Gayming Review: "Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco and Cosmic Horror" by R. Rook Studio
- Josiah Sweetnam
- Nov 27, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 27
The game that helped give me the title of "Gayme Master", Moonlight on Roseville Beach really does hold a VERY special place in my heart!
I've gotten to run several sessions within this system and its INCREDIBLY charming setting, and I have really gotten to test out it's mechanics, and see where it flourishes and where its various strengths and weaknesses lie.
So it feels very fitting that the first Gayming Review on this blog is Moonlight on Roseville Beach!
First Look
When I first was introduced to this game, I was drawn right away to the aesthetic. This book is BEAUTIFULLY designed and laid out. In fact, before I knew literally anything else about the game, I already wanted this book just by looking at the cover and flipping through the pages to see the Pulp art scattered throughout, eye catching sketches, immersive short stories about the island, and advertisements that make it fit nicely into the era!
Then, after I got over my awe of the artistic design of the book, I fell quickly in love with the game system, and how the book presents the rules in a very easily navigable format. The rules are easy to understand, with enough substance to support the kinds of stories it is meant to tell, without being TOO heavy that you spend more time looking up rules than actually playing the game!!
Plus, the pre-written mystery adventures at the end of the book are a great way to introduce players to the game and its setting, as well as a great starting point for GMs to create their own mysteries.
The System
When looking at what this game can and can't do, it's a surprisingly versatile game. Generally speaking, this game excels at running horror, mystery, and investigation; but you could easily play treasure hunts, heists, whodunnit, social adventures, and MANY more narrative driven survival games!
The System of Moonlight on Roseville Beach, otherwise known as "Boardwalks and Sorcery", is a fairly light system; and is very specialized toward investigation and story/roleplay driven games.
This game uses a D6 dice pool system where the GM runs through a checklist of statements, and each statement that is applicable will add another D6 to the pool. Then, the GM decides which of the Tables are applicable for the players to roll on; from the
Goal Table(what they are trying to succeed at, a player is always rolling on this table),
Scared Table(when there is a risk that what they are trying to accomplish will affect them mentally),
and Injury Table(As implied, when a roll could potentially cause physical harm to the PC or their allies)
If they need an additional chance at success, a player can opt to roll on the Trouble Table to add an additional D6 to their rolling pool, at the risk of adding a complication to their situation. And if the player rolls enough high values on the dice, the GM can inform them that they may apply a dice to the Clue table for an extra bit of helpful information!
Notably, when assembling the tables and dice pools for assessing success, the players will roll their entire dice pool. Then after seeing the results, they may assign which die results go to which table.
I love this system because it still keeps a degree of randomness to success within the game, however giving players the ability to assign their dice gives a level of control to the players as to how well they succeed on their objectives and what kind of complications may slow them down. In fact, on more than one occaision I've had different players purposefully opt to assign a low roll to a table because it felt fitting to the situation, or they felt it was more interesting to add a complication. Now, I've seen other systems that give the players a little more narrative control beyond their character's decisions, which can be risky in situations where the players involved don't understand the narrative you are trying to tell. But This system still keeps the context of the narrative in the hands of the GM. That being said, there are still waysfor this to go wrong with a problematic player, but this makes it at least a little easier to manage.
Magic works in a similar dice pool system, but instead of rolling on the Goal table they roll on the Magic table, and usually on the scared table as well. In order to cast magic, a player character must either start as one of the Backgrounds that begins with magic, or you can narratively let them learn magic from an NPC between adventures. What they can do with magic is represented by "words of power" - single words that imply a limited collection of abilities that can be accomplished (i.e. gust, push, command, curse, shock, etc). This leaves a certain amount up to interpretation, however as I've played it with the Fruit Basket, we haven't run into too many (if any) arguments that cause any disruptions. If in doubt, the GM rules!
During character creation, players are to choose/create a Trouble. This person is someone that the PC knows who is either someone that requires social or physical protection, or is someone who is a kind of rival or background character that is at odds with the PC and complicates their life. Additionally, they choose/create an Ally who is an NPC that bonds the PC to the setting and can help when needed, or offer advantages in specific situations. Usually, when rolling on the trouble table a lower roll will result in a characters Trouble showing up, or an Ally being put in danger!
I personally love when games create a mechanic that can really add to a narrative, and for a game that is centered around running pulp style mysteries and horror, the use of Troubles and Allies really helps to add stakes to any adventure! As well, I've found that when I'm looking for more inspiration in writing mysteries or other stories, looking to their Troubles and Allies is incredibly helpful inspiration!
