Occult Ossuary
Boni, your bone companion
Concept: “A disembodied skull with a penchant for rambling stories of old exploits and griping about how things were better in the good old days.”
Content: Some descriptive text, simple mechanic, and sample commentary
Writing: Straightforward with humor as dry as an old bone
Art/design: Text laid out intuitively around the central image
Usability: Somewhere between an NPC and a magic item; works well as both
Bony Knuckles to the Face
Concept: “At any time and place in this doomed world, a sarcophagus could appear that was not there the day before.”
Content: Hook and mechanics for an undead (but surprisingly good-natured) fighting pit
Writing: Lots of descriptive details, a stable of fun mechanical features, and some interesting variables
Art/design: Art and layout are very on-brand but with their own unique flavor
Usability: Logical, efficient sequential flow
Buster Bone-Gnawer, Börker of Shadows
Concept: “An ageless hound protects the Dying World from succumbing to Psalm 6:1.”
Content: Stats and abilities for, and boons granted by, scvm’s best friend
Writing: Mostly mechanics but includes some descriptive text to add character
Art/design: Conventional Mörk Borg layout and design with some trippy artwork and an obligatory femur
Usability: This good boi is eager to please
Dental Manvscript
Content: Options for the teeth in your head and in your pocket
Writing: Good technical expositions and well-placed humor
Art/design: Definitely lives up to the title
Usability: Self-contained mechanics are simple to navigate
Femoral Didgeridoo
Content: Three skeleton-based options and consequences for poor performances
Writing: Mechanics-oriented and concise
Art/design: Typography and color enable easy reading and navigation
Usability: Not your typical MB femur
Marrow Bees & Osteapiarists
Content: Parasitic bees, their (in)toxic(ating) honey, and their keepers
Writing: A fair split of flavor and mechanics, both well conceived and written
Art/design: Subtle but effective representations of colonized humans
Usability: Honey mechanics are split, but not detrimental on a 1-page document
The Abominable Bone Pit of Alteraxx
Content: A monster generator with tables for legs, heads, powers, attacks, and tactics
Writing: Adds style and personality to the mechanics
Art/design: Appropriately frames the text against a trippy red-and-black ground
Usability: Uses an assortment of dice, which you probably already have
The Boneless Hag
Concept: “When the horrid hag of the wood has no bones to pick with, do you need to run? YES. YES YOU DO.”
Content: A pair of monsters and a clever mechanic for buying and banking rolls
Writing: A concise hook with mechanics that are expressive as they are functional
Art/design: “Art+Layout done by Pablo Dapena- without which this piece wouldn’t be nearly as metal.”
Usability: Well organized; some elaborate Specials, but perfectly manageable
The Catacomb Saint
Content: A class that guards (and wields) powerful holy relics
Writing: Clear and characterful; contains some fun Easter eggs for the faithfvl
Art/design: Clean text layout with a piece of colorful (but not too colorful) art
Usability: Relatively restrictive character creation balanced by guaranteed good armor and some impressive relics
The Occult Ossuary
28 contributors
Content: “Classes, items, companions, monsters and encounters created by sacrilegious mind.”
Writing: A variety of styles, all appropriate to their content
Art/design: Worth downloading just to check out the range of art and layouts
Usability: Complexity varies by entry but consistently easy to use
The Procession of Saint Thrýla
Content: Backstory and stats for the Saint, her acolytes, and the relics they seek
Writing: Wonderfully macabre
Art/design: Excellent graphics and good use of monochrome punctuated by more subtle Mörk Borg colors
Usability: Table of relic location provides nice hooks for ongoing adventures
The Profane Survivor
Content: A mutilation- and misgrowth-based class
Writing: A good mix of vivid characterization and crunch
Art/design: Restrained but effective typographical and visual work
Usability: Involves some darker-than-average themes
The Quantum Tzompantli
Concept: “‘A tzompanlti is a rack of human skulls.’”
Content: A malicious, elusive trap-room
Writing: Strongly biased against the PCs—but those guys are scvm anyway
Art/design: On-brand and clever
Usability: Smartly organized to help GMs track and manage effects and features
The Vertebrachnid
Content: A strange, slimy scavenger
Writing: Mostly descriptive with a simple stat block
Art/design: Includes a wonderfully ghastly illustration
Usability: Good use of color and shape to delineate content sections
Wheel of Misfortune
Content: 8 effects, beneficial and detrimental (and sometimes both)
Writing: Concise but compelling
Art/design: Text’s arrangement around the central image is reiterates the concept’s structure …
Usability: … but may be difficult to orient for readability on some screens and/or cause neck cramps