A perilous adventure unearthing the dark arcana behind Sword & Sorcery’s iconic tabletop roleplaying game
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Heading Into the Final 48 Hour Stretch!
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 27, 2022 at 10:01:58 PM
Hey All!
We have 48 hours left on the Kickstarter for Black God's Kiss, and it's getting very exciting! We are soooo close to unlocking the Hellsgarde $100K stretch goal—and still have (at least) one more stretch goal planned after that: the Jirel of Joiry miniature! We know many backers really want both of these, and if we all help out spreading the word in these final two days, we should be able to hit both of them too!
Here's how you can find us online and help us spread the word:
Meet the Creators: Jog Brogzin
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 27, 2022 at 08:56:46 PM
Throughout the rest of the campaign we will be posting spotlights on each creator who is contributing to the project, where we ask and answer some questions to help you get to know us and where we're coming from to the world of TTRPGs. This update is featuring Jog Brogzin, the cartographer for all of the maps (top-down and isometric) that will appear through the RPG books and other materials.
Q: How did you get into fantasy mapmaking?
A: Well, I’ve always been interested in maps. City maps, ordnance survey maps we used for family hikes, fantasy maps from books like the Hobbit and LotR. As a kid I’d spend hours daydreaming of wandering around in them, visualizing what they represented. I would also create stories as I did this. All of this was before I discovered RPGs were even a thing.
My earliest memory of creating a map of a fantasy world is when I was 11. I was waiting for the 3D Construction Kit (a world building software for the Commodore Amiga). This was back before the internet, so wait time was about a month. My imagination could not wait that long. I took out a page and started planning the world I would make. Forests, mountains, rivers, towns and roads… a simple enough map, but in my head it was a rich and vibrant world. The kit finally arrived, I was very disappointed. I had already discovered a better way of creating visuals for my world building: a trusty pen and page!
My professional map making didn’t begin until almost 30 years later. In 2019, I finally posted my first maps onto social media and set up a Patreon. I have finally been able to go full-time in July of this year. Here’s to another 30+ years of world building! 🍺
Q: Aside from the writings of C.L. Moore, what other fantasy work—in any medium—inspires or excites you?
A: To name but a few, I have been inspired by JRR Tolkien (obviously), David Eddings, Robert Jordan and Lloyd Alexander (the Chronicles of Prydain were one of my favorite series as a kid). Nowadays I am heavily influenced by other artists / map makers: Paths Peculiar, Monocled Octopus, Misjay Maps.
Q: Describe your ideal gaming experience (when, where, what, how).
A: I like gaming in the comfort of someone’s home, generally evening games work best for me as I’m most creative artistically in the morning. I like board games or RPGs, a wide variety of themes and systems.
Q: Favorite gaming snack?
A: For the current game I’m in with my daughters, we like to have a varied selection of snacks: fresh berries, shortbread, crisps and jellies, olives and cheeses. Then sometimes we order a pizza.
Q: Has a game ever brought you closer to another person, or come between you?
A: Without doubt, gaming has brought me closer to every player I have played with. I really like that it reveals sides to their personalities that they might not have shown me otherwise.
Q: Which subjects do you wish more creators would build games about?
A: I once sent a letter to the publisher of my then favorite RPG system (Iron Crown Enterprises who released Middle Earth Roleplaying) asking them to make a source book for the world of Prydain (my favourite fantasy series). I was very naive and didn’t know much about how publishing worked back then. 😄
Q: Favorite record(s) or track(s) to listen to while working on this project?
A: Depends on my mood. I like classical music. Or maybe a podcast like Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History. But often I sit in silence as I work. I like the peace and quiet, and find it hard to concentrate on anything as I’m sucked into the map.
Portrait of Jog still searching for that Prydain sourcebook (artist: Vienna Shears)
Meet the Creators: Peter Bebergal
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Sep 27, 2022 at 01:20:02 PM
Throughout the rest of the campaign we will be posting spotlights on each creator who is contributing to the project, where we ask and answer some questions to help you get to know us and where we're coming from to the world of TTRPGs. This update is featuring Peter Bebergal, co-writer with Janaka Stucky on the RPG elements of our box set.
Q: How did you get into game writing?
A: I have been writing non-fiction for decades now, and my work mostly centers on what is often called “occulture,” the broad intersection of art, music, and literature with esoteric ideas and practices. I also have been playing RPGs on and off since 1978 and they have often found their way into my writing in some form. A few years ago my friend, JF Martel (of the well-known podcast Weird Studies), secured a contract to write a Call of Cthulhu adventure scenario for Chaosium. And around that time Strange Attractor Press released my edited volume Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of D&D, a collection of stories based on the list of the same name in the first edition of the Dungeon Masters Guide. Suddenly my worlds were really colliding, and so when Janaka asked me to be part of this project it was a perfect confluence of all my interests.
Q: Aside from the writings of C.L. Moore, what other fantasy work—in any medium—inspires or excites you?
