From ancient times to the modern era, the spirits of the dead in Japan have been continuously revered, researched, and feared. Get your gear, build a team, and get investigating.
Status
Released
Version
1.1
Mechanics
Hand management (standard deck of cards)
Dice rolling (d6 and d10)
Random tables/Events
Exploration and Investigation
In The Unseen World, you play a paranormal investigator traveling across Japan, visiting various towns, researching haunted locations, and trying to collect evidence of the supernatural. You’ll have to properly manage your resources and time while also trying not to succumb to fear during your investigations. Level up, gear up, and build your team of investigators!
Full Preview
The game’s main mechanism uses a deck of standard playing cards split into two decks. Your deck, the Action deck, uses the 2, 3, and 4 of each suit plus one Ace at the beginning (you can earn more Aces as you level). You’ll use a hand of 4 cards against the Challenge deck, made of the 6, 7, and 8 of each suit with one 5.
A Check is made by playing a card, applying modifiers based on the situation, then optionally making a Push by adding the top card of the Action deck to your total. Meet or exceed the Challenge card to succeed.
Creating Towns
Each town and its locations and NPCs are generated randomly using a series of tables. Not everything is generated up front, allowing you to explore locations and discover who and what is there (and reduce overall downtime spent building the town).
Actions
Your Actions drive the gameplay. There are several Actions to take, but most cost you time.
Haunted Backstories
As you research the area and the local ghost stories, you’ll be filling in information regarding haunted locations for you to investigate. You need three pieces of information (obtained by rolling on a series of tables) before you’re ready to investigate a location, and each piece adds to the story.
The Investigation
When you’re ready to test yourself, you begin an investigation at a haunted location you’ve completed research for. You’ll then resolve a series of encounters, attempting to collect paranormal evidence while holding onto your wits. Succumb to fear and the investigation ends prematurely, but there’s always the next one. Spend your evidence to earn money, funding your efforts on the next investigation.
Are you ready to start investigating?
Blog Articles
The Unseen World: Designer Diary
From this… to this. A Distant Starting Point Years ago, I started getting into gamebooks like Fabled Lands and solo RPGs like Ironsworn. I really wanted to make one of my own but wasn’t sure where to start or how it’s done. When I learned of Draw.io (the tool I still use), it was exactly…
The Unseen World Release!
Just in time for Halloween, The Unseen World releases! In The Unseen World, you play a paranormal investigator traveling across Japan, visiting various towns, researching haunted locations, and trying to collect evidence of the supernatural. You’ll have to properly manage your resources and time while also trying not to succumb to fear during your investigations.…
The Unseen World Playtest Report
Here’s a look at The Unseen World, a solitaire gamebook of paranormal investigation and horror set in modern-day Japan. Full system overview here. The gist of it is you travel from town to town, research haunted locations, then investigate those locations, resolving a series of encounters. Almost everything in the game is randomly generated using…
Thomas P. King, author and game designer 