The Poison Course is a self-contained RPG mystery one-shot based on a compact d20 rule set. It features ordinary characters of extraordinary substance who must sleuth out the Villain who's come to dinner at a minor lord's home in 1790s New Orleans.
In The Poison Course, players assume the role of staff in the house of a minor lord in 1790s New Orleans. The guests are arriving, but there is a Villain among them!
Sleuth out the fiendish plot before it visits harm on your employer, all while keeping the glasses filled and the hors d’oeuvres at hand in this CLUE-hunting TTRPG.
Henri Stouffon is hosting a soiree, and the guests are just starting to arrive. There’s Monsieur Verde, a businessman with a temper, stalking the Great Hall. And now the good Widow Willoughby, still mourning her husband who died so suddenly. Mssr. Stouffon’s good friend Jacob Tucker puffs away at one of those peculiar cigars in the Parlor, the spice-laden smoke curling around the lamps, while Lady Buckingham peers out from the Library doorway, disdain tinging her half-smile.
Lady Buckingham, an English socialite
But what’s this? Sergeant Juarez of the constabulary steps into the Foyer. Why?
Because there’s danger afoot!
Players guide their characters, ordinary folks of extraordinary substance, in this one-shot that takes the familiar board game concept of eclectic rooms filled with colorful guests and blends it with a light set of familiar role playing rules to create a new type of mystery cocktail.
So pour the wine and take your seats. It’s time for The Poison Course.
A popular board game sees the guests at a dinner party hunt for CLUES in an attempt to solve his murder. Players move their pieces around the game board and confirm the alibis of suspects until they feel confident enough to guess at the culprit and their weapon of choice.
Fun? Sure. But what if you could do more...
The Poison Course takes this one idea step further by introducing basic role playing mechanics. Instead of simply checking the contents of envelopes in various rooms, players must describe precisely how their characters will solve the mystery.
The wizened old Madame Zamir trips and tumbles out of her carriage. Will the Footman catch her? Make a Strength Check! A slim set of d20-based rules make it easy for new players to learn RPG concepts in an already-familiar scenario.
The Butler needs to have a quick word with the Chef… but the housemistress has a tray full of drinks for you to deliver to the Conservatory. Each Background, such as Butler, has a Chore Die. At regular intervals players roll their Chore Die, and on a result of 1 or 2, get pulled away by some inane task.
Can the Musician successfully eavesdrop on the doctor’s conversation with the dilettante in crimson? Perhaps! But only if those guests happen to be speaking French at the time. Optional Heritages come with language proficiency. Who knows what the guests will be speaking?
Is fisticuffs with your employer’s tough frontiersman friend the best way to stop the crime? Perhaps not, so gather your evidence and bring it to the constable instead. Players can make an Accusation, the equivalent of looking at the killer and implement envelope in the popular board game. But if you’re wrong, all is not lost! The housemistress may only confine you to your quarters, and there are always ways for a clever staff member to escape.
This game uses a carefully abbreviated d20 rule set that’s both familiar to veterans and easier than full RPGs for beginners.
Quick character creation in ten minutes or less.
Just four Ability Scores: Strength, Mind, Dexterity, Spirit.
Hit Points, Armor Class, and Weapon Proficiency round out our PCs’ “stats.”
No complex Classes… instead, simple Backgrounds (Butler, Chef, Footman, and Musician) provide characters with their role, as well as a handful of benefits.
PCs are ordinary folks (i.e. Level 0) and as a one-shot, no advancement rules are required.
A single mechanic serves for almost all required rolls: d20 plus applicable modifiers should meet or beat a target number.
The Poison Course combines the best features of the classic board game and role playing, particularly as an introduction for those who’ve never played TTRPGs:
Like the board game, it’s designed to be played in one shot. Groups should be able to finish the game in an evening (about 4 hours), including introduction of the rules and creating characters.
Additionally, the setting for the game is limited to the first floor of Stouffon’s manse. Each room is detailed, so Referees won’t need to prepare locations or make them up on the fly.
While a selection of dinner guests (NPCs) are included, the Referee can easily create new characters to toss into the fray. The book includes particular guidance on creating new Villains.
I'm keeping it simple as this is my first project, so there will be two reward tiers:
PDF + POD:The Poison Course is a digest-size (5.5" x 8.5") zine, although clocking in at over 80 pages it is admittedly a very chonky one. The PDF + POD tier will be a digital copy of the zine in PDF format, plus a copy of the print-on-demand version via either Lulu or DriveThruRPG (currently evaluating which of these is better quality). Note that shipping is not included in pledges here, it will either be collected after the campaign or at the point of redemption (either Lulu or DTRPG).
PDF Only: This will be a digital copy of the zine only.
Again, please note that your pledge does not include the cost of shipping if you want a physical copy of the zine.
The zine is text-complete, laid-out, and has been playtested. I'm working on a couple of other pieces of art for the release, which includes Mssr. Stouffon and all three sample Villains. Once I'm in receipt of these I will need to make a decision on whether moving the layout from LibreOffice (where it is currently) into Affinity will yield any real benefit. I've done a couple of pages side-by-side and honestly I can see the value in re-doing the whole thing, but I want to get a couple of other opinions on it. In summary, the zine overall is I'd say 90% complete.
So:
In the interest of setting expectations, let's target July for delivery.
That said, I may be able to over-deliver and release the PDF sooner than that.
I do expect the physical copies will be in the July time frame as I orient myself with this part of TTRPG publishing and figure out which vendor(s) to use.
Basic shipping on the dry run copy of the zine I ordered from Lulu was just under $6 for US delivery. This might vary slightly based on whether physical fulfillment goes through Lulu or DTRPG, and can obviously be affected by where you're shipping it to. Shipping straight from these vendors does mean you can choose your shipping type, however, and should allow anyone worldwide to receive a physical copy if desired.
Again, note that shipping will be a separate cost from your pledge if you get the POD + PDF tier, and will be collected by the printer who ships it to you.
