Player Handbook

Brindlewood Bay is a roleplaying game about a group of elderly women—members of the local Murder Mavens mystery book club—who find themselves solving actual murder mysteries in their quaint New England town. They become aware of a dark occult conspiracy connecting the murders, and will eventually have to defeat that dark conspiracy to save their community. 

The game is directly inspired by the television show Murder, She Wrote, but also takes inspiration from the cosmic horror genre, “cozy” crime dramas, and American TV shows from the '70s, '80s, and '80s.

The Setting

Brindlewood Bay is a small coastal community in Massachusetts. A whaling town in the 18th and 19th centuries, it is now largely a tourist spot. Many locals have turned their homes into bed & breakfasts, and the town has antique shops, comfy dining spots, and artists and artisans of all kinds. Guided fishing trips are common.

The Murder Mavens

The Murder Mavens is a mystery book club that has been meeting on the top floor of The Candlelight Booksellers every Saturday evening for the last ten years. The Murder Mavens are particularly fond of The Gold Crown Mysteries series by Robin Masterson, featuring globe-trotting super-sleuth, Amanda Delacourt.

The Mavens themselves are all elderly women whose partners have passed away and whose children have long flown the nest. Now, they're enjoying their golden years in the picturesque town of Brindlewood Bay, keeping their homes the way they like, pursuing their hobbies, and finding comfort and companionship in each other.

The Mavens are also amateur detectives, and by the time the game starts, they have helped local police solve several high profile crimes. Sometimes people approach them to get their help on a case, but usually the Mavens just stumble onto it—much to the chagrin of the authorities, who almost always resent their meddling.

The Midwives of the Fragrant Void

Brindlewood Bay is geographically and historically significant to a dark cult called the Midwives of the Fragrant Void. At the start of the game, the Mavens don't know anything about the Midwives, but as players we know they are a Hellenic death cult of men and women dedicated to bringing forth the "children" of Persephone—chthonic monstrosities that will usher in the End of All Things. As the game progresses, the Mavens will become ever-more-aware of the supernatural connections between the murders they are investigating, and will eventually come to understand the role of the Midwives of the Fragrant Void. They may begin to dabble in the occult in order to combat the dark forces arrayed against them, come face-to-face with a child of Persephone, or even be tempted to join the Midwives themselves.

Content Warning

On the surface, this game is about little old ladies solving murder mysteries—and it is definitely that! But it is also more than that: the game (and this text) becomes very dark as you progress through it. Cosmic horror, graphic violence, ritual sacrifice, and other unsavory things come up quite frequently. Additionally, these materials occasionally touch on sensitive subject matters, such as sexism, sexual desire, the violence of America's gun culture and consumer culture, and other topics. You may decide that this is not for you, and that's ok! There are other excellent mystery-horror games out there for you to read and play, including Cthulhu Dark, Lovecraftesque, and The Society of Dreamers.

Gameplay in Brindlewood Bay is mostly a conversation. One participant, the Keeper, says how the world behaves; they frame scenes and present challenges to the other participants, the players, who are responsible for saying how their character, a Murder Maven, reacts. This is all largely done via a back-and-forth conversation between the Keeper and the players; the narrative authority—who gets to say what—changes from time to time, but it's always within the confines of the conversation.

The conversation ends when a player describes their Maven doing something that triggers a move. At that point, you read the text of the triggered move, do what it says (usually rolling dice and interpreting the results), and then narrate that part of the story, as needed. Once the move is resolved, you return to the conversation. It won't always be as clean as that when you sit down to play—the Keeper may prefer to shift the spotlight to another character in the middle of resolving a move, returning later what it's dramatically interesting—but that is generally how the game should go.

Abilities are the Maven attributes that are applied to most die rolls in the game. They each have a modifier from -3 to +3. The abilities are: Vitality, Composure, Reason, Presence, and Sensitivity.

• Use Vitality if the Maven's action involves strength, dexterity, endurance, athleticism, or raw physicality.

• Use Composure if the Maven's action requires a steady hand, a calm disposition, or intense concentration; or if they are trying to avoid a fear-based reaction.

• Use Reason if the Maven is studying books, researching a problem, examining a crime scene, or otherwise engaging their mental faculty.

• Use Presence if the Maven is trying to charm someone, intimidate someone, or capture someone's imagination.

• Use Sensitivity if the Maven's action involves occult or supernatural forces. The Keeper may decide that an action that is seemingly governed by a different ability is actually governed by Sensitivity because of the supernatural, spiritual, or occult nature of what is being undertaken.

In all cases, you may try to argue that a certain ability applies, but the Keeper has the final call.

In most cases, when you roll dice because a move instructs you to do so, you roll two six-sided dice, sum them, and then add the modifier from the relevant ability. You then check the result against the text of the move. If a move refers to a “hit,” it means a result of 7+. If a move refers to a “miss,” it means a result of 6-. Moves also frequently have success tiers: a miss, 7-9, 10-11, and 12+.

Advantage and Disadvantage

When you have an advantage, you roll three dice, keep the two highest, sum them, and then add the modifier of the relevant ability.

You will most often have an advantage because of the following:

• A move gives you an advantage.

• The Maven is using an unmarked item from their Cozy Little Place in their action.

When you're at a disadvantage, you roll three dice, keep the two lowest, sum them, and then add the modifier of the relevant ability. 

You will most often be at a disadvantage because of the following: 

• A Condition negatively impacts your Maven’s action.

