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Netherbury

Prototype art For now, we're using AI-generated art as placeholders, but we commit to human-made art by release.

Episode 1 · On air

The clues are in the broadcast. The answers are in the books.

A cooperative board game for 1 to 4 players. Hear each case from an in-world podcast or a story scene, dig through a shelf of reference books to work out what you're facing, then bring the right tools to the fight.

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What sets it apart

A podcast investigation

Every case opens with a broadcast, a scene or a found document. Nobody tells you what you're up against. You'll have to work that out in your investigation.

42

A full campaign

Scenarios across three acts, each ending in a tactical fight on a hex grid.

7

Reference books

Written in-world, each by a different hand: a bestiary, alchemy mixtures, a collection of diaries and more.

Under 5 min

Quick setup

Every design decision was made to get you playing fast, not sorting through hundreds of pieces.

  • 1–4Players
  • 90 minPer case
  • 14+Ages
  • No appRequired
How a case plays

Listen. Investigate. Prepare. Fight.

Every case runs the same four phases. Tune in to the in-world podcast hosted by Netherbury's Voice of the People, or follow story scenes as a deep mystery unravels. Chase the clues through a variety of reference books filled with lore and mysteries. Then prepare, and fight back the darkness.

Phase 1

Listen

V's podcast, a scene with the gang or a found document opens the case. The clues are in the details.

Phase 2

Investigate

Search the books for the entries that matter. No turns and no timer, just a cozy night of mystery without the digital screens.

Phase 3

Prepare

Spend your card allowance on what you think you'll need. Bring the wrong tools, and you might fail. (Which is just part of the game!)

Phase 4

Fight

Tactical combat on a hex grid against a tension deck that keeps the clock running.

What you work out in the first two phases decides how the last two go.

Setup

An epic campaign. Five-minute setup.

Netherbury is a heavyweight campaign game: 42 scenarios, a shelf full of reference books and a full fight on the table every case. It just doesn't set up like one. We worked hard to keep each scenario's setup under five minutes. Games at this level often take thirty or more to lay out, so we made sure you'll spend the evening playing instead of getting ready to play.

Case files

The Investigators

Play as four investigators living at the house on Harrow Lane, as their personal stories unfold during the darkest hours of Netherbury. Every investigator is in play in every scenario, and can be controlled by 1–4 players. Open a file to meet them.

File 01Hunter
John Caddell in a long weathered coat and wide-brimmed hat, an axe over his shoulder

John Caddell

The Hunter

Founded the gang with Elliot Kirkland. Measured, blunt, unhurried. Would rather be cooking.

Origin
Somewhere in the US
Role
Frontline, stances
File 02Apprentice
Aria Reverie in a hooded robe, violet magic curling around her hands

Aria Reverie

The Apprentice

The newest member. Quick, casual and still learning what the spellbooks can do.

Status
Newest member
Role
High-damage magic
File 03Technician
René Phạm in a waistcoat and tool belt, goggles pushed up on his head

René Phạm

The Technician

Self-taught tinkerer hiding his past, he's fiercely loyal and the loudest voice in the room.

Origin
Acadiana, Louisiana
Role
Support, contraptions
File 04Researcher
Dr. Isabelle Sinclair with a blonde braid, writing in a notebook, satchel at her side

Dr. Isabelle Sinclair

The Researcher

PhD in cryptozoology, abruptly left her career in the UK to join the team in Netherbury.

Origin
United Kingdom
Role
Control, marking prey

Swipe for more files →

Meet the people around them →

Scenario 1

Monsters by the Falls and a Whole Lot of Missing People

Many cases open like this. Listen closely: somewhere in this broadcast is everything you need to start searching the books.

V at the microphone in a dark attic studio, hood up, face hidden
On air
Episode 1V · Netherbury after dark

0:00 / 2:00

Good evening my ever faithful followers, and welcome back to the only place in Netherbury that brings to you the truth, presents to you the unexplainable, offers to you a platform with which to express your fears, and gift wraps it all up into a nice, calming yet enthusiastically charming package.

Moving on, all Netherbury pet store owners are experiencing an unusual shortage of newts. They can't say what's happened to the poor little guys, but if you ask me, it can't be a good sign.

