aquatic
Clamdash!
Concept: “For a few hours each year, the seas beneath the glaciers of Kergüs retreat, revealing salted dungeons in their wake. Within these waterlogged tunnels of ice – the CLAMS.”
Content: Grab your CLAM-picking gloves—an audience with Anthelia awaits the winner
Writing: A briny feast for the senses with Karl’s signature sense of humor
Art/design: Easy to read with ample visual cues for navigating each room’s description and for moving back and forth between descriptions and map
Usability: The CLAMS are barbed, and the tide waits for no scvm
Corpsewake Cove
Concept: “There is no nest of scurvy rats as foul or felonious as the pirates of Corpsewake Cove!”
Content: A self-contained, sandbox-style swashbuckling adventure from inciting incident to bloody climax
Writing: Text-heavy but clean, clear, and effective on all levels; includes lots of description as well as stat blocks, tables, and other mechanical components
Art/design: Balances out the verbal elements with lots of vivid, nautically themed designs
Usability: A fair amount of content and moving parts to manage, but nothing a seasoned and conscientious GM can’t handle
Creature from the Black Bayou
Concept: “The Fishman fossils were found and explorers were sent, but will they survive against the Creature from the Black Bayou?”
Content: A fishman. Ready to drag you below.
Writing: Stats evoke a dangerous aquatic stalker. Ready to ambush isolated scvm.
Art/design: Black & white horror movie poster.
Usability: Keep moist.
Content: A fishman. Ready to drag you below.
Writing: Stats evoke a dangerous aquatic stalker. Ready to ambush isolated scvm.
Art/design: Black & white horror movie poster.
Usability: Keep moist.
Creatures of the Dying World 3
Concept: “...in which he mines the alien world of insects to produce Lovecraftian Things that Should Not Be.”
Content: 19 sanity-shaking creatures. d66 delusional prompts to manage the fallout.
Writing: A thorough mix of indescribable humor and horror. With a fantastical sanity system that won’t take your players out of the game.
Art/design: Impressionistic and inked illustrations capture both the silly and the strange.
Usability: Text which balances between utility and style from passage to passage.
Content: 19 sanity-shaking creatures. d66 delusional prompts to manage the fallout.
Writing: A thorough mix of indescribable humor and horror. With a fantastical sanity system that won’t take your players out of the game.
Art/design: Impressionistic and inked illustrations capture both the silly and the strange.
Usability: Text which balances between utility and style from passage to passage.
DARK FISH BLADE FORT
Concept: “For an authentic experience, get a fish and a blade, and listen to Murmaider by Dethklok. On repeat.”
Content: A standalone fishblade hack of DARK FORT, with optional co-op rules.
Writing: Puns that are succulently fishy. Mechanics that are seriously blade-y.
Art/design: Awkward man-fish, and fish-saws flop between pages of aquamarine and white.
Usability: Available in full size, A4, and letter format. Included character sheet.
Content: A standalone fishblade hack of DARK FORT, with optional co-op rules.
Writing: Puns that are succulently fishy. Mechanics that are seriously blade-y.
Art/design: Awkward man-fish, and fish-saws flop between pages of aquamarine and white.
Usability: Available in full size, A4, and letter format. Included character sheet.
Dark Fortean Times: A Snarl of Corpses
Concept: “A Snarl of Corpses Dams the River is a deadly terrain trap that forces players to push their luck and make hard decisions under pressure.”
Content: An alchemical accident, a corpse dam, an impending flood, and the rise of the corpse king.
Writing: A simple core concept with delightfully foul framing to make for a truly unique disaster.
Art/design: A floodwater of corpse illustration. Purposeful typographic choices distinguish descriptive versus mechanical text.
Usability: A fair balance between dynamic design elements and accessibility.
Content: An alchemical accident, a corpse dam, an impending flood, and the rise of the corpse king.
Writing: A simple core concept with delightfully foul framing to make for a truly unique disaster.
Art/design: A floodwater of corpse illustration. Purposeful typographic choices distinguish descriptive versus mechanical text.
Usability: A fair balance between dynamic design elements and accessibility.
Deep Waters Run Deadly
Concept: “A tool for solo, gmless and on the fly dungeoneering involving moisture.”
