This Has Been Over For a While Now

This blog is no longer in use. The Red Box Vancouver name is no longer in use. There is no more public D&D game and there hasn’t been for many years now. Please check out the Chthonstone Games website or the new blog for information regarding The Nightmares Underneath or any other things that I publish. Thanks.

The Nameless Grimoire Second Edition

The Nameless Grimoire has been revised and is now compatible with the second edition of The Nightmares Underneath.

New stuff includes an extensive new magical mishaps table, rules and tables for customizing spells (adding weird effects, using spell components, etc), and some guidelines for generating new arcane traditions.

Things that have been removed include the rules for divine patrons, crafting magic items, the bestiary, and a few of the character types. These will all make new appearances in other books written for the second edition rules.

The pdf and the casebound hardcover are available from DriveThruRPG at this link:

Buy The Nameless Grimoire on DriveThruRPG.

If you bought the pdf already, you can download the new second edition files from your library.

You can buy the softcover and dustjacket hardcover from Lulu:

Buy The Nameless Grimoire softcover from Lulu.

Buy The Nameless Grimoire in hardcover from Lulu.

The Nightmares Underneath 2nd Edition

I don’t use this blog much anymore, but since I don’t have a new website set up yet, I should announce this here:

The second edition revision of The Nightmares Underneath is finished.

If you already bought the pdf (free or full version), you can download the new edition right away from your DriveThruRPG library. If you’d like a print copy, they are available from the Exalted Funeral webstore. I did an offset print run this time, collaborating with SoulMuppet Publishing, instead of continuing with print on demand. The result is a much better quality physical book. About half the print run is already gone at the time of this being posted, but there’s still copies available.

As with all my books, if you buy one in print and you want the pdf to go with it, email me at johnstone (dot) metzger (at) gmail (dot) com and I will hook you up for no extra charge.

What’s New?

The revised edition includes better explanations of the rules, some more setting material, more support for normal dungeons and looting them of their magic items, and perhaps most significantly, the spellcasting system no longer uses memorization (you can still use those rules from 1e if you prefer them). I have also removed the bestiary and the wilderness exploration rules, both of which will be expanded into full-sized supplements to be released in the future.

Dungeon Full of Monsters Second Edition

A little while ago, I tried an experiment. I re-did the layout for Dungeon Full of Monsters, to change it from the US Trade 6×9 (and halfletter 5.5×8.5 pdf format) to the Letter Landscape 11×8.5 format. Turns out, it works much better!

The landscape format allows most of the dungeon entries to be complete on a 2-page spread, and thus much easier to consult in play. All the larger illustrations look better on a single page. The page count is lower and the print cost is cheaper. It’s a win all around.

So here’s the second edition!

Buy Dungeon Full of Monsters in pdf and print from DriveThruRPG.

Note: I had to make a new title listing in order to change the print format, but if you previously purchased the first edition, you can find the second edition pdf in your DriveThruRPG library. I updated the files before retiring the old title.

The Nameless Grimoire

is finally available in print!

The Nameless Grimoire is a supplement for The Nightmares Underneath (and other old school fantasy role-playing games) that covers all things magical, including:

• 9 new character types: Avatar, Battle Wizard, Blood Caster, Chaos Mage, Druid, Mystic, Shadowsneak, Spellslinger, and Witch.
• A new random equipment table for wizards and spellcasting characters.
• More example magic items.
• Rules for divine patrons and six example patrons covering all 5 alignments: Asklepios the Healer, the Crawling Chaos, the Dreamer in the Deep, Mog-Mnogoth the Opener of Ways, Sacred Geometry, and Yuhannah the Revealer.
• 666 spells and dozens of variations, arranged in 33 spell schools (with simple guidelines for specialist caster), as well as a single d1000 table.
• A short bestiary of new monsters mentioned in the spells, including demons, elementals, golems, and several types of supernatural reptiles.
• Random spell name tables and random wizard name tables.
• Cover by George Cotronis, and additional interior art by Nate Marcel.

The Nameless Grimoire includes all the spellcasting rules from The Nightmares Underneath core rulebook, so you can use these rules with other games. Though this book is written for The Nightmares Underneath, you don’t need to be playing that game to use them.

The pdf is Digest sized pages, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, while the print version is US Trade sized, 6 x 9 inches.

SEE A 47-PAGE PREVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE.

Softcovers and hardcovers with white pages, and the pdf version, are all available at DriveThruRPG.

