This August, I’m launching the Kickstarter campaign for a brand new roleplaying game entitled PunkApocalyptic: The RPG based on the miniatures game by Bad Roll Games. This game promises a hardcore, fast past, down and dirty, vulgar descent in to ultra-violence, in which you play mercenaries fighting for bullets in the Wasteland of post-apocalyptic Earth. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be showing off sexy previews of what you can expect from this bad-ass game. Full warning, though. This game is ugly, full of cursing, and a whole hell of a lot of fun to play. Here’s a taste:

The Wasteland

The world as we know it is gone. The why and how of is subject to debate, but there are few left who have the time or ability to wax philosophical about it.  All that’s left is an extremely dangerous place, which, depending upon your point of view, is either a reeking open sewer, a radioactive shithole rife with wasting disease and lingering death, or a desperate place of hunger and want where anyone will trade anything just to survive one more day.

     Actually, your point of view doesn’t matter. It’s all of these things.

      Deadly and violent, much of the world has become a deserted, barren land dotted with the remnants of whatever came before. The Wasteland, as it’s called, though, is not as empty as it might first appear.

     Here live the wretched descendants of the undesirables, the impoverished, the castoffs, and everyone else deemed unsuitable for entry into the great and mythical Megalopoli: fabulous cities built during civilization’s collapse that became more myth than reality to most of the rugged shitkickers trying to scratch out a living in the Wasteland. Unless you’re one of those privileged few living in one of ’em, you’re pretty much fucked and have to figure out some way to survive in some of the worst places you can imagine, alongside all the other poor dumb bastards who will just as soon tear out your throat to get their mitts on your rusty can of beets as give you the time of day. Not that anyone has a working watch or really gives a shit about what time of the day it is. Beets, though? That’s another story.

     But as unpleasant as the world has become, opportunity abounds for anyone with the grit, determination, and moral flexibility to stay alive and maybe even thrive—well, at least by comparison to the other slags around you.

     In the Wasteland, resources are quite scarce. Electricity is nearly nonexistent, and those few who know how to build or even repair complex devices are rarer still. Therefore, just about everything has been reduced to the most of basic items, assembled from whatever can be dug and salvaged out of old landfills, plundered from the ruined cities of the Before Times, or simply robbed from some other weak, stupid bastards.

     Digging out salvage is no easy task as most ruins are overrun with roving gangs, mutant abominations, murderous cannibals, or fanatic disciples with insane beliefs. When you’re offered a few bullets to put an end to a local warlord, fuel to fill up the car you’ve kept running with bubblegum, duct tape, and hope, odds are you won’t have much choice other than to take the job.

     As tough as things are in the Wasteland, one can still find small settlements, often fortified, which somehow manage to survive the neverending hardship. Some outposts serve as commercial hubs, while others represent the best chance for the weak and feeble to survive. Some settlements have greenhouses and water collectors for growing crops and supplying clean water, while many host murderous gangs who trade only in bullets instead of goods and foodstuffs that would actually make life more livable. Go figure.

     Then there are roving hermits who collect odd pieces of useful junk and technology, or bands of mystic nomads in search of some arcane “truth” that often involves blood sacrifice (usually yours or that of your teammates), or the odd religious cult dedicated to bizarre gods of their own invention, bent on forceful conversion of any who they meet (also, usually you and your teammates).

     Anything and everything is possible in the Wasteland and you’re bound to discover something truly strange that would shock even your seriously desensitized and cynical world-view before you punch your ride ticket and call it an end to the miserable fucking life you’ve lived in this world of shit.

(c) 2019 Bad Roll Games

Aside from new releases for both Shadow of the Demon Lord and MAXPRESS, I’ve been a bit quiet about what’s going on with the company and my future plans. I’ve been keeping my head down and pounding out the words for the Occult Philosophy Kickstarter and other products, so I haven’t had much time for posting. Well, today I’m breaking the silence to give you the skinny on what’s coming out in the months ahead.

Occult Philosophy

We ran a solid campaign for this beast and we’ve made great progress in getting the manuscript pulled together. Kara has about 2/3 of the book laid out and Jay has begun the proofing process. I anticipate this book will drop way ahead of schedule.

As part of this Kickstarter we unlocked a few stretch goals. We already released Call of the Necromancer, Cabaret of the Grotesque, Fine Country Folk, and We are Legion, and we have Genius Loci (genies Monstrous Pages) and Kingdom of Skulls in production. Genius Loci ought to land in a couple weeks as we have edited copy and all the art assets in. Kingdom of Skulls is in editing right now and we have about a third of the art in.

The last thing I’m doing to close out this campaign is Men of Gog, a juicy book that builds on the information presented in Tombs of the Desolation and reveals everything you need to know about the Witch-King and his dread minions. I’m about 30% through the writing.

Oh. We also have spell cards for this book. They’re moving through production as we speak.

Confederacy of the Nine Cities

We released City of Wonder, written by the magnificent Steve Kenson, and we’re dropping City of Gods Monday. This leaves one last city to do and, happily, Darrin Drader and I knocked out the manuscript for City of Dreams a couple of months ago. We’re just waiting on the map and this bad-boy will go into production.

I announced this product a couple years ago and I’m happy to report that we’re close to taking this book to Kickstarter. I’m aiming for a late July/early August release. This is an entirely new game powered by Shadow of the Demon Lord, so it’s easy to pick up and play. In this game, you play mercenaries in the Wasteland going on missions to find salvage, bullets, and gear, while fighting mutants, the V Reich, and all kinds of other scum.

Before we launch the campaign, though, I’m going to release the Quick-Start rules so you can see how much fun this game is to play. We’ll be releasing two versions of the Quick-Start: the free edition (black and white and no art) and a dead sexy edition, with some art and a print on demand version. I’ll be previewing this product in the weeks to come.

