A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to play a tabletop role-playing game that I had never heard of before. Vaesen is a Nordic-inspired horror TTRPG published by Free League Publishing. It was explained to me as similar to Call of Cthulhu. I knew that this would be a system that I would like. While this was a one-shot, I’d be open to playing Vaesen again.

Vaesen uses six-sided dice for all dice rolls. A success on a roll is if there is a six on any roll. Anything less than six isn’t a success, but it doesn’t necessarily mean a failure. If there are multiple ones, that could indicate something bad could happen. At first, when this was explained to me, I was a little apprehensive. How often would I actually roll a six, and would I fail at everything I did? Oddly enough, my first roll in the game, I rolled four sixes. One of the players at my table didn’t roll a six until she switched her dice. Sometimes that’s how the dice are. Overall, I didn’t think this was a dealbreaker. Our GM did a good job at still giving us helpful information on a five, even if it wasn’t a total success.

Vaesen reminds me of Daggerheart in this way, where there are relationships that you can set up with the other players. On our sheets, these were filled in, and we could pick and choose which players these statements applied to. I think this was a cool component to the game because it helps build some of the ways our characters would roleplay off each other. One of mine was “You Annoy Me”. I picked one of the players at our table, and during the game, he pulled out an instrument to play, so I had my character act annoyed. I think the relationships aspect of the game helps make roleplay less forced, especially if players at the table don’t know each other.

The other thing I’ll add about Vaesen is how easy it is. If you’re looking for a game that’s less intensive on the rules, Vaesen could be a good option. Some TTRPGs can be complicated, and Vaesen wasn’t that way at all. Our GM explained the basics, and I felt our group got it right away. I’d foresee this as a game that’s easy to pick up if you wanted to be a GM and run a game for other players.

I loved learning how to play Vaesen. It’s a game I’d be open to trying again in the future.