Dead of Winter (1998) is essentially a Harnic riff on Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose. There is a monastery, there are murders. There is a prophecy. There is maybe a secret library. There is no grand religious doctrine debate, but there is a diplomatic meeting between envoys of two local political factions. As the title states, it is winter, and the snows have essentially trapped everyone at the monastery.

There are plenty of red herrings (one that cleverly plays on the events of 100 Bushels of Rye, even) and complications and changes and such. If you’ve read Name of the Rose, you’ll know enough to recognize the references but not enough to unravel the plot. It’s the best kind of homage.

And I don’t have much else to say about it! If you like Name of the Rose, you’ll dig this, and it is system and setting neutral enough that you can plug it into whatever game you are playing and have it work pretty good without too much trouble.