Wolfspell Kickstarter Ends Sunday Night!

It has almost been a fortnight since the super blood wolf moon ushered in the Wolfspell Kickstarter. Much has happened these past two weeks. We have funded! We revealed a work-in-progress mock-up of what the actual album jacket will look like. We were named one of Kickstarter’s “Projects We Love.” We were briefly mentioned in Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk podcast. And of course, featured over on Geek & Sundry!

We have also had a couple Wolfspell adventures over on the ActualPlay Twitch channel, which you can enjoy as well.

ActualPlay Wolfspell Episode 1:
The Fae-Stolen Child

Episode 1, Part 1: Adventures Turn Into Wolves to Save a Fae-Stolen Child

Episode 1, Part 2: Wolves Lope Into the Fae!

ActualPlay Wolfspell Episode 2:
The Menagerie of the Sorcerous Tyrant

Episode 2, Part 1: Adventurers Turned Into Wolves and Captured!

Episode 2, Part 2: Wolves in the Menagerie of the Sorcerous Tyrant!

ActualPlay Wolfspell Episode 3: Wolves Yet Unwritten

Join us live, this Sunday morning, 8 AM Pacific Time, on the ActualPlay Twitch channel for our third Wolfspell!

But a fortnight is all this Kickstarter has. So folks, if you haven’t already, check it out before it ends at 10:30 PM EST this Sunday evening! In the final hour of the Kickstarter, starting at 9:30 PM EST, you can join Shel and me live as she draws more wolves and we talk about canine adventures!

Under the Super Blood Wolf Moon: Wolfspell

The time has come.

The Super Blood Wolf Moon is upon us.

The author of Dread, Epidiah Ravachol, has a new treat for you: Wolfspell!

Transmogrify your flesh into that of a wolf!
Howl and lope with the pack!
Click here to secure your very own copy of the first tabletop roleplaying game printed in the liner notes of a record album jacket.
- Featuring the epic art of Shel Kahn!

Still a work in progress, but a portent of things to come!

Beyond Dread: Tension

Folks! I am breathless in my anticipation for April of 2018!

Bully Pulpit Games recently announced their intention to kickstart Alex Roberts’ Tension early next year. If you’ve not heard of Tension, you will soon.

“Tension comes from the bottom of my heart,” says Ms Roberts, “like a lot of the Bully Pulpit Games lineup, it fills a particular niche—in this case a niche for a two-hour, two-player game about relationships that feels both overdramatic and painfully real. Also you might want to smooch at the end. But you don’t have to!”

Inspired by Epidiah Ravachol’s groundbreaking RPG Dread, Tension combines exciting world-building, clever mechanics, and an unstable tower of wooden blocks to help players tell the story of two people entangled in their own undeniable, impossible attraction.

“When the tower falls,” Roberts says, “so does their resistance to their true feelings.”

Over the years (going on decades) since the inception of Dread folks have come to me with all manner of new metaphors to apply to the Jenga tower. It obviously works great for horror, but there are tales of many genres one can tell with the unnerving deliciousness a Jenga tower brings. What I find genuinely surprising about the design of Tension—and what really draws me to it—is not just how well the metaphor fits; but how the metaphor veers from that of Dread. Hiding in the gravity of that teetering tower is not the grisly finality of well-swung hammer or the existential threat of eternal void, but something far more terrifying: real human desire.

I am fortunate enough to have a playtest document for Tension in my possession. Even in this barebones version, it is a delight to read. I cannot wait to see what Bully Pulpit makes of it. Damn the distance between now and April 2018!

The Complete Epidiah Ravachol Collection

Dig a Thousand Holes Publishing

Thanks to Richard Epistolary and Robert Carnel at the Across the Table podcast, I’ve had the opportunity to revisit my entire body of work, from Dread to The Dread Geas of Duke Vulku. Richard did a wonderful job of stitching together clips from podcasts I’ve done over this past decade or so my thoughts on my games around the time they were published. Check that episode out and don’t miss the following one entirely dedicated to a deep dive into Swords Without Master.

And then, last month, during #RPGTheoryJuly the opportunity arose again when I tweeted about how my games handle violence. That titanic thread starts here and ends somewhere around here.

