spiders
A Growing Menace
Concept: “The Sarkash forests have gone eerily silent, and travelers who venture too close to the wood line are disappearing without a trace.”
Content: Feast your eyes to an old god of the forest.
Writing: Strong thematic elements established in both background and environmental description.
Art/design: Haunting illustration by Waclaw supports an ominous yet understated layout.
Usability: You won’t get caught up in this web.
Content: Feast your eyes to an old god of the forest.
Writing: Strong thematic elements established in both background and environmental description.
Art/design: Haunting illustration by Waclaw supports an ominous yet understated layout.
Usability: You won’t get caught up in this web.
Arachnoid Infiltrator
Concept: “The world crumbles. Hunger and Desperation, like twin hounds, drive you into the lighted lands of the fleshly man-things who hate you.”
Content: A spider in man’s clothing.
Writing: Farcical and terrifying in turns. Their ignorance only magnifies the potential danger. In other words: an ideal player character.
Art/design: Shadowy and ambiguous imagery builds a sense of dread. Strong color choices enliven an otherwise simple text layout.
Usability: Unnerve friend and enemy alike.
Content: A spider in man’s clothing.
Writing: Farcical and terrifying in turns. Their ignorance only magnifies the potential danger. In other words: an ideal player character.
Art/design: Shadowy and ambiguous imagery builds a sense of dread. Strong color choices enliven an otherwise simple text layout.
Usability: Unnerve friend and enemy alike.
Book of Misery Volume 2: Mork Borg
Concept: “So you're still unprepared??!!!”
Content: A witch’s tome of classes, monsters, artifacts, followers, adventures—and misery.
Writing: Provides exposition to provide backstory to the various monsters, artifacts, and followers to facilitate the unprepared storyteller.
Art/design: Coarse and violent textures produce evocative creature illustrations. Variety in overall design decisions produce a collaborative zine aesthetic.
Usability: Enough content to sprinkle a little variety into your Mörk Borg if you find yourself in need of inspiration.
Content: A witch’s tome of classes, monsters, artifacts, followers, adventures—and misery.
Writing: Provides exposition to provide backstory to the various monsters, artifacts, and followers to facilitate the unprepared storyteller.
Art/design: Coarse and violent textures produce evocative creature illustrations. Variety in overall design decisions produce a collaborative zine aesthetic.
Usability: Enough content to sprinkle a little variety into your Mörk Borg if you find yourself in need of inspiration.
Caverns of the Dryad Queen
Concept: “You are told hope lies to the south, in the crystal caverns of Aridias... Few have returned... One thing is always the same. There is no memory of what happens in the cave.”
Content: A scvm induced natural disaster waiting to happen.
Writing: A paradise engineered for deliberate and malicious misunderstandings.
Art/design: A wholesome and easily navigable minimap. A clean plaintext layout to sully with your scvmmy fingers.
Usability: Easy to print. East to read. Easy to play.
Content: A scvm induced natural disaster waiting to happen.
Writing: A paradise engineered for deliberate and malicious misunderstandings.
Art/design: A wholesome and easily navigable minimap. A clean plaintext layout to sully with your scvmmy fingers.
Usability: Easy to print. East to read. Easy to play.
Crypt of the Antropophage
Concept: “Deep beneath the catacombs of Graven-Tosk, behind a blood-stained door, a madman works alone…”
Content: “a blood-soaked dungeon of death and depravity”
Writing: Gory, gonzo, goofy, and peculiarly congruent. With a timer that’s sure to rupture a blood vessel or two.
Art/design: Bloody crimson spot illustrations garnish a spread of vibrant red and white text.
Usability: Blood tokens and the map are recommended but not required.
Content: “a blood-soaked dungeon of death and depravity”
Writing: Gory, gonzo, goofy, and peculiarly congruent. With a timer that’s sure to rupture a blood vessel or two.
Art/design: Bloody crimson spot illustrations garnish a spread of vibrant red and white text.
Usability: Blood tokens and the map are recommended but not required.
Elk Deathyard
Concept: “Among the dead and those that refuse to stay still, even the accursed fear the true silence.
When you can’t hear anything but your breathing, you might be
close to the-”
Content: A Tveland Cabin Crawl.
Writing: Supernatural horror. Full of foreboding. With shocks and twists as well as horror tropes.
Art/design: Design elements emphasize a descent into darkness.
Usability: Mini-map, representative spot illustrations, and clean layout aid in table reference.
close to the-”
Content: A Tveland Cabin Crawl.
Writing: Supernatural horror. Full of foreboding. With shocks and twists as well as horror tropes.
Art/design: Design elements emphasize a descent into darkness.
Usability: Mini-map, representative spot illustrations, and clean layout aid in table reference.
Kill & Reuse
Concept: “The spiders in Sarkash are big, mean, vicious creatures... So when you manage to kill one you tear it apart and use all its parts.”
Content: A spider arts and crafts project that will get you hooked.
Writing: A viscerally consequential variant on the traditional grappling hook.
Art/design: An artisan's shop. Harassed by boxed text.
Usability: For AFTER the spider encounter.
Content: A spider arts and crafts project that will get you hooked.
Writing: A viscerally consequential variant on the traditional grappling hook.
Art/design: An artisan's shop. Harassed by boxed text.
Usability: For AFTER the spider encounter.
