undead
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.”
Greyson’s Forest
Concept: “Find Mardach's garden and the moshruums within.”
Content: A secret garden, of sorts. Plenty of fertilizer at least.
Writing: A legend, of unclear message, and plenty of textual evidence it’s about to go horribly wrong.
Art/design: Fuchsia fungi feed mustard trees near a fertilizer-free two-column layout.
Usability: “To be continued...” No, seriously.
Content: A secret garden, of sorts. Plenty of fertilizer at least.
Writing: A legend, of unclear message, and plenty of textual evidence it’s about to go horribly wrong.
Art/design: Fuchsia fungi feed mustard trees near a fertilizer-free two-column layout.
Usability: “To be continued...” No, seriously.
Grå Häst
Concept: “To hear the cursed utterences from it’s skeletal frame is said to be a claim for your very life.”
Content: An undead horse spirit with a penchant for making friends
Writing: Provides a description for roleplaying the encounter and mechanics for rolling it as well
Art/design: Compelling illustrations; typographic design creates a visual hierarchy of information
Usability: Some of the nonessential flavor text is small and difficult to read but worth the extra effort
Content: An undead horse spirit with a penchant for making friends
Writing: Provides a description for roleplaying the encounter and mechanics for rolling it as well
Art/design: Compelling illustrations; typographic design creates a visual hierarchy of information
Usability: Some of the nonessential flavor text is small and difficult to read but worth the extra effort
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.
Haunted Chaise Longue
Concept: “Through sheer spite and willpower, you were able to animate and inhabit this piece of furniture. Thus began the world’s slowest and softest rampage.”
Content: A haunted chaise longue.
Writing: A persistent reminder that you are, in fact, a chaise longue. With all that that implies.
Art/design: Contains an image of a chaise longue, with matching pillow and rules text. Also, blood.
Usability: You cannot jump or climb and you move no faster than 4 feet a turn – you are a chaise longue.
Content: A haunted chaise longue.
Writing: A persistent reminder that you are, in fact, a chaise longue. With all that that implies.
Art/design: Contains an image of a chaise longue, with matching pillow and rules text. Also, blood.
Usability: You cannot jump or climb and you move no faster than 4 feet a turn – you are a chaise longue.
Hero of Canker and Mire
Concept: “A knight of the past, an ancient hero forgotten by all and who, in despair, went to lose himself in the marshes”
Content: A mire-drenched disgrace.
Writing: A corporeal text which explores and supplants the mortal form.
Art/design: Dual spreads contain yellowed illustrations of creeping growth and moist crumbling decay.
Usability: A sloppy display font drips over a clean body text, highlighted for skimming.
Content: A mire-drenched disgrace.
Writing: A corporeal text which explores and supplants the mortal form.
Art/design: Dual spreads contain yellowed illustrations of creeping growth and moist crumbling decay.
Usability: A sloppy display font drips over a clean body text, highlighted for skimming.
Hoodening
Concept: “Hoodening is a folk custom […] where a person imitates a horse by hunching their back and holding out a horses head.”
Content: Items that grant strong benefits to users (at a potentially serious/hilarious cost) with some sample skeletons
Writing: A short rationale; primarily devoted to mechanics
Art/design: Graphic devices synergize well with illustrations and create a sense of sharpness and motion
Usability: Item mechanics are simple in themselves but could cause complications for PCs
Content: Items that grant strong benefits to users (at a potentially serious/hilarious cost) with some sample skeletons
Writing: A short rationale; primarily devoted to mechanics
Art/design: Graphic devices synergize well with illustrations and create a sense of sharpness and motion
Usability: Item mechanics are simple in themselves but could cause complications for PCs
Hungry Chains of Suffering
Concept: “Heavy chains that hunt anyone who disturbs them, and feed on the blood and suffering of their victims until the end of days.”
Content: A susurration of suffocating chains.
Writing: Crushingly measured combat mechanics support a rumored history of suffering and death.
Art/design: A skull faced corpse, suspended from amorphous chains over matching text.
Usability: Easy to use and general purpose killer chains.
Content: A susurration of suffocating chains.
Writing: Crushingly measured combat mechanics support a rumored history of suffering and death.
Art/design: A skull faced corpse, suspended from amorphous chains over matching text.
Usability: Easy to use and general purpose killer chains.
Häzelrygg
Concept: “Have a cup of cider and be on your way. Don’t linger, and pay no heed to anything you hear in the apple-wood.”
Content: A folk horror apple crawl with a decidedly stuffed follower.
Writing: A surprisingly fleshed-out scarecrow follower with enough folk legends and intrigue to inspire an investigation adventure.
Art/design: A collage of public domain images with accessible blocked text.
Usability: Also available in pure plaintext.
Content: A folk horror apple crawl with a decidedly stuffed follower.
Writing: A surprisingly fleshed-out scarecrow follower with enough folk legends and intrigue to inspire an investigation adventure.
Art/design: A collage of public domain images with accessible blocked text.
Usability: Also available in pure plaintext.
Into Those Drowning Bells
Concept: “Track a group of foolish treasure seekers through the ruins of a cursed town devoured by the bitter earth.”
Content: The journey from a flagging village to an abandoned “pyramid”.
Writing: Sober depiction of desperation and despondency would certainly invoke sympathy if you weren’t scvm.
Art/design: A clean draft adventure with easy to reference layout. Table of discontents that hints at more adventure to come.
Content: The journey from a flagging village to an abandoned “pyramid”.
Writing: Sober depiction of desperation and despondency would certainly invoke sympathy if you weren’t scvm.
Art/design: A clean draft adventure with easy to reference layout. Table of discontents that hints at more adventure to come.
Usability: Still in draft, but has a fully formed opening section that can easily be built upon.
Johan’s Forest
Concept: “A mini adventure and a callback to Ancient Skin”
Content: A desperately venomous little pointcrawl.
Writing: Head-turning depictions like, “At night they merge into one giant bird-snake."
Art/design: Miserable little trees, a filthy little creek, and a few other happy little accidents.
Usability: A quick sketch for an in-media-res forest crawl.
Content: A desperately venomous little pointcrawl.
Writing: Head-turning depictions like, “At night they merge into one giant bird-snake."
Art/design: Miserable little trees, a filthy little creek, and a few other happy little accidents.
Usability: A quick sketch for an in-media-res forest crawl.
Kavlov’s Sanctuary
Concept: “Explore the dread-filled halls of Kavlov's Sanctuary and uncover the ancient secrets and betrayals that could determine the fate of the world. But be warned, your actions have consequences”
Content: A demon-bound mega-dungeon crawl. A campaign setting with 13 unique dungeon locations, 5 new classes, monsters, bosses, magic items, and gear.
Writing: An interwoven series of thematic dungeons centered on demonic corruption.
Art/design: A dense but visually organized two-column layout, with classic grid maps and charming comic illustrations.
Usability: Color-coded dungeon locations aid navigation. Separate maps provided.
Content: A demon-bound mega-dungeon crawl. A campaign setting with 13 unique dungeon locations, 5 new classes, monsters, bosses, magic items, and gear.
Writing: An interwoven series of thematic dungeons centered on demonic corruption.
Art/design: A dense but visually organized two-column layout, with classic grid maps and charming comic illustrations.
Usability: Color-coded dungeon locations aid navigation. Separate maps provided.
King of Broken Night
Concept: “Delve into the Halls of Droning Bone! Get lost in the Interstitial Tracts! Harvest the power of a localized solar phenomenon! Talk to a sentient slime mold! Wield the magic of effects pedals!
All these curiosities and more yet await in this crenelated and conjured cylinder.”
Content: A modular viscerolithic tower crawl of perpetual aspect.
Writing: Four luxuriously stylized tower floors with enough material to stand alone anywhere in the dying world, wrapped delicately in the glacial resolve of a wizard’s decadent solipsism.
Art/design: N/A The tower is reconstituting itself and remains plain text… for now.
Usability: Can be consumed in a single grand adventure, or cracked open to pick away at as you please.
Content: A modular viscerolithic tower crawl of perpetual aspect.