And after the break comes our main story. Several missing person reports have been filed with the NPD over the last two weeks…

Act 1 · more cases

Every case starts with a story

Some cases open with V's podcast, some with a knock at the door of the house on Harrow Lane. A few from the first act:

A small child sitting up in bed, staring at a window lit pink by a stormPodcast
Scenario 3

Listen to This

“She’s only four years old. We’ve had to start strapping her to the bed.”
A caller on V's phone line
A chess game left on a table by an oil lamp, lightning at the windowStory scene
Scenario 4

Justice is Subjective

A stranger in a dark cloak lets himself in out of the storm.Bashiru: So… this is the home of those who fight that which cannot be defeated.René: We were gonna call it that, but we couldn’t fit the whole name on the sign.
A wet city street where a man in an old-fashioned hat and coat stands among passers-byPodcast
Scenario 6

It’s About Time (Relatively)

“Wearing three piece suits, and outdated accessories, they arrive out of nowhere and seem to be taking notes of their surroundings.”
A lute and a basket left beside a mossy log of mushrooms at the edge of a misty lakePodcast
Scenario 10

Love is Love

“She claims to be over four hundred years old, so at least she has a good sense of humor.”
Nuns standing in a church nave beside empty pews, light falling through tall windowsPodcast
Scenario 11

Eye of the Needle

“‘Everything is fine now,’ they told me. Their lips were torn, and their breath was rotten and condensed into the air.”
V, at Everglow Park Church
A candlelit magic shop window on a rainy cobbled street, an empty chair insidePodcast
Scenario 14

Homonyms are Fun

“He may have come close to stealing a few children’s souls, but he had certainly succeeded in stealing all of our hearts.”
The Lower Netherbury Magic Shop, read on air

Swipe for more cases →

The shelf

The answer is on the shelf

You don't get told what you're fighting. You work it out from the books, each written by a different hand in its own voice. Pick one off the shelf to look inside.

Pick a spine to look inside

Summary of Known Cults cover: a case folder of clippings, wax seals and red string
A historian’s survey

Summary of Known Cults, Societies, and Affiliations

Organizations, symbols and patterns

Although, once a paranormal situation is under control, things have been known to go missing before they leave.

On the Ticking Men
Visit the book page
From A Collection of Paranormal Diaries

You’re not the first

One book on the shelf is different. The diaries go back to 1600 B.C.: hunters, a town crier, a curate, a used car salesman. Most of them never knew what they were looking at. You might.

1758
Pencil sketch of a stone cottage in a Highland glen, sheep grazing outside

Tavish Kerr

Hunter · Strathcarron, Scottish HighlandsTook the job, took the coin, walked away. Then again, I’ve got a job to do. Never said I was a good man.
1814
Pencil sketch of a town crier ringing a bell on the steps of a market cross

Thomas Bebb

Town Crier · Ludlow, EnglandHalf the town heard me but less than a tenth actually listened.
1861
Pencil sketch of a clergyman on a ladder in a tree by a river

Rev. William Agnew

Curate · Glenariff, County AntrimIt was the shape of a person, though small, with a sharp pale face that watched me the whole time I was on the ladder.
1896
Pencil sketch of a woman crouched on a jetty with a lantern, peering at dark water

Wada Eri

Tide Observer · Sanriku Coast, JapanWhatever they’re saying, it sounds like they’re having a good time at least.
1907
Pencil sketch of three still figures with cloth over their eyes standing at a garden fence

Florence Galloway

Teacher · Pearl River County, MississippiThen they ask if you’ve slept well, and if your dreams ‘felt like truth’.
1949
Pencil sketch of a shivering man in a coat and hat pressed against an alley wall, a small vial in his hand, watching a lit doorway

Jay Booker

Mystic Swindler · Chicago, IllinoisDamn it, that thing disappeared right in front of me.
1980
Pencil sketch of a small roadside motel and a parked car beneath towering redwoods

Kaia Wren

Former Initiate · Northern Coast, OregonAnd when the moon goes black, stay away from the trees.
2002
Pencil sketch of a man in a homemade bear costume and cape, hands on hips, bears behind him

The Bearmaster

Failed Superhero · NetherburyApparently my costume makes me “look like a teddy bear”. Well I’m sorry if I am new to sewing, and fabric is expensive.

