Harbor of Blight: Scenario Zero
Founder’s Day in Obsidian is meant to be a celebration.
Lanterns glow along cobbled streets. Merchants prepare their stalls. Carefully wrapped thrices wait to be exchanged, small symbols meant to honor the past, the present, and the future.
And yet, not everything is as it should be…
Thrices are missing. Not one or two, but a significant number. There’s been a theft. The words have not reached the streets. Not yet.
You are not a member of the Hunter’s Guild yet, but this might be your chance to make the perfect debut by recovering the thrices and uncovering the truth.
Six areas to explore. Seven days until Founder’s Day.
Are you game?
Entry: before playing the game
First impression
Being a PnP connoisseur (addict), I play at least 20 to 30 games a month on average. Leaving aside the few that regularly visit the table, most of them are new. And it’s not every day I get to experience a solo PnP RPG. But thanks to my friend Michael Parziale, that corridor stays wide open.
I had a great time with Michael’s In the Blink of a Dragon’s Eye, which was released in last year’s Micro May campaign on Kickstarter. He fused mini games with a novella to create this beautiful flow, where I rested and explored places in between battling creatures like dragons. The artwork was stunning too.
Knowing that both Harbor of Blight: Scenario Zero and In the Blink of a Dragon’s Eye are part of the Blight universe excites me. We’re looking at the early steps of something bigger, with plenty of action and narrative threads waiting to be unraveled.
After playing In the Blink of a Dragon’s Eye, I mentioned in my blog how curious I was to see whether upcoming games in the Blight universe would feature multiple endings, depending on the path the player takes across branching narratives. Like Netflix’s Bandersnatch. Hmm… let’s find out!
A bit on the game
Harbor of Blight: Scenario Zero places you in the city of Obsidian during the days leading up to Founder’s Day. Thrices have gone missing, and as someone set to join the Hunter’s Guild, this is your chance to prove you are capable of handling more than errands.
The game unfolds as a branching narrative experience (Bandersnatch it is!). You move between six different areas of the city across seven in-game days, making choices that shape how events develop. Some paths open new information. Others close doors. Conversations, discoveries, and encounters all push the story forward depending on what you decide and how you approach each situation.
Along the way, you will test your combat prowess, gather clues, and unlock bits of lore that expand the Blight universe. The book guides you through numbered sections based on your decisions, creating a flow that feels closer to navigating a story than following a linear script. By the end, the outcome reflects the choices you made throughout those seven days.
All you need
You’ll need to print the Combat Sheet, grab three dice (D4, D6, and D20), and keep a pen handy for a start. It also helps to have a notepad nearby. It makes brainstorming your options a lot easier.
And of course, the book itself. You can either print it out (64 pages) or keep it on your phone, tablet, or laptop. I printed In the Blink of a Dragon’s Eye last time, so I went the other way this time and kept the book on my phone. You do you. If you prefer an off-screen experience, print it out.
If you don’t have a D4 or D20 lying around, here’s a handy dice simulator. You’re welcome!
Entry: after playing the game
Findings
This path… or that?
I don’t know if I speak for everyone, but there’s something about branching narratives that genuinely excites me. I first experienced it with the Give Yourself Goosebumps series more than 20 years ago, and I’ve kind of held onto that thrill ever since.
Knowing that the action you take, the path you choose, directly affects where the experience leads makes it feel more real. As a game designer myself, this is something I’d love to explore in my own upcoming titles.
Without spoiling anything, I’ll say this: the branching in Scenario Zero is spot on. The notepad came in super handy because I found myself tracking everything. Locations visited. People I spoke to. People I chose not to speak to. Folks who felt just a little too shady. Every choice felt like it nudged the story in a slightly different direction.
Creating a web of storylines that can lead to multiple outcomes within roughly 60 pages is no small task. Branching narratives sound simple on paper. They’re not. And this one is handled with care.
Battle
When combat kicks in, the game shifts gears without overcomplicating things.
Every fight plays out in rounds. You choose a Skill. Your opponent’s action is determined. Then Speed decides who goes first. Higher Speed acts first, and if it’s tied, you get the edge. That small detail alone makes every selection matter. Do you go for something quicker just to act first, or commit to a slower move that might hit harder
You’re not limited to a basic swing either. Yes, there’s a standard attack. But you also have Skills that interact differently with Elemental Armor and Physical Armor, and the option to infuse your next Skill with an element. Burning can chip away over time. Slow can shift tempo. Blind can disrupt. Chaos can tilt things either way. It’s not just damage numbers flying around. It’s layered.
And that layering matters because damage does not go straight to Life Force. It breaks through Elemental Armor first, then Physical Armor, before it ever reaches Life Force. So every round becomes a small calculation. Do you strip protection first? Do you go for pressure? Do you gamble on Chaos?
Diverse experience
Other than replaying it to uncover different paths and outcomes, there’s another layer here that genuinely excites me.
This feels like the kind of game that begs to be run for someone else.
I can already picture myself sitting across from a friend, book in hand, guiding them through Obsidian without revealing what’s ahead. Letting them make the calls. Watching them second-guess a location. Raising an eyebrow when they choose to trust someone they probably shouldn’t. That dynamic? That’s gold.
It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve always had a soft spot for being the game master. Controlling the pacing. Reading the tension in the room. Letting someone else experience the story fresh while I quietly steer the flow. Scenario Zero feels like it can handle that format beautifully.
So yes, I’ll replay it for different paths. But I’m equally excited to run it and see how someone else navigates those six areas and seven days.
There's more!
Michael didn’t just stop at the book. He took it a step further by introducing a gorgeous treehouse dice tower inspired by In the Blink of a Dragon’s Eye. If you’ve played that one, you’ll immediately recognize it. It’s inspired by the cover of the novella from the game.
And then there’s the fog-core dice set. Moody. Slightly ominous. Very on brand for Harbor of Blight. Rolling those during combat? Yeah, that would hit different.
Of course, the PnP version is up for grabs too, which is why I’m here blogging about it. Print it, play it. Dive into Obsidian. The extras are there if you want to go all in.
My oh, my!
It’s been a week since the campaign launched, and it’s already breaking records. It might even overtake In the Blink of a Dragon’s Eye’s campaign in the coming days.
I’m not just a fan because it scratches that two-decade craving I’ve had for branching narratives, or because the combat packs more strategy than meets the eye. It’s the Blight universe that pulls me in.
I’ve already played a couple of games set in it, and knowing there’s more to come, especially Harbor of Blight: Obsidian, genuinely excites me.
It can’t arrive soon enough!
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Game Overview
Publisher: Cardboard King Games
Designer: Michael Parziale
Artist: Jonas Nathanael Gali Kristensen
Number of players: 1Â
Difficulty level: Medium
Rounds of gameplay needed to learn: 1 round
Game duration: 30-120 minutes (really depends on how much time you want to allocate)
Available on: Kickstarter
Theme: Solo RPG Game Â
Number of pages and color: Minimum 1, maximum 65 (color)
Assembling difficulty level: Super easy. No Assembly required
Lamination: Recommended for reusing the Combat Sheet
Additional elements required: 3 Dice (D4, D6 and D20), a pen, a notepad, and a mobile/tab/laptop.
Time to learn: Within 10 minutes
Travel-friendly: 9/10
Shelving friendly: 10/10
Rating from PnP Time: 9/10
Tas is a game designer and blogger based in Bangladesh, with the dream of exploring the world of games and introducing it to anyone new to it.
