Soitaire, one-player RPGs have gained popularity in recent years – or maybe it’s just me, growing more sensitive to the subject. I have played a few games of Four Against Darkness, and I have contributed material to the game – and I was pretty curious about Andrea Sfiligoi’s new project, Eldritchwood.
Now I’ve given it a try, and I must say I was not disappointed.

Eldritchwood, by Andrea Sfiligoi and Anna Pashchenko, is a single player (but there are options for collaborative, multy-player gaming) investigative fantasy RPG that takes a novel (to me, at least) approach to solo roleplaying – the player handles a number of characters, alternating point of view during the development of the adventure.

The basic premise is that the peaceful village of Eldritchwood is menaced by one of the numerous supernatural entities that live in the nearby woods. Dark deeds are afoot, and the good villagers have to investigate the occurrences, identify the bad guys, and find a solution.

Drawing a random cast of characters by a pool provided in the handbook, you switch point of view much like in a choral TV series, and face the challenges of a random generated storyline with the help of the various skills of the leads, and two common dice.
With its unusual structure and gameplay, Eldritchwood is the only fantasy RPG apparently designed to play a fantasy like Hope Mirrlees’ Lud-in-the-Mist. I don’t think this is by design, but is the similarities are uncanny.
The game also caters for those that look for a folk horror angle in their games,

The 109-pages manual includes the 36 pre-generated charecters, the system (including spells) and a cast of bad guys. It is fully illustrated in color, and while I have the PDF version, the paperback does look like a beautiful object.