Mud Ghost Estate Redux Kickstarter

Mud Ghost Estate Redux is now crowdfunding on Kickstarter!

Originally made for Folklore Jam 2024, Mud Ghost Estate is a spooky tabletop role-playing game inspired by Hong Kong folklore and urban legends, which sees a group of daring teenagers exploring a haunted public housing estate in the 90s. The Redux version of the game brings revised text, new artwork and extra content to the game.

On the day of the Yulan festival, a group of teenagers come together to explore the haunted public housing estate that was built in the 1960s. Within the tower blocks, memory of the dead lingers, and spiritual energy twists the geometry of the hallways into a labyrinth to those who dare enter. Furthermore, the party might have been infiltrated by an undead imposter. Will the characters make it out alive? Play to find out!

Using a ghost story as its framing device, Mud Ghost Estate explores the storied urban history and urban legends of Hong Kong. After WWII, the city experienced a boom in population, and public housing estates were built to accommodate the populace. The haunted tower blocks connect different eras of Hong Kong and join together history and folklore. The ghosts are echoes of the past as they are remembered by those who live.

Mud Ghost Estate is a tabletop role-playing game for 3-5 players, and requires a tumbling block tower, a deck of playing cards and an optional six-sided dice (purchased separately).

As the characters explore the haunted estate, the players draw cards to see where the twisted hallways lead to, and pull blocks from the tower in order to overcome obstacles. 

Halfway through the game, a card drawing mechanic secretly determines who the undead imposter is, which won't be revealed until the end of the game.

There are 8+1 different endings depending on how many characters manage to escape and whether the undead imposter is among them.

The game also includes variant rules for solo play, and for using ten-sided dice in place of the tumbling block tower.

The Book

The updated version of Mud Ghost Estate will be an A5 perfect bound book of 32-40 pages.

It will have an updated cover by illustrator Weird Slime, containing revised text edited by Sarah Cole and a new preface by Banana Chan.

The books will be printed in the UK.

The Team

W.H. Arthur (佢/he/they) is the designer of award-winning TTRPGs May You Fish in Interesting Times and CONVICT-ION. As a freelance game writer, he has worked for clients such as Onyx Path Publishing, Renegade Game Studios, Black Armada Games and Angry Hamster Publishing, with a focus on urban fantasy and horror. He also regularly hosts game jams online, including the popular 36-word RPG Jam and Folklore Jam on itch.io.

Banana Chan is a game designer and screenwriter living in Seattle. She is also the owner of the publishing company, Read/Write Memory and a podcaster on Spooky Asian Club with their co-star Danny Quach. Her most notable work has been on Forgery, Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall, Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, Betrayal at House on the Hill: 3rd Edition and Chucky: The Board Game. They won Dicebreaker Awards' Game Designer of the Year 2022 and 2 Silver ENNIE Awards in 2022.

Weird Slime (@slime_is_weird.rar) is an illustrator and graffiti artist from Hong Kong, who mainly creates TTRPG/D&D themed artworks. His recent work includes D&D in Hong Kong Bestiary and custom illustrations for a reimagined Deck of Many Things.

Sarah Cole is a Writer and Game Designer, publishing as Patchwork Fez Games.

Her recent work includes Darkened Hill & Dale, the ENNIE-nominated collection of folk horror scenarios, and TERMINUS, although her wider career has included writing and designing for videogames, copywriting and editing, project management, publishing, and event organisation. She also runs Trick or Retreat – a Halloween-adjacent, not-for-profit event where folks gather to play tabletop games and generally chill out.