Writing: Four luxuriously stylized tower floors with enough material to stand alone anywhere in the dying world, wrapped delicately in the glacial resolve of a wizard’s decadent solipsism.
Art/design: N/A The tower is reconstituting itself and remains plain text… for now.
Usability: Can be consumed in a single grand adventure, or cracked open to pick away at as you please.
Kistkastare
Concept: “It's dead. It drags a coffin with a chain and spins it around until it hits PCs. No assembly required!”
Content: skeleton x1; chain x1; coffin x1
Writing: Concise and highly functional
Art/design: Laid out for accessibility and easy use
Usability: Attack-randomization table balances the monster’s heftiness and is a novel way to add some chaos to your fights
Content: skeleton x1; chain x1; coffin x1
Writing: Concise and highly functional
Art/design: Laid out for accessibility and easy use
Usability: Attack-randomization table balances the monster’s heftiness and is a novel way to add some chaos to your fights
Knives Out
Concept: “features way too many knives”
Content: Pointy things, capes, rules for being dandy with a variety of weapons, a seedy tavern, odd jobs, discretion, and time banditry.
Writing: An appropriate level of roguish charm, sharp wit, references, and puns.
Art/design: A vibrant and full-bodied visual design. Plenty of rouge on this rogue.
Usability: “If you are insufferable while doing it. You get DR –2 for the test. Yes. DR –2.”
Content: Pointy things, capes, rules for being dandy with a variety of weapons, a seedy tavern, odd jobs, discretion, and time banditry.
Writing: An appropriate level of roguish charm, sharp wit, references, and puns.
Art/design: A vibrant and full-bodied visual design. Plenty of rouge on this rogue.
Usability: “If you are insufferable while doing it. You get DR –2 for the test. Yes. DR –2.”
Kracken 777’s Misery’s Keep
Concept: “an independent production by Winston Smith… hastening the final Misery”
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: A tasteful teal and violet cover, hand-drawn illustrations, and modified public domain imagery engage a classic mini-map sidebar design.
Usability: Functional, accessible, with a recognizable top-down castle map.
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: A tasteful teal and violet cover, hand-drawn illustrations, and modified public domain imagery engage a classic mini-map sidebar design.
Usability: Functional, accessible, with a recognizable top-down castle map.
Kött
Concept: “The Great and final war that still rages between the vampire lords and hell itself... Hated by all. You are slaves to the abyss or escaped deserters searching for a life and purpose, if these can be found in this dying world.”
Content: A trench fighting, organ grafting, hell of a war. A complete setting and ruleset, you just need to survive it.
Writing: Bleak, bombastic, and apocalyptic. Bursting with the kind of body horror which blurs the line between man and machine.
Art/design: The tortured linework of characters invoke a hellish atmosphere in just a few spare illustrations.
Usability: Self-contained and accessible plaintext. Available in Swedish and English.
Content: A trench fighting, organ grafting, hell of a war. A complete setting and ruleset, you just need to survive it.
Writing: Bleak, bombastic, and apocalyptic. Bursting with the kind of body horror which blurs the line between man and machine.
Art/design: The tortured linework of characters invoke a hellish atmosphere in just a few spare illustrations.
Usability: Self-contained and accessible plaintext. Available in Swedish and English.
Lavandeiras & Biosbardos
Concept: “An encounter with the ghostly midnight washerwomen” & “A quest to hunt some (maybe not so real) animals”
Content: Nocturnal spirits who entice you to do your own laundry, for weal or woe; a ruse of an adventure with multiple potential climaxes
Writing: Includes descriptive text sets the scene and mechanics to determine the outcome; very concise but with adequate, compelling imagery and appeal
Art/design: Efficient design choices delineate segments and make for easy use and reference; primarily textual with a fun text-based map
Usability: A two-in-one bargain
Content: Nocturnal spirits who entice you to do your own laundry, for weal or woe; a ruse of an adventure with multiple potential climaxes
Writing: Includes descriptive text sets the scene and mechanics to determine the outcome; very concise but with adequate, compelling imagery and appeal
Art/design: Efficient design choices delineate segments and make for easy use and reference; primarily textual with a fun text-based map
Usability: A two-in-one bargain
Legion
Concept: “a cursed undead shepherd kept alive by the powers of his 5 sheep”
Content: An extremely dedicated shepherd.
Writing: Provides context and history for a singular kind of undead.
Art/design: A legion of sheep behind boxed text.
Usability: Go for the sheep.
Content: An extremely dedicated shepherd.
Writing: Provides context and history for a singular kind of undead.
Art/design: A legion of sheep behind boxed text.
Usability: Go for the sheep.
Level 20: Lair of the Flesh-Diver
Concept:
“SEE! Bodies that have been recently eaten, or being eaten!
“SEE! Bodies that have been recently eaten, or being eaten!
HEAR! The sounds of flesh being digested and the screams of insane cannibalistic monsters!
SMELL! The stink of burning flesh and rotting biological matter!
TASTE! Rosemary sausage!
TOUCH! Nothing, if you're smart!
LOOT! Dangerous custom cutlery!
KILL! Hordes of hungry, darkness-dwelling denizens!”
Content: A deep dive into a dark cannibal dungeon.
Writing: Sensorial text provides an in-depth and narrative description of events and encounters.
Art/design: Traditional adventure layout highlighted by eerie maps, depictions of butcher’s tools, and flushed purple accents.
Usability: The level of detail may require some review before your session.
Content: A deep dive into a dark cannibal dungeon.
Writing: Sensorial text provides an in-depth and narrative description of events and encounters.
Art/design: Traditional adventure layout highlighted by eerie maps, depictions of butcher’s tools, and flushed purple accents.
Usability: The level of detail may require some review before your session.
Level 21: F L E S H
Concept: “The end is near, but to get there you must pass through a disgusting mess of flesh, blood, and bone to open the final door and see what awaits you.”
Content: A “fantastic voyage” through an inhuman body.
Writing: Literal body horror. You’re in a body, and it’s horrible.
Art/design: Fleshy maps, scratched out sketches, and hand lettered teeth bulk out an irregular two column layout.
Usability: Consistent visual hierarchy aids in navigation and reference.
Content: A “fantastic voyage” through an inhuman body.
Writing: Literal body horror. You’re in a body, and it’s horrible.
Art/design: Fleshy maps, scratched out sketches, and hand lettered teeth bulk out an irregular two column layout.
Usability: Consistent visual hierarchy aids in navigation and reference.
Level Seven: Extreme Violence Engine
Concept: “a series of gratuitously violent encounters that all build the final encounter. You must survive!”
Content: A choose your own meat grinder adventure.
Writing: Focused on the core of role-playing: Decisions that make perfect sense at the time and the inevitable consequences that come later.
Art/design: Alternatingly hilarious and brutal. Text and images packed into the hopper and occasionally fed through the meat processor.
Usability: GM needs to keep track of some moving parts, but they seriously pay off in the end. An excellent option for a funnel adventure.
Content: A choose your own meat grinder adventure.
Writing: Focused on the core of role-playing: Decisions that make perfect sense at the time and the inevitable consequences that come later.
Art/design: Alternatingly hilarious and brutal. Text and images packed into the hopper and occasionally fed through the meat processor.
Usability: GM needs to keep track of some moving parts, but they seriously pay off in the end. An excellent option for a funnel adventure.
Lich Stone Plodder
“The violent squirming remains are minced by the common folk and shoved into heavy stone tombs … infect the very stone and dirt with this unholy energy.”
Lord of Chains
7 contributors
Concept: “Rob a grave. Steal a blade. Kill the Lord of Chains.”
Content: A Graven-Tosk digging, Sarkash roaming, Bastion storming, Shadow King’s prophecy averting point crawl.
Writing: Energetic and near melodramatic plot sets the tone for a truly torturous adventure.
Art/design: Loud when it ought to be, quiet when it counts. Metal throughout.
Usability: Self-contained, shadowed, and bound in iron chains.
Content: A Graven-Tosk digging, Sarkash roaming, Bastion storming, Shadow King’s prophecy averting point crawl.
Writing: Energetic and near melodramatic plot sets the tone for a truly torturous adventure.
