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.

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.

City of Poison: A Free Adventure for The Nightmares Underneath

In the city of Neth, the painter Bashir al-Barati has not been seen for several days. His house is said to be haunted, as is the abandoned market that lies beneath it. Will a party of brave adventurers destroy the nightmare incursions before they spread further, or will the city fall to corruption?

City of Poison is a free adventure for The Nightmares Underneath. It contains two Level 1 lairs and one Level 2 lair, a dozen new monsters, a couple of new spells, and illustrations by Nate Marcel.

Download the pdf at DriveThruRPG for free (or pay what you want). A print version is available from Lulu, as a US Trade sized staple-bound booklet.

Space Wurm vs. Moonicorn video

Space Wurm vs. Moonicorn blog post.

Wizard-Spawned Insanities

Wizard-Spawned Insanities is a monster manual for the Dungeon World role-playing game. The thirteen monster entries it contains are illustrated in full colour, along with a host of variations, random tables, adventures, dangers and their grim portents, custom moves, items, locations, plot hooks, secrets, and more.

This is NOT just a reprint of the Monthly Monsters material! Each monster has been revised, expanded, and given new illustrations. Every page contains full-colour background art.

WHERE TO GET IT: From DriveThruRPG, click this link

The pdf comes in two versions: one full-colour, the other printer-friendly (with B&W text pages and full-colour monster illustrations). Both are digest-sized, 110 pages, for US$15.
The print is US trade-sized, full colour, 110 pages, for US$30 and comes with the pdfs for free if you want them.

You can also buy the print version by itself (no pdf!) from Lulu at this link. The quality is almost identical, but some countries get much better shipping rates from Lulu.

Battle Between the Worlds

Battle Between the Worlds is a set of rules for running one-shot Dungeon Planet adventures. You get new characters with truncated, personalized rules and a bunch of adventure situations to choose from. The GM still has to know how to run Dungeon World, but you can play using only this document.

The character sheets include illustrations by George Metzger, Juan Ochoa, Mike Jackson, and Nate Marcel.

Here is a link to the pdf on DriveThruRPG.

The print version is available from Lulu.

Terrors of the Ancient World at Lulu

I managed to get a Lulu version of the Terrors of the Ancient World book together. It looks great! There’s barely any difference between Lulu’s colour quality and DriveThruRPG’s premium colour. So if ordering print from DriveThruRPG means exorbitant postal rates because of where you live, hopefully this option will make it easier for you to get the book. Because it looks pretty good.

Not as good as the next ones will (or, if you are reading this far in the future, not as good as the later books look), but still pretty good.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO LULU

Class Warfare

Alternate Character and Class Creation Rules for Dungeon World

What is Class Warfare?
Class Warfare is a rules supplement for the Dungeon World role-playing game that provides an alternate and expanded system of character creation. It can also be used to create new character classes, just like those provided in the original rulebook. How Class Warfare does this is by breaking down the Dungeon World character class into smaller pieces—like specialties and archetypes—and showing you how they fit together.

PRINT+PDF FROM DRIVETHRURPG
CONDENSED HARDCOVER VERSION FROM LULU

UPDATE: Class Warfare Condensed is the same book with a new, compact layout. When you buy the pdf, you get both versions, and all previous purchasers can download the new file from their library. It is also available in a hardcover format from Lulu (see link above) that comes with a dustjacket and lies flat on the table.

See a preview of the Rogues section HERE.

Specialties
A specialty is a collection of special abilities that describe one facet of what makes a character’s interaction with the rules of the game unique. Think of it as a shtick, perhaps, or a set of skills, even. Each specialty is approximately one-third of a normal Dungeon World character or character class. The Ranger, for example, is an archer, a hunter, and someone who has an animal companion—three special abilities. In Class Warfare terms, each of those is a specialty.

Archetypes
Each specialty is categorized into one of five different groups, called archetypes. These are general character “types,” that include: adventurer, disciple, magician, rogue, and warrior. Your archetype helps determine your damage die and your maximum hit points, and puts a few limits on which specialties you can combine together.

Basically, it means that if you focus on combat-oriented specialties, you end up with high damage and high hit points, which makes fighting an attractive option for you to take. If you focus on magical powers, you’re much less good at delivering blows or shrugging them off, even just using the basic moves. This encourages you to use your magic and stay out of fights.

