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Bluebeard's Bride

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Bluebeard's Bride
DesignersWhitney "Strix" Beltrán, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson
IllustratorsRebecca Yanovskaya, Juan Ochoa, KRING, Jabari Weathers
PublishersMagpie Games
Publication2017
Genrestabletop role-playing game, gothic horror
SystemsPowered by the Apocalypse
Players3-5 plus gamemaster
Playing time2-4 hours
Age rangeadults only
Skillsrole-playing, storytelling

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, Marissa Kelly, and Sarah Richardson, and published by Magpie Games in 2017. Players represent five aspects of a woman's mind as she explores the mansion of her frightening new husband.[1][2] The game focuses on themes of misogyny and feminism.[3]

Bluebeard's Bride has won IndieCade and Indie Game Developer Network awards.[4][5] The web show Gudiya was an actual play of Bluebeard's Bride.[6][7]

Gameplay

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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 for Vice describes these as "Animus, which embodies strength; Virgin, representing obedience; Witch, suggesting sinfulness; Fatale, for sensuality; and a Mother who soothes."[1] The gamemaster is called the Groundskeeper.[7]

Reception

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Bluebeard's Bride was funded by a Kickstarter campaign in October–November 2016 that raised $129,820 from 1,745 backers.[8]

Awards

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Bluebeard's Bride won the IndieCade Grand Jury Award in 2018.[4] It won the 2018 Indie Game Developer Network awards for "Game of the Year" and "Best Art." The expansion Book of Rooms also won the 2019 award for "Best Art."[5]

Nominations

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Bluebeard's Bride was nominated for the 2018 ENNIE Awards for "Best Production Value."[9] 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 Indie Game Developer Network 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."[10]

Reviews

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Rebekah Krum for CBR called it one of the ten best Powered by the Apocalypse games.[11] Jaina Gray for Wired recommended it as one of the six best games to play remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] Rachel Beck for Dread Central 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."[13] 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."[3]

Legacy

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Em Friedman for Polygon praised Gudiya, an actual play of Bluebeard's Bride, as one of the five best moments in actual play in 2023. Gudiya used Bluebeard's Bride "to explore ideas of colonial and gendered violence in a South Asian setting."[6][14] Rowan Zeoli for Rascal called Gudiya "the closest I’ve seen to an actual play art film" and wrote that the players "continually confront which aspects of GUDIYA’s autonomy and culture will be sacrificed as they survive the violent reality of her new life as Bluebeard’s most recent bride."[7]

Expansions

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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.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b Baume, Matt (25 March 2017). "Diving Deep into Gothic Horror in 'Bluebeard's Bride'". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  2. ^ Marshall, Cass (2021-03-03). "An ambitious open-world D&D adventure game is in the works". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  3. ^ a b Biswas, Sharang (February 17, 2021). "Indie RPGs show roleplaying can - and should - be far more than Dungeons & Dragons". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b "IndieCade 2018 festival nominees named". Shacknews. 24 September 2018. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  5. ^ a b "Previous Award Winners". Indie Game Developer Network. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  6. ^ a b Friedman, Em (2024-01-23). "The very best actual play of 2023, including choice moments from Dimension 20, DesiQuest, and more". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  7. ^ a b c "GUDIYA: The horrors of being Bluebeard's latest plaything". Rascal News. 2024-03-20. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  8. ^ "Track Bluebeard's Bride's Kickstarter campaign on BackerTracker". BackerKit. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  9. ^ "2018 Nominees and Winners – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  10. ^ "2019 Nominees and Winners – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2023-04-12.
  11. ^ Krum, Rebekah (2023-01-28). "10 Best Powered By The Apocalypse TTRPGs". CBR. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  12. ^ "6 Great Board Games You Can Play With Friends Over Zoom". WIRED. 2020-04-29. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  13. ^ Beck, Rachel (July 29, 2018). "BLUEBEARD'S BRIDE Review – No Way Out; Only Forward". Dread Central. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  14. ^ Friedman, Em (2024-01-30). "Professor Friedman has a look at the very best actual play coming in 2024". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  15. ^ "Bluebeard's Bride". RPGG. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
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