Scryptid Games to Publish Bloomfall: A Storybook Roleplaying Game

Scryptid Games, an independent game press that publishes “story games for cryptids” will crowdfund and publish Bloomfall: Here, There, and Elsewhere, a storybook roleplaying game authored by award-winning game designers Sharang Biswas and Yeonsoo Julian Kim.

Bloomfall is an ambitious narrative game project designed in collaboration with LabX, a program of the National Academy of Sciences. This “storybook” tabletop roleplaying game for 2-6 players and one Narrator is set in the American Progressive Era, and it follows the adventures of students at Promethean Academy, a mysterious boarding school on a verdant barrier island. 

Through a series of Adventures inspired by classic children’s literature, players roll dice and spend Tilth Tokens as they explore the island surrounding Promethean Academy and discover portals to The Elsewhere, an unsettling world of magical trees that peer into other realms, shrubs that steal away emotions, and fruit that resemble tiny human heads. These adventures take the form of interactive storybooks designed to be accessible for new GMs, yet still compelling for experienced players.

Between sessions, players complete Solo Excursions, where short, creative activities inspired by real-world nature invite players to notice the plant life around them, and bring real details back to each session. These environmental details then inform the development of character backstories, creatures, and the ongoing adventure taking place between The Elsewhere and at the school.

Bloomfall designer Yeonsoo Julian Kim says,

Writing and designing Bloomfall has been a unique and exciting challenge because our primary goal is twofold: we are trying to encourage players to simultaneously fall in love with the world of the game with all its wild nature, as well as with the real natural world around them. Much like how the Protagonists have to live with one foot in Promethean Academy and one in the magical world of the Elsewhere, we are asking players to straddle the line between the real world and the world of Bloomfall. Their experiences in one are meant to impact their experiences in the other.

Kim, an award-winning game designer whose credits include the haunted house map-drawing game Home (Wet Ink Games, 2023), and the card-driven storytelling game Women Are Werewolves (9th Level Games, 2023), writes interactive horror novels for Choice of Games. They’ve also contributed to over a dozen published tabletop games including Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game, Kids on Bikes, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, and Magical Kitties.

Kim’s extensive background in spooky interactive storytelling lends the Bloomfall guidebook—which includes 15 possible adventures set over the four seasons of a school year—narrative twists and turns that will take players to exciting and unsettling places.

Game design professor and fiction writer Sharang Biswas joins Kim on the Bloomfall design team. Of the project, he says,

I’m quite excited about the dual modes that make up a campaign of Bloomfall, the oscillation between Adventures—regular group sessions of play with the whole crew—and Solo Excursions—portions in between adventures where players get to engage with short, guided solo-RPGs. The Solo Excursions, in particular, are interesting: not only do they encourage players to explore the real world of plants around them, but they also introduce ways that players can shape the worldbuilding of Bloomfall. I think our game is quite innovative in how it formally uses these two modes!

Biswas, a professor of game design at the NYU Game Center and Fordham University, has won two IGDN awards, four Ennie Awards, an IndieCade award, and a Golden Cobra award for roleplaying games; he’s also showcased interactive works at institutions such as The Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, the Toronto Reference Library, and The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. 

As an experienced contributor to tabletop roleplaying games with titles to his credit including Avatar: Legends, Pathfinder, Dungeons & Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, and others, Biswas brings an expert’s eye to immersive storytelling, contributing cutting-edge design work to the game’s Solo Excursions and core narrative rhythm.

The “dual modes” of gameplay mentioned by both Biswas and Kim also benefit from Bloomfall’s connection with LabX, a public engagement program of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) that uses games, events, and creative media to connect people with science in approachable, engaging ways. By bringing in real scientists to advise a skilled game design team, Bloomfall offers a story game experience that is rich with experiential play and opportunities for learning.

Of Bloomfall’s Solo Excursions, Lora Taylor, an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Library of Congress, says:

What I love about Bloomfall is how it transforms the way I see and think about the ordinary world around me. When I play the Solo Excursion, I spend time noticing small details outside, such as the texture, color, shape, pattern, and structure of plant life that I would normally overlook. The game fosters a sense of wonder about what surrounds me and the details that begin to emerge when I step outside my front door. This sense of wonder comes through the simple act of noticing. I find myself carrying that mindset beyond the game, and I pay more attention to things I would have walked past before.

This attention to detail naturally leads to curiosity and imagination. In the Solo Excursion, these observations become the foundation for creating creatures, stories, and discoveries in the Elsewhere. As I spend more time looking closely at the world outside, I wonder what kinds of stories or beings might emerge from these small details. The Solo Excursion deepens how I notice nature and turns those observations into imagination. By slowing down and paying closer attention, I’ve become more curious about the world outside and the stories hidden in the details.

The crowdfunding campaign for Bloomfall will run in Spring 2027, with the book to enter production soon after. Known for titles such as Tales from the Cryptids, Assemblage, and Psychic Trash Detectives, Scryptid Games Co-Directors Nat Mesnard and Brigitte Winter will collaborate with LabX Creative Producer Joshua Gleason to bring Bloomfall to market.

Those interested in updates on the Bloomfall project may sign up for project updates—and the team has released a Quick Start PDF for players interested in trying out Bloomfall right now. 

Scryptid Games is also seeking playtesters for Bloomfall, and invites interested players to join the Scryptid Games Discord server for more information on how to get involved.