Content: A moisture generator, d20 soggy denizens, fishing rules, d12 miserable fish, and treasures.
Writing: A generalized but descriptive style. Inspiring rather than dictating mechanics.
Art/design: A geometric and textured layout with tailored AI art.
Usability: A specific emulator for cruel and unusual bodies of water.
Content: A moisture generator, d20 soggy denizens, fishing rules, d12 miserable fish, and treasures.
Writing: A generalized but descriptive style. Inspiring rather than dictating mechanics.
Art/design: A geometric and textured layout with tailored AI art.
Usability: A specific emulator for cruel and unusual bodies of water.
Down the Altamaha(-ha)
Concept: “The king’s cartographer has deciphered the horn’s coordinates – but of all places, it had to be in the Altamaha. Who would be foolish enough to go there?”
Content: Boating, fishing, treasure hunting, and gruesome death in one package; some interesting interconnected elements and connections to other 3rd-party adventures
Writing: Straightforward and descriptive with an undercurrent of humor
Art/design: Clear, easy-to-navigate layouts with some nice illustrations
Usability: Nonlinear but not particularly complicated
Content: Boating, fishing, treasure hunting, and gruesome death in one package; some interesting interconnected elements and connections to other 3rd-party adventures
Writing: Straightforward and descriptive with an undercurrent of humor
Art/design: Clear, easy-to-navigate layouts with some nice illustrations
Usability: Nonlinear but not particularly complicated
Draugen, the Drowned
Concept: “The drowned shamble aimlessly along shorelines seeking to steal the life-breath they so desperately desire.”
Content: An undead denizen for coastal settings
Writing: Sets the tone and scene for encounters
Art/design: Relatively subtle and unintrusive
Usability: Well-demarcated sections and stats for easy reference
Content: An undead denizen for coastal settings
Writing: Sets the tone and scene for encounters
Art/design: Relatively subtle and unintrusive
Usability: Well-demarcated sections and stats for easy reference
Drifting Sepulchre
“Her mausoleum drifts around Lake Onda, never truly resting.”
Drowned Kobieta
Concept: “Sharp claws cuth through flesh and drag you down to the bottomless pit.”
Content: A drowning-based monster derived from Slavic myth
Writing: Provides some inspiration for hooks and haunts
Art/design: Reinforces the theme with heavy chiaroscuro and cool spot colors
Usability: Initiative is influenced by PC class; otherwise, straightforward
Content: A drowning-based monster derived from Slavic myth
Writing: Provides some inspiration for hooks and haunts
Art/design: Reinforces the theme with heavy chiaroscuro and cool spot colors
Usability: Initiative is influenced by PC class; otherwise, straightforward
Duncan Hall’s Mörktober 2023 – 31 Tables & Trivilities
Concept: Duncan Hall’s Little Mörktober Calendar of Horrors.
Content: “31 random generators, monsters, items, and so forth made throughout the month of October 2023.”
Writing: A tortuous elaboration from its initial prompts, full of wit and wretchedness.
Art/design: Sketches, photo bashes, full-color illustrations, and doodles in a filthy day calendar format.
Usability: Most fun when printed on a sticky note calendar.
Content: “31 random generators, monsters, items, and so forth made throughout the month of October 2023.”
Writing: A tortuous elaboration from its initial prompts, full of wit and wretchedness.
Art/design: Sketches, photo bashes, full-color illustrations, and doodles in a filthy day calendar format.
Usability: Most fun when printed on a sticky note calendar.
Endless Sea Raider
Concept: “Predator of the Endless Sea”
Content: A piratical player-character class
Writing: All the standard features with some inspired class-specific items/companions
Art/design: Graphics convey the grim bleakness of the Endless Sea with some appropriate splashes of Mörk Borgy color
Usability: Nicely blocked out for easy reference
Fisk Borg
Concept: “An expansion that adds somber and ominous fishing”
Content: Primarily an optional rules supplement but also includes a new class, fishing gear, hirelings, and a sprawling aquatic bestiary
Writing: Knows that it’s a grimdark fishing simulator and revels in that
Art/design: Combines various image types and styles to create an eclectic visual character; text is laid out for easy reading and navigation
Usability: Absolutely packed with content, but the table of contents and graphic design make it easy to find what you’re looking for
Content: Primarily an optional rules supplement but also includes a new class, fishing gear, hirelings, and a sprawling aquatic bestiary
Writing: Knows that it’s a grimdark fishing simulator and revels in that
Art/design: Combines various image types and styles to create an eclectic visual character; text is laid out for easy reading and navigation
Usability: Absolutely packed with content, but the table of contents and graphic design make it easy to find what you’re looking for
Ghoulish Grin: Issue 1
Concept: “This is the Dying World, so it’s possible no one will notice the difference.”
