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Dogged seekers, whatever your faction, listen:
Expose these cynical plots, unveil the occult, and further whatever ideal you find noble.
Investigation, Intrigue, Introspection
Candlelight Inquisition is a “Gothic Noir” indie tabletop roleplaying game (RPG) designed for a game master (GM) and 1 to 4 players (“Seekers”). Engage in investigation, social-political intrigue, and wrestle with your character’s internal psyche as they face opposition and uncertainty.
All you need to play Candlelight Inquisition is a copy of the rules, two six sided dice (2d6), paper, and a pencil. This RPG is best for long-running intrigue campaigns. However, its robust, narrative-focused systems (inspired by other RPG’s like “Blades in the Dark” and “Fate”) can handle any type of conflict. Seekers can be anyone, from rebel conspirators to state inquisitors, or even normal folk pulled into a mystery greater than themselves.
Learn about Candlelight Inquisition’s unique features, such as:
Archetypes: Character classes that model your character’s psyche.
Two-Question Search: Investigation mechanics that drive discovery of clues while maintaining risk.
Willpower & Trauma: Push yourself to overcome crises and horrors, but not without risking a lasting toll.
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Rebellions empower themselves with relic-tech.
Dream cults defy the sorcerer hunts.
Conspiracy spreads like cancer in the Cathedral.
The Vinndesian Empire is dying.
Smoke Rises over the Empire
Enter the dying empire of Vinndes, Candlelight Inquisition’s industrial low-fantasy setting. Smoke plumes from train, battlefield, and sorcerer’s pyre alike.
Educate yourself on the discordant factions of the empire and the histories that gave them rise.
Expand to learn more about Vinndes.
The theocratic Vinndesian Empire has long worshipped Antiquity: an advanced society lost in the cataclysms. Reverence of ancient technology expedited Vinndes’ science, leading to an industrial revival. However, the Cathedral’s cleric-magistrates have fallen into the same corruption and inhumanity that plagued the ancients.
As the Cathedral’s grip weakens and discontent grows, rival powers spring. The Amber Revolution seeks to burn and rebuild better no matter the cost. The Free Scholars turn to exploring anathema Dream sorcery. The Delver’s Union works to liberate relic-tech trade from imperial control. Provincial nobility look to restore their ancestral lands, and New-Industrialist’s plot to secure their status in the new order.
Others still have faith in the old order, that sturdy empire of enlightenment. Even amid conspiracies and internal rivalries, the priests, bureaucrats, judges, and inquisitors still help provide a kind of peace for the Heartland. How long it may last remains to be seen.
As a seeker, you for your own reasons fell into one of Vinndes’ factions. Will your investigations advance their righteous cause, or will you dig up the dark truth your own allies tried to bury?
Psychologic Classes
In Candlelight Inquisition, character Archetypes are not modelled by what your seeker does, but how they think: what they value and how they approach problems. An exorcist Partisan plays much different than an exorcist Empath.
Empath
Empaths look not to problems, but the people the problems effect. They intuitively understand others, even those far different from them. This gift makes some Empaths incredibly kind. Others it wears down. Yet others use their gift to cynical end, to control. Play Empath if you want to support your fellow seekers and manipulate your enemies.
Signature Move: Give Relief
Restore the physical or mental energy of an ally through care or encouragement.
Intelligentsia
Intelligentsias seek understanding above all. The curiosity to take multiple perspectives makes them strong investigators and socially malleable. That same inclination makes it hard for intelligentsias to take strong stances or to make crucial decisions. Play Intelligentsia if you want the mental flexibility to approach a problem from any angle.
Signature Move: Hypothesis
Create a custom search question you can have answered automatically each situation.
Partisan
Partisans are driven by their ideals. The chance to fight for their beliefs only fuels them. However, some might see their zeal as close-mindedness and ill temper. Play Partisan if you want to be passionate to your cause and indominable in all forms of conflict.
Signature Move: Zeal
Restore willpower whenever you invoke your ideal on an action roll and succeed.
Professional
Professionals are expert pragmatists. They solve problems, first and foremost. To best do this, Professionals hone their skills and equipment. Some are even willing to go against their own morals to complete a task. Play Professional if you want to be a master who consistently gets the job done without concern for high philosophy.
Signature Move: Expertise
Choose one of your professions. You can an expertise edge pool for that profession that can be used indefinitely.
Driving Searches
Never get bogged down in an investigation scene. Quickly reference your seeker’s unique Search Questions for inspiration. The two-question system means every search action uncovers plot-advancing clues, even if you fail the dice roll. There is still risk to searching, however, especially if you want both of your questions answered.
Willpower & Trauma
Horrors both occult and mundane will plague your seeker. Gamble your willpower in order to pull victory from defeat, but be wary of overtaxing yourself. Long lasting trauma will forever change seekers who pass their breaking point.
Eldritch Science
Occult magic and strange bio-tech pervade the late industrial society of Vinndes. Clairvoyant heretics tap into the otherworldly Dream to connect to alien powers. Reliquarians study the advanced Relic-Tech of worshipped Antiquity. Unscrupulous inventors hybridize the ancient biological relic cores with modern mechanics.
Conspiracy Abounds
Vinndes, the setting of Candlelight Inquisition, is rife with disputing factions. Seekers benefit from their faction affiliations with favors, allies, and opportunities. Don’t be too trusting however, as even allied factions have their dark plans. GM tools help you design plots and run intrigue-full campaigns.
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya
Create your own Seeker.
Try out the free Character Creation demo.
It’s not to late to back the Kickstarter
Late pledges are available for copies of the core rules in PDF or hardcover form.