Investigators, ready yourselves. Candela Obscura needs you!
The Candela Obscura Core Rulebook is a fully detailed guide on playing and gamemastering the collaborative investigative horror tabletop roleplaying game. As an investigator of the paranormal secret society Candela Obscura, you and your circle are charged with exploring, fighting, and protecting the people of Newfaire from supernatural dangers lurking in the folds of a bustling world unaware of the occult magick simmering beneath. Candela Obscura is the very first game to use the Illuminated Worlds System as well as the first full RPG from Darrington Press, as featured in the ongoing anthology series on Critical Role.
Inside of the Candela Obscura Core Rulebook you’ll discover:
- 204 detailed pages, with a satin ribbon to keep your place.
- The core rules to play and create your Candela Obscura investigators and their circles.
- Over 90 pages detailing the turn of the century-inspired setting of the Fairelands, and in detail the city of Newfaire and the ancient ruins beneath known as Oldfaire.
- 4 full example assignments for gamemasters to dive in with their players.
- Over 30 example assignments to explore far-flung corners of the Fairelands and the organizations and people operating within it.
- An extensive guide to preparing for and gamemastering Candela Obscura.
- Immersive, in-world ephemera and notes strewn throughout the chapters—illustrations, sketches, research notes, correspondences, advertisements, maps, and more to bring the Fairelands to life.
For more information on the game and links to videos of gameplay and resources, visit darringtonpress.com/candela.
Full Credits:
- Lead Game Design: Spenser Starke and Rowan Hall
- Written By: Rowan Hall and Spenser Starke
- Editor: Karen Twelves
- Managing Editor: Matthew Key
- Production: Ivan Van Norman and Alex Uboldi
- Proofreading: Jacky Leung
- Additional Game Design: Christopher Grey, Tracey Harrison, and Taliesin Jaffe
- Layout: De La Rosa Design
- Cultural Consultants: Basheer Ghouse, Pam Punzalan, Erin Roberts, Christine Sandquist, Liam Stevens
- Military & Political Consultant: Anthony Joyce-Rivera
- Game Development Consultant: Mike Underwood
- Additional Editing: Jared Deiro, Darcy Ross
- Additional Writing: Carlos Cisco, Tracey Harrison, Anthony Joyce-Rivera, Sam Maggs, Mike Underwood
- Graphic Design: Aaron Monroy, Bryan Weiss
- Artists: Shaun Ellis, Jamie Harrison, Allie Irwin, Amelia Leonards, Lily McDonnell, Justin O’Neal, Sunga Park, Gustavo Rodrigues Pelissari, Doug Telford
- Map Design: Marc Moureau
- Cover Artist: De La Rosa Design
- Artist / Ancient Languages / Spell Design: Stevie Morley
- Original Concept Created By: Taliesin Jaffe and Chris Lockey
Customers praised this tabletop RPG rulebook for its "beautiful" design, stunning artwork, and high-quality construction. The narrative-driven mechanics are "easy to learn" and support collaborative storytelling. Shoppers loved the Gothic horror setting and found it accessible for both new and experienced players. Some noted a learning curve for the unique system.
I always loved a good horror/mystery game, but to be honest, I wasn't fond of many of them. I had very few good experiences so far. I tried a few rulesets and never felt at home or I didn't quite understand them.
But this is just brilliant! I had no trouble understanding it, it felt natural and easy to come by, hell, I explained the mechanics in less than 30 minutes to my players and they had no questions at all (as we normally do with other rulesets). But what fascinated me the most was that my beloved wife took such a liking to it that she started to read through everything and understood the rules and mechanics without my help and even helped me explain them to the rest. (That never happened before to this degree.)
Well, what I am trying to say is, Candela is easy to learn, fun to play and all in all a really good TTRPG, by far my favorite at the time. You guys did a great job bringing this to life.
All of us enjoyed it so much that our little one-shot stream turned into a little campaign that we can't wait to dive deeper into.
<3 Thank you all for this amazing and just brilliant game <3
Have som pictures from our Stream, that say it all :D
It's so beautiful. I'm so excited to make ocs with it :'3
Weighty and well constructed. Kudos to getting it shipped here within a week, it being Holiday Hell for retail. Looking forward to running it at my table.