Art/design: Loud when it ought to be, quiet when it counts. Metal throughout.
Usability: Self-contained, shadowed, and bound in iron chains.
Mallum de Monstrum #2
Concept: “I love creating monsters and having them used in peoples campaigns to delight and terrify.”
Content: Twenty-three undead monsters.
Writing: Lairs, abilities, and loot supplement base stats in prose.
Art/design: Decomposing corpse portraits provided by Midjourney AI.
Usability: Simple condensed stat blocks. Easy to reference.
Content: Twenty-three undead monsters.
Writing: Lairs, abilities, and loot supplement base stats in prose.
Art/design: Decomposing corpse portraits provided by Midjourney AI.
Usability: Simple condensed stat blocks. Easy to reference.
Malum de Monstrum vol. 3
Concept: “bringing to life creatures specifically themed around the element of ‘Fire’.”
Content: Five blazing brutes.
Writing: A variety of thematic creature abilities designed to turn up the heat.
Art/design: From ashen to white hot, a mixture of hand-drawn and ai generated creature illustrations highlight a two-column layout.
Usability: For when your scvm fail to light the campfire.
Content: Five blazing brutes.
Writing: A variety of thematic creature abilities designed to turn up the heat.
Art/design: From ashen to white hot, a mixture of hand-drawn and ai generated creature illustrations highlight a two-column layout.
Usability: For when your scvm fail to light the campfire.
Malum de Monstrum Zine #001
Concept: “Once-mighty creatures of the prehistoric past now roam the lands as nightmarish monsters, driven by hunger, infection, and dark magic.”
Content: Seven blasphemous blasts from the past.
Writing: A complete ecology, from lairing habits to hunting techniques. With mechanics to math.
Art/design: Minimalist, high-contrast dinosaurs thunder through a sturdy two-column layout.
Usability: Also available in printer-friendly plaintext.
Content: Seven blasphemous blasts from the past.
Writing: A complete ecology, from lairing habits to hunting techniques. With mechanics to math.
Art/design: Minimalist, high-contrast dinosaurs thunder through a sturdy two-column layout.
Usability: Also available in printer-friendly plaintext.
Manor Most Foul
Concept: “Greed, gore, romance? None of that matters as long as you can get to the hidden vault”
Content: A lovingly macabre manor crawl.
Writing: A tragic love story (of sorts), reenacting its terrible pursuit this night for your voyeuristic pleasure.
Art/design: Full of coarse texture and bright color, a feast for the eyes, with a surprising emphasis on the eyes.
Usability: I'm not joking about the eyes. I may have exaggerated the voyeuristic pleasure.
Content: A lovingly macabre manor crawl.
Writing: A tragic love story (of sorts), reenacting its terrible pursuit this night for your voyeuristic pleasure.
Art/design: Full of coarse texture and bright color, a feast for the eyes, with a surprising emphasis on the eyes.
Usability: I'm not joking about the eyes. I may have exaggerated the voyeuristic pleasure.
Mask of Scvm
Concept: “In the troll’s nest you find the...”
Content: “Mask of Scvm” plus rules for when you’re boned.
Writing: Un-skeletal descriptions of skeletonification and a new way to die.
Art/design: A horny mask smiles over the bloody discharge of its latest charge.
Usability: For scvm who want to show off their bones.
Content: “Mask of Scvm” plus rules for when you’re boned.
Writing: Un-skeletal descriptions of skeletonification and a new way to die.
Art/design: A horny mask smiles over the bloody discharge of its latest charge.
Usability: For scvm who want to show off their bones.
Membrane of Sarkantha & Sarcopha-ghost
Concept: “Two devilish hazards every death-defying dungeon delver must learn to avoid.”
Content: A living(ish) doorway trap and a melancholic spirit
Writing: Adds dimension and depth to concepts
Art/design: Illustrations express the monsters’ ephemerality
Usability: It’s hard to screw up a Mörk Borg stat block
Content: A living(ish) doorway trap and a melancholic spirit
Writing: Adds dimension and depth to concepts
Art/design: Illustrations express the monsters’ ephemerality
Usability: It’s hard to screw up a Mörk Borg stat block
MEMENTO
Concept: “And the dead need somewhere to go.”
Content: A valley rife with unlife: dead basilisk barons, corpse culture, and several new starting points for your next journey to the afterlife.
Writing: A morbid meditation of funerary rites and the afterlife. An existential misery.
Art/design: A headstone of chiseled plain text with grave offerings of mangled and restitched illustrations.
Usability: A navigable guidebook to the Valley of Unfortunate Undead.
Content: A valley rife with unlife: dead basilisk barons, corpse culture, and several new starting points for your next journey to the afterlife.
Writing: A morbid meditation of funerary rites and the afterlife. An existential misery.
Art/design: A headstone of chiseled plain text with grave offerings of mangled and restitched illustrations.
Usability: A navigable guidebook to the Valley of Unfortunate Undead.
Micheál Reidy’s Misery’s Keep
Concept: “an independent production by Micheál Reidy… hastening the final Misery”
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: Shades of black, red, and gray. Restrained text elements. Humorous emphasis on licensing text.
Usability: There’s a doll spotting mini-game.
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: Shades of black, red, and gray. Restrained text elements. Humorous emphasis on licensing text.
Usability: There’s a doll spotting mini-game.
Miserere
Concept: “When you woke up two days ago, you discovered that Grift was inhabited by a nightmare.”
Content: Delve into a barrow to (hopefully) stop an unholy scourge
Writing: Creates an atmospheric series of scenes
Art/design: Quite expressive without being overpowering
Usability: Font, color, layout choices ensure easy navigation of text
Misery’s Hole
Concept: “an independent production by Philipp Teich… hastening the final Misery”
Content: A miserablekeep hole-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a toweringcastle hole, treasure to steal, and dolls… (the original text has been slightly altered to accommodate the “reframing”)
Art/design: A pdf format that’s surprisingly deep, with rich off-whites that lend weight to the tons of stone looming overhead.
Usability: Well-placed, and clearly highlighted room text aids reference.
Content: A miserable
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering
Art/design: A pdf format that’s surprisingly deep, with rich off-whites that lend weight to the tons of stone looming overhead.
Usability: Well-placed, and clearly highlighted room text aids reference.
Monolith 1: Harvest
8 contributors
Concept: “A quarterly publication that focuses its cyclopean gaze on a single system with every issue”
Content: “A journey through dilapidated townsteads, rejuvenated fields and terrifying dungeons, with all the horrors you meet along the way”
Writing: The pedagogy of planting and population planning, and a forgotten temple to begotten basilisks, all aggressively annotated.
Art/design: Darkly grotesque cultists, disturbed floral prints, cultured public domain illustrations, and colorful marginalia highlight the body text.
Usability: Organized, aside from a few intentionally frustrating almanac charts. But I’m sure you can manage those with a little old-fashioned spit and polish.
Content: “A journey through dilapidated townsteads, rejuvenated fields and terrifying dungeons, with all the horrors you meet along the way”
Writing: The pedagogy of planting and population planning, and a forgotten temple to begotten basilisks, all aggressively annotated.
Art/design: Darkly grotesque cultists, disturbed floral prints, cultured public domain illustrations, and colorful marginalia highlight the body text.
Usability: Organized, aside from a few intentionally frustrating almanac charts. But I’m sure you can manage those with a little old-fashioned spit and polish.
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.
Morbid Cache
Concept: “Necromancers are lazy bastards, hence why they make such scrolls.”
Content: A scroll to turn tombs into storage trunks.
Writing: Delightfully simple and open-ended desecration.
Art/design: A yellow spirit stalks behind the black boxed text.
Usability: Despoil or withdraw from the bank of the dead at any nearby gravesite.
Content: A scroll to turn tombs into storage trunks.
Writing: Delightfully simple and open-ended desecration.
Art/design: A yellow spirit stalks behind the black boxed text.
Usability: Despoil or withdraw from the bank of the dead at any nearby gravesite.
Morkkabeans 1.1
9 contributors
Concept: “A new religion has arisen in the desert. Worshiping the Unnamable God of Names, blaspheming against SHE and HE, promising the revolt. Galgenbeck has sent its inquisitors. The half-giant Nephilim walk the earth. If you join them, almost certain death awaits.”
