Pine Shallows

Details

Playtime Not Played
Last Activity Never
Added 9/15/2025 18:33:05
Modified 9/15/2025 22:12:39
Completion Status Not Played
Library Itch.io
Source itch.io
Platform Physical
Release Date 8/22/2022
Community Score
Critic Score
User Score
Genre
Developer
Publisher
Feature
Links
Tag [itch.io] California Fire Relief Bundle
[itch.io] Palestinian Relief Bundle 2024
[itch.io] TTRPGs for Palestine
[itch.io] TTRPGs for Trans Rights - Ohio

Description

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Small town, big adventures

Welcome to Pine Shallows, a small coastal town. A sunny and cheery tourist destination in summer, Pine Shallows empties when autumn’s chill comes. Strange things keep happening in the town’s off season, but local adults are so focused on preparing for next summer that they simply ignore or write off these strange occurrences. That’s why it's up to you kids to get to the bottom of things.

What is Pine Shallows?

Pine Shallows is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by The Goonies, Stranger Things, Gravity Falls and middle grade adventure book series like The Legends of Eerie-on-Sea in which you portray small town kids going on adventures and solving mysteries.

The digital book contains the rules to create your characters and play the game. In addition, the city of Pine Shallows is detailed with numerous locations, supporting cast and hooks. Also included are Catch Of The DayGrasp of the Understory, two complete starting adventures. The Pine Shallows Guide to Adventure is brimful of random tables to generate hooks, clues and supporting characters. With the Solo Rules you can explore Pine Shallows on your own.

Pine Shallows features

  • 38-page A5 digital PDF zine
  • A simple 2d6 resolution mechanic
  • The Plot Points token system gives players narrative control
  • 10 character backgrounds, like the Mysterious Orphan, Wiz Kid and New kid in town
  • 13 detailed locations in and around Pine Shallows, with their supporting cast members
  • Catch of the day, a complete starting adventure as 15-page A5 digital zine
  • An extensive Appendix N

New features itchfunding  for editing & extra art:

  • Grasp of the Understory, a deptcrawl adventure as 11-page A5 digital zine
  • No Parents Allowed, downtime clubhouse rules
  • The Pine Shallows Guide to Adventure - Brimful of adventure hooks and random tables to generate countless adventures, characters and plots.
  • Solo Rules - Rules & procedures to facilitate solo & coop play.

Credits

What People Are Saying

“Pine Shallows is a rules-light, story-first game where you play as kids solving mysteries while trying to be home before dinner. Guess which one's harder.” - Jean Verne (Reminiscence of Decay, Oniria's Slumber)

“Reading Pine Shallows I had a constant grin on the face. The coastal setting is at the same time super fun and easy to grasp, the system is nimble and quick to master. The whole game reinterprets 80s tropes with a great feel good and spooky vibe. It's  one of my 2022 fave games. Go for it!” - Iko (The Lost Bay Podcast, Skyrealms, Broken Luck)

“Pine Shallows is the perfect pick-up-and-play RPG for anyone wanting to create the paranormal teenage adventures of their dreams! With plenty of character options and locations -- along with an elegant, easy-to-understand dice-rolling mechanic -- this game will have you up and running quickly, especially with the adventure included to help springboard you into this small, spooky town filled with supernatural shenanigans.” - Edaureen Muhamad Nor (Equinox, Honey Hex, Camp Elementa)

Meddlesome Kids

Pine Shallows is a Meddlesome Kids game. It’s the first in a series of planned games. Future games include the Forever Never, a game inspired by worlds such as Oz, Wonderland & Narnia.

Newsletter

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