Vaesen - Starter guide

What is Vaesen?

Vaesen is a Nordic horror roleplaying game of folklore and mystery. It is set in the Mythic North, a nineteenth-century Scandinavia where industry is rising, railroads are spreading, and the old creatures of folklore still wait in the forests and lakes. Most people cannot see them. You can. You were born with the Sight, and as a member of a secret Society headquartered in an old castle in Upsala, you travel to troubled villages to uncover what the locals dare not name.

The twist that defines the game: the monster usually has a reason. A vaesen rarely kills for sport. Something was broken, a promise, a ritual, a piece of land, and your job is to find out what. Some mysteries end in a desperate fight. Just as many end in a negotiation, a ritual, or an uneasy truce.

Vaesen was written by Nils Hintze and built on the artwork and folklore books of Swedish illustrator Johan Egerkrans, whose paintings fill every page. Free League Publishing released it in 2020, and it won three gold ENNIE awards in 2021, for both art categories and for its monsters.

How does the system work?

Vaesen runs on Free League's Year Zero Engine, the same foundation as Tales from the Loop and Forbidden Lands. You roll a pool of six-sided dice equal to attribute plus skill, and every six is a success. One six usually does the job. No modifiers to add, no charts to consult; the whole engine fits in a sentence.

The tension lives in pushing. Fail a roll and you may reroll it, but pushing leaves a mark: a physical or mental condition such as exhausted, injured, or terrified. Conditions replace hit points entirely. Each one makes later rolls harder, and when a character takes a third, they are broken. Horror in Vaesen is not a number ticking down but a person slowly coming apart.

Two more pieces make the game distinctive. First, every vaesen has a secret: a ritual, a weakness, a condition under which it can be banished. Weapons alone almost never solve a mystery; knowledge does. Second, between mysteries your Society develops its headquarters, Castle Gyllencreutz, restoring rooms and gaining new advantages. It gives a campaign a home and a shared history.

What do you need to start?

One player takes the role of game master; the rest play investigators. The core rulebook is everything the group needs: all rules, ten ready-made archetypes with life path tables, a gazetteer of the Mythic North and Upsala, a bestiary of vaesen painted by Egerkrans, and an introductory Mystery called The Dance of Dreams. Add a handful of six-sided dice and you are ready.

Since late 2025 there is also a dedicated Starter Set with streamlined rules, ready-made characters, and an introductory mystery, the gentlest possible doorway if your group has never played a roleplaying game before.

Who is this game for?

Vaesen suits groups who love investigation, atmosphere, and moral ambiguity, players who want to ask questions, read old church records, and sit with the possibility that the creature deserves pity as much as fear. It is also one of the most beginner-friendly horror games we know: the rules are light, the archetypes are ready in minutes, and the folklore feels close to home for northern European players.

It is not for every table. If your group wants tactical combat with maps and builds, the system is too thin to carry that. Combat exists, but it is fast, dangerous, and best avoided. And the pace is deliberate: a mystery rewards patience, not kicked-in doors. Groups who measure fun in initiative rolls per hour will be happier elsewhere in the shop.

How does it compare to other systems?

Compared to Dungeons & Dragons 5e, Vaesen swaps heroic power for vulnerability. D&D characters grow into legends; Vaesen investigators collect scars and insights, and a farmhand with a pitchfork remains a threat. Sessions revolve around what you learn, not what you defeat.

The closer cousin is Call of Cthulhu, the grandfather of investigative horror. Both send ordinary people toward things they should run from. But where Cthulhu's cosmic horrors are unknowable and indifferent, vaesen belong here. They are your grandmother's stories made flesh, and they can be reasoned with, which changes the emotional register from dread to something closer to tragedy. And if you know Tales from the Loop, the machinery will feel familiar: the same dice, aimed at gothic folklore instead of 1980s suburbia.

Where do you start?

If your group is new to roleplaying games entirely, begin with the Starter Set and its introductory mystery. Experienced groups can go straight to the core rulebook: read the rules chapters, let everyone pick an archetype, and run The Dance of Dreams from the back of the book.

One piece of advice for the game master: prepare the place, not the plot. A Vaesen mystery lives in its village, its gossip, its weather, and its secrets. Know what the creature wants and why, then let the players find their own road to it.

Recommended products at Netherbook

The core rulebook is the heart of the line and all a group strictly needs; the Starter Set is the softer entry. From there, A Wicked Secret & Other Mysteries and Seasons of Mystery each add four standalone mysteries, and The Lost Mountain Saga and City of My Nightmares offer full campaigns. When you are ready to leave Scandinavia, Mythic Britain & Ireland, itself a gold ENNIE winner for Product of the Year, and Mythic Carpathia expand the map. The official Vaesen Dice Set completes the table. You can browse the full line in our Vaesen collection.