Necronautilus designer Adam Vass finally faces their fears

For all their promise of imagination, tabletop RPGs seem from the outside to be firmly stuck in a medieval-except-when-its-not heroic fantasy. The big names truck in sword and sorcery, leaving smaller studios and individuals to broaden the aesthetic horizon. Adam Vass is one of those people. The designer behind games such as Necronautilus and Babes in the Wood has defined their career by turning a full 180 degrees away from industry expectations and plunging their hands firmly into one genre niche—horror.

Vass’ catalog communicates someone pacing the affective room, peering through windows and checking under furniture for interesting ways to alchemize horror film experiences into something a group of people can experience around the table. Sometimes that translation is more literal, as in Campfire’s premise of telling scary stories in the woods—though the engine for doing so is anything but conventional. Others relish in the weird and the uncomfortable, or, like This Discord Has Ghosts In It (co-created by Will Jobst), toy deliciously with structure to tell a new type of spooky story. But a large portion of Vass’ games channel a simple love of the genre; Stab, Have You Seen This Man, and 1978: The Night THEY Came Home are all tributes to horror film tropes.

Rascal caught up with Vass earlier this year to discuss what it means to define your career by such a narrow creative focus, the challenges of scaring people with dice and cards, and what fear they hold close to their own heart. Afterwards, the designer shares a bit about their upcoming game, Someone’s In Your House, and its uncomfortable genesis. All the best horror requires both the subjects and the audience to bear their vulnerabilities—extend their necks despite the fear of the blade—which might explain Vass’ comfort with playing in horror’s fetid waters.

This interview has been edited slightly for clarity.