Brindlewood Bay
Brindlewood Bay is a tabletop roleplaying game that combines Murder, She Wrote with H.P. Lovecraft. In it, you play a group of elderly women, members of the local Murder Mavens Mystery Book Club, who help the authorities solve murder cases in a picturesque New England Town. Over the course of their investigations, they become aware of a dark occult conspiracy that connects the cases, and will eventually have to face that conspiracy in order to save their community. The game is low-prep and easy to play no matter your experience with tabletop roleplaying games.
Originally created by Jason Cordova
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Brindlewood Bay Reviews (5)
See what other Game Masters and players are saying about Brindlewood Bay
It is exactly what it says on the tin, a fantastic cozy game with very dark elements that creep in more and more over time. Everyone I've run this for has had a blast, regardless of age, gender, experience with rpgs, or even experience with Murder Mystery TV shows. This game is very story forward and leans heavily on the players to help with some of the heavy lifting that is normally exclusively the province of the GM/Keeper. The important thing to note is that there are not any established solutions to these mysteries. The solutions are discovered through play. That may sound weird to some, but I encourage everyone to give it a try!
My players and I love Brindlewood Bay. We were almost certainly not playing it 'right', but we absolutely had fun while doing it. I grew up watching the inspirations for this game: primarily Murder She Wrote, but also Quincy, Magnum P.I, and every made-for-television Agatha Christie I could find. But my players hadn't, and they still leaned hard into the tropes of those old TV shows (primarily because the ruleset makes it very easy to do so). Some people have a hard time wrapping their brains around the lack of a pre-known perpetrator of any given mystery's crime (I certainly did: how am I supposed to craft a story where even the GM doesn't know whodunit?), but once you grok the mechanic, suddenly it all makes sense. You don't HAVE to know whodunit, you just have to describe the clues the Mavens find. Then when they're ready to roll, it's up to them to fit in as many of those clues as they can to their theory. The more clues they include, the better their chances of success. Then roll to find out! Elegant. Grab some dice and send some little old ladies out into danger to solve some mysteries! (bonus points if they have to ride bicycles while doing it!)
First, this game is a hoot to play. Making up your "little old ladies" is just a hilarious time in and of itself. Second, they do some REALLY interesting stuff mechanically when it comes to running a mystery. It is my favorite mystery-ttrpg right now, and nothing else is close.
MURDER SHE WROTE meets CALL OF CTHULU? Do I actually need to say more? But the best part of the system isn't just the flavor - it's that every mystery doesn't have a canon solution. So ultimately it's up to your table to come up with an explanation for the mystery. I have played some of the most creative games with this system because of that!
Brindlewood Bay is a writer's room experience of narrative focused play, failure forward celebrations, and cozy, creepy mystery elements. It's a great system for those who grew up watching Murder She Wrote, Golden Girls, Twilight Zone, or any crime drama or cozy show. The Gauntlet and Jason Cordova do a great job of setting up players and keepers with the tools they need to oscillate between the occult and the mundane - as well as explore an age bracket that doesn't get enough love in the TTRPG world. My experience running Brindlewood Bay (four campaigns so far) has had big highs, epic lows, devastating blows, and players empathize with a world that is not kind to its geriatric population - a beautiful system for telling tight-knit, twisting mysteries that leaves the ultimate outcome 'who did it' in the players hands with truly exciting mechanics. This game gives players a lot of autonomy, encourages keepers (GMs) to go hard, and celebrates a collaborative approach at the table. Would highly recommend for first time GMs, players, and mystery enthusiasts alike! Low prep, improv-heavy, and incredibly simple mechanics make it a perfect match for storytellers and dreamers alike.
How to Play Brindlewood Bay
Check out this actual play from Mystery Quest to get a taste of Brindlewood Bay and how to play as an old lady detective in a world of eldritch horror!