The Lost Bay
A downloadable suburban gothic RPG
WHAT IS THE LOST BAY?
What Is The Lost Bay? The Lost Bay is a Suburban Gothic tabletop RPG set 199X. The Lost Bay is also the name of the setting where the game takes place: a coastal suburb inspired by films and media from the 80s and 90s. In it you play as a young person touched by the Weird, an ancient force that gives you supernatural powers. You roam the Bay with your gang, its malls, arcade games shops, skateparks and beaches, and fight the Horror that has awakened.
This is a pre order version. It contains the Quickstart (rules and starter edition), and a legacy PDF (First Look edition). It will be updated with the final 140 page PDF as soon as it's ready during fall 2024..
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
Goblin Archives (Liminal Horror)
Dripping with style, Iko has built a system that asks you to return to it time and time again.
David Blandy (Eco MOFOs)
The Lost Bay captures the intensity of teenage life in a psychedelic dream of the 90’s
Emiel Boven (DURF, The Electrum Archive)
The suburbs of the Lost Bay are a wonderfully hazy fever dream of 90s nostalgia and unsettling urban horror. I can’t wait to go back.
WHAT YOU'LL FIND INSIDE
- Spooky Locations
- Scary MOFOs
- Supernatural Horror
- Powerful Character Classes
- Loads of items
- Relics
- Living Saints and immortals
- Exploration tables
KEY FEATURES
Strong Vibes. Playable character classes are called Vibes and are inspired by ’90s urban and horror archetypes. There’s ten to choose from, like Splinter, Firestarter, Scanner, or Screamer. Vibes are granted specific powers and starting gear.
Lore light and flavor heavy. The lore of The Lost Bay is spread throughout the ruleset, tables, and game procedures. You’ll discover it as you create your character and play. You can customize the setting or dive headfirst into the pre-existing world.
Open and play. The core ruleset is spread over four pages and built around a unique mechanic: roll a pool of d6s and keep the highest result. 6 is a success, a 5 is a success with complications. Whether you’re a veteran or novice, you’ll need only fifteen minutes to familiarize yourself with it.
Deadly combat. Combats are fast and epic, particularly if you use one of your Powers. Powers always succeed, but might trigger Scars.
Solo compatible. The ruleset, setting, and procedures have been designed from the outset to support both solo and ensemble play.
Vast. The Lost Bay implied setting is divided into seven Districts. For each District (Mall Nation, the Waterfront, Trashland, Sleep Country, Sinking Marshes, the Eye and the Desert), you’ll get a specific bestiary, pregenerated mini pointcrawl, detailed locations, and additional location generation procedures.
Weird is cool. The Lost Bay is story driven and focused on exploration and character growth in an urban dark fantasy world
XMAS SPECIAL
MINIDUNGEON ADVENTURE
Check also UNIT DH-17 suburban mini dungeon adventure for The Lost Bay.
URBAN LEGEND GAME JAM
Create an Urban Legend zine for The Lost Bay RPG https://itch.io/jam/urban-legend-jam
CREDITS
Text and Layout: IKO
Editing: Laura Elle, Samantha Leigh
Art: Evangeline Gallagher
Map: Strega Wolf van den Berg
Character sheets: Scragend
♥ The Lost Bay RPG system is a mashup of Cairn by Yochai Gal and LUMEN by Spencer Campbell. Kudos to those folks for creating such cool games ♥
COMMUNITY
Join The Lost Bay Discord
3RD PARTY CONTENT LICENSE
Text and art from the book, including maps, may not be reused or translated. If you wish to publish third party content for The Lost Bay RPG check the 3RD party license and the Creator Toolkit..
Copyright © 2023 The Lost Bay Studio LTD. All rights reserved.
WANT TO REVIEW THE GAME OR RECORD AN AP?
Drop me a line at contact@thelostbaystudio.com I'll be happy to provide a review copy. I'll add community copies when the game gets a review/AP. Tag me on Twitter @thelostbay or on Bluesky @thelostbaystudio.com and I'll boost your review link and add community copies.
Easy peasy way to support the game and the community
Updated | 17 days ago |
Status | In development |
Category | Physical game |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (44 total ratings) |
Author | IKO |
Tags | 90s, Horror, Psychological Horror, suburbia, Survival Horror |
Purchase
In order to download this suburban gothic RPG you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $24 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community copies
Support this suburban gothic RPG at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community copies
If you can't afford the zine grab a free community copy! New community copies will be added when folks buy or review the game.
- 1 community copy for each copy sold.
- 5 community copies for each review or actual play.
Download demo
Development log
- Fillable character sheet17 days ago
- Manuscript Preview45 days ago
- Quickstart update67 days ago
- Added 2 character sheetsJun 15, 2024
- Quickstart + adventure + character sheet addedMay 23, 2024
- Typos and layout revisionsMar 25, 2024
- Version 1.8 Rev DMar 10, 2024
- Appendix N update 16 itemsFeb 19, 2024
Comments
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This is on my to buy list. Looks beautiful. Congratulations on this achievement.
Even with 30% off the price is pretty steep for a digital copy. It's significantly higher than the other games on my wishlist. Can you give some context on the pricing?
Sure thing. The price is identical to the Kickstarter digital tier, and this itchio game/page is kind of a preorder. Right now you have access to a 40p quickstart and to the legacy edition (called First Look) but ultimately we’ll upload the full game PDF, which is a 140-ish page book. If you’re on a budget I recommend joining The Lost Bay server as we regularly add more community copies, and announce it there. Also ultimately we’ll share a text only bare bones, rules only verssion. Hope this helps
Thank you for the context, really appreciate it. Good to know it's not the full version. But it looks so damn good so with this 30% Ill invest in the process.
Awesome Feel free to come and meet us in the server if you need rules clarification, or just want to make news friends
Aww, I have to wait for a community copy. Can't wait for the day to come when I can support + get a physical version! This looks awesome.
I bought this 150 days ago. When the final PDF is released, do I get one?
Yes of course. You have access to all the updated files that will be uploaded here, and this includes the final PDF
Cool!
Yesterday evening I submitted my review of this game to the Swedish gaming magazine Fenix. Will be out in a couple of weeks. I’ll scan the review for you. In the meantime, polish your Swedish! ;)
Tack! I’m afraid that’s the best I can do in Swedish :) ! But I’ll be happy to see it ( I hope haha )
I'm on the same boat as Seth, have to wait for a community copy unfortunately. But this looks so like my jam, massive congrats!
2 more community copies! I hope you dig it
Argh I missed them :( thanks though.
edit: got one now! Thank you!
i'll have to keep a look out for a community copy right now... excited to look at this but can't support it just yet. it does look great, loving what i'm seeing from the preview.
One copy just sold, there’s a new CC :)
omg i just got it!
Nice! I hope you’ll dig it
So happy to see this coming out into the world. Such a great experience at-table!
Hey Jamie! Hope we’ll be able to play together again soon. Since we played the game has changed a bit, it’s slightly more hardcore :)
Surreal, magical, horrifying, and poetic. Here the mundane becomes magical and the magical becomes monstrous.
The setting of The Lost Bay is every bit as captivating as Clive Barker at his most fantastic. The world building reminds me bit of my hazy memories of Imajica and The Great and Secret Show.
Iko has written a nostalgia-infused nightmare. It’s absolutely brilliant.
Hey David! Thank you so much for the kind words!
As a playtester I got a first hand glimpse of the Lost Bay. Great stuff!
Iko is creating something special here.
Thank Jimmy for your kind words. I can’t wait to playing with you folks again!