildest journeys you can imagine.