Content: An escalating tower crawl of nameless gods and religious conflict. Complete with three new classes, gear, artifacts, angels, Nephilim, and mythical creatures.
Writing: An absolutely metal reinterpretation of Jewish history and folklore.
Art/design: A spectacle of artistic styles as varied as the tower of tongues.
Usability: Visual styles delineate sections. VTT resources available.
Content: An escalating tower crawl of nameless gods and religious conflict. Complete with three new classes, gear, artifacts, angels, Nephilim, and mythical creatures.
Writing: An absolutely metal reinterpretation of Jewish history and folklore.
Art/design: A spectacle of artistic styles as varied as the tower of tongues.
Usability: Visual styles delineate sections. VTT resources available.
Mycogoblins
Concept: “Goblins have been more aggressive than usual lately... these goblins have strange fungal growths... whoever gets to the bottom of this will be greatly rewarded...”
Content: A goblin swarming, fungus snorting, den crawl.
Writing: Deep absurdity delivered in gloriously understated frankness.
Art/design: Structured design, clear iconography, and magenta highlights stimulate and satisfy the reader.
Usability: Designed with goblins in mind.
Content: A goblin swarming, fungus snorting, den crawl.
Writing: Deep absurdity delivered in gloriously understated frankness.
Art/design: Structured design, clear iconography, and magenta highlights stimulate and satisfy the reader.
Usability: Designed with goblins in mind.
Myling, shadow child
Concept: “These spirits hunger for a life lost, love stolen.”
Content: A persistent undead pest
Writing: Efficiently conveys special mechanics and hooks
Art/design: Relatively lean but adds some character
Usability: Small but relatively tough to kill
Content: A persistent undead pest
Writing: Efficiently conveys special mechanics and hooks
Art/design: Relatively lean but adds some character
Usability: Small but relatively tough to kill
Mörk Själ
Concept: “Mörk SJäl is a system for tabletop roleplaying inspired by the gameplay and atmosphere of the Soulsborne franchise”
Content: A Soulsborne Mörk Borg hack.
Writing: A gentle guided rules-light approach to harsh tactical gameplay.
Art/design: AI-generated dark fantasy art elements in a clear transparent layout.
Usability: Playtest Edition.
Content: A Soulsborne Mörk Borg hack.
Writing: A gentle guided rules-light approach to harsh tactical gameplay.
Art/design: AI-generated dark fantasy art elements in a clear transparent layout.
Usability: Playtest Edition.
Nacnudllah’s Misery’s Keep
Concept: “an independent production by Duncan Hall… hastening the final Misery”
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: Subtle and considered tri-fold that makes excellent use of angle, tone, and profile. Includes a critical visual reinterpretation of “undead doll”.
Usability: Stylized, decorated, legible, and printable.
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: Subtle and considered tri-fold that makes excellent use of angle, tone, and profile. Includes a critical visual reinterpretation of “undead doll”.
Usability: Stylized, decorated, legible, and printable.
Necrotic Children of SHE
Concept: “The necrotic children crawl out of the filthy uterus of SHE, wandering the dark places of the Bergen Chrypt.”
Content: An undead creeper carrying a fairly high chance of infection
Writing: Word-light but concept-heavy lore
Art/design: Straightforward presentation of text with some Mörky flair and an illustration to match the lore
Usability: Straightforward and readable
Noblesse Tyrannise
Concept: “The corroding nobility hide away from the coming end... quieting the fear in their hearts with extravagant opulence. And who is left to deal with it?”
Content: Seven settings of gross decadence, fifteen self-indulgent monsters, and one seditious serving-scvm.
Writing: A functional mechanization of the worst sort of rumors about nobility.
Art/design: Elegantly stylized and lightly accented text.
Usability: Immaculately organized.
Content: Seven settings of gross decadence, fifteen self-indulgent monsters, and one seditious serving-scvm.
Writing: A functional mechanization of the worst sort of rumors about nobility.
Art/design: Elegantly stylized and lightly accented text.
Usability: Immaculately organized.
Odd Gob’s Teeth
Concept: “Two spindly legs end in hooves that dredge through the muck. They buckle under the weight of 2000 teeth...”
Content: Mol, a soul collecting dead frog on a human mandible grown to enormous proportions.
Writing: An Odd Wyzard did it, it’s their fault. Knowledge won’t save you from the teeth though.
Art/design: Mol before it got to 2000 teeth. A wittle baby abomination.
Usability: Available in a free and a paid version, which includes an unfortunate quest.
Content: Mol, a soul collecting dead frog on a human mandible grown to enormous proportions.
Writing: An Odd Wyzard did it, it’s their fault. Knowledge won’t save you from the teeth though.
Art/design: Mol before it got to 2000 teeth. A wittle baby abomination.
Usability: Available in a free and a paid version, which includes an unfortunate quest.
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.
One Night at Castle Ghast
Concept: “...best be gone before the coming of the dawn, lest the castle disappear and drag them with it to the lands of the dead.”
Content: A once in a lifetime castle-crawl.
Writing: A traditional ghost story, an inexorable timer, and the highest stakes.
Art/design: Dark, textured, and occasionally effervescent images of spectral manifestations.
Usability: To prolong the inevitable.
Content: A once in a lifetime castle-crawl.
Writing: A traditional ghost story, an inexorable timer, and the highest stakes.
Art/design: Dark, textured, and occasionally effervescent images of spectral manifestations.
Usability: To prolong the inevitable.
Pair Of Skeletal Legs and A Thrashing Spine With A Skull That Makes Fun Of You When You Miss
Concept: “Pair Of Skeletal Legs and A Thrashing Spine With A Skull That Makes Fun Of You When You Miss”
Content: A cheeky, comedic horror
Writing: Description fits the concept; dialog table is subtle and clever
Art/design: Digital primitivism economized
Usability: Small text is a bit difficult to read at a glance but contributes to the monster's playfully antagonistic character
Content: A cheeky, comedic horror
Writing: Description fits the concept; dialog table is subtle and clever
Art/design: Digital primitivism economized
Usability: Small text is a bit difficult to read at a glance but contributes to the monster's playfully antagonistic character
Penuria
Concept: “Uno del los asentamientos que ha sucumbido ahte la brutalidad es Penuria: un desolado y lúgubre paramo habiado por una docena de almas deplorables, al oeste de Schleswig.”
Content: A filthy pointcrawl, a miserable village setting, and the local ziggurat.
Writing: A village in hardship. Potentially some deep shit. Specifically Fathmu’s shit.
Art/design: The classic grimy yellow in a crisp accordion pamphlet design.
Usability: Printable, but hard on your yellow ink. Spanish language.
Content: A filthy pointcrawl, a miserable village setting, and the local ziggurat.
Writing: A village in hardship. Potentially some deep shit. Specifically Fathmu’s shit.
Art/design: The classic grimy yellow in a crisp accordion pamphlet design.
Usability: Printable, but hard on your yellow ink. Spanish language.
Phantoms
Concept: “These are the ghosts raised from the graves of the forgotten dead.”
Content: A table of local haunts.
Writing: Creative mechanics turn ghosts into environmental effects.
Art/design: A haunted figure stalking some box text.
Usability: Can be applied to most any location in the Dying World.
Content: A table of local haunts.
Writing: Creative mechanics turn ghosts into environmental effects.
Art/design: A haunted figure stalking some box text.
Usability: Can be applied to most any location in the Dying World.
Pharmagothica
Concept: “Roleplaying In A World Of Bioweapons”
Content: Complete rules for bioweapon fueled modern survival horror, with a swamp crawling starter scenario.
Writing: A detailed alternate history setting with mechanics emphasizing resource management, body horror, and tactical dismemberment.
Art/design: Neoclassical & romantic oil paintings and biological illustrations juxtapose a partially collapsed 2080 setting in single column layout.
Usability: A robust table of contents, utilitarian layout, rules reference, and character sheet aid in reference to this slightly more robust ruleset.
