What is Cosmic Dark?

On my Patreon, you’ll find Extraction, the first scenario for Cosmic Dark, for backers at the $5 tier or higher. I’d love to know what you think.

When I last mentioned Cosmic Dark, someone¹ suggested I explain what it was. So here you go.

Cosmic Dark is my game of weird space horror, which tells stories of life, technology and reality going wrong.

You play employees of Extracsa, a mining and resource conglomerate. You’ve been sent to the far reaches of the galaxy, a region dominated by the Glitch, an anomalous astronomical object like a golden wound.

There's no character creation. You start playing straightaway, making characters as you go. This makes it fun to play: I love starting a session and leaping straight into the story.

Cosmic Dark has been a joy to write. It’s given me a new way of writing horror, exploring warped bodies, unnatural time and much more.

What’s in the book?

There’s a mini-campaign of six scenarios, taking the Employees from their first mission with Extracsa to a final revelation that undermines everything they know.

You’ll also find the full rules for Cosmic Dark, plus guidance for writing your own scenarios.

I’m working with artists and cartographers now to illustrate the book. You can see the beautiful cover above, designed by Nic Rosenberg, with art by Paul Bourne of Handiwork Games.

Is it like Cthulhu Dark?

Cosmic Dark has similar rules to Cthulhu Dark, but adds a lot of new things.

In Cosmic Dark, you have a Changed score, which shows how much space has changed you. You make a Changed Roll whenever something threatens your body or mind.

That’s because Cosmic Dark explores body horror. Every time an alien plant attacks or a fungus blooms inside you, you make a Changed Roll.

To bring your Changed score down, you simply erase the change. Maybe you cut off a mutated body part. Or maybe you erase a weird memory, using the memory anaesthetic that Extracsa provides.

There are new rules for campaigns, combat and action scenes. They're subtle, building on the Cthulhu Dark rules that work so well. And there are expansions of the core rules, which you can use in any game based on Cthulhu Dark.

What kind of stories does it tell?

I've always loved strange, surreal space stories: think JG Ballard, Stanislaw Lem and movies like Annihilation and Sunshine. 

Alongside that, Cosmic Dark also explores what happens when people are corrupted by power and profit. I’ve taken inspiration from history, which I’ll talk about in another post.

And, in case you wondered, this isn't Lovecraftian horror. Don't expect Cthulhu in space.

When will it be released?

I’ve started to release Cosmic Dark on my Patreon. Next year, I’ll put it on DriveThruRPG. And I’m exploring crowdfunding options.

That’s all for now! If you’ve got any comments and questions, I’d really appreciate them.

1. Thanks, Will Balthazar!