We thank Spilled Coffee Creatives for the digital copy of So Many Horrid Ghosts provided for this review. The roleplaying game we are talking about deals with a rather original theme: some of the most famous characters from Shakespeare’s tragedies return as ghosts to take revenge on their author by ruining his next work.

You can find it in digital copy for sale here in English only for the price of 10 dollars (after a successful Kickstarter campaign). At the same link you will find a free downloadable demo, if you want to try it before deciding to purchase. There is also a compendium containing additional playable characters entitled So Many Horrid Ghosts: Extra Character Booklet (which we will also talk about in this article), which can be purchased instead here (only in digital and English version) at a cost of 5 dollars.

Let’s see if our play will become the last work of the bard par excellence.

So Many Horrid Ghosts Setting Review

Life is a stage and we are all actors

W. Shakespeare – As You Like It

Reunited by Puck (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) after much wandering, 3 to 5 ghosts (depending on the number of players) plan revenge on William Shakespeare, the author who condemned them to some of the most horrific ends in literature.

What better option than to ruin the premiere of his new play at London’s Globe Theatre, causing him to lose his honor and fame? So the three unfortunate lead actors (each with unique characteristics and chosen from a pool of five), unaware of everything, will be targeted by ghosts to ruin the performance.

The Narrator

Oh Shakespeare, Why Are You Shakespeare?

W. Shakespeare – Romeo & Juliet

The master, in the guise of the prolific author, will begin by rolling the d10 four times. Thanks to a special table, we will then find the title of the work and its three acts. We will thus have a guide to follow for our drama. For example:

Title: The Tragedy of Success

Act 1: A Dream

Act 2: A Murder Plan

Acts 3: A Battle

Once we have decided on a rough plot, we will then choose the actors who will stage it. Willie Hughs, for example, is perfect for the female roles because he is very young, while Richard Burbage is the perfect protagonist with his authority and severity.

Game Mechanics

To Be or not To Be…

W. Shakespeare – Hamlet

In So Many Horrid Ghosts, players will have three types of action at their disposal: love, madness, and revenge. The former are related to communicating with another creature (for example, whispering in someone’s ear), the second one refer to the supernatural (for example, making lights flicker), while the latter give us the power to physically interact with the world (such as breaking an object).

Depending on their inclination, the protagonists can roll a d10 with advantage (roll twice and take the higher number), disadvantage (roll twice and take the lower number), or make a flat roll. Resulting number represents the number of words the player has available to describe their action.

But beware: Shakespeare can act. If our narrator rolls a d10 and gets a higher score than us, they’ll have the option to rewrite just one of the words we’ve chosen, potentially turning the tables.

So how can you significantly interfere? Each character will have a personal goal in the game, unknown to the others. Once achieved, they’ll unlock a different power for each, corresponding to a natural 10. Does that sound simpler? What if I told you that from the second act onward, you’ll have to work together and your joint actions will have to rhyme?

So Many Horrid Ghosts Playable Character Review

We are such stuff as dreams are made on

W. Shakespeare – The Tempest

But who are our protagonists among the many books written by the bard? Here they are:

• Ophelia (from Hamlet): kind and intelligent, she probably did not accept his death by drowning.
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (from Hamlet): old friends of Hamlet, you were dispatched with a letter that condemned you to death, concocted by him himself. Perhaps there is some resentment left.
• Banquo (from Macbeth): perhaps because you have lived a courageous and noble life, you have not accepted the betrayal of your best friend.
• Lady Macbeth (from Macbeth): persuasive yet mad, she threw herself from a tower. She also wants revenge on her incompetent husband.
• Mercutio (from Romeo and Juliet): killed in a brawl over a feud that wasn’t his. This injustice must be erased.
• Tybalt (from Romeo and Juliet): Mercutio’s murderer, killed by Romeo. He wasn’t exactly a saint in life, but he still wants his revenge.

…What if I wanted more?

The So Many Horrid Ghosts: Extra Character Booklet expansion is the answer. With 31 additional characters from various operas (such as Antony and Cleopatra, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Othello, and many more), you’ll be spoiled for choice.

Fortunately, both this manual and the basic one provide summaries of the books they’re based on. Otherwise, it would be incredibly difficult to remember all the possible interactions and the reasons for their behavior.

29 pages of additions to your game world. Because you can never have enough Shakespeare.

Conclusions

The 37 pages of the So Many Horrid Ghosts core rulebook catapult us into an unknown world. Only Ali Mark And Nell Quinn-Gybney dared to blend the world of well-known tragedies with the hilarity of a group of players trying to rhyme a possible revenge. It takes about two hours of play to complete a performance, although the additions in the So Many Horrid Ghosts: Extra Character Booklet allow for more playthroughs.

An RPG that’s well suited to short sessions and events, though it’s aimed at more experienced players. Dice mechanics are kept to a minimum, leaving plenty of scope for the imagination of those at the table. If you’re a lover of classic literature and looking for something different, you’ve come to the right place.

The graphics and layout of the manual are extremely simple and practically devoid of illustrations. This work therefore appears amateurish, but developed by enthusiasts of the world of Shakespeare. The choice of characters and the summaries of the works indeed indicate a great affection for one of the most famous writers of all time.

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