Vaesen is a horror mystery

tabletop role-playing game A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants d ...

published by

Free League Publishing Free League Publishing (Swedish: Fria Ligan) is a game studio and publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden, formed in 2011. The company designs and publishes tabletop role-playing games, board games, and books based on licensed properties and independe ...

in 2020, with illustrations by

Johan Egerkrans Johan Egerkrans (born 1978) is a Swedish illustrator and author. Egerkrans has described himself as interested in mythology and animals from a young age. His first book as writer and illustrator, ''Nordiska Väsen'', was published in 2013, and de ...

. It draws from mythology and folklore and focuses on monster-hunting. The game has won multiple

ENNIE Awards The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

Publication history

''Vaesen'' and its expansions are published by Free League Publishing. The base game by Nils Hintze is set in Sweden, while the " Mythic Britain and Ireland" expansion by Graeme Davis is set in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The "Mythic Britain and Ireland" expansion was funded on Kickstarter in December 2021. The "Lost Mountain Saga" expansion by Ellinor DiLorenzo, which returns to the core game's Swedish setting, was announced in June 2023.

Etymology

The title Vaesen is a

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

of the Swedish term (), meaning a ''supernatural being or creature'' in both singular and plural, where ''ae'' is the common international transliteration of the letter '' ä''. It is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

with the Danish and Norwegian terms and , which have the same meaning.

Reception

Vaesen won three

in 2021, including Gold ENnies for Best Art – Cover, Best Art – Interior, and Best Monster / Adversary. The Vaesen expansion '' Mythic Britain & Ireland'' won three ENnie Awards in 2023, including Gold ENnies for Product of the Year, Best Art – Interior, and Best Setting. The same year, Vaesen's "Seasons of Mystery" won Best Adventure.

References

ENnies winners Kickstarter-funded tabletop games Role-playing games introduced in 2020 Swedish role-playing games {{rpg-stub