The Yellow King Roleplaying Game

The book has been written.
The book has been read.
Now it rewrites you.
Across time it spreads, creating dread new realities.
And you’re in all of them.

The Yellow King RPG is an innovative new GUMSHOE core game written and designed by GUMSHOE creator Robin D. Laws. YKRPG takes you on a brain-bending spiral through multiple selves and timelines.

Inspired by Robert W. Chambers’ influential cycle of short stories, The Yellow King RPG pits the characters against the reality-altering horror of The King in Yellow. This suppressed play, once read, invites madness. Or a visit from its titular character, an alien ruler intent on invading and remolding our world into a colony of their planet, Carcosa.

Four books confront your players with an epic journey into reality horror: 

• Belle Époque Paris, where a printed version of the dread play is first published. Players portray American art students in its absinthe-soaked world, navigating the Parisian demimonde and investigating mysteries involving gargoyles, vampires, and decadent alien royalty. Includes the core rules.

• The Wars, an alternate reality in which the players take on the role of soldiers bogged down in the great European conflict of 1947. While trying to stay alive on an eerie, shifting battlefield, they investigate supernatural mysteries generated by the occult machinations of the Yellow King and his rebellious daughters.

• Aftermath, set later in the same reality, in 2017 North America. A bloody insurrection has toppled a dictatorial regime loyal to Carcosa. Players become former partisans adjusting to ordinary life, trying to build a just society from the ashes of civil war. But not all of the monsters have been thoroughly banished—and like it or not, they’re the ones with the skills to hunt them and finish them off.

• This is Normal Now. In the 2017 we know, albeit one subtly permeated by supernatural beings and maddening reality shifts, ordinary people band together, slowly realizing that they are the key to ending a menace spanning eras and realities.

New GUMSHOE features include: 

• A completely new player-facing combat system. 
• A fresh, evocative approach to wounds, physical and psychic, inspired by the innovations of GUMSHOE One-2-One. 
• Linked character creation across multiple settings.

• Book 1: Paris (192 pages) which includes the basic rules, character generation and setting details for the Belle Époque, and an introductory adventure
• Book 2: The Wars (176 pages) which includes character generation, new technology and setting details for the European War, as well as an introductory adventure
• Book 3: Aftermath (168 pages) which includes character generation, factions and NPCs, setting details for the post-Carcosan present, and an introductory adventure
• Book 4: This Is Normal Now (176 pages) which includes character generation, new organizations and terrifying monsters for the weird now, plus an introductory adventure
• GM Screen PDF
• Slipcase GM Screen PDF
• Bonus The Yellow King RPG adventure, "The Doors to Heaven", written by Sarah Saltiel for the Paris setting
• Shock card deck PDF
• Injury card deck PDF
• The Yellow King RPG Suite - music for all four YKRPG settings