Gale’s Landing
Gale’s Landing
A family tabletop campaign · four cases and a finale

Gale’s Landing

This autumn, strange things are happening all over this little harbor town. A lighthouse that has been dark for fifty years is shining again. A bell with no clapper rings at midnight. Something with glowing green eyes swims in the cove, and the old inn whispers. Are there ghosts? Or something else?

This site has everything a Game Master needs to run the campaign: the rules, every case, the finale, printable cards and handouts, and a soundboard for the table.

Start with the rulesGet the filesSoundboard

How it plays

Built for a small family table, including players who would rather not be put on the spot.

One roll

Roll dice equal to a stat and read the highest die. The whole system takes five minutes to learn.

Quiet play built in

Every action can be taken by laying down a card or pointing. Talking is welcome and never required.

Scared, never hurt

Heroes lose Nerve, not lives. A low roll always moves the story forward.

Three evenings a case

Each case runs about three sessions of three hours. Play the four in any order.

The case files

Ada Finch pins four folders to her case board. The heroes choose which one to open next.

The Lighthouse Mystery

Lights on the island, where the lamp has been dark for fifty years.

3 sessionsGM only

The Midnight Bell

A bell with no clapper rings every midnight.

3 sessionsGM only

The Beast of Saltmarsh Cove

Something big, with glowing green eyes, is in the water.

3 sessionsGM only

The Whispering Inn

Whispers in the walls. A pale lady in the hall.

3 sessionsGM only

The Hundredth Night

Opens only after all four cases are closed.

3 to 4 sessionsGM only

Any order works. For a steady build in tension, try the Lighthouse, then Saltmarsh Cove, the Midnight Bell, and the Whispering Inn last, just before the finale.

Heard in the Whispering Inn

Keep the Watch

An old harbor song, sung in Gale’s Landing for three hundred years. Children skip rope to the chorus without knowing what it means. In the Whispering Inn, the heroes find it on a wax cylinder in Pearl’s attic.

Download the song 6.0 MB

Getting ready to run it

Six steps from first read to first session.

  1. Read the Core Rules

    Core Rules take about twenty minutes to read, including the quiet-play tools.

  2. Read the Campaign Guide

    The Campaign Guide explains the secret behind it all. Then read the first case you'll run.

  3. Print the cards and handouts

    Print the printables and handouts and cut out the cards. Card stock works best.

  4. Make heroes together

    Give each player the Player's Guide. Making a hero takes about ten minutes.

  5. Run each hero's prologue

    A short one-on-one story for each player, before the first session.

  6. Open a case file

    Let the players pick a case folder, and keep the soundboard open on a phone or laptop.

Every page

Read online, or download any page as a PDF. Everything except the Player's Guide contains spoilers.

Rules and heroes

  • Core RulesThe one roll, quiet play, making heroes, and table tools.PDF
  • Player's GuideThe spoiler-free rules and character sheet, for players. Safe to sharePDF
  • ProloguesFour short one-on-one stories that bring each hero to town.PDF

The campaign

Case files

Downloads

Take the whole campaign offline, or grab just what you need for the next session.

The complete campaign

One file with everything on this site.

  • All nine guide pages as PDFs
  • Printables, handouts and the character sheet
  • The sound pack and the song
Download everything 16.6 MB
  • PDFCharacter sheetOne blank hero sheet with a big space to draw. Spoiler-free, so players can have it early. 1 page.Download 3 KB
  • PDFPrintablesAction, signal and session cards, name, evidence and clue cards, case folders, the finale's Watch cards, four maps, and the character sheet. 18 pages.Download 44 KB
  • PDFHandoutsSixteen in-world papers the heroes find, including the words to Keep the Watch, with a GM index of when to hand each one over. 11 pages.Download 110 KB
  • MP3Keep the WatchThe old harbor song from the wax cylinder in the Whispering Inn. 4 minutes 33 seconds.Download 6.0 MB
  • ZIPSound packEvery soundboard sound as an MP3: ten looping ambiences, fifteen effects, and the song.Download 15.0 MB
  • PDFCore RulesThe one roll, quiet play, making heroes, and table tools.Download 171 KB
  • PDFPlayer's GuideThe spoiler-free rules and character sheet, for players.Download 140 KB
  • PDFProloguesFour short one-on-one stories that bring each hero to town.Download 154 KB
  • PDFCampaign GuideThe secret behind it all, the clue trail, and the recurring cast.Download 203 KB
  • PDFThe Lighthouse MysteryClear a wronged keeper's name and save her light.Download 273 KB
  • PDFThe Midnight BellFind out who rings a bell that has no clapper.Download 229 KB
  • PDFThe Beast of Saltmarsh CoveTrack the creature that's emptying the town's traps.Download 233 KB
  • PDFThe Whispering InnSpend the night in the inn everyone is fleeing.Download 243 KB
  • PDFThe Hundredth NightThe scariest part, in three sessions and an epilogue.Download 278 KB

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