Bluebeard’s Bride, by Whitney Strix Beltran, Marissa Kelly and Sarah Richardson, is another horror storytelling game (collaborative, low prep, with a GM), powered by the Apocalypse Engine, that tells tales from a firmly female perspective.

First, you need to be familiar with the fairy tale. In short, the nobleman Bluebeard marries a poor woman and brings her to his estate, where she has everything she could want. Bluebeard is drawn away on business and gives his wife keys to every room in the house, but cautions her to never open one particular door. Of course, curiosity drives her to do just that, and within she finds the tortured corpses of Bluebeard’s previous brides. Bluebeard returns and learns of his new wife’s treachery, and adds her to the abattoir.

In Bluebeard’s Bride, players take the roles of specific aspects of the Bride’s personality (Animus, Fatale, Mother, Virgin, Witch), with each taking control of the Bride’s actions in turn as she explores the haunted rooms of her new home. Each room contains a Horror (usually the specter of a former bride in some form). Players must determine a truth about it that indicates their belief as to Bluebeard’s guilt or innocence in the creation of the Horror. Once the Bride’s faithfulness or disloyalty has been determined, she approaches the final room and, well, things are resolved one way or another.

Bluebeard’s Bride is GORGEOUS, particularly the gilt illustrations by Rebecca Yanovskaya. Splitting players into different aspects of a single character’s personality is a stroke of genius. More than anything, though, it is refreshing to see a game designed by women that delves into distinctly feminine horrors. An instant classic that pushes the boundaries of RPGs.