Schauermärchen is a roleplaying game of children trapped in a nameless Village, hunted by a nameless horror. It is not intended for children. "The Village is made of rust, oil and steam. Every corner is jagged, catching and ripping clothes. Thick black clouds of smog keep the sun and moon far away from the Village and no waves ever roll up on the shore. The sea sits like a corpse, its dark waters still and silent. Iron clocks hang over the streets, clicking away the hours, but none of them tell the same time. The children are not alone in the Village. There are two others. One of them lives in the tall house on the hill, sending a deep shadow across the center of the Village. The children hear the tinkling of an out-of-tune piano and the garbled voice singing along with it. Songs of gleeful murder, songs of graveyard dances. Then, at night, he steps from the front door, his hat on his head, his cane in hand, and he walks through the Village’s cramped streets, his smile flashing, his eyes hidden behind black glass, his skin as pale as the moon hidden by the thick clouds high above. The other is a frail-looking woman, clouded by the colors of the sky. Bright blues twist around her, her long, white arms falling dull at her side. The silent woman dressed in blue silks, her face mercifully hidden behind a thick veil. He speaks to her in a high, broken voice, singing to her sometimes, but she says nothing, only follows alongside, as silent as the sea. All the children know them, but none of them dare look. With every step, he clicks his cane on the cobblestones, tossing candies out into the streets, into the gutters, into the alleyways with his impossibly long fingers. He watches as the candies trickle down from his fingers, finding their way into the cracks and crevices, looking for any shift in the shadows, listening for any slip of the tongue…"