A Scoundrel's Tale

A Scoundrel'sTale

Book One — The Sunken Coast

A rogue's life, told one book at a time.

Out now on iOS & Android

Descend

Every hollow place on the coast keeps a light.

Wren carries it. A lamplighter with a past, a lantern that remembers, and five hauntings that will not settle themselves. Built on the Scoundrel card game: one deck, one weapon, and every room a decision you live or die by.

The Sunken Coast

Five acts. One coast. One lamp.

  1. Act I

    The Hollow Crown

    A keep that drowned in a single night, a jewel the size of a fist, and a job nobody else came back from. Climb down. Ask better questions.

  2. Act II

    The Debtors’ Tide

    The Weirgate keeps its drowned as collateral against debts the living never paid. The lamp is heavy near water that will not leave — and this water has a ledger.

  3. Act III

    The Tolling Choir

    In Mourn’s End they rang the passing-bell so long the bell learned to ring itself. Sixty years of fog, and every peal still open. This is the one town on the coast you climb.

  4. Act IV

    The Green Assize

    Inland, under the trees, a court has sat for ninety years — retrying one old case and growing its rulings into the wood. Nothing there is for sale. It only asks you to be right.

  5. Act V

    The Patient Sea

    Caul keeps a hundred bridges, ten thousand candles, and one quiet agreement with the sea. Somewhere below the waterline, the agreement is being read again — and the last descent goes through your own front door.

  6. After the ending

    The Lamplighter’s Rounds

    Below every ending the stairs keep going. Take the light down with empty hands — no level, no tricks, no way back up — and see how deep the rounds run before the dark takes it back.

How it plays

A card game with a body count.

  • The Scoundrel loop

    Four cards to a room, and you must face three. Monsters, weapons, potions — every draw is a bargain, and the deck does not renegotiate.

  • A story that descends

    Dialogue between floors, choices that end each act differently, and a cast that remembers what you did with the light.

  • Four paths to grow

    Blade, Body, and Cunning skill trees — and the Lantern path, once you have ended a haunting. Levels survive death; the coast is patient and so is your progress.

  • The Chronicle

    Every run is written down — kills, escapes, endings, records. Your history becomes a book of its own.

  • Bosses with rules

    Each Depth ends in a lair, and each boss bends the game: armor, relentlessness, hungers. Learn the rule, or feed it.

  • An original score

    Every note is the game’s own: a funeral barcarolle at the surface, a bed for each Depth, an unrelenting lair theme, and a music box that winds down over the ending.

  • A board to climb

    A fresh seed every day and an all-time table for the Rounds. Take a handle and see how far your light gets against everyone else carrying one.

  • Play it your way

    Phone or tablet, upright or turned on its side. Sign in with Apple or Google and your Chronicle rides the cloud — the same coast, on any screen you pick up.

  • English & German

    Fully localized, switchable any time — saved runs survive the language change.

In game

The coast, at arm’s length.

  • The title screen
    The title screen
  • The chart room — five acts and the Rounds
    The chart room — five acts and the Rounds
  • A Depth, floor by floor
    A Depth, floor by floor
  • A room mid-fight
    A room mid-fight
  • Between floors, the story
    Between floors, the story
  • Blade, Body, Cunning — the paths
    Blade, Body, Cunning — the paths

On a tablet, it opens up.

  • Between floors, the story
    Between floors, the story
  • A room mid-fight
    A room mid-fight
  • A Depth, floor by floor
    A Depth, floor by floor
  • The chart room — five acts and the Rounds
    The chart room — five acts and the Rounds
  • Blade, Body, Cunning — the paths
    Blade, Body, Cunning — the paths

Out now

The lamp is lit. Take it down.

Act I is free to finish. One purchase unlocks Acts II–V and the Lamplighter’s Rounds. Phone or tablet, English or German, and the story plays offline.

One-time purchase · no subscription · no ads · no in-game currency

News

From the blog

  • August 25, 2026 · Devlog

    I had a game in my head, but not the years to build it. So I built it with AI.

    A Scoundrel’s Tale is a story RPG on both app stores: code, art, music, and a full German localization, made by one person directing AI tools. Here is, honestly, how that worked and where it didn’t.

  • August 25, 2026 · Devlog

    From a 52-card deck to a story RPG

    A Scoundrel’s Tale is built on Scoundrel, the 2011 solitaire roguelike by Zach Gage and Kurt Bieg. What we kept, what we grew, and why the original loop deserves a life beyond the kitchen table.

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