Simple rules, good GM advice, intriguing setting. I've only had it a couple of weeks and already ran adventures for a couple of different groups as well as 7 Solo Sessions.
An incredible manual, of unexpected quality. Excellent paper, beautiful layout, and all the illustrations are of absolute quality. In terms of content, I was really surprised by the depth with which it addresses the management and presentation of the game world, as well as the system that is at the same time easy but tied to the narrative around the table. A truly excellent product that I would really like to see in my native language. A special mention goes to the shipping, which was incredibly fast in reaching Rome!
Very nice looking book to add to any personal library.
Already have a group interested on starting playing.
I bought this book, as I played in a con game of it, and I loved it! So, now that I own the book, I look forward to running a campaign or a one-shot of it!
The book is beautiful, and I can’t wait to play!
Best packaging I have ever received for a book. The edition is lovely and I’m so happy to have it.
Great quality!
Very high quality print + nice art and layout!
Like most things Darrington Press, this book is a thing of beauty. The Gothic world of Candela scratches that Lovecraftian/Poe/ Bierce itch with grandiose flourish. The artwork is top notch and I look forward to diving further into the world.
Very cool game!
So I've been reading through it and still learning everything. But I love the entire concept. After only playing DnD for years and years. Trying to make my brain learn a new mechanics system is easier said than done. But once that happens I will be instantly be playing!
Love the art / look of the book and pages. Even the coloring and design elements get you in the mood before you even begin reading the content. Gameplay is certainly different than what some may be used to but its quick to learn and fun for all to play and enjoy!
First I want to commend Darrington Press for putting out a beautiful book, with a truly stunning original world. Also I have found this game to be everything I wish other roleplaying games (cough*, D&D, Call of Cthulhu just to name a couple, cough*) could and should be as so-called roleplaying games.
I love that this game seems easy to make characters, has a simple narrative driven system to it, and most importantly is not a mechanic heavy monstrosity of cosmic proportions, where I constantly have to look in the book and find the rules, or blatantly just throw them out when they don't work. I also find the game easy to jump right into where I don't have to read a bunch of rules to learn it, and more importantly also have to teach my players those same rules in order for them to learn how to play.
Keep up the good work.
I've run (DM/GM) ttrpgs for a little over 40 years and have played dozens of systems, I have become a huge fan of the apocalypse system games like monster of the week and Brindlewood Bay, Candela Obscura is modeled after these systems, it's a deeply narrative, highly cooperative role playing experience, very easy to start and get into. You can get your first session up and running in about 2 hours easily. I also very highly recommend the Daggerheart core book for an easy fantasy themed ttrpgs, have fun.
Great people. VERY responsive. A pleasure to order from.
After reading through the book, I've got all kinds of ideas for new horror based campaigns. The almost Lovecraft-esque world is reminiscent of Call of Cthulhu, but with simpler mechanics to learn for players who are new to TTRPGs. A skilled DM can do a lot with this, and new DMs and players alike should enjoy the accessibility of the system.
No much words needed.
It’s a fantastic Victorian world to dive in.
The book gives me everything (background story, lore, foes and friends etc.) I need to create a thrilling quest for my friends. Despite the rules are simple they can get the investigators in real trouble.
Thank your for creating this masterpiece!
I even started to craft an astrolabe for background decorations.
The Candela Obscura core rulebook is both beautiful and educational, as any ttrpg rulebook should be. It's also one of the better-written rulebooks in my collection and is actually interesting to read. It's not just the rules, but it's lore and example assignments for your circle. Very glad I made this purchase.
Beautifully put together rulebook. Love the compact size compared to other TTRPG books.
Still reading threw the book liking the quality and the content
Lovely book. Really nice art work. I'm running my first Session 0 next week to start a Candela campaign and I'm so excited!
I appreciate the choice to make the book into a slightly smaller format than usual, with single-column text. The game rules are tight and the setting very intriguing.
Excellent rule book, makes for some excellent atmospheric storytelling with friends.
There are so many types of TTRPGs out there but this one is so unique while being instantly familiar. The rules are simple to follow and the game flows very well!
Book is beautiful, and send in very save package. :D
It’s spooky and I love it