Content: "a tide of COSMIC HORROR upon the Dying World.” Two new classes, a magic domain, mutation mechanics, and Mythos Miseries.
Writing: Eldritch horror played for laughs. Surprisingly informed about the unknowable.
Art/design: A generous kaleidoscope of public domain horrors with a layout like frantic diary notes.
Usability: Available as both indescribable zine and plaintext edition.
Content: "a tide of COSMIC HORROR upon the Dying World.” Two new classes, a magic domain, mutation mechanics, and Mythos Miseries.
Writing: Eldritch horror played for laughs. Surprisingly informed about the unknowable.
Art/design: A generous kaleidoscope of public domain horrors with a layout like frantic diary notes.
Usability: Available as both indescribable zine and plaintext edition.
Grave Matters: Dig Deeper
“This booklet continues what its predecessor began, adding new monsters, foul objects, and a brand new adventure ready to be played.”
GVix’s Mörktober 2023 – 31 Phantasmagoric Entries
Concept: "31 Phantasmagoric Entries”
Content: “A compilation of all my postcard-entries for Exeunt Press' MÖRKTOBER challenge”
Writing: An impish collection of grisly gifts, ghastly guests, and grim tables for rules and quests.
Art/design: Heavy-bordered postcards of inked and crosshatched illustrations in an array of bright uniform colors.
Usability: Available in individual postcard PDF, or advertisement spread png.
Content: “A compilation of all my postcard-entries for Exeunt Press' MÖRKTOBER challenge”
Writing: An impish collection of grisly gifts, ghastly guests, and grim tables for rules and quests.
Art/design: Heavy-bordered postcards of inked and crosshatched illustrations in an array of bright uniform colors.
Usability: Available in individual postcard PDF, or advertisement spread png.
In The Belly of the Beast
Concept: “Short weird adventure for Mork Borg, where the characters are swallowed by a giant sea serpent and have to find their way out.”
Content: A serpent-shaped, acid-rich, nautical funhouse.
Writing: A segmented, event-driven skeleton draped in bile and blood.
Art/design: A fantastical cross-sectioned serpent dominates a white-capped sea of black pixels.
Usability: A traditional white-on-black text layout fits on one page for easy reference.
Content: A serpent-shaped, acid-rich, nautical funhouse.
Writing: A segmented, event-driven skeleton draped in bile and blood.
Art/design: A fantastical cross-sectioned serpent dominates a white-capped sea of black pixels.
Usability: A traditional white-on-black text layout fits on one page for easy reference.
Johan's Silver
Concept: “Glory, Glory! Their riches come rising!”
Content: A brief stint down King Fathmu’s Shaft.
Writing: A clever timer in a tide of boiling silver. A problem Fathmu probably shouldn’t learn about.
Art/design: Reads as a mining complex with reflux issues.
Usability: Think fast, or get smelt.
Content: A brief stint down King Fathmu’s Shaft.
Writing: A clever timer in a tide of boiling silver. A problem Fathmu probably shouldn’t learn about.
Art/design: Reads as a mining complex with reflux issues.
Usability: Think fast, or get smelt.
Kh’akh’Awin
Concept: “Bad tempered wisdom seeker bipolar Sea-wolf of Lake Onda”
Content: Includes lore, narrative for Reaction temperament, and a random loot table
Writing: Delivers the lore in an engaging second-person narrative
Art/design: Designs capture the petroglyphic inspiration highlighted with plenty of Borgy colors
Usability: Simple to use as a monster but has lots of narrative potential
Content: Includes lore, narrative for Reaction temperament, and a random loot table
Writing: Delivers the lore in an engaging second-person narrative
Art/design: Designs capture the petroglyphic inspiration highlighted with plenty of Borgy colors
Usability: Simple to use as a monster but has lots of narrative potential
Lake of Oil
Concept: “Will you embrace the Fish?”
