2023 ENNIE Awards — ‘Vaesen: Seasons of Mystery’ Nominated For Best Adventure
by Anton Kromoff
Welcome to the table,
It’s that time of year again. The 2023 ENNIEs are upon us, and I, for one, am delighted. You can read more about what the ENNIEs are at this link and then come back and learn all about the always amazing Free League‘s Vaesen – Seasons of Mystery which was nominated for Best Adventure.
Vaesen– Seasons of Mystery, and honestly the Vaesen setting as a whole, is one of the most beautiful game settings in the TTRPG space. I don’t just mean now, either, I mean of all time. Each book is printed in this toothy-feeling hardback volume with spellbinding art and really fun folklore-inspired adventures.
The Vaesen game setting is based on the work of Swedish illustrator and author Johan Egerkrans, and has captivated me since I came across it years ago. The adventure setting was funded back in 2021 on Kickstarter for 6,450,173 SEK (Roughly $630,000.000 USD) by 7,995 backers alongside its sister title Vaesen-Mythic Britain & Ireland, a setting book that expanded upon the world presented in the original Vaesen TTRPG.
Vaesen – Seasons of Mystery contains four standalone adventures based on the four seasons. A Dance with Death, by Gabrielle de Bourg, has players traveling to the green bales of Dalarna in the warm spring to investigate strange events in a secluded village. Fireheart by Tomas Härenstam is set during a blazing heatwave in the summer and has the players venturing to the ironworks of Häryd to confront a terrifying adversary that is more than they seem.
The autumnal adventure, The Devil on the Moor by Andreas Marklund, is my favorite of the four and it finds the players caught between the civilized world and the quickly approaching industrial age, and the old world with the creatures who inhabited the wild spaces before mankind came to the moors of Denmark. The fourth adventure in Vaesen – Seasons of Mystery is titled A Winter’s Tale and is by Kiku Pukk Härenstam. This offering is set in the winter forests of Ingria where an unknown entity wanders beneath the cloudless night sky.
Vaesen – Seasons of Mystery is such a fun departure from some of the more fast-paced dungeon-crawling TTRPGs that are out there. It makes for a really nice long weekend adventure break or even a few months worth of campaign adventures for a table who is looking for something a little more rp heavy and less flashy than some of the other options out there.
I’ve backed every Vaesen book that has been produced and I’ve never been anything short of delighted in the content and quality.
You can head over to this link and vote for Vaesen if you would like.
Until next time, the intersection of adventure and folklore is where really good storytelling dwells.
