As the name already implies, VHS is a remembrance to days gone. A remembrance to easier times when it came to what could and what could not. The whole series is a pure and hearty love letter to a genre that has been forcefully toned down to fit modern audiences.
VHS stands for Very Horror Story, made by a one-man effort called Aces Games in Italy. You might not have read it, but it’s an ode to days gone by, where horror still is bloody, gory and exciting. VHS has 6 different themes at the moment and Trashbag, the star of today’s show.
First, a little introduction to the Very Horror Series. They carry the name VHS, so it’s only logical that they have some resemblance to a VHS tape. Everything you need to play the game, is in the box, shaped like a videocassette. The theme of the tape you are holding could be trash horror movies like the one this blog is about. There is a paranormal themed one and even one about space horror movies. You know, like the ones where no-one can hear you scream.
What sets these apart, they still carry the same ruleset, but with adapted rules towards the theme of the tape. This also means the monsters as well as the characters are mostly interchangeable, as they all have the same rules. To a certain degree of course. You get where I’m going. This is a well-thought-out product!
So nice, but what is it?
VHS is one of the best unique blends of board and Roleplaying game one could ever wish for. It transitions to and from roleplaying/ board game effortless and combines everything you want into one themed tape.
To explain this the best, you and your friend start playing the game, and you are on map one. This is the roleplaying part of the game. OH NO’s, the DM declares that the enemy is close and starts chasing you. If there is a DM, you know the options of letting the player know are near limitless.
The moment that the enemy appears, the game switches over to a board game and it’s cat and mouse time. When the encounter is over, no matter what the outcome is, the game continues in the form roleplaying game. Until the enemy peeps around the corner again and starts wreaking havoc again. It has a couple of maps called scenes where the game plays.
This continues until all players are dead, or the players have successfully killed the enemy/ completed the objective. Since this is a board game, one can expect to finish one “movie” in an evening.
Also nice, enemy, players, one night, done, right?
Wrong. Pay attention in class children! I said that the enemies are interchangeable, as well as the players. There are 20 different games to be played in one box (see next section) and who is stopping you from adding more enemies at once to harass your players? That almost comes down to infinity replayability out of one tape!
What is in VHS Trashbag?
While the contents of every tape are roughly the same, the theme of the tapes is different in all of them. What you find in a VHS game:
- 150 page themed manual
- tokens
- 4 maps (scenes)
- 5 player characters
- 5 enemies
In the manual you can find the basic rules, customization rules, but also backgrounds for characters, items and traits the characters can wield to defeat the story. If that wasn’t enough, the tape also delivers a digital file package to download if you use it on a tablet or pc.
With a themed manual, we mean that the whole manual is not only visually adapted to the theme (this one is dried out, filthy and the pages are yellow brownish.) The tape part of the set, the actual box is also in theme and looks like something you wouldn’t want to put in any device anymore.
VHS is a love letter to horror
The company, Aces Games, is a one-man show. The owner does all the design, drawing and developing of rules by himself. Apart from the theme that oozes atmosphere, you can almost feel the love that has gone into developing a product like this. From page one to the very last page, it’s all themed and every letter, word and graphic has been carefully selected to bring the customer the very best of product. Nothing but love for Simone, and I only wish that more companies make such effort to bring such a well-designed product to the customer!
So, this must cost a lot of money to own one of these gaming gems?
Hell no (another tape than Trashbag), these tapes will cost you time to play, but for a meager 30 euros you can own one of these awesome VHS odes to the bygone times of pulp cinema. That is perfect to start collecting all six of them and even display them in your own horror and sci-fi collection!
Conclusion
You are overly excited about this product, you must be endorsed by Aces Games to be positive. Yes and no. We have been selling these products, and I have done unboxings of one of these tapes before. The no-part comes from my experience with them when talking to customers who have bought one of these marvels. As you might have guessed, people are overly positive, with little to no negatives, besides a rather hefty rule book.
The rules are still light as you want and even better, when you know the base rules, you only need to adapt to the new theme when taking more than one VHS. In other words, this is a product that has to be played at least once before you die. A lot of game studios should take not of this one-man band, that is producing better tracks than the biggest studios we know in our wonderful branch!
Want to read more on roleplaying ? check it out here!
Next up: VHS Deadbreak or VHS Remnants!
