Pathfinder Publisher Expands into Cinematic Horror Experiences With 13 Omens

Today, we’re taking a look at 13 Omens, the first new IP from Paizo in nearly 20 years. It’s a horror game that takes a rules-lite approach to learning, making it a perfect fit for scary one-shots during Halloween, while bringing its own distinct sense of dread and ‘omens’ to the table as the story progresses.

TTRPG Insider spoke with associate director of marketing Rue Dickey about the game’s mechanics, how it will fit into Paizo’s distinct approach to game creation, and more. They also just announced a partnership allowing them to adapt a classic horror film into a

Paizo decided to develop 13 Omens after its co-authors, Jason Buhlmann and Joe Bassini, were tasked with creating a simpler game than Paizo’s traditional, crunchy approach to TTRPGs (as exemplified by Pathfinder and Starfinder). The company wanted to do horror well, Rue Dickey told TTRPG Insider, but reskinning a system like Pathfinder or Starfinder was not a viable way to help players actually feel scared at the table.

The game aims to capture the “tension and dread of a horror movie” in its operation. The prewritten adventures are penned with a three-act structure in mind, which helps the storyteller to use the game’s distinct dice mechanics to represent that well to players.

How that mechanic works is that there are two kinds of dice that a player rolls; a “Safe dice” and a “omen dice.” When the story starts, a table has eight safe dice and one omen die held in a bag. As events unfold and the story demands that players act in tense situations, they will roll two d6s to resolve skill checks. If they succeed, all is good. But if they fail and they have an omen die used, then they have to take that Omen Die and place it in front of them. That die represents a ‘wound’, whether physical, supernatural, or mental. If they take four wounds, the player character dies. And once that player is dead, the dice all go back in the bag

As the story progresses, more omen dice are added, increasing the odds of wounds (to a total of 13 dice)

And if a player dies, then all their wounds go back into the bag, ready to hurt the other players. On paper, it provides a visible, tangible way to illustrate escalating threats and dangers that a storyteller can lay out on the table before their players.

The game offers players limited options for creating advantages and flaws, as well as for customizing a character. But it’s an inherently simple system that uses archetypes and basic skill levels to determine where a player’s skill set may lie. Each player is given archetypes that they can use to fit into the story. One of the key ones presented in the previews is the Ghost Stormers, a television crew striving to film in haunted houses, à la Grave Encounters. While archetypes can be used across stories, they’re most useful in the settings they are made for.

Each player operates with ‘core aspects’ that all archetypes use as well as Story Aspects, which are defined by the adventure. Bequeathed, a test adventure released at GenCon, featured expertise in wine as a key element for all the characters, as they were raised in a winery family. Players will have a level of expertise that determines how high they must roll to succeed. A player who is ‘terrible’ at an aspect must roll a 10 or higher. A player who is great only needs a 4.

The core rulebook will provide guidance on how to write your own adventures, as well as a number of zines to help capture the distinct horror experiences that players may desire to explore.

Dickey confirmed that there are plans to create 13 Omens organized play options similar to the Pathfinder and Starfinder Society, although that is well down the line in the game’s development.

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Adapting Cult Classics and Horror Films Into Zines

The game itself adapts a multitude of horror genres and entries into playable experiences. The best example of this is the recently announced Re-Animator zine, a new campaign addition that will adapt the 1985 horror film, based on H.P. Lovecraft’s series of stories, into a playable experience. The original film tells the story of how Professor Herbert West explored the use of elixirs that could bring dead flesh to life, albeit at a great risk to themselves. It’s considered a cult classic and a classic example of the zombie genre.

The 13 Omens zine “puts 13 Omens players in the shoes of medical students who have discovered a serum capable of animating dead bodies back to life,” Paizo said in a press release. “Of course, there are those who have nefarious plans for the serum, and simply controlling your own experiments will get messy. After all, death is only the beginning!”

“13 Omens’ rules give us the freedom to partner with iconic franchises like Re-Animator®,” said Erik Mona, Paizo publisher and CCO, in a press statement. “We’re thrilled to give players the opportunity to spend an evening living the insane dream of one of horror’s most iconic mad scientists!”

Paizo has explored IP crossovers in the past, including a short set of Starfinder adventures featuring the Warframe video game.

You can back 13 Omens here.

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