So, how complete is your Epidiah Ravachol collection?

Download the PDF of the checklist—front and back—print it out, trim it to wallet-size, and carry it next to your heart.

Epidiah Checklist 2017 trim marks

That…

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Epidiah at GenCon 2016

Dig a Thousand Holes Publishing

To play Swords Without Master, or The Dread Geas of Duke Vulku, or some other pickup game, or just to say “Hail, fellow traveler in the lands of wonder!”

If you find yourself at GenCon this weekend, swing by Games On Demand in Ballroom 6 at the Marriott Downtown (the Marriott attached to the convention center). There you will unearth a trove of games to play and you might sight the rare Epidiah Ravachol. He will not submit to your cursed Poké Ball, but he will be running occasional games of Swords and The Dread Geas at Games On Demand throughout the weekend—including the traditional #SundayAMSwords early(ish) Sunday morning.

If you are traveling from afar to Indianapolis, why not pick up an issue or two of Worlds Without Masterto read on your journeys?

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10th Anniversary of the Dread Blog & GenCon

Today, as WordPress reminds me, is the 10th anniversary of this here blog, started a decade ago to celebrate the fact that Dread had been nominated for three ENnies! In the end, the game took the gold a surprise fourth category.

Next week, Dread and I return to GenCon, ten years older and a few years wiser. If you happen to be at GenCon and you want to play some Dread, Games On Demand is where you want to be. Not only with there be several Dreads, including hacks and descendants such as Dread: Jurassic Park, Heroic Dread, Dread Dinosaur Edition, and Th e Dread Geas of Duke Vulku. Plus so many other games!

I will, in fact, be there quite a bit. If you stop by, say hi!

The Dread Geas of Duke Vulku

Published late last night, the 10th issue of Worlds Without Master holds within its covers the weird fantasy game The Dread Geas of Duke Vulku. The game is blend of horror and sword & sorcery, inspired in part by the works of Clark Ashton Smith and Jack Vance. You are skalds and half-scholars under the geas of Duke Vulku and compelled by witchery to adventure with him at the command of the seventeen sages. This game is also a glimpse at what Dread may have looked like if I had waited until today to write it.

It has been over 15 years since Dread was first conceived and over ten since it was born. When the first game ever of Dread was played, there was still an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The litany of changes to the design and structure of tabletop roleplaying games and to the methods of production and distribution since then is staggering. Pile upon that my own personal journey through gaming this past decade and a half, and you have a recipe for a new take on a familiar game.

The Dread Geas of Duke Vulku has all the elements of classic Dread.

There’s the Jenga tower, though now it is called the Spire.
Characters still die when it falls, but now there’s stuff to do once you’ve crossed over.
Characters are created through questionnaires, though much shorter ones and now the Host has their own questionnaire to fill out.
Fighting amongst yourselves is still bad news.
The heroic sacrifice option is still there, but with a couple twists, including the right to demand of your companions “Which among you will sing of this?”

The Dread Geas of Duke Vulku has a much sharper focus than Dread. It is a single scenario. One that can be played over and over without fear of spoiling the mystery, but it does not have Dread‘s scope. In its stead, you will find specific rules tailored to the scenario. This is the marriage of Dread and Apocalypse World with moves built around the pulling of blocks. Among the list of new wonders to be discovered by fans of classic Dread there are:

Custom moves for each character, inspired in part by some of the designs in Dread House, where each player keeps a cache of blocks that can be used in lieu of pulling from the Spire.
Each time the Spire falls, one of the surviving characters will learn new moves.
Those sinister enough to set their will against that of Duke Vulku’s must make their pulls with their off hand.
Those that have died can still mete their petty vengeance upon their former companions by forcing them to push blocks back into the Spire.

And more!

If you are all curious, I urge you to surrender yourself to the Duke’s will today. Pick up your copy of Worlds Without Master issue 10. Regret will be the least of your torments in Duke Vulku’s service.

