Crypt

Crypt is a medieval fantasy game, originally created in 1970 by a nameless author and unearthed many decades later by Thomas Culottes. The find was controversial, altering the history of roleplaying games forever, at least to those who believed Culottes. After all, few people did and Crypt was denounced as a mere copycat of Arneson and Gygax’s game. Even more blasphemous is Crypt was a British game rather than American. 

Nothing was known about Crypt’s author. The pile of hastily written notes that formed the original game was found in 1970 at a wargame group in West Yorkshire and as hard as he might Culottes couldn’t track down the progenitor, nor their associates. 

This is the near complete manuscript compiled by Culottes who sadly passed away in 2021, passing on the game to myself through a family friend. I’ve taken time to annotate the rules with my own thoughts after spending the last couple of years with it. I’ve also taken the liberty at including illustrations to aid the palette of the modern gamer. 

Whether you believe that Crypt was actually the first game hardly matters. What you’re reading is a piece of roleplaying history, an artefact from a different era. Take it, play it and bring to life a game that existed in the mind of the mystery author. 

Please note: Crypt was created in 2025 by Scott Malthouse.