Content: Complete rules for bioweapon fueled modern survival horror, with a swamp crawling starter scenario.
Writing: A detailed alternate history setting with mechanics emphasizing resource management, body horror, and tactical dismemberment.
Art/design: Neoclassical & romantic oil paintings and biological illustrations juxtapose a partially collapsed 2080 setting in single column layout.
Usability: A robust table of contents, utilitarian layout, rules reference, and character sheet aid in reference to this slightly more robust ruleset.
Pirate Borg
6 contributors
Concept: “Inspired by history, fantasy, horror and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won’t save you from the hordes of skeletons, the Kraken, or even your own crew.”
Content: A standalone game for nautical scvm. A complete ruleset with 8 classes, naval combat rules, 18 vessels, over 80 monsters & NPCs, suitably scvrvy equipment, and a substantial introductory sandbox adventure.
Writing: A rich grog blending history, fantasy, and horror. As doomed as the Dying Lands... but with more drowning and animated skeletons.
Art/design: Crisp richly colored and strongly contoured illustrations, lovingly textured maps, and full-color spreads.
Usability: Larger, slightly crunchier, but with ample built-in references and tools bookended for ease of reference.
Content: A standalone game for nautical scvm. A complete ruleset with 8 classes, naval combat rules, 18 vessels, over 80 monsters & NPCs, suitably scvrvy equipment, and a substantial introductory sandbox adventure.
Writing: A rich grog blending history, fantasy, and horror. As doomed as the Dying Lands... but with more drowning and animated skeletons.
Art/design: Crisp richly colored and strongly contoured illustrations, lovingly textured maps, and full-color spreads.
Usability: Larger, slightly crunchier, but with ample built-in references and tools bookended for ease of reference.
Rancid Relics
Concept: “They're mysterious, creepy, and a little gross”
Content: 20 relics to leave a sour taste in your mouth.
Writing: Risky drawbacks and potent benefits enhance the questionable nature of these artifacts.
Art/design: Generated illustrations in a lithographic print style presented with bright solid colors.
Usability: Bordered text over illustrations may hinder legibility.
Content: 20 relics to leave a sour taste in your mouth.
Writing: Risky drawbacks and potent benefits enhance the questionable nature of these artifacts.
Art/design: Generated illustrations in a lithographic print style presented with bright solid colors.
Usability: Bordered text over illustrations may hinder legibility.
Ravaging Plague I: Rusted Iron, Words of Power
Concept: “Ravaging Plague aims to bring Mörk Borg and its extreme metal influences into further conversation.”
Content: Extreme metal-inspired offerings across the board
Writing: Laden with metal-inspired imagery and themes
Art/design: Brutalist text layouts balanced with organic, gritty graphics all presented in stark black & white
Usability: No table of contents or index, but layouts and different deployments of positive and negative space are good visual aids for navigation
Content: Extreme metal-inspired offerings across the board
Writing: Laden with metal-inspired imagery and themes
Art/design: Brutalist text layouts balanced with organic, gritty graphics all presented in stark black & white
Usability: No table of contents or index, but layouts and different deployments of positive and negative space are good visual aids for navigation
Restful Spirits
Concept: “Restful Spirits is an optional rule for dealing with cranky ghosts in Mörk Borg. It was inspired by Emmy Wahlbäck and her character Grin.”
Content: Rules to soothe the restless dead. A poem to rest your weary head.
Writing: Rules embedded in verse that uplifts rather than shies away from the dead.
Art/design: Charming colored sketches illustrate proper ghost etiquette alongside the text.
Usability: Suitable for use in a child-friendly Mörk Borg hack.
Content: Rules to soothe the restless dead. A poem to rest your weary head.
Writing: Rules embedded in verse that uplifts rather than shies away from the dead.
Art/design: Charming colored sketches illustrate proper ghost etiquette alongside the text.
Usability: Suitable for use in a child-friendly Mörk Borg hack.
Return to the Valley of Despair
Concept: “More ideas to use when the player characters make the mistake of visiting that wretched valley of undeath.”
Content: Random (& less random) encounters, monsters, and artifacts for those who roam The Valley of Unfortunate Undead.
Writing: Pithy adventure ideas which can easily be woven together or into an existing campaign.
Art/design: Vibrant and well-integrated high fantasy art. Functional and emphasized random table elements.
Usability: Optimized for a poster format, but easily navigable as a digital file.
Content: Random (& less random) encounters, monsters, and artifacts for those who roam The Valley of Unfortunate Undead.
Writing: Pithy adventure ideas which can easily be woven together or into an existing campaign.
Art/design: Vibrant and well-integrated high fantasy art. Functional and emphasized random table elements.
Usability: Optimized for a poster format, but easily navigable as a digital file.
Returned Skeleton
Concept: “Ever done anything necromantically sketchy? You might be entitled to a new lease on life as a Returned Skeleton!”
Content: A new lease on un-life.
Writing: The best kind of scvm fueled necro-pharmacology advertisements.
Art/design: Simple, brightly colored, and visually balanced spread centered around a characterful undead.
Usability: A template for existing classes. Make sure to read all the potential side-effects.
Content: A new lease on un-life.
Writing: The best kind of scvm fueled necro-pharmacology advertisements.
Art/design: Simple, brightly colored, and visually balanced spread centered around a characterful undead.
Usability: A template for existing classes. Make sure to read all the potential side-effects.
Rotblack Bob
Concept: “A floating head, its’ pores exhuding hot sludge and enthusiasm”
Content: A follower with a real head for social media.
Writing: A satire made even more poignant given its Twitter origins.
Art/design: An overly enthusiastic head exudes charm (or something) onto the text below.
Usability: Easy to navigate, spacious, and legible.
Content: A follower with a real head for social media.
Writing: A satire made even more poignant given its Twitter origins.
Art/design: An overly enthusiastic head exudes charm (or something) onto the text below.
Usability: Easy to navigate, spacious, and legible.
Rugose Kohn’s Misery’s Keep
Concept: “an independent production by Rugose Kohn… hastening the final Misery”
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: A efficient, organized, and evocative little book, with well-placed illustrations to inspire theatre of the mind gameplay.
Usability: Kohn made me do crafts. It requires scissors, and glue if you’re into that sort of thing.
Content: A miserable keep-crawl, redecorated, again.
Writing: A dastardly villain, a towering castle, treasure to steal, and dolls…
Art/design: A efficient, organized, and evocative little book, with well-placed illustrations to inspire theatre of the mind gameplay.
Usability: Kohn made me do crafts. It requires scissors, and glue if you’re into that sort of thing.
Sanguine Shadow
Concept: “It can smell the sweet nectar in your veins, past all the shit, grime, and perspiration... and it's hungry, scvm!”
Content: A Nosferatu-style vampire fit for Mörk Borg
Writing: A short, concise stat block with efficient descriptions of special abilities
Art/design: Yellow text pops against the cool, muted illustration, helping emphasize core stats and important characteristics
Usability: Don’t put your fingers near its mouth
Content: A Nosferatu-style vampire fit for Mörk Borg
Writing: A short, concise stat block with efficient descriptions of special abilities
Art/design: Yellow text pops against the cool, muted illustration, helping emphasize core stats and important characteristics
Usability: Don’t put your fingers near its mouth
Scorned Sir Lort’s Bloodgaol Blade
Concept: “On a 1: Sir Lort’s dreaded head flies off, rolling away..”
Content: A sword with a zombie head on it.
Writing: Simple, elegant, and effective mechanics.
Art/design: A gorgeously filthy incapacitated head on a greatsword.
Usability: Gorgeously hand-drawn.
Content: A sword with a zombie head on it.
Writing: Simple, elegant, and effective mechanics.
Art/design: A gorgeously filthy incapacitated head on a greatsword.
Usability: Gorgeously hand-drawn.
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
Scrolls of Thoth
Concept: “Those who possess a Scroll of Thoth do not age and cannot die, there are downsides though.”
Content: A scroll preservative.
Writing: A characterful re-imagining of scroll mechanics and corpse preservation.
Art/design: A mummy, bandage textures, and hieroglyphic book ends on the title text covey a cinematic mummy movie experience.