A: I would have to give you the schematic to my brain wiring to answer this one. But the short list would include Michael Moorcock’s Elric stories, the weird tales of Clark Ashton Smith, Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea novels, old Godzilla movies, and Jack Kirby’s techno-theology. More contemporary work would include the art of Arik Roper and Mike Mignola’s Hellboy comics.
Q: Describe your ideal gaming experience (when, where, what, how).
A: Five or so folks around a kitchen table on a Saturday night, cartons of Chinese food, playing either an OSR dungeon crawl where the characters are just treasure hunters in search of gold and adventure or a 1920s Call of Cthulhu adventure fighting mad cultists.
Q: Favorite gaming snack?
A: Black licorice.’Nuff said.
Q: Which subjects do you wish more creators would build games about?
A: To be honest, I would really just like to see some out-of-print material get re-released, most especially the Elric material from Chaosium, some of the more obscure GURPS supplements such as New Sun based on the novels by Gene Wolfe, and the original DC Heroes game.
Q: Favorite record(s) or track(s) to listen to while working on this project?
A: Well I have recently been listening to a lot of female acid folk stuff such as Sibylle Baier, Linda Perhacs, and Judee Sill, but queued up is some heavier stuff by Blood Ceremony, Jex Thoth, and my go to ambient stuff like Tim Hecker and Stars of the Lid.
Peter, right before he devours the most black licorice you've ever seen
Unlocked $90K Stretch Goal + a Big Announcement!
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 06:14:58 PM
Fourth Stretch Goal Unlocked!
The FoilStamping stretch goal upgrade the box cover printing to use metallic silver foil for the title text. It's a small tweak but it makes a big aesthetic impact and we're really psyched to be able to add-on this premium manufacturing component. For those who have picked up a copy of Ekphrastic Beasts, you've seen for yourself what a difference a little metallic foil can make!
This also means it's time to unveil another stretch goal
$110K:JirelMiniature. We had originally planned on a different stretch goal, but last minute have decided to create a Jirel miniature instead! It's an idea we've been kicking around for weeks, and when we hit $90K last night, we decided we wanted to realize this dream. All pledge levels will get an STL file for the miniature to print their own. A physical miniature will also be made available as an add-on. We don't have a 3D sculpt yet, but here's some concept art for it from Saprophial:
Concept art for Jirel miniature
And Now for a Big Announcement
In breaking news, as of yesterday we are upgrading the $100K stretch goal! Instead of creating Escape the Keep, for our $100K stretch goal—which was going to be a somewhat generic castle-run—we're licensing a third C.L. Moore story, called "Hellsgarde." The story makes for a perfect 'survive the night' one shot, and it's also set in a castle. We will also be including a booklet of the original fiction—which means that if we can hit our $100K stretch goal we'll be adding both a new RPG module and a new short story by Moore! We just signed the contract on this yesterday, so we still need to create new cover mockups and update the project images accordingly. But this is reflected in the stretch goal graphic now!
Mockups (WIP) of new Hellsgarde books
Just Four Days Left
Yesterday was a big media day for us, with a second write-up on Boing Boing as well as some excellent coverage of our project on Dicebreaker. No doubt this double-tap of publicity helped catapult us past $90K in just a few hours.
With just four days left in our campaign, now more than ever we need your help to hit out $100K & $110K goals. So please share your enthusiasm with fellow gamers, strangers at the bus stop, people in line at the grocery store, etc.
Here's how you can find us online and help us spread the word:
Over 1,000 Backers! + a video interview with some of our creators
about 2 years ago
– Fri, Sep 23, 2022 at 03:04:12 PM
WE ARE LEGION
We have been (not so) quietly watching the progress from our team space on Discord these past few days as our back count crept towards 1,000. It's a psychological milestone that we've been looking forward to for about a week,and when we finally hit it today there was much jubilation!
We only have six days left in the campaign, and this final week is statistically the slowest period for most Kickstarters; the calm before the storm when things heat up in the final 24-48 hours.
There are still over 2,500 people following this project who haven't pledged yet, so we are optimistic about seeing a flurry of activity during the final countdown and hitting our $100K (and maybe even our final $125K) stretch goals! That said, we would really like to unlock our $90K stretch goal before going into the final few days—and we only need about 18 more backers to hit that mark!
Many of you have continued posting and sharing about the project; we see you and appreciate you! For those who haven't done so yet,the most sure-fire way we'll hit our $90K and $100K (an $125K!)goals is if you share your enthusiasm with yourfamily, friends, frenemies, and DMs (“DMenies?”). Here's how you can find us online and help us spread the word:
Email your friends, fellow gamers, eldritch lovers, and dark fantasy aficionados to tell them about what we're trying to do ⚔️
In the meantime, ICYMI: Janaka, Max, and Peter sat down with the Weekly Scroll the other week to talk at-length about C.L. Moore, game design, and OSE vs 5e. You can watch the video on YouTube (also embedded below), or spare yourselves having to look at our nerdy faces and just listen to the audio podcast here.