Scroll sideways

On the table Prototype

Case night

A fight as it looks on our table right now. Every piece here is a prototype, and the fight system is being perfected, so expect all of it to change.

Location maps
Several hex grid maps, each on one large sheet for quick setup.
The Tension deck
Keeps the clock running during a fight. Each draw could save your team, or spell disaster.
Card decks
Equipment, alchemy, spells and tech, bought during Preparation and played in the fight.
Hero mats
One per investigator, with their health, abilities, and more.
Hero mats Draft 2

Meet your team

Every investigator fights differently. Each mat carries a signature ability, a power that comes back every few turns, and one big move usually saved for once a scenario. These abilities grow over the campaign, but they won't win a fight alone. The cards you prepare after the investigation are what finish the job. Everything here is from our current combat draft, so expect the numbers to change.

Pick an investigator
John Caddell’s hero mat: 8 health, the Stances main ability, the Draw Fire countdown and the Cleave burst.
His stances

John is always in one of three stances and can switch at the start of his turn.

STANCEJOHN
Aggressive
Once a round, when you defeat an enemy: move 1, then attack again at −2 (at least 1 damage). Your moves have Slip (you can move past figures and obstacles, but not end on them).
Hit first, hit hard.
STANCEJOHN
Defensive
Enemy hits of 2 or more deal 1 less to you and to allies next to you (never below 1). Enemies next to you can't move, and enemies that move next to you stop there. Flying enemies ignore this.
Brace, and let them come.
STANCEJOHN
Counter
Once a round, when an enemy attacks you, make your attack against it first. If it dies, its attack doesn't happen.If it survives, its hits on you this round deal +2.
Make them pay for every swing.
Dev log

Where the game is at

Roadmap

  1. Draft 1Every scenario, every reference book and the scenario booklet, printedNov 2026
  2. CombatPerfecting the designIn progress
  3. CardsThe cards you buy and bring into a fightNext
  4. PlaytestingReal tables, real investigationsLater
  5. Art commissionHiring artists to replace every prototype imageLater

Latest posts

All posts →
Side game · under consideration

Lamplight

An idea we're testing, not a promise. Kirkland keeps a parlor game beside his chessboard, and between cases one of your investigators might sit down across from him: dice, cards, and a small deck that plays his side. We like it, but the main campaign comes first, and we want a lot more playtesting there before we decide whether Lamplight makes the box.

Nov 2026

Draft 1 is on paper

All 42 scenarios, every reference book and the booklet went to print in November. Next up is perfecting combat.

Read the dev log →
Chris Doornbos, wide-eyed, mid-bite of a sopapilla at a restaurant table
Who's making it

Why I'm making Netherbury

I love board games, especially ones with tactical combat. I also love video games with bookshelves full of lore, like Skyrim and Baldur's Gate 3. Once, in Skyrim, I read a book that mentioned a place I could actually go, and it started a whole quest I'd never have found without reading it. I loved that. But most books in games don't matter, so I stopped reading them. I wanted a game that gave me a reason to.

Later I was thinking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and how much I liked the scenes where the friends sit around the library working out how to take down the big bad. Put those two ideas together and it clicked. I've spent the last couple of years writing Netherbury's story and its books.

Chris Doornbos, designer

Questions

FAQ

When can I get it?

We're aiming for early 2028. The mailing list will hear about any change to that first.

Will there be a Kickstarter?

Yes. Netherbury will launch on Kickstarter, and people on the mailing list will know the date before anyone else.

How much will it cost?

We expect it to land in line with other premium campaign board games. The final price will be set closer to the Kickstarter.

Can I play solo?

Yes, and it's the same game. All four investigators are in play every time, whether there are one or four of you at the table. Playing solo, you control all four.

How long does a case take?

About 90 minutes start to finish.

Do I have to play the cases in order?

Mostly, yes. The story unfolds as you play, and the campaign moves to support that. Along the way you'll often have a small group of cases to tackle in whatever order you like. A few cases only open up depending on how earlier ones went, but at least 38 are playable whatever happens.

Is the art final?

No. For now, we're using AI-generated art as placeholders while we prototype. We're committed to human-made art before release, and commissioning it is on the roadmap.

Mailing list

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