Reclaim Your Corpse
Concept:
“Your mind stews in total darkness
“Your mind stews in total darkness
Your ears listen to a busy bone saw
You wake in a meat cart...”
Content: “A quick meat-punk dungeon crawl”
Writing: A straightforward dungeon complicated by a few missing limbs and a follow-on hex crawl with the opportunity to earn a few more.
Art/design: Art and design reconstituted from constituent parts of varying styles.
Usability: Best not to take for granted the limb-itations of your scvm.
Content: “A quick meat-punk dungeon crawl”
Writing: A straightforward dungeon complicated by a few missing limbs and a follow-on hex crawl with the opportunity to earn a few more.
Art/design: Art and design reconstituted from constituent parts of varying styles.
Usability: Best not to take for granted the limb-itations of your scvm.
REGICIDE
Concept: “The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen. She squats atop her silk throne”
Content: The end of an empire. A parasite deposed.
Writing: Many hooks and threads ensnare a micro setting at one instant in time.
Art/design: A tightly wound, regal design befitting a 700-year reign at an end.
Usability: Easy to navigate. Requires some translation at the table to be fully compatible.
Content: The end of an empire. A parasite deposed.
Writing: Many hooks and threads ensnare a micro setting at one instant in time.
Art/design: A tightly wound, regal design befitting a 700-year reign at an end.
Usability: Easy to navigate. Requires some translation at the table to be fully compatible.
Skin Job
Concept: “More scum have disappeared in the Blood Tree Wood in the past year than normal. No bodies have been found in more than a year.”
Content: A desperate search for missing persons in the Blood Tree Wood, destined to uncover more than bargained for.
Writing: Established adventure setting with clear NPC motivation, local economy, and culture. Accessible encounter tables and game aids extend the suffering.
Art/design: Michael Harmon’s signature crisp detailed line art style with some Mörk Borg design sensibilities in a (slightly) more traditional layout.
Usability: Optimized for use both as pdf and print. With conveniently located reference tables at the beginning and end of the text, mini maps with room descriptions, and pdf bookmarks.
Content: A desperate search for missing persons in the Blood Tree Wood, destined to uncover more than bargained for.
Writing: Established adventure setting with clear NPC motivation, local economy, and culture. Accessible encounter tables and game aids extend the suffering.
Art/design: Michael Harmon’s signature crisp detailed line art style with some Mörk Borg design sensibilities in a (slightly) more traditional layout.
Usability: Optimized for use both as pdf and print. With conveniently located reference tables at the beginning and end of the text, mini maps with room descriptions, and pdf bookmarks.
Social Encounter With a Psychic Spider
Concept: “We both know the title tells you everything you need to hear.”
Content: A social encounter with a psychic spider.
Writing: Regal and demanding, with requests and secrets that'll make your skin crawl.
Content: A social encounter with a psychic spider.
Writing: Regal and demanding, with requests and secrets that'll make your skin crawl.
Art/design: The desaturated, elegant, but slightly disturbed design elements reinforce the tension of a princess who wishes to be so much more than just a spider.
Usability: With prose that inspires as much as it implies. These improvisational aids provide just the right information for a truly memorable social engagement.
Usability: With prose that inspires as much as it implies. These improvisational aids provide just the right information for a truly memorable social engagement.
The Demon's Arse
Concept: “This is the legendary Demon’s Arse, rumored to be the home of unearthly creatures both demonic and dead. Who dares enter?”
Content: A smoky temple of torture and transformation.
Writing: Purposeful description lends a sense of vibrancy and life to the deranged proceedings of a heretical cult.
Art/design: Gorgeous map of the Demon’s Arse with a clean and clear sidebar column layout. Enhanced with background illustration and judicious use of color.
Usability: A few too many rooms to keep track of in a booklet. Print the map separately.
Content: A smoky temple of torture and transformation.
Writing: Purposeful description lends a sense of vibrancy and life to the deranged proceedings of a heretical cult.
Art/design: Gorgeous map of the Demon’s Arse with a clean and clear sidebar column layout. Enhanced with background illustration and judicious use of color.
Usability: A few too many rooms to keep track of in a booklet. Print the map separately.
The False Mother
Concept: “The False Mother will carry it’s clutch like a mother would carry her infant child”
Content: A different sort of mother.
Writing: Another horrifically unique spider life cycle.
Art/design: Well-organized table layout.
Usability: Brephophobia is the fear of infants. In case you need it.
Content: A different sort of mother.
Writing: Another horrifically unique spider life cycle.
Art/design: Well-organized table layout.
Usability: Brephophobia is the fear of infants. In case you need it.
The Handrantula
Concept: “A crawling goliath, its wild cousins stalk prey on their five digits.”
Content: A handsy follower featuring wriggling, undulating, and command grab.
Writing: Satire of a popular quest for the ancient bangle. Adds an innovative tactile element to its mechanics.
Art/design: Shocking pink prints overlayed with white text. Evokes the initial shock of a wild handrantula ambush.
Usability: Intense overlay encourages the eye to wander in surprise. Manual dexterity required to take full advantage of this follower.
Content: A handsy follower featuring wriggling, undulating, and command grab.
Writing: Satire of a popular quest for the ancient bangle. Adds an innovative tactile element to its mechanics.
Art/design: Shocking pink prints overlayed with white text. Evokes the initial shock of a wild handrantula ambush.
Usability: Intense overlay encourages the eye to wander in surprise. Manual dexterity required to take full advantage of this follower.
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