''Bluebeard's Bride'' is a gothic horror tabletop role-playing game based on the Bluebeard folktale. It was designed and written by

Whitney "Strix" Beltrán Whitney "Strix" Beltrán is a narrative designer and Project Narrative Director at Hidden Path Entertainment. Her writing and design career includes the indie game '' Bluebeard's Bride''. She also founded the advocacy initiative Gaming as Other t ...

, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson, and published by

Magpie Games Magpie Games is an American tabletop role-playing games publishing company founded in 2011, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their publications include ''Root: the Roleplaying Game'', an adaptation of the board game ''Root'', the horror theme ...

in 2017. Players represent five aspects of a woman's mind as she explores the mansion of her frightening new husband.

Gameplay

''Bluebeard's Bride'' uses an adaptation of the Powered by the Apocalypse system. Players take on the roles of feminine archetypes that together form the mind of one woman.

Matt Baume Matt Baume is an American YouTuber, podcaster, and author who produces documentary-style videos on YouTube regarding media portrayal of LGBT people in his series "Matt Baume's Culture Cruise". Baume is the author of ''Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcom ...

for '' Vice'' describes these as "Animus, which embodies strength; Virgin, representing obedience; Witch, suggesting sinfulness; Fatale, for sensuality; and a Mother who soothes."

Reception

''Bluebeard's Bride'' was funded by a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign in October–November 2016 that raised $129,820 from 1,745 backers.

Awards

''Bluebeard's Bride'' won the IndieCade Grand Jury Award in 2018. It won the 2018

Indie Game Developer Network The Indie Game Developer Network (IGDN) is a trade association for developers of indie role-playing games, board games, card games, and LARPs. They present the annual Indie Groundbreaker Awards at Gen Con. Their other programs include a scholarsh ...

awards for "Game of the Year" and "Best Art." The expansion ''Book of Rooms'' also won the 2019 award for "Best Art."

Nominations

''Bluebeard's Bride'' was nominated for the 2018

ENNIE Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World i ...

for "Best Production Value." The expansion ''Book of Lore'' was nominated for the 2019 ENNIE Award for "Best RPG Related Product." The expansion ''Book of Rooms'' was nominated for the

award in 2019 for "Product of the Year." The expansion ''Book of Mirrors'' was nominated for the 2019 ENNIE Awards for "Best Cover" and "Best Layout and Design."

Reviews

Rebekah Krum for '' CBR'' called it one of the ten best Powered by the Apocalypse games. Jaina Gray for '' Wired'' recommended it as one of the six best games to play remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rachel Beck for ''

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

'' writes, "The story itself has the elegant simplicity of a fairytale," and it "is an explicitly feminine horror piece, and at its heart it's a game about systemic social and physical violence towards women." Sharang Biswas for '' Dicebreaker'' praised the game mechanics as an expression of the Bluebeard fable's theme: "The game delivers its central ideas of feminist and feminine horror, using powerlessness as a game mechanic and employing supernatural hyperbole of real-world misogyny to highlight anti-feminist thought."

Expansions

Magpie Games released ''Bluebeard's Bride: Book of Rooms'' in 2018, ''Bluebeard's Bride: Book of Lore'' and ''Bluebeard's Bride: Book of Mirrors'' in 2019, and ''Bluebeard's Bride: Booklet of Keepsakes'' in 2020.

References

{{Powered by the Apocalypse games ENnies nominees Horror role-playing games Kickstarter-funded tabletop games IGDN Winners Indie role-playing games Role-playing games introduced in 2017 Tabletop games