The Whispering Vault

The Whispering Vault is a horror-themed role-playing game originally published in 1993. Players take on the role of "Stalkers", persons who have risen above their own mortality to act as servants of the guardians of Reality, tracking down and apprehending rogue gods who have invaded Reality and returning them to the realm of the Unseen where they are cast into The Whispering Vault.

Shannon Applecline, in the book Designers & Dragons, highlighted the horror-themed art and evocative background material. Applecline also mentioned the "brutal and quick" combat system and the simple task resolution system that reduced dice-rolling to a minimum and brought the adventure storyline to the fore.

William Spencer-Hale reviewed The Whispering Vault in White Wolf #44 (June, 1994), rating it a 5 out of 5 and stated that "To sum it all up, The Whispering Vault is a game that no fan of horror roleplaying should ignore."

In the August 1994 edition of Dragon (Issue #208), Lester Smith reviewed the "pre-release" version of the game that had been sold at Gen Con, and admired the "powerful new mythology" and "strong atmosphere of brooding horror" that Mike Nystul was able to evoke in such a slim volume. Smith also liked the new mechanics for combat and task resolution, which he found "works surprisingly well". However, he did find several important elements missing, including "the keys of humanity", which apparently were supposed to explain the motivation for the player's characters. (Allen noted that this missing material would be included in the Pariah Press version that was being prepared for publication at the time the review was printed.) Allen concluded by giving The Whispering Vault a rating of 4 out of 6, saying "I definitely recommend this game for anyone who likes heroic horror. It is one of the most inventive treatments of the subject I have yet encountered."

Six months later, in the May 1995 edition of Dragon (Issue #217), Lester Smith again reviewed the game, this time looking at the official first edition of the game, and called the book's presentation "excellent, nearly flawless." He found designer Mike Nystul's "unique vision both shockingly strange and yet universal in scope." Smith concluded by giving the game a perfect rating of 6 out of 6, saying, "This product is pure, distilled horror, with some of the most concise yet effective mechanics ever published; its relative slimness simply means that you’ll digest the game more quickly initially, and reference it more easily during play."

In the following edition of Dragon (Issue #218 – June 1995), Rick Swan called The Whispering Vault "Only one of the smartest, spookiest horror RPGs that ever clawed its way from a crypt."

In the November 1994 edition of Pyramid (Issue #10), William Spencer-Hale recommended the game, saying, "All in all, The Whispering Vault is a game worthy of the attention of any fan of horror roleplaying. This game is a welcome addition to any library and, out of all the roleplaying materials that I own, this is one that I will actually enjoy playing."

The Whispering Vault

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