• The Keeper believes it’s appropriate under the current circumstances.

If circumstances would cause you to both have an advantage and be at a disadvantage during an action, they cancel each other out and you roll as normal. Note, however, that advantage and disadvantage do not stack, nor can one outweigh the other. For example, if you have two Conditions, each of which would plausibly put you at a disadvantage, and one move that gives you an advantage, you would simply roll as normal, without advantage or disadvantage.

The Keeper will be very hard on Mavens when describing adversity because players have a powerful tool that allows them to resist: putting on a Crown. After a die roll, and after an outcome has been narrated, the player can choose to put on a Crown and increase their die result by one success tier (so, a miss becomes a 7-9, a 7-9 becomes a 10-11, and a 10-11 becomes a 12+). In that case, we narrate a different result, and what was previously narrated does not occur (we say it was a different timeline that we got to collectively experience but that did not actually happen).

You may be asking yourself: “Why does the Keeper fully narrate a result that they know the player is just going to discard by putting on a Crown?” Answer: because it's fun! The Crown lets us glimpse different timelines, play them out, feel them, experience the anguish and terror, and then... do something different. It's sort of like one of those old Choose Your Own Adventure books: part of the fun is making the wrong choice so you can see the disaster that befalls your character (and putting on a Crown is like putting your thumb on the page of those old books so you can go back and choose something else if you chose poorly). 

There are three types of moves in Brindlewood Bay: basic moves, Maven moves, and custom moves. These are discussed in detail in their own portion of the site. 

For now, simply note that there are two sets of Maven moves: classic and alternate. The sets are mutually exclusive, and the group should decide which move set they would like to play with. The classic Maven moves are largely inspired by male detective characters in American TV shows from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and 90s. The alternate Maven moves are largely inspired by characters from mystery books.

This section briefly details each part of the character sheet.

Name

You should circle any given name you wish and then come up with a surname on your own. Alternatively, you can come up with both given name and surname.

Style

A Maven’s personal style should reflect her basic outlook on life. Mavens don’t always have to be dressed in a manner that matches their style.

Cozy Activity

The Maven’s Cozy Activity represents their favorite hobby or pastime (apart from murder mystery books). No two Mavens can have the same Cozy Activity.

End of Session

These questions represent roleplaying goals for the session. You can have three questions marked, and the first question on the list is always marked. For each marked question you answer “yes” to at the end of the session, mark an XP. At the beginning of a new session, you can unmark your two elective options and mark two different ones, or leave either or both the same.

XP Track

When you mark all five boxes on the XP track, erase them whenever you wish and mark an advancement. There are two ways to mark the XP track: 1) by answering “yes” to an End of Session question and 2) when the text of a move instructs you to.

Advancements

When you mark an advancement, immediately apply its effects to your character sheet. When all advancements have been marked, your Maven can no longer collect XP or advance, but they are in play until forced to retire by the Crown of the Void or until you decide to retire them.

Abilities

These are the character attributes that are applied to most die rolls.

• Use Vitality if your Maven's action involves strength, dexterity, endurance, athleticism, or raw physicality.

• Use Composure if your Maven's action requires a steady hand, a calm disposition, or intense concentration; or if they are trying to avoid a fear-based reaction.

• Use Reason if your Maven is studying books, researching a problem, examining a crime scene, or otherwise engaging their mental faculty.

• Use Presence if your Maven is trying to charm someone, intimidate someone, or capture someone's imagination.

• Use Sensitivity if your Maven's action involves supernatural forces; the Keeper may decide that any action that is seemingly governed by a different ability is actually governed by Sensitivity because of the supernatural, spiritual, or occult nature of what is being undertaken.

Conditions

Conditions are traits that cause you make die rolls at a disadvantage if they would plausibly hinder your Maven during an action. You can have up to three Conditions. If you would ever take a fourth Condition, you instead mark one of your Crowns. Conditions are removed as the result of moves or when the Keeper instructs you to do so.

Maven Moves

Unlike the basic moves on the Reference Sheet, a Maven move can only be used if you have it written on your character sheet. The Maven move is one of the ways you personalize your Murder Maven.

Putting on a Crown (The Crown of the Queen and the Crown of the Void)

The next section of the character sheet is divided into two parts: The Crown of the Queen and The Crown of the Void. You will occasionally “put on a Crown,” in which case you mark a box from one of these two sections. You must then do as the marked text instructs before the current session ends.

The Crown of the Queen represents the idea of your Maven as a woman. The text involves flashbacks to her life as a partner, mother, and sister, and present-day scenes that show her being romantic or sexual, or having a complicated inner life. The entries can be marked in any order.

The Crown of the Void represents the effects of the dark conspiracy on your Maven. The text is always marked in order, and the last box heralds your Maven's retirement from the game.

A Cozy Little Place

This section of the character sheet is where you note interesting and distinctive items that can be found in your Maven's home in Brindlewood Bay. This section also functions as an equipment list, since anything from the Cozy Little Place that might reasonably be on a Maven's person in a scene, is. Items from your Cozy Little Place can be marked to get an advantage on a die roll associated with their use. Generally speaking, they cannot be unmarked, but marked items remain in your Cozy Little Place for use in future scenes, in which case they add to the fictional positioning of your Maven's actions but do not convey a bonus to a die roll.

At the beginning of Session One, you and the other players will have an opportunity to add items to your Cozy Little Place. After that, items can be added as the result of moves or when the Keeper instructs you to do so.