This 42-page issue of Worlds Without Master contains:

“Because I Clasp the Clouds As Mine,” a tale of a shifting identity byOsmond Arnesto.
“The Hoard of Yengra,” a tale of commerce and justice by Epidiah Ravachol.
Illustrations by Wendy Martin, Vlada Monakhova, and Tiffany Turrill.
Another installment of Bryant Paul Johnson‘s comic Oh, the Beating Drum!
The Dread Geas of Duke Vulku, a game of horror and wonder based on the game Dread by the original author, Epidiah Ravachol.
A miscellany of delays and distractions for any journey.
And full-color cover art by Jabari Weathers.

Get your copy of the issue at the Worlds Without Master bazaar, at the Dig a Thousand Holes Payhip store, or at DriveThruFiction. You can also read “The Hoard of Yengra” as well as all of Epidiah’s other sword & sorcery fiction for free at Medium.com/Words-Without-Master/.

And as always, you can stand with the Patron Horde, lend your sword to the cause while guaranteeing your share of the spoils.

What’s Eppy Up To: Worlds Without Master, Issue 8

If you’ve come to this blog in search of Dread, the horror game that uses Jenga, you’ve come to the right place. Dig around and you’ll find plenty on the subject. If you’re curious about what else Epidiah Ravachol, the author of Dread, has been up to, or you’ve got a sweet tooth for sword & sorcery fiction, check out Worlds Without Master.

Issue 8, the latest issue of Worlds Without Master, is now available. It’s a bit of a milestone being both our first monthly issue and very soon now it will be the first issue that will be available in print as well as a PDF.

Right now, however, the PDF is available and as always it is jammed pack with adventures to be told and experienced. This 32-page PDF includes:

“In Pankech: the Ghost’s Chambers,” another Jakko Orange and Tam-tam adventure by Vincent Baker.
“In Search of a Slaying,” a tale of patience and hunger by Epidiah Ravachol.
Illustrations by Nate Marcel, Patricia Smith, and Jabari Weathers.
Another installment of Bryant Paul Johnson‘s comic Oh, the Beating Drum!
No Longer With Us, a game about what happens when adventures gather to lay a companion to rest by Dymphna Coy and Josh T. Jordan.
A miscellany of treasures bizarre and rare.
And full-color cover art by Gennifer Bone.

You can get your copy for $3.99 at WorldsWithoutMaster.com, Payhip or DriveThruFiction.

Or read “In Search of a Slaying” for free at Medium.com/words-without-master.

Ensure that you always get your share of the spoils, join the Patron Horde!

Go buy it, read it, and get back here, because I want to talk about the game in this issue: No Longer With Us.

Got it? Read it? Good.

Confession: I love when my character dies. In a roleplaying game, that is. Love it. It’s a chance to shed the old skin and slither into a new one. And a chance I rarely pass up. Take pity upon my PCs, for they risk their lives for a joy and glory they know not.

Because of my eagerness to jump into a new character, there’s rarely a moment to eulogize the dearly departed. This is one of the many reasons by No Longer With Us appealed to me. Death comes hand-in-hand with adventuring and while successful adventures dig down to find new and interesting ways to elude it, eventually it comes to us all. This is a game for the inevitable. A way to celebrate a passing and, perhaps more tantalizing, create a new beginning.

It stands on it’s one, allowing you to create your own rich world at this particular crossroad. You can invent adventures past and witness the birth of new adventures in the conflicting agendas of the various mourners. But it can also serve as a moment outside your regularly scheduled game in which you can turn the passing of a beloved PC into an event with substance and impact.

Beyond Dread

Welcome to the Dread Blog, where there is more dread than blog. I’m your host, Epidiah Ravachol, the author of Dread–which you can totally get a PDF of for only $3 and you probably should go do that now–but did you know I make other things? It’s true!

If sword and sorcery is your goblet of mead, then lo, there is Worlds Without Master, an ezine of adventure stories and games featuring my own weird fantasy as well as that of many others. Worlds Without Master is funded by Patreon, a crowdsourcing site that lets patrons say what they’ll pay per issue and then does not charge them until that issue is released (instead of the standard crowdsourcing method of charging first, releasing later). The larger my Patron Horde, the more content I can crush into each issue.