Well, this is literally «Bloodborne RPG» without a license. Simple, fast and brutal. Take your weapons and prepare to strike, hunters.

I bought the game for the setting, and it is amazing. Lots of style and atmosphere. Chapter introductory fiction is really good, helping to understand the setting's potential for adventures. The system seems to be adequate to what the setting requires.

I highly recommend this book.

I was looking for a new horror game this Halloween, and this game was it! Set in the fictional gothic city of Harrowmire, When the Moon Hangs Low has an interesting premise: people exposed to the supernatural Darkness and survive (i.e. the PCs) can become Marked. The Mark, of which 6 are desribed in the book, comes with both a Boon and a Curse. The Boons range from enhanced senses to being able to see ghosts to regeneration, but each is tied to a specific Curse that affects the character as well. These may be an extreme gnawing hunger for raw flesh to becoming infested with a swarm of vermin and insects that call your body home! Each curse has 5 steps: Nascent, Touched, Embraced, Consumed, and Lost. The character can recover from the first several steps of the Curse during downtime and with specific methods described for each Curse, but if they become Lost, they turn into an inhuman creature under the GMs control. Each Mark is very evocative, with hints on how normal folks may react to witnessing it and how it may progressively warp the character's mind. In fact, I love the Marks enough that I wish there were more to choose from to expand the replayability of the game. However, there are also 21 skills, 25 edges, over 20 different weapons, and a host of other adventuring gear to round out a character.

One minor complaint I have about the book is that there is only 1 generic Monster stat block for this Lost PC (called a "Consumed Hunter") and while it mentions that they should also have all the abilities from 1 Curse, each Curse feels to me like it results in a very different kind of creature in the end. It may become a creature of darkness that drains the life from all living creatures in range, or it may be a kind of Rat-King with an army of soldiers and spys under its control. I really wish the author had provided at least 1 specific example of each type of Lost adventurer to show how different the results of the Curses can be.

The description of the setting of Harrowmire is great, telling how and why the city changed and evolved over time. It started as a poor backwater town and became a boom town with the accidental discovery of an ancient crypt full of bured riches and artifacts, to eventully becoming ground zero for the Sorrow Plague and being quarantined. A map of the city is provided, along with desriptions of important NPCs in each section, and several Factions that have competing interests in the area (and 4 specific ways to gain Influence with each Faction).

The rules for When the Moon Hangs Low consists of a unique dice pool system where you roll a number of d6's equal to your relevant stat, and the number you are trying to roll is determined by whether the skill is Untrained, Trained, or Mastered. Combat is fairly simple. Each participant gets 1 Primary action and 1 Secondary action on their turn, with several pages of additional options to use, from 2 weapon fighting to jury-rigging items. There are even several random tables of Contracts, Complications, Dark Secrets, Weird Events, and Loot, as well as a 5 page sample adventure in the back of the book.

Altogether, I feel this game really gives a ton of interesting ideas to explore and expand upon and leaves you wanting more! I don't know if anything is being planned, but I'd love to see an expansion that includes more Marks, new antagonists, and maybe explores the secrets of the Undergod's Necropolis!

I love this game. I have many games I love and they all have something in common, they either have some unusual mechanics or they do something other games do not. This game has both. The d6 dice pools are standard, but using the skills, not to add more dice, but to change the TN is great and makes the game play faster. The curse consuming the player makes for these great moments where you have to ask yourself, do I let the beast out and risk going further down the dark path or do I save my humanity and press on. If you are looking for something with the feel of Bloodbourne or Van Helsing and want to keep it quick and rules light, this game is for you.

Fantastic stories, art, and lore. Easy to understand rules. I think the normal person would understand character creation and all the rules in under an hour. 5/5 for pick up and play factor. 5/5 for presentation.

Over the years, I've tried many different systems to try to capture the feel of Bloodborne, but this is the one that does it best, in my opinion. It uses a light but versatile d6 pool system that meshes well with the setting and is easily adjusted for anything you want to add or modify. The characters carry heavy burdens, and their curses feel powerful while at the same time driving them closer to damnation. The continuing short story that introduces each chapter does a great job of creating a grim atmosphere of the cost of victory and completing contracts in this dark world. Instead of just copying the world of Bloodborne, the author has done an excellent job of creating their own lore and expanded world. Even so, it's a tight book, with just the right balance between exposition and game mechanics, that I felt was well worth the price tag.