Content: A dungeon focused on a flaming fish, sacred fire, and the fellers that worship them
Writing: Fairly concise and focused more on actionable content, letting the map convey visual character and atmosphere
Art/design: Large, yellow room numbers against a greyscale (but nicely illustrated) map make navigation easy for GMs; descriptions are presented alongside or overlaying the relevant locations
Usability: Highly flammable
This entry was sponsored by Philip Meagher as part of the Ex Libris RPG crowdfunding campaign.
“Just a very simple and fun dungeon! Well laid out and easy to understand, my player had dark vision (playing a night witch) and refused the torch to look cool but was shocked when the Feller turned aggressive! There’s a lot of room for things to go sideways as well though my player suggested editing the riddle by removing the third line to make it a bit harder and to have a chance at all hell breaking loose. Overall an excellent dungeon!”
Content: A dungeon focused on a flaming fish, sacred fire, and the fellers that worship them
Writing: Fairly concise and focused more on actionable content, letting the map convey visual character and atmosphere
Art/design: Large, yellow room numbers against a greyscale (but nicely illustrated) map make navigation easy for GMs; descriptions are presented alongside or overlaying the relevant locations
Usability: Highly flammable
This entry was sponsored by Philip Meagher as part of the Ex Libris RPG crowdfunding campaign.
“Just a very simple and fun dungeon! Well laid out and easy to understand, my player had dark vision (playing a night witch) and refused the torch to look cool but was shocked when the Feller turned aggressive! There’s a lot of room for things to go sideways as well though my player suggested editing the riddle by removing the third line to make it a bit harder and to have a chance at all hell breaking loose. Overall an excellent dungeon!”
Landlocked Buccaneer
Concept: “Once a seafaring, deck swabbing, swashbuckling rover. Now, a defanged murderwhale.”
Content: A rimy seafarer adapted to Mörk Borg
Writing: Descriptive paragraph and class abilities add a briny flavor
Art/design: Substitutes slate blue for vibrant yellow with great effect
Usability: Sneak attack comes standard
Content: A rimy seafarer adapted to Mörk Borg
Writing: Descriptive paragraph and class abilities add a briny flavor
Art/design: Substitutes slate blue for vibrant yellow with great effect
Usability: Sneak attack comes standard
Level 17: The Crawling Chaos
Concept: " The air is dank and the floor is moist. Purplish fluid shimmers between the cobblestones that pave the ground. It moves as if it was alive"
Content: A throbbing hallway, sucking whirlpool, and quiet study.
Writing: Thorough alien descriptions, d666 escape rules, and narrative throbbing fluid mechanics.
Art/design: Dense single-column format, broken by background transitions and an uncanny hallway illustration.
Usability: Review before running, some decisions are left up to you. Remember the room is silenced!
Content: A throbbing hallway, sucking whirlpool, and quiet study.
Writing: Thorough alien descriptions, d666 escape rules, and narrative throbbing fluid mechanics.
Art/design: Dense single-column format, broken by background transitions and an uncanny hallway illustration.
Usability: Review before running, some decisions are left up to you. Remember the room is silenced!
Monsters!
Concept: “A collection of the MOST DISGUSTING and terribly vile MONSTERS!”
Content: Twenty of them, to be a little more specific.
Writing: Horrendously hilarious creations from tormented traditions. Malformed for the morbidly curious.
Art/design: Sharp points and serrated edges brutalize the darkly patterned forms of this miserable tome, contrasted occasionally by excruciatingly clinical white.
Usability: Richly stylized only where they know you’ll work for it. Legible everywhere it counts.
Content: Twenty of them, to be a little more specific.
Writing: Horrendously hilarious creations from tormented traditions. Malformed for the morbidly curious.
Art/design: Sharp points and serrated edges brutalize the darkly patterned forms of this miserable tome, contrasted occasionally by excruciatingly clinical white.
Usability: Richly stylized only where they know you’ll work for it. Legible everywhere it counts.
Odd Gob’s Claw
Concept: “...the shelled behemoth leaves a trail of eldritch slime that oozes from the end of its massive limbs.”
Content: A replicating pile of hallucinogenic tendrils encased in a dead crustacean.
