Asher’s Ridge is a GM-less tabletop roleplaying game for 1 to 4 players, where you direct - and play through - episodes of an original paranormal drama television series. Follow the campaign, and be notified when it launches on September 2nd: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montfordtales/ashers-ridge

This quickstart is a rules complete, but not (yet) art complete, preview of Asher's Ridge. Art will be added over time, as and when it has been painted. All artwork is human made, and painted in acrylics on wood (or canvas) board, or paper. Thank you for your patience while I work through it all!

About this game

This quickstart guides you through a first game set in the fictional town of Asher’s Ridge in the summer of 2025. You’ll use the included loglines, main characters, supporting roles, and locations to create a thrilling and mysterious supernatural episode – or series – of your own.

The full ruleset includes: 

• Writer’s room advice
• A multitude of loglines
• Rules for creating characters, 10+ attitude actions, and character progression
• Location deck building
• 40 town locations, plus 40 alternative interior locations
• Paranormal phenomena scene generator
• Series (campaign) play

You will need… 

•  1 to 4 players 
•  A standard deck of playing cards, jokers included 
•  A set of 100 letter tiles (e.g. from Scrabble or similar) 
•  Optional: your preferred note-taking tool(s)

Influences

This game is influenced by the atmosphere, soundtracks, and storytelling of 

• Twin Peaks
• The X-Files
• Stranger Things
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• The Fall of the House of Usher

Asher’s Ridge is also influenced by tabletop roleplaying games and boardgames, such as

• Alice is Missing (Hunters Entertainment), for its emergent and freeform storytelling
• Dream Askew (Avery Alder), for emotionally impactful, community-driven storytelling about people and their relationships amid the collapse of civilisation.
• Wanderhome (Possum Creek Games), for its conversational gameplay where the journey is what matters most.  

Finally...

If you would like to provide feedback and/or be credited as a playtester or beta reader in the final game, please use this form: https://forms.gle/rDxGpHNKkko5efsS7

And above all, thank you for taking the time to read and enjoy Asher's Ridge! Don't forget to follow the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montfordtales/ashers-ridge

Credits

Writing, design, art, and layout: Rori Montford (@MontfordTales.com)
Editing: Penny Blake (@pennyblake.bsky.social)

‘Script change’ by Beau Jágr Sheldon: http://briebeau.com/scriptchange
Dicier font, by Speak the Sky, licensed under CC BY 4.0

This book is 100% human made.