Bureau 13: Stalking the Night Fantastic is a satirical science fiction/horror tabletop role-playing game published by Tri Tac Games in 1992.

Description

Bureau 13 describes the operations of a fictional top-secret American government agency that investigates and combats supernatural events and creatures.

Game mechanics

The game uses the role-playing game system common to other Tri Tac releases such as Fringeworthy and FTL:2448:

Publication history

Bureau 13 is published by Tri Tac, and is a revamp of their previous publication Stalking the Night Fantastic, and included an extra 90 pages of material. Stalking the Night Fantastic was first published by Tri Tac in 1983,and a second edition was released the following year, accompanied by a number of standalone adventures. The third edition, retitled Bureau 13, featured a somewhat streamlined game system, and was released in 1990 as a 190-page softcover book designed by Richard Tucholka, with interior artwork by Tom Dow, with artistic contributions by Randy Bathurst, Doug Blanchard, Larry Dixon, Sandy Harlan, Tom Howell, Bradley McDevitt, Scott Ruggels, and William Wardrop, and cover art by Phil Foglio. This was followed by a 4th edition in 1992, a 5th edition in 2007, and a 6th edition in 2008 that uses d20 System mechanics.

Reception

In the January 1995 issue of Shadis, Dirk Dejong thought the game "includes a decent magic system and a well-thought out array of monsters to start your adventures with." He found a lot to like, writing, "though the premise is not new, it's done in an eminently playable style." Dejong did note that if there was a balance in horror games between what the characters should react like and how the players instead control the characters, "Bureau 13 leans to player control, as opposed to character reaction."

Awards

In 1991, the third edition of the Bureau 13 series won the Gamers Choice Award at Gencon for Best Fantasy Game.

List of releases

Role-playing game

Novels

Other media

Video game

GameTek published a video game based on the role-playing game in February 1995.