Pelgrane Press Ltd is a British

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

publishing company based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and founded in 1999. It is co-owned by Simon J Rogers and

Cat Tobin Cathriona "Cat" Tobin is a game designer and publisher based in West Cork, Ireland. She co-owns the London-based Pelgrane Press with Simon J Rogers and is a significant contributor to the roleplaying game industry in the UK. Career Tobin ha ...

. It currently produces

GUMSHOE System The Gumshoe System (stylised as ''The GUMSHOE System'') is a role-playing game system created in 2007 by Robin Laws, designed for running investigative scenarios. The premise is that investigative games are not about finding clues, they are abo ...

RPGs, '' 13th Age'', the Diana Jones award-winning ''

Hillfolk ''Hillfolk'' is a tabletop role-playing game designed by Robin Laws and published by Pelgrane Press. It was initially launched via Kickstarter in 2012, with the funding being sufficiently successful that a second book called "Blood on the Snow" ...

'' RPG, ''

The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game ''The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game'' is a tabletop role-playing game published by Pelgrane Press in 2001. Description ''The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game'' is an adaptation of Jack Vance's ''Dying Earth'' novel series. The game situates players i ...

'', and other related products. It publishes fiction under the Stone Skin Press imprint.

History

Pelgrane Press was founded in 1999, and was initially owned by Simon Rogers, ProFantasy Software, and Sasha Bilton. It is co-owned by Simon J Rogers and

GUMSHOE System

The

was designed by

Robin D. Laws Robin D. Laws (born October 14, 1964 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled rolepl ...

for running investigative, clue-finding games: * ''

The Esoterrorists ''The Esoterrorists'' is a Contemporary Occult tabletop role-playing game, written by Robin D. Laws, and published by Pelgrane Press in 2006. Description ''The Esoterrorists'' is one of the games to use the GUMSHOE System. As elite investigator ...

'' and '' Fear Itself'' by Robin D. Laws, based on the ''Book of Unremitting Horror'' by Adrian Bott and

Dave Allsop Dave Allsop is a Scottish game designer and artist for role-playing games and video games. Career Dave Allsop developed the role-playing game ''SLA Industries'' (1993); the Scottish company Nightfall Games was founded solely to publish the game. ...

* '' Trail of Cthulhu'' by

Kenneth Hite Kenneth Hite (born September 15, 1965) is a writer and role-playing game designer. Hite is the author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night's Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of '' Vampire: the Masquerade''. Educati ...

* ''

Mutant City Blues ''Mutant City Blues'' is a role-playing game published by Pelgrane Press in 2009. Description ''Mutant City Blues'' is one of the games to use the GUMSHOE System. In a world where 1% of the population has gained mutant powers, police procedure h ...

'', a near-future gritty police procedural Superhero setting by Robin Laws * '' Ashen Stars'', a darkly rebooted investigative Space Opera setting by Robin Laws * ''

Night's Black Agents ''Night's Black Agents'' is a collection of fantasy and horror short stories by American writer Fritz Leiber. It was released in 1947 and was the author's first book. The book's title is taken from ''Macbeth'', Act III, scene ii. It was publish ...

'', a game of action and espionage in a vampiric setting by Ken Hite * ''TimeWatch'', an investigative time travel game by Kevin Kulp * ''Fall of Delta Green'', a conspiracy horror game by Ken Hite set in the 1960s period of the

Delta Green ''Delta Green'' is a contemporary era setting for the ''Call of Cthulhu'' role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Scott Tynes, a.k.a. the Delta Green Partnership, of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishin ...

RPG setting * ''The Yellow King'', a surrealist horror game bridging four different eras by Robin D. Laws, inspired by '' The King in Yellow'' by

Robert W. Chambers Robert William Chambers (May 26, 1865 – December 16, 1933) was an American artist and fiction writer, best known for his book of short stories titled '' The King in Yellow'', published in 1895. Life Chambers was born in Brooklyn, New York, t ...

GUMSHOE One-2-One is a re-imagining of the GUMSHOE system for one player, one GM gaming. * ''Cthulhu Confidential'' The ''

Gaean Reach The Gaean Reach is a fictional region in space that is a setting for some science fiction by Jack Vance. All of his series and standalone works that are set in a universe evidently including the Gaean Reach, perhaps set inside it or outside it, ha ...

'' RPG and the forthcoming ''Yellow King RPG'' each combine elements with other system elements, including ''Skulduggery'' systems in the ''Gaean Reach'' and GUMSHOE One-2-One elements in ''The Yellow King''. Similarly, ''Lorefinder'' grafts GUMSHOE investigative elements onto

Paizo Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game ''Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived from the Greek word ''paiz ...

's ''

Pathfinder Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder ( ...

'' RPG.

Other Products

* '' 13th Age RPG'' * ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Skulduggery''

Awards

Pelgrane Press has won a large number of

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

EN World EN World, also known as Morrus' Unofficial Tabletop RPG News, is a British-owned tabletop role-playing game news and reviews website founded in 2000, which grew from the earlier "Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News" site (which was activ ...

RPG Awards (the “

ENnies 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 ...

”), including the Silver Ennie for Fan's Choice for Best Publisher (2016). The company's Gold Ennies include: * 2012: Best Electronic Book for ''Cthulhu Apocalypse: The Apocalypse Machine'' (for ''Trail of Cthulhu''); Best Writing for ''The Investigator’s Guide to Occult London'' * 2014: Best Adventure for ''Eternal Lies'' (for ''Trail of Cthulhu'') * 2016: Best RPG Related Product for ''Ken Writes About Stuff, Volume 3''; Best Supplement for ''The Dracula Dossier: Hawkins Papers''; Best Writing and Product of the Year for ''The Dracula Dossier: Director's Handbook'' (for ''Night's Black Agents'' RPG *2019: Best Setting for ''The Fall of Delta Green'' RPG *2020: Best RPG Related Product for ''Absinthe in Carcosa'' (for the ''Yellow King RPG'') Press coverage has noted Pelgrane's outsized ability to accomplish significant output despite its stature:

Pelgrane are a relatively small company in comparison to some of the other contenders and seeing them sweep the awards shelf is great. They are proof that at least in the table top world, quality products can still conquer the world.

References

External links