Investigating Nordic Monsters in the 19th Century Pacific Northwest

Spirits and Monsters of Old Seattle is a brand-new actual play podcast using the Vaesen role-playing game, which is published by Free League Publishing. A typical game of Vaesen is set in the “Mythic North,” an alternate history Scandinavia in the 19^th century. The player characters are investigators with the Second Sight, allowing them to see supernatural creatures from folklore called the vaesen, even when these creatures wish to remain hidden and invisible. As the title suggests, the Spirits and Monsters podcast puts a spin on this by moving the game to the towns of Seattle and Ballard in the Washington Territory of the United States in the year 1888.

Spirits and Monsters of Old Seattle follows a team of three investigators who work for the mysterious Library of Metaphysical Knowledge in Defense of Mankind, more commonly known simply as “The Library.” Together, they seek to resolve issues with the vaesen and the surrounding communities who don’t even know of their existence. Each character also carries a Dark Secret – the players don’t know one another’s dark secrets at the start of the show and will be trying to keep them hidden as we play.

While Vaesen is a game of folk horror, Spirits and Monsters of Old Seattle aims to blend comedy, horror, and character drama into its alternate history setting. Upcoming Mysteries will not only pull from the creatures in the beautifully illustrated Vaesen corebook, but the rich history of the Pacific Northwest, including the “Fearsome Critters” of lumberjack folktales. Each episode of the podcast is edited down to roughly 90 minutes and includes sound effects as well as music from the amazing soundtracks created as part of the Vaesen kickstarters by Andreas Lundström.

New episodes drop every Wednesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and their website www.spiritsandmonsters.com. During off-weeks, images, stories and related content gets posted on their social media accounts including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X. The podcast is produced by Bryon Kershaw, with editing done by Hana Chaney.