Usability: Text elements are a little worn. Handle with care.
Content: A scroll preservative.
Writing: A characterful re-imagining of scroll mechanics and corpse preservation.
Art/design: A mummy, bandage textures, and hieroglyphic book ends on the title text covey a cinematic mummy movie experience.
Usability: Text elements are a little worn. Handle with care.
Sepulchre of the Swamp Witch
Concept: “In a hidden repository deep in the Slithering Swamp is a witch's altar of glyph-covered roots. They say it can fulfill any wish.”
Content: A serpentine sepulchre you’ll wish you never entered.
Writing: A two-for-one adventure in two modes: sedate & completely stoned.
Art/design: Mind-blowing emerald hued hallucinations, a venomously detailed map, with a sober adventure layout.
Usability: Each scvm can (try to) decide how trippy they want the adventure to be.
Content: A serpentine sepulchre you’ll wish you never entered.
Writing: A two-for-one adventure in two modes: sedate & completely stoned.
Art/design: Mind-blowing emerald hued hallucinations, a venomously detailed map, with a sober adventure layout.
Usability: Each scvm can (try to) decide how trippy they want the adventure to be.
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.
Seven Strangers II
Concept:
“A stranger waits outside.
Uncertainty on the threshold.
Herein lie eight more Classes.”
Content: Seven more strangers for Cthork Borg, plus one uninvited guest.
Writing: A collection of archetypes that further refine the tone of your investigations.
Art/design: A single-column class presentation with a brooding collection of curated mixed media from the public domain.
Usability: A functional and consistent class format and table of contents make for quick reference.
Uncertainty on the threshold.
Herein lie eight more Classes.”
Content: Seven more strangers for Cthork Borg, plus one uninvited guest.
Writing: A collection of archetypes that further refine the tone of your investigations.
Art/design: A single-column class presentation with a brooding collection of curated mixed media from the public domain.
Usability: A functional and consistent class format and table of contents make for quick reference.
Silent Night
“Silent night, deadly night / All is cold, all is bright”
Skeletal Horror
“Animated by necromantic powers best left untouched, the walking skeletons of the world are as varied and many as the things that creep and crawl through the city’s sewers.”
Backer reward for Tome of Skulls
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.
Slasher Zine / Jam Compilation
18 contributors
“Slasher Jam was a jam I ran over the course of October 2021 that got 20 entries. I have compiled those entries into 2 volumes. Volume 1 contains classes, items, and monsters. Volume 2 contains the adventures of Slasher Jam.” – Michael Mars, ed.
Smörgasbörg
10 contributors
Concept: “Grab your bibs and bone saws you’re in for a treat…. ”
Content: A filling 120-page harvest of human meat (and how to use it).
Writing: Sefl-indulgent self-injury, masticatory mutilation, and gratuitous gluttony.
Art/design: Sharp sketches, gruesome graffiti, and a not-inconsiderable quantity of red.
Usability: Organized and occasionally explicit body horror abounds. You have been warned.
Content: A filling 120-page harvest of human meat (and how to use it).
Writing: Sefl-indulgent self-injury, masticatory mutilation, and gratuitous gluttony.
Art/design: Sharp sketches, gruesome graffiti, and a not-inconsiderable quantity of red.
Usability: Organized and occasionally explicit body horror abounds. You have been warned.
Somnolevolence
Concept: “Those who suffer these Miseries and perish with them shall be reborn too. Suffer with them, in everlasting Misery.”
Content: A dead basilisks’ dreamcrawl.
Writing: A tortured text with misery lying just below the surface. A dying world dress rehearsal, complete with psalms.
Art/design: Strong cover illustration and design elements support a tortured narrative.
Usability: Clear rules pamphlet with a self-contained map. Available in full color, print-friendly, and digital formats.
Content: A dead basilisks’ dreamcrawl.
Writing: A tortured text with misery lying just below the surface. A dying world dress rehearsal, complete with psalms.
Art/design: Strong cover illustration and design elements support a tortured narrative.
Usability: Clear rules pamphlet with a self-contained map. Available in full color, print-friendly, and digital formats.
Soul Burner
Concept:
“You are dead
but death doesn’t want you”
Content: Ill-omened ashen wasteland adventures as hands of fate. A standalone game system that’s compatible with Mörk Borg.
Writing: A cogent fictional world with compelling themes and history. A mechanical hybrid of Mörk Borg and Necronautilus.
Art/design: Deconstructed visual and textual elements fit themes of consumption and recollection.
Usability: For solo and group play. Can be played in conjunction with Mörk Borg characters.
“You are dead
but death doesn’t want you”
Content: Ill-omened ashen wasteland adventures as hands of fate. A standalone game system that’s compatible with Mörk Borg.
Writing: A cogent fictional world with compelling themes and history. A mechanical hybrid of Mörk Borg and Necronautilus.
Art/design: Deconstructed visual and textual elements fit themes of consumption and recollection.
Usability: For solo and group play. Can be played in conjunction with Mörk Borg characters.
T.H.I.N.G.
Concept: “Who needs misery when you have charm, decorum and an opposable thumb?”
Content: “A HANDsome gentleman”
Writing: Noble yet tragically doomed digits, finger-snapping farce.
Art/design: Strong color, established hierarchy, a disembodied hand.
Usability: Clean layout and strong contrast aid the legibility of smaller text.
Content: “A HANDsome gentleman”
Writing: Noble yet tragically doomed digits, finger-snapping farce.
Art/design: Strong color, established hierarchy, a disembodied hand.
Usability: Clean layout and strong contrast aid the legibility of smaller text.
Tajemnice Eterycznej Twierdzy
Concept: “Widoczne w oddali ruiny twierdzy zakrzywiają otaczającą rzeczywistość. Światło wydaje się być wciągane wgłąb czarnych murów. Dlaczego tu przyszliście? To teraz bez znaczenia. Ważniejsze jest czy i jak stąd wyjdziecie.”
Content: A time-frozen, flesh-warping, light-sucking fortress crawl.
Writing: An entertaining mix of motivated factions in a situation that’s ready to spiral out of control. In short, a good night of Mörk Borg.
Art/design: Dark and menacing AI-generated figures haunt a simple map in a tri-fold layout.
Usability: Organized into clear sections, legible, Polish.
Content: A time-frozen, flesh-warping, light-sucking fortress crawl.
Writing: An entertaining mix of motivated factions in a situation that’s ready to spiral out of control. In short, a good night of Mörk Borg.
Art/design: Dark and menacing AI-generated figures haunt a simple map in a tri-fold layout.
Usability: Organized into clear sections, legible, Polish.
Take then thy bond
Concept: “The voice inside your head commands you: Travel to the wastelands and find the wretched peak. Scour its halls. Bring me its heart, the rest of the treasure is yours.”
Content: A putrid pyramid crawl full of heart—and other organs.
Writing: Encounters are lively and responsive, often in unexpected ways. Pregnant with activity.
Art/design: Bold cover art of the titular encounter. Table of contents and mini-map layout aid in navigating this moderately sized adventure.
Usability: Encounter descriptions diminish accidental revelations. Surprises reach player and GM simultaneously.
Content: A putrid pyramid crawl full of heart—and other organs.
Writing: Encounters are lively and responsive, often in unexpected ways. Pregnant with activity.
Art/design: Bold cover art of the titular encounter. Table of contents and mini-map layout aid in navigating this moderately sized adventure.
Usability: Encounter descriptions diminish accidental revelations. Surprises reach player and GM simultaneously.
Tannsowan
Concept: “When monsters die, you are there […] ready to bloodily wrest teeth from skull.”
Content: A necromancer who raises skeletons from sown teeth
Writing: Straightforward and direct; includes suggestions for skeletons’ dialogue
Art/design: Linear organization with public domain art that supports the concept
Usability: Only provides one class feature but offers variability within it
Content: A necromancer who raises skeletons from sown teeth
Writing: Straightforward and direct; includes suggestions for skeletons’ dialogue
Art/design: Linear organization with public domain art that supports the concept
Usability: Only provides one class feature but offers variability within it
The Black City
Concept: “the Blood-Countess Anthelia, will reward with eternal youth whomsoever delivers into her hands the six lost magical artefacts of the Creton order.”
