Let Us In (2021) is Luke Rejec’s very brief, very brilliant little Halloween zine. It is system agnostic — you can probably play it with the ultra light resolution system provided (a single paragraph long!) or you can bolt the pre-generated characters’ special abilities onto another light system of choice. I’d suggest Tunnel Goons, perhaps.

Anyway, the game is set in the Lastlands, a strange setting that feels like a near future, possibly post-apocalyptic world (though one that has largely recovered), but one portrayed through a retro lens. Rejec mentions ‘70s films as inspiration, and that is in here, but I actually get a bit of a Mid-Century Modern vibe. Regardless of the specifics, there are a lot of intriguing details hinting at a large world for such a brief game. I can easily see this as a movie, which is not something I generally think about RPGs.

There are four pre-generated characters. They’ve come to a somewhat remote mansion to check in on one character’s aunt, who wrote a panicked letter, then wrote another taking it back, then vanished. Something STRANGE is going on. I don’t want to ruin the surprise with specifics, but it is both extremely unnerving and surprisingly polite.

My very favorite thing is how the game is structure. It’s a three hour game, the first real-time hour the players explore the mansion and deal with creepy but non-threatening issues, the second hour serious threats emerge, the third pushes to resolution — the players must act decisively and face the consequences of their choices. Its a tight, but elegant construction.

Rejec illustrated the whole thing as well, in black, white and orange. Its lovely.