Writing: Disturbing sensations lend character to a simple statblock.
Art/design: A hulking construct of clearly repurposed carapace dominates a pink and yellow shore-scape.
Usability: Available in a free and a paid version with additional abilities, history, and adventure prompts.
Content: A replicating pile of hallucinogenic tendrils encased in a dead crustacean.
Writing: Disturbing sensations lend character to a simple statblock.
Art/design: A hulking construct of clearly repurposed carapace dominates a pink and yellow shore-scape.
Usability: Available in a free and a paid version with additional abilities, history, and adventure prompts.
Ogtocrawl
Concept: “You have been ingested via an enormous aquatic beast. Everything in here is trying to kill you and you aren't sure where the heck the exit is.”
Content: A surreal trip inside a very unique octopus.
Writing: Absurdist landscapes, “weather”, and loot to disorient your players.
Art/design: Public domain octopus ingestion. In a digestible layout.
Usability: Eight invitations to wild, wet, and weird adventure.
Content: A surreal trip inside a very unique octopus.
Writing: Absurdist landscapes, “weather”, and loot to disorient your players.
Art/design: Public domain octopus ingestion. In a digestible layout.
Usability: Eight invitations to wild, wet, and weird adventure.
Parasite
Concept: “If you ever drink the water of Lake Onda...”
Content: A thirsty little throat parasite.
Writing: Some serious slow-burn body horror.
Art/design: Thirstworms hiding in their natural habitat—behind the boxed text.
Usability: Mechanically more disease than monster honestly.
Content: A thirsty little throat parasite.
Writing: Some serious slow-burn body horror.
Art/design: Thirstworms hiding in their natural habitat—behind the boxed text.
Usability: Mechanically more disease than monster honestly.
Scriptures of the Endless Sea
Concept: “In the depths of the Endless Sea, you awaken... Your twisted journey lies ahead through the abyss, driven by the promise of true death, a release from torment.”
Content: An Endless Sea bottom-crawl.
Writing: A structured linear narrative with set-piece encounters and Endless Sea lore.
Art/design: Pale blue in the deep-sea dark. AI-distorted aquatic monstrosities, deep-sea voyagers, and two-headed deities abound.
Usability: Clean, organized, dense
Content: An Endless Sea bottom-crawl.
Writing: A structured linear narrative with set-piece encounters and Endless Sea lore.
Art/design: Pale blue in the deep-sea dark. AI-distorted aquatic monstrosities, deep-sea voyagers, and two-headed deities abound.
Usability: Clean, organized, dense
Seven Hells and a Dead Paradise
Concept: “in this book you will find Seven Hells to inflict upon your players, and one Dead Paradise. Tie them all together with a Hellish table-crawl, the Eightfold Crypt of the King Orzog”
Content: Seven hells, a lost paradise, a tormented class, body parts, and a dread king’s crypt.
Writing: The history and cosmos of dead gods conveyed in 13 spreads worth of tables and dungeon.
Art/design: Excellent use of public domain imagery as inspiration for the various locals. Tortured sketches of divine punishment.
Usability: Enough material here to flesh out many settings. With an index to use them piecemeal or whole.
Content: Seven hells, a lost paradise, a tormented class, body parts, and a dread king’s crypt.
Writing: The history and cosmos of dead gods conveyed in 13 spreads worth of tables and dungeon.
Art/design: Excellent use of public domain imagery as inspiration for the various locals. Tortured sketches of divine punishment.
Usability: Enough material here to flesh out many settings. With an index to use them piecemeal or whole.
Südglans
Concept: “The southern empire of Südglans sank into the sea, but that was not the final chapter for its capital.”
Content: An aquatic point crawl across a disturbingly inhabited sunken city.
Writing: Stylistic, clear, and evocative. Provides a strong framework for running each location.
Art/design: Distressed black and white. Strong and consistent hierarchy. Two column structure.
Usability: Easily Printable. Consistent cues for sensory descriptions, mechanics and stats.
Content: An aquatic point crawl across a disturbingly inhabited sunken city.
Writing: Stylistic, clear, and evocative. Provides a strong framework for running each location.
Art/design: Distressed black and white. Strong and consistent hierarchy. Two column structure.
Usability: Easily Printable. Consistent cues for sensory descriptions, mechanics and stats.
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