Strange Haunts - Rulebooks, Classes, and More
The first edition of the Strange Haunts rulebook is available for free download, alongside all current class skill trees and character sheets.
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The current release features five unique classes and highly customizable skill trees for each.
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While Strange Haunts has been in development in some form or another since 2019, the system is very much still evolving. We encourage you to reach out to us via the Contact section at the bottom of the Home page to share your feedback.
Strange Haunts has been developed primarily by Evelyn Dove, with special thanks to her parents William and Valerie, her best friend Bevan Gray, and the other wonderful friends who have helped playtest and refine this system - Rain Trozzi, Leon Earl, and Jackson Payne-Howell.
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Without their encouragement and enthusiasm for this project, Strange Haunts would not have made it this far. Thank you, all.
Strange Haunts First Edition is available now for FREE! Use the links below to download a pdf copy to your device.
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File size is 2.6 MB.
Our Era of Avalon series of adventures in on-going. Click here to view our available adventures, or navigate to the Adventures page in the menu.
More adventures coming soon...
Meet the Classes
Get to know the various archetypes you can play as, and browse their basic skill trees. From the mysterious Medium to the righteous Exorcist, you're sure to find a class you're curious about.
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Part of what makes Strange Haunts unique as a TTRPG is a highly customizable leveling system, so if you're not sure about a class, be sure to check out the skill tree! Depending on your leveling choices, you can get entirely distinct player experiences even within a class type.
The Psychic
Psychics wield reality-bending abilities linked to the minds and emotions of those around them. They walk in worlds beyond our own that are not of deathly natures, and can see glimpses of the future. Mental fortitude is essential, as the undisciplined mind is easily overwhelmed by these gifts. Madness is an omnipresent threat, should a Psychic’s self-control ever slip. Psychics are almost exclusively born, not made, but as with Mediums there are special circumstances under which these abilities can awaken in the previously ungifted.
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As a Psychic, you gain Third Sight and Warps. Third Sight allows you to perceive what others can not – such as the thoughts and true feelings of living minds – and Warps let you bend reality to suit your whims. You specialize in dealing with the "Memory Abberations" enemy type, creatures born from the subconscious mind that occasionally enter the physical world. You are also well-suited to dealing with Spirits, a trait you share with the Medium class.
Exorcists are those blessed few gifted with holy powers. They serve as earthly agents of the Abrahamic God, casting out demons and opposing evil wherever it is found. Anyone of sufficient dedication to the cause can be granted these abilities – note, not all Exorcists are believers (although it’s pretty rare for them to stay that way). What seems to matter more is that their goals are in line with the will of God. However, those who abandon their moral code and forsake their better nature will lose these powers (although they can be earned again, the road to redemption is long and arduous).
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The holy powers of an exorcist are not actually considered to be Magical, as their divine source makes them an innate part of the natural order rather than a defiance of it.
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As an Exorcist, you are granted access to Blessings. You specialize in opposing demons, and have certain advantages against infernal enemies. Exorcists must be of Good alignment, as it is essential to how the class functions.Â
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HOWEVER, an alternative version of the Exorcist, "The Priest", is in development. This version of the class has somewhat altered abilities, but is available for all moral alignments and beliefs.
The Exorcist
The Medium
Mediums are people who exist both in the physical realm and on the border of the realm of the Dead. The main prerequisite for this power is surviving a very near-death experience, usually in early childhood. Mediums can commune with the spirits of the dead who have not moved on (Ghosts), and very rarely with the dead who have moved on to the afterlife (Departed). The main difference is that a medium requires the cooperation of the Departed to establish a connection, but does not need this for Ghosts. The spiritually ambiguous existence of a medium also lets them perceive into the realm of Spirits, bodiless creatures that are not – and never have been – alive.
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As a Medium, you have access to Rites. These give you the ability to communicate with (and even control) ghosts and spirits. Naturally, this makes these unearthly threats your purview.
The Forensic Mage
Forensic Mages are born with an innate form of blood magic. To them, blood is more than just the liquid that sustains life – it is a person’s essence. From a drop of blood, a Forensic Mage can relive the history of the creature it came from as if they were said creature, up until the blood left the body. However, these abilities come with limitations.
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For example, they can also only perceive history back to a certain point, depending on how powerful they are. The stronger the mage, the further back in a creature’s history they can go. The danger of their powers lies here, as unlike Psychics (who can read and manipulate the minds of others), and Mediums (who can be physically inhabited by spirits and hyper-empathize with them, but do not lose their sense of self), Forensic Mages truly live these memories as the person they belonged to. With this comes the risk of being subsumed by the mind of another, and overwritten by their consciousness – occasionally, permanently. This is especially the case for attuning to non-human minds.
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Forensic Mages are often sought out by law enforcement and recruited, for obvious reasons. As a Forensic Mage, you can cast Spells of the Sanguine branch of magic. They are a jack-of-all trades class, dealing with enemies that possess anything akin to blood.
The Investigator
Investigators do not possess any form of power unobtainable by other mortal men. However, be it through effort or immense talent, they are masters of their minds and bodies. Investigators are perceptive and logical – gifted in both induction and deduction – and make for formidable combatants once trained. They notice things others do not, and can push themselves to the very limits of human capability. In this sense, they are perhaps the most impressive of the classes – in the absence of supernatural ability, they have pushed themselves to become the most extraordinary of the ordinary.
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As an Investigator, you have access to Feats of the Mind and Body categories. You can accomplish physical feats on par with Olympic athletes depending on your build, and can request a certain number of Clues from the GM per long rest, depending on your level.
Coming Soon...
This isn't the end! A few more classes are underway, so be sure to check back every once in a while to see what's new. For now, we offer this little poem as a hint of what's to come...
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"Writ in chalk and burning leaves,
Ancient heartwood of the trees,
Hammers, bells, and anvils ring,
For Out of Ages our magics sing."
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