Content: A dynamically generated city of Alliáns, plenty of ice-cold ways to die, and a collection of artifacts to collect to appease the Blood-Countess. Bring a torch — and a stake.
Writing: Frigidly thematic and appropriately bleak. No choice goes unpunished in Alliáns.
Art/design: Charcoal sketches convey a dark starving city, drained of its vibrancy and life.
Usability: A self-contained solo dungeon scrawl. Just add flint. Watch it burn.
Content: A dynamically generated city of Alliáns, plenty of ice-cold ways to die, and a collection of artifacts to collect to appease the Blood-Countess. Bring a torch — and a stake.
Writing: Frigidly thematic and appropriately bleak. No choice goes unpunished in Alliáns.
Art/design: Charcoal sketches convey a dark starving city, drained of its vibrancy and life.
Usability: A self-contained solo dungeon scrawl. Just add flint. Watch it burn.
The Cataclysm Coast Is Burning!
Concept: “The sea boils. The sky is black. The End is here.
And now, so are you.
Welcome to the Cataclysm Coast. We hope you enjoy your stay.”
Content: The Cataclym Coast... IS burning as three unwashed naval factions gnaw and raid through their last moments.
Writing: A misery-soaked narrative setting guide, providing locations, motivations, and horrors to unleash before the end.
Art/design: High contrast false color maps and neon-toned public domain imagery dominate this single-column layout.
Usability: Color-coded map icons and section headings denote three rival factions. Also available as plaintext.
Content: The Cataclym Coast... IS burning as three unwashed naval factions gnaw and raid through their last moments.
Writing: A misery-soaked narrative setting guide, providing locations, motivations, and horrors to unleash before the end.
Art/design: High contrast false color maps and neon-toned public domain imagery dominate this single-column layout.
Usability: Color-coded map icons and section headings denote three rival factions. Also available as plaintext.
The Catacomb Saint
Concept: “These richly-adorned skeletons watch over the holy resting places and sacred relics of the One True Faith.”
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
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 Corpse Library
Concept: "...a library where it is rumored an entity older than story dwells, salvation writ on its skin."
Content: A library only the dying world could love.
Writing: A heady catalogue of the mundane, academic, grotesque horrific, and surreal.
Art/design: A calming midtone and clinical layout lends a stoic air to the dreadful proceedings, with one exception which can be found deep in the basement.
Usability: Well organized, easy to follow, quite likely to end in disaster.
Content: A library only the dying world could love.
Writing: A heady catalogue of the mundane, academic, grotesque horrific, and surreal.
Art/design: A calming midtone and clinical layout lends a stoic air to the dreadful proceedings, with one exception which can be found deep in the basement.
Usability: Well organized, easy to follow, quite likely to end in disaster.
The Cult of the Black Salt
Concept: “Ever wanted to use that black salt table from Feretory?”
Content: A salty, corpse-strung scaffold crawl.
Writing: An event-based framework to explore a surprisingly constructive death cult.
Art/design: A defiantly tortured figure is scaffolded to the top of this simple text spread.
Usability: Requires Feretory. Print Friendly
Content: A salty, corpse-strung scaffold crawl.
Writing: An event-based framework to explore a surprisingly constructive death cult.
Art/design: A defiantly tortured figure is scaffolded to the top of this simple text spread.
Usability: Requires Feretory. Print Friendly
The Deluge
Concept: “No longer is the sea just an impassive viewer of the Dying World's slow demise; it is coming up to hasten the end.”
Content: A flood of aquatic content.
Writing: A collection of flotsam and jetsam. Sometimes humorous, often abysmal.
Art/design: A minimalist layout with woodblock prints alongside modern renditions of fish-folk.
Usability: Fluid but with the occasional bit of detritus. Available in storm-tossed gray or eye-numbing yellow.
Content: A flood of aquatic content.
Writing: A collection of flotsam and jetsam. Sometimes humorous, often abysmal.
Art/design: A minimalist layout with woodblock prints alongside modern renditions of fish-folk.
Usability: Fluid but with the occasional bit of detritus. Available in storm-tossed gray or eye-numbing yellow.
The Dyer Lich
Concept: “One hand frozen to the rock face, the other raised in defiance of her own death, Moll Dyer was blessed by Nechrubel with the undying spark of anti-life.”
Content: A persecuted witch bent on vengeance
Writing: Includes a prose-poetic description in addition to stats for lich and her rock
Art/design: Layout creates a strong visual flow, and the colors reinforce the integral sensatiosn of heat and cold
Usability: Not only very useable but also very compelling
Content: A persecuted witch bent on vengeance
Writing: Includes a prose-poetic description in addition to stats for lich and her rock
Art/design: Layout creates a strong visual flow, and the colors reinforce the integral sensatiosn of heat and cold
Usability: Not only very useable but also very compelling
The Fevre Pytt
Concept: “The stench. The flies. The touch of clammy flesh. You have been cast into the Fever Pytt to die.”
Content: A corpse pile crawl through a mispurposed cistern in The Western Kingdom.
Writing: A festering pytt of viscera and gore that bursts with sickening mechanics to back it up.
Art/design: Currently only available as plaintext.
Usability: Standardized room description layout aids in reference.
Content: A corpse pile crawl through a mispurposed cistern in The Western Kingdom.
Writing: A festering pytt of viscera and gore that bursts with sickening mechanics to back it up.
Art/design: Currently only available as plaintext.
Usability: Standardized room description layout aids in reference.
The Flaming Death
Concept: “Corruption burns in the hearts of men like black fire, even after death.”
Content: A fierce, flaming, heavily armed and armored skeleton
Writing: Primarily devoted to efficient delivery of stats and mechanics
Art/design: Text is laid out and stylized for easy readability and use; leverages pink, yellow, and black to an extremely Mörky effect
Usability: Challenging but probably not a TPK
The Glass Herbarium
Concept: “The Herbarium is beautiful and warm. It grows fruits and vegetables despite the snow. And just one taste of the bright red apples that grow inside its glass walls is enough to bewitch a man.”
Content: A location adventure featuring glass, destructible flooring, and plants that probably want to do dreadful things to you.
Writing: The Glass Herbarium’s concise efficient prose blooms into a brilliant, weird fantasy adventure.
Art/design: Consistently clean art and layout hint at a glass sanctuary protected from the scvm of the dying world.
Usability: Clean but not sterile. Strong stylistic hierarchy makes for easy navigation and reference during play.
Content: A location adventure featuring glass, destructible flooring, and plants that probably want to do dreadful things to you.
Writing: The Glass Herbarium’s concise efficient prose blooms into a brilliant, weird fantasy adventure.
Art/design: Consistently clean art and layout hint at a glass sanctuary protected from the scvm of the dying world.
Usability: Clean but not sterile. Strong stylistic hierarchy makes for easy navigation and reference during play.
The Grapes of Psych
Concept: “Ravel, the exuberant goat ogre necromancer… has been kidnapping local villagers. Track him to the vineyard which he has made into his depraved and psychedelic lair.”
Content: An ogre powered, wine fueled, zombie infested, psychedelic crossword puzzle dungeon.
Writing: Manages to build a disturbingly coherent theme from a crossword puzzle selection, all while making a Goat Ogre into something truly menacing.
Content: An ogre powered, wine fueled, zombie infested, psychedelic crossword puzzle dungeon.
Writing: Manages to build a disturbingly coherent theme from a crossword puzzle selection, all while making a Goat Ogre into something truly menacing.
Art/design: Map inspired by a crossword puzzle. Well-chosen Goat Ogre art.
Usability: Visit the vineyard, drink the wine, deathmatch a Goat Ogre.
Usability: Visit the vineyard, drink the wine, deathmatch a Goat Ogre.
The Guild of Xargosi
Concept: “Their motto is ‘Corpora Infinita’ for the sheer number of fools ready to die under their banner."
Content: A parody of a guild that fights bears, whiffs hard, picks up the pieces, and dumps them in the endless sea.
Writing: Exaggerated Galgen-“talian” flair, with puns and body humor aplenty.