Building a Character
You create a starting character by choosing an archetype and two or three specialties. But specialties can also be used as compendium classes, so there are ways to learn new abilities outside your original character concept if you undertake certain quests or perform certain feats. You are not limited only to the choices you made during character creation.

Why did I make this book?
To get rich, of course! Ah hahaha! So funny. In all seriousness, with Class Warfare, I had three primary goals: to make something that would be useful for both myself and other people in creating characters and in writing new classes; to give enough options that it could be used on its own and not just as an example of a new system; and to make it good for at least a little bit more than just initial character creation.

1. A Useful System of Doing Things
I wanted to build a system that breaks down class creation into small but logical pieces. This allows for more nuanced customization of existing character classes, and also gives people a way to make something new and unique that can be used in a game right away, without them having to tackle an entire class all at one time.

Hopefully, this system also gives people some insight into how the classes in Dungeon World balance spotlight time, effectiveness, and the number of moves characters have in relation to each other. Dungeon World is often less transparent than its parent, Apocalypse World, is in this regard, but a lot of people are coming to Dungeon World first, without any reference to other games that are “Powered by the Apocalypse.” Lots of rules design and play discussions that would help new players and GMs are scattered across various forums and private conversations, and aren’t easily accessible to people who weren’t there at the time. If this books can distil some of that knowledge and communicate it, great!

2. A Vast Array of Options
As much as I wanted the system to be easy, I also wanted it to provide plenty of options. The basic Dungeon World classes are already easy to use—the problem is that you only have eight options to choose from! Each of the five archetypes in Class Warfare has between 14 and 21 specialties to choose from, and you can also take one specialty from outside of your archetype. This alone leads to hundreds or even thousands of interesting characters. And then you can always write your own specialties, or ignore my archetypes altogether and build new custom classes out of whichever three archetypes you like. It’s not like I can stop you!

3. Utility Beyond Just Character Creation
I also wanted to encourage people to use these specialties as compendium classes, adding them to existing characters in the middle of play, or using them to extend a character’s game-life beyond level 10. That’s why I included fiction circumstances with each one that would allow you to add it to your character later. It’s only a little thing, but hopefully you find it useful or even inspiring.

How Complete or Definitive is Class Warfare?
Not at all! Just because this book is already super-thick doesn’t mean there aren’t tons more things that could be added to it. Most of the character class material from Dungeon World is included in this book. There’s a bunch of stuff from extras that Sage and Adam have made and some of the compendium classes that were included as kickstarter bonuses—mostly stuff that is available for free, just like Dungeon World itself is. There’s a good deal of my own previous material, including material from Ghostwood Haunts, Island of Fire Mountain, and Lair of the Unknown. Of course, it’s presented in a different format here, just like the material from Dungeon World.

I’ve also included a few moves from other third-party creators—but not a lot. If you want, sometime, I can tell you how I think the classes from Inverse World or Grim World break down into specialties and how you can use them with Class Warfare. But that material isn’t in this book, even though it’s creative commons. You should get it from the people who created it, not from me!

Also, I didn’t want to stray too far from core Dungeon World concepts. It’s true that many people get bored by the “D&D fantasy” genre, and you see new classes that feature drives and backgrounds, freeform spellcasting, or bonds with NPCs. But I wanted to stick to using alignments, Vancian spellcasting, and the four traditional fantasy races. Ultimately, with this book I’m just trying to add more options to the Dungeon World rules, not redefine how the game works. I can do that with other books, yet to be written. After all, this book isn’t supposed to be complete or definitive. Class Warfare is not a destination, it’s a departure point.

Class Warfare by the numbers:
670 starting moves and advanced moves, 227 race moves, 167 spells, 94 illustrations, 84 specialties, 3 different indexes.
$16 for the pdf via DriveThruRPG,
$28 for the print+pdf combo via DriveThruRPG (6×9, white pages, softcover, 526 pages),
$30 for the condensed layout in print from Lulu (6×9, cream-coloured pages, dustjacket, hardcover, 330 pages).

PRINT+PDF FROM DRIVETHRURPG
CONDENSED HARDCOVER VERSION FROM LULU

The pdf comes with a blank character sheet, but if you don’t like it, you should check out the sheet Brennen Reece made. If you like that one, also take a look at Brennen’s other Dungeon World character sheets.

There were some typos in the first version of the book! If you find one, please check the Errata List.