Shadow of the Mad Wizard

Originally called Free Companies of Four Towers, Shadow of the Mad Wizard is a new fantasy game in which you and your friends take on the roles of adventurers who descend into the dungeons below the City of the Mad Wizard to find fortune and glory. My homage to Greyhawk, Shadow of the Mad Wizard uses a modified version of the Demon Lord engine to provide short, focused campaigns, single-session adventures, and all the bells and whistles you have come to love from Shadow, but thematically appropriate for all ages and audiences.  The game is still deep in design, but early playtesting has given promising results. I’m certain you will love this game as much as I do.

Shadow of the Demon Lord Supplements

We have plenty of things coming out for Shadow of the Demon Lord. Christi Bradford reveals the horrors of the Machine God worshiped by unhinged clockworks in an upcoming supplement. I’m working on Slaves of the Demon Queen, which details the arachne, their foul mistress, and the Spider Wood in which they live. Looking ahead, I’m plan to release a slew of two-page one-shot adventures perfect for convention and in-store play. These will be cheap, so collect them all. I also have a supplement that lets you play ghosts, another that introduces a slew of new expert paths, a solo adventure, the March Lands, and more.

MAXPRESS

We just released the warden class in Defenders of the Wild and I’m getting ready to push on with more MAXPRESS releases. Going forward, I plan to focus on creatures rather than player content. Creatures will be nasty and vicious, full of loathing, and shocking to your players. If you’re nice, I might also include a conversion document so you can use these creatures in your 5th edition and Shadow of the Demon Lord Games.

Shadow of the Last Gate and Abaddon

In addition to Shadow of the Mad Wizard, I’m building two more games to be powered by the Demon Lord engine. These are both in planning stages, so I don’t have much to report other than the first is a modern game in which you and your friends play members of a secret society of magicians fighting against the Demon Lord, while the second is a sci-fi horror game that sees you and your friends fighting to stay alive in a generation ship lost to the Void and now overrun with demons.

Worlds in Shadow

Last, Worlds in Shadow is a new series of standalone mini-games powered by the Demon Lord engine that can played in two to four sessions. All the games in this line will use a common ruleset covered in the forthcoming Worlds in Shadow rulebook, so I don’t have to repeat myself when it comes to the basic rules. The games will explore a wide range of genres and experiences, all with a dark and sinister edge. The first game, Lost & Found, sees the players take on the roles of children trapped in a terrifying orphanage and who are desperate to escape before they disappear forever. Other games in the series include Colony, where you try to keep your colony alive on a hostile planet, Vigilante, where you and your friends play street-level heroes fighting to save your city, and a whole lot more.

Thanks for reading and Hail the Demon Lord!

City of Wonder: Lands in Shadow for Shadow of the Demon Lord RPG

In the northern reaches of the Confederacy of the Nine Cities sits Lij, the legendary City of Wonder. What began as a haven for exiles and freethinkers from across Rûl has become one of the greatest bastions of the occult in the known world, with alchemists, artificers, engineers, and wizards rivaled only by the Tower Arcane itself—and perhaps not even that any longer, with the decline and degradation of the Empire.

Founded upon its maxim “All things are possible,” Lij offers its citizens great freedom, unlike the flesh-pits of Dis or the bloody arena of Qif. Lij holds out opportunities for endless experimentation, to think up and implement new ideas, and to follow them wherever they lead. This has earned the City of Wonder its name, as occult oddities happen here with the frequency of weather in other places. The innovations created by the city’s unleashed intellects and ambitions are sold far and wide, filling the coffers of Lij’s guilds with coin they use to maintain their influence and exert what control they can over a city that refuses to be controlled.

Welcome to Lij, the City of Wonder, where your most secret dreams and desires are for sale for the right price, and your most fearsome nightmares wait in the shadows.

Grab your copy of City of Wonder from Schwalb Entertainment or DriveThruRPG today!

We Are Legion: Monstrous Pages for Shadow of the Demon Lord

We Are Legion delves into the bizarre, mysterious creatures known as the broodlings. These Monstrous Pages shed light on their vast and ancient conspiracy to dominate and destroy humankind. We Are Legion provides you with all the tools you need to make broodlings the central adversaries in an adventure or an entire campaign. The following pages chronicle their history, their bizarre insectoid sentience, their grotesque reproduction cycle, as well as outline their inscrutable schemes. There are also rules to customize broodlings with specific details to suit your game.

With the enormity of the broodlings’ evil exposed, you might just question everything you have ever believed to be true about the world of Shadow of the Demon Lord.

Pick up We Are Legion in PDF at Schwalb Entertainment or DriveThruRPG today!

Fine Country Folk: A Novice Adventure

Those who live beyond civilization’s bounds face a daily, brutal struggle just to survive the hazards and horrors of the vast wilderness they call home. In the rolling hills and deep forests where few willingly tread, one can find all manner of hungry, violent things: from rabid animals and brutish beastmen to ravenous ogres and other terrible monsters who defy description. While the constant press of both danger and isolation often drives ordinary folks to dark and brutal acts to ensure they live to see another day, none of what these people might do comes close to the horrific deeds carried out by the two clans living in the Lonely Vale.

Fine Country Folk, a Shadow of the Demon Lord adventure for a group of novice characters, thrusts the group into the midst of a deadly struggle between two twisted and murderous families who make their home in the Lonely Vale. When not fighting each other, the inbred clans of the valley waylay travelers and subject them to all kinds of hideous and cruel torments, all to further their own dark designs. The characters complete the adventure when they put an end to the degenerate inhabitants and destroy the dark force that is the source of their unspeakable wickedness.

Pick up Fine Country Folk in PDF from Schwalb Entertainment or DriveThruRPG today!