Picture for a moment: You are listening to your current podcast of choice and appreciating the dulcet tones of one Jonathan Sims. The time has come for the regularly scheduled ad read and you prepare yourself to hear the same ad from the last few episodes (my only gripe with binging a series long after its release). Instead you are greeted by something entirely new.
Enter ‘Exuviae - Relics of House Dragonfly’ created by Sean Smith, a self described ‘horror-noir roleplaying game’ that is best suited for two to five investigators and played over the course of a single four hour sitting.
As the game suggests, pour yourself a glass of whiskey and light a cigar, maybe put on some slow jazz for this review, and let us begin.
Utilizing the mechanics of Osmosis solitaire, a deck of cards is used to simulate the collection of results throughout the night’s investigation as the players delve into the conspiracies laid out by the insect cult. This forces players to pay close attention to the game and the cards that are on the table, lest they forget what could still be lurking beneath the deck.
In terms of formatting (done by Alina Sandu), the game is beautifully and simply laid out with an easy to read font, examples for everything one could need examples for, and immersive graphics that would reek of a classic forties noir. Or perhaps they might make your skin crawl.
At only 16 pages (excluding the stunning full-page illustrations done by Jacopo Moruzzi and additional goodies), Exuviae is an easy read for even the most amateur of TTRPGS players and I would go so far as to recommend the game as an excellent starting point for those who might want to dip their toes into GMing as very minimal prep is required to actually sitting down with your players. That prep being quite literally, reading the rules and familiarizing yourself with the infamous insect cult. Exuviae feels like it was made for players to pick it up and sit down to play in the same sitting if they have the time.
Like many cults, the end goal of the insect cult is to gain control over the whole planet and they are so widespread that they have created factions, or in this case, houses. As the name of the game implies, House Dragonfly is the main antagonist of this particular story and Sean truly leans into the horror of insects and the agents that could be at their disposal. If we lived in this world where all insects possess above human intelligence, I shudder at the thought what skittering, writhing abominations might be lurking in the dark. Like many TTRPGS, the only limit is that of your imagination and Exuviae lays down an incredible foundation.
Markedly unlike other systems though, is the method of character creation. Rather than rolling for stats, players are asked select questions by the GM in order to determine various traits that may facilitate certain actions through gameplay. If a character is skilled in a certain task, the difficulty may be decreased and the chance for success heightened.
Success and failure are determined by the cards, but these are not the only two options, which I personally found incredibly compelling as a mechanic. A character might experience a complication, or perhaps an oversight. Most interesting to me was the chance that an action might be interrupted, a consequence brought about by pulling a face card.
The immersive elements of the game are incredible and are readily reflected in the care the creative team put into creating the guidebook and it feels incredibly unique. In the back there are even a few cocktail recipes for your players to truly get immersed in that forties vibe that supports the game. It is a throwback to films like “The Fly” and your classic black and white mystery noir with a pipe smoking detective sitting in their dimly lit office. The selection of insects as the monsters is genius because when you spend even a moment too long thinking about how there are something around 20 quadrillion ants in the world right now, it is easy to see how they could be quite formidable if they decided to unionize against the human race and eat us.
I genuinely can not recommend this game enough and if you are desperate to cling onto the halloween vibes as Mariah Carey begins to thaw for the winter season, why not pick up ‘Exuviae - Relics of House Dragonfly’? This is the perfect game if you enjoy the likes of ‘The Magnus Archives’, ‘Lord of Illusions’, ‘The Fly’, or ‘The Brood’!
You can find Exuviae for $19.95 on itch.io here! Sean has written several games so if you enjoy Exuviae, check out some of his other work! I would personally recommend 'Quarrel & Fable' and 'Lung Fish'.
If you need some help learning the game, not to worry! Check out the guide on youtube here! (While you are there, subscribe to Sean!)