And the last big mechanic I love about this game is it's Supply system. During character creation, ideally during a Session Zero, the PCs decide what kind of home they live in. They can choose to be in the Centre of town which has less room, supply space, and privacy, but keeps them close to action when they need to retrieve supplies quickly. Closer to the fringes, giving a balance between having their own rooms and having a bit more access to supplies, but is a touch further to get things. And outside the edge of town, which gives the highest supply rating, but has limited access to luxuries like TV, radio, etc. During gameplay, when the PCs need a particular piece of equipment or tool for their goals, they can roll against their Homes Supply rating. Rolling below the Supply rating means they get exactly what they are looking for. Rolling above means they find something that doesn't exactly match what they need, but should work in a pinch, and then for the rest of the Adventure their supply rating decreases by one point. It keeps the game moving, but the more they need to rely on finding supplies, the more they risk running out when they might need it more!
But of course no game can do it all. I'd have to say the main area where this system lacks is in combat and in more narrow/specialized skill situations. As a rules-lite game, you're not going to find specific rules for things like battle maps, HP, damage, etc; as well as rules for hunger, long distance travel, contested rolls, etc.
It does still include combat rules as well as in game world ramifications for using weapons, but if you are looking for a high action, stat-packed combat simulator, this isn't it.
Moonlight on Roseville Beach is built as a game for investigating mysteries with magic, tools, and the ingenuity of the players. It is a narrative forward game, where story driven logic is integral to keep the game immersive and on track. (so definitely no peasant railguns here!) As long as you keep it under this, albeit wide, umbrella, you will have an amazing time!
The Setting
This is where this game really shines!
Here is where we enter the charming, quaint, Queer island resort town of Roseville Beach.
The town is located on Rose Island, a barrier island off the North American Atlantic/Gulf Coasts, between Lili's Woods and the Rose Island Swamp. Going further east, you can find the mysterious Cove, or the more upscale Pinewood Harbour. And heading west, is where you find the historic Winnet's Peak, or the more secluded Dunewood. But perhaps most importantly, Roseville Beach is considered one of the oldest LGBTQ+ inclusive communities in the region, where ideally everyone can find a place to belong. (even cosmic entities!)
Taking place in 1979, Moonlight on Roseville beach really likes to draw on inspirations from all of our favourite cosmic mystery, horror, and investigative stories; such as "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Murder She Wrote", "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", and even "Scooby-Doo".
The town itself is written as a queer-normative setting to tell inclusive stories, and equipped with tools to encourage safety and diversity in your games. Even including more cis- and hetero-normative regions outside of the town, in order to lightly explore some of the more typically prejudiced themes of the era, if your players feel safe and are interested in exploring them.
However, there is plenty of room in the games core setting to explore plenty of mysteries and adventures that include all orientations, ethnicities, and gender identities without any themes of discrimination or struggle.
Something I love about this rulebook is how it explores its setting with enough detail to give you the idea of its themes, and its core locations that any players are likely to expect to explore, as well as NPCs for those locations and a brief history about them. But not SO much that you feel like you are having to study the history of the setting just to play!
The book also includes a collection of pre-written mysteries that are easy to prepare, and expand on various locations while introducing a whole new collection of NPCs you can use as intended, or in your own mysteries!
I don't really have much negative to say about this setting. Perhaps for GMs who prefer a more highly detailed setting and fleshed out locations, they may be left a little wanting. But I personally prefer a setting like this that gives me enough information to tell me what the world is trying to say, and still leaves me the room to improvise and fill in the blanks where the story sees fit.
Conclusion
Moonlight on Roseville Beach promises to be a quick-to-start, easy-to-play RPG aimed at running cosmic mystery/horror and featuring Queer representation. And even a quick look at this game shows that it MORE than delivers. It may not be the best game for battle-sims and high-octane fights, or long term exploration games. But the encredibly charming and engaging setting combined with its easy to learn rules makes this Table-top Roleplaying Game amazing for any modern (ish) realistic narrative driven campaign! With enough setting information to get you going, and some of the BEST artistic design in any rulebook on my shelf, Moonlight on Roseville Beach is one of my no.1 recommendations for ANY TTRPG gaymer!
Interested in what gameplay of this amazing TTRPG Looks like? Watch "The Fruit Basket" on the Sweetnam's Nik Naks Youtube Channel! A series of actual plays GM'd by Yours Truly!(click the image below to find the channel!)
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