At Lulu, you can find softcovers with cream-coloured pages and dustjacket hardcovers, also with cream-coloured pages.

Dungeon Full of Monsters

Dungeon Full of Monsters is a modular megadungeon for use with Labyrinth Lord and other old school fantasy role-playing games.

The Dungeon is Modular
The megadungeon is composed of 50 individual sections, separated into 5 different levels. You can assemble these in any configuration you like, either randomly or not, either before the campaign or on-the-fly in play. You can also use these sectiosn on their own, without reference to the larger dungeon itself.

And Full of Monsters
The second half of the book contains dozens of monsters, illustrated in full colour, often with multiple variations and types. Combined with the unique monsters located in specific dungeon sections, this book contains over 150 different monster stat blocks. There are criminal organizations, insane cultists, meddling deities, evil wizards, undead kings, infernal demons and other invaders from beyond the stars, numerous unspeakable horrors and arcane beasts, and even a few rival adventurers. Use these monsters with this dungeon or any other.

Specific conversion guidelines for The Nightmares Underneath are also provided.

Dungeon Full of Monsters was written by Johnstone Metzger and illustrated by Nathan Jones.

The digital pdf is Letter sized 5.5 by 8.5 inches, 352 pages, and also comes with a file containing only the dungeon maps, and a file containing only the monster illustrations. The print version is US Trade sized 6 x 9 inches, 352 pages, and is available in both softcover and hardcover.

Buy it at DriveThruRPG.

MM4: Great Monsters of Crime

Another full-colour, illustrated monster manual for the award-winning Dungeon World rpg. This time, we go to the caves beneath Skull Mountain, where a battle wages through the criminal underworld. Nihilists and murderers flock to the death cult’s ranks while myriad wizards of chaos pull arcane monstrosities through the planes to this world. Monstrous gangs run dens of vice and fight for turf while yet other cults worship their own blasphemous deities or seek to create new ones.

Great Monsters of Crime is 108 pages, full colour, and available via DriveThruRPG. The pdf is 5.5 x 8.5 Digest size, while the print is 6 x 9 US Trade size.

Buy Great Monsters of Crime HERE.

MP1: The End of Known Space

We’re switching things up a bit with the monster manuals produced by our patreon project. The End of Known Space is our first collection of science fiction monsters for Dungeon World (and Adventures on Dungeon Planet). It’s our first monster planet!

The Maldoran system lies at the edge of the universe, a world full of corruption and danger. Take a safari on the planet or explore the cornucopia of pharmacological substances available there. Try your hand at mining the asteroid belt, investigating the abandoned moon base, or use the system as a launch point for an expedition into the elusive darkness that lies beyond the end of known space.

Like the MM series of monster manuals, The End of Known Space contains previously-released Monthly Monsters material that has been revised and expanded, with more illustrations and rpg content.

The End of Known Space is available in print and pdf from DriveThruRPG. The pdfs are halfletter digest size (5.5×8.5″) and 110 pages. One version has full-colour backgrounds behind the text while the other has black text on white pages, with the same illustrations. The print book is US trade size (6×9″), premium full colour, and 110 pages.

You can also buy the print book on its own from Lulu.

The Nightmares Underneath Powered by the Apocalypse

I wrote a short supplement for The Nightmares Underneath that has Powered by the Apocalypse rules for players to use, for those of you who prefer that style over the old school D&D-ish rules. It is called A World Full of Nightmares, and it includes:

• a set of basic moves;
• new rules for harm and disposition, experience, and money that are more like Apocalypse World;
• simple character classes with simple special abilities (but you can add special moves from Dungeon World or Class Warfare if you like);
• conversion rules for the nightmares curses;
• a simple GM section;
• a new more-narrative-y system for creating incursions that you need a deck of cards for.

A World Full of Nightmares is now included in the full pdf version of The Nightmares Underneath. If you have already purchased it, simply download the new updated zip file. A staple-bound print version of A World Full of Nightmares is available from Lulu for US$10.

Revised Metamorphica in Print

After wrestling with the print versions for far too long, The Metamorphica Revised is now available in three different print options:
1. Softcover from DriveThruRPG for US$20, and it comes with the pdf so you can skip the part where you have to ask me for it, but the quality is not quite as good as what you get from Lulu, if that matters to you.
2. Softcover from Lulu for US$20.
3. Hardcover from Lulu for US$30. This one comes with a dustjacket and lies flat on the table.
Many apologies for the long wait!