''The Laundry'' is a

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participa ...

published by

Cubicle 7 Cubicle 7 Entertainment Ltd is an Irish games company that creates and publishes tabletop games. Best known for its ''Doctor Who'' and ''Lord of the Rings'' games, Cubicle 7 offers titles covering a range of licensed and self-developed properties ...

in 2010. The game is based on novelist

Charles Stross Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine '' ...

's ''

The Laundry Files ''The Laundry Files'' is a series of novels by British writer Charles Stross. They mix the genres of Lovecraftian horror, spy thriller, science fiction, and workplace humour. Their main character for the first five novels is "Bob Howard" (a ps ...

'' series.

Description

''The Laundry'' is a game where agents have to deal with

Lovecraftian Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...

outer gods and British

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

at the same time.

Publication history

used their ''

Basic Role-Playing ''Basic Role-Playing'' (''BRP'') is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the ''RuneQuest'' fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the ''BRP'' standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of ''RuneQu ...

'' license to create ''The Laundry'' (2010), based on ''

'' series of novels by

. The game was published in July 2010. Cubicle 7 subsequently published a number of supplements: * ''Black Bag Jobs'', a compilation of scenarios. * ''The Agent's Handbook'' which develops the agents' characters and the internal procedures of the organization. * ''The Mythos Dossiers'', a compilation of in-game documents to use as play-aids and scenario seeds. * ''License To Summon'', which give more details on the various forms of sorcery in the game universe. * ''God Game Black'', which provides more information on the Sleeper's Plateau and how to introduce an eschaton menace in the game. * ''Cultists Under The Bed'' gives more information on the working of various forms of sects and cultists, with several examples of organizations. * ''Unconventional Diplomacy'', a compilation of scenarios. * ''Targets Of Acquisition'', which provides dossiers of several occult artefacts. * ''As Above, So Below'', introduces rules for using special forces in the game and adding a political dimension to games. It also includes two new scenarios. A

GM screen A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the playe ...

was announced but was never released. Cubicle 7's licensing agreement with

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...

expired by mutual agreement at the end of 2017. In 2019 Cubicle 7 stated that the licensing issue would need to be resolved, or a new system introduced, before a revised edition could be published.

Reception

Awards

* 2011

ENnie 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 New Game - Silver Winner

References

External links

''The Laundry RPG'' at RPGGeek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laundry Basic Role-Playing System British role-playing games Cthulhu Mythos role-playing games Cubicle 7 games ENnies winners Espionage role-playing games Horror role-playing games Role-playing games based on novels Role-playing games introduced in 2010