Art/design: A colorful, variegated, and grimy zine format. Classic poster illustrations of major encounters with altered public-domain spot illustrations.
Usability: Available in “guilded” and plaintext formats.
Content: A parody of a guild that fights bears, whiffs hard, picks up the pieces, and dumps them in the endless sea.
Writing: Exaggerated Galgen-“talian” flair, with puns and body humor aplenty.
Art/design: A colorful, variegated, and grimy zine format. Classic poster illustrations of major encounters with altered public-domain spot illustrations.
Usability: Available in “guilded” and plaintext formats.
The Hungering Halls of Haat the Pitiful
Concept: “Lost, tired, and starved... you are greeted by a pitiful small man who offers a tour of the wonders within while trying to hide blood stains on the floor.”
Content: A pitifully persistent guided tour-crawl
Writing: A thoroughly unexpected escort quest with positively soul-wrenching implications.
Art/design: A gritty map and thoroughly splattered reference text in a dramatic and high-contrast pamphlet layout.
Usability: Stylish text that is legible in print or at full resolution.
Content: A pitifully persistent guided tour-crawl
Writing: A thoroughly unexpected escort quest with positively soul-wrenching implications.
Art/design: A gritty map and thoroughly splattered reference text in a dramatic and high-contrast pamphlet layout.
Usability: Stylish text that is legible in print or at full resolution.
The King of Sweet Death
Concept: “Grizzly skeletons fluidly dance ballet while spinning their scythes and hacking away chunks of themselves.”
Content: A violent tornado of scythes and meat
Writing: Provides lore and a vivid description of the creature in action; special attack and defense rules are concise but clear
Art/design: Single column of text lets the figure and apocalyptic scenery dominate the page
Usability: Wildcard!
Content: A violent tornado of scythes and meat
Writing: Provides lore and a vivid description of the creature in action; special attack and defense rules are concise but clear
Art/design: Single column of text lets the figure and apocalyptic scenery dominate the page
Usability: Wildcard!
The Lich of Föhrenöd
7 contributors
Concept: “Lady Neszeka, they say, is sealed in the crypt. Dead, but not gone.”
Content: A heretical crypt crawl.
Writing: A complete and self-contained micro-setting. With the abridged history of Lady Neszeka, her domain, as well as its major players.
Art/design: An engaging printer friendly layout with consistent design elements and crisp inky character illustrations.
Usability: Suitable for both dungeon crawling and narrative play.
Content: A heretical crypt crawl.
Writing: A complete and self-contained micro-setting. With the abridged history of Lady Neszeka, her domain, as well as its major players.
Art/design: An engaging printer friendly layout with consistent design elements and crisp inky character illustrations.
Usability: Suitable for both dungeon crawling and narrative play.
The Lost Theater
Concept: “it looks like you have the main role in the new play… It will be a gruesome story tonight… The third bell has already rung, take your seat and enjoy the show…”
Content: A theater dungeon in three acts.
Writing: The skeleton of a script to allows for easy improvisation anchored in concise descriptions of actors and events.
Art/design: Detailed Illustrated maps set the stage. Text blocks and bulleted room encounters set the scene.
Usability: Printer Friendly.
Content: A theater dungeon in three acts.
Writing: The skeleton of a script to allows for easy improvisation anchored in concise descriptions of actors and events.
Art/design: Detailed Illustrated maps set the stage. Text blocks and bulleted room encounters set the scene.
Usability: Printer Friendly.
The Mangalok
Concept: “A close Filipino cousin to the penanggalan viscera-sucker of Indonesia”
Content: A covert vampiric monstrosity that goes heavy on the body horror
Writing: Provides fairly detailed descriptions of general, hunting, and combat behavior
Art/design: An efficient layout with some atmospheric images
Usability: Killing it will likely present a challenge to players unfamiliar with the folklore
Content: A covert vampiric monstrosity that goes heavy on the body horror
Writing: Provides fairly detailed descriptions of general, hunting, and combat behavior
Art/design: An efficient layout with some atmospheric images
Usability: Killing it will likely present a challenge to players unfamiliar with the folklore
The Master Puppeteer
Concept: “There are tales of a mad, giant skeleton... endlessly amused by their toy.”
Content: A corpse puppeteer.
Writing: A campfire tale of supernatural horror (humor?).
Art/design: Laughing bones and rotting meat in a field of pink forest.
Usability: Character description, sans rules.
Content: A corpse puppeteer.
Writing: A campfire tale of supernatural horror (humor?).
Art/design: Laughing bones and rotting meat in a field of pink forest.
Usability: Character description, sans rules.
The Melting
Concept: “The further you walk from the city, the stranger the land gets. All that salt in the air does things to the mind. Of late, people wandering the wilds around Grift are not returning.”
Content: A haunted house dungeon with strong supernatural and body horror themes.
Writing: Effectively utilizes mechanics to reinforce descriptive horror elements.
Art/design: Distressed gritty zine aesthetic, playful use of sidebar layout, eclectic style with striking visual elements.
Usability: Useful mini map highlights for reference. Some horror elements require DM engagement to be most effective. Come to the table prepared.
Content: A haunted house dungeon with strong supernatural and body horror themes.
Writing: Effectively utilizes mechanics to reinforce descriptive horror elements.
Art/design: Distressed gritty zine aesthetic, playful use of sidebar layout, eclectic style with striking visual elements.
Usability: Useful mini map highlights for reference. Some horror elements require DM engagement to be most effective. Come to the table prepared.
The Merchant
Concept: “Eternally he wanders the dying world, bearing a grudge that too will never die.”
Content: An undead NPC hawking curios on the road to wherever
Writing: Provides background on the character and descriptions of his wares
Art/design: Expressive in a creepily sentimental sort of way
Usability: Items are arranged by geographic location for quick navigation
Content: An undead NPC hawking curios on the road to wherever
Writing: Provides background on the character and descriptions of his wares
Art/design: Expressive in a creepily sentimental sort of way
Usability: Items are arranged by geographic location for quick navigation
The Negligent Necromancer
Concept: “Send your legions to their doom, then do it again. It's not like they have anything better to do.”
Content: A commander of the un-loyal dead.
Writing: A powerful but doomed necromancer, most likely to be killed in the night by their own unwilling servants.
Art/design: A simple two-column layout with good bones.
Usability: Print-friendly and mostly plaintext.
Content: A commander of the un-loyal dead.
Writing: A powerful but doomed necromancer, most likely to be killed in the night by their own unwilling servants.
Art/design: A simple two-column layout with good bones.
Usability: Print-friendly and mostly plaintext.
The Occult Ossuary
28 contributors
Greyson Yandt
Johan Nohr
Rugose Kohn
Pablo Dapena
Kevin B.
Michael Mars
Chalkdown
The Eldritch Tomb
Bracken MacLeod
Brian Yaksha
Owen McGauley
I. McClung
Matthew Neff
Max Verbludenko
Federico Pagliardini
machinic
Dom Cohen
Djuun
Adam U.
Martin Gehrke
Jesse Davenport
Maceo the Escher
James M.
Christopher Betancourt
Tupac Zuleta
Naomi Rådmark
Vagabundörk
Jared Barnes
Concept: “27 pieces exhumed from the depths of lavish graves, themed around skeletons, bones and skulls.”
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
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 PALE CURSE OF YAKEDO CASTLE
Concept: “‘I will bring him death. I will avenge every soul he took and end this curse, even if I lose my own life in that god-forsaken place, the White Demon's lair’
the Dark Fort”
Content: An ashen death-cursed castle crawl.
Writing: Consistent theming lends a sense of verisimilitude to Yakedo Castle and its curse.
Art/design: Strong design aligns with classic illustrations in a simultaneously vibrant and grave visual style.
Usability: Easy-to-reference spreads aid in dungeon navigation.
Content: An ashen death-cursed castle crawl.
Writing: Consistent theming lends a sense of verisimilitude to Yakedo Castle and its curse.
Art/design: Strong design aligns with classic illustrations in a simultaneously vibrant and grave visual style.
Usability: Easy-to-reference spreads aid in dungeon navigation.
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