Category: Adventures

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The Lichseed Trilogy: A Three-Book Descent into Darkness

The Lichseed Trilogy is a connected series of high-stakes 5e adventures steeped in horror, mystery, and cosmic dread.

On this project, I worked with the excellent Yoav Niv at NiStar Entertainment handling both layout and cartography duties! Layout evoking the early 80s with 5E rules! Old and new harmonise!

There are two ways of backing the project: Kickstarter or Backerkit! Choose your weapon!

Pledge on BackerKit!
Pledge on Kickstarter!

The Lichseed Trilogy is a three-part adventure series for the fifth edition of the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop roleplaying game, compatible with both the 2014 and 2024 rulesets. Book I is already written and published. With your support, we can bring Books II and III of the Lichseed Trilogy to life! 

What’s In The Box

A failed act of forbidden magic has awakened the Lichseed, a parasitic power that spreads through soil, flesh, and stone. Its corruption twists beasts into horrors, ruins into traps, and dreams into nightmares. From the first bloom to the last withered root, the fate of entire worlds now hangs in the balance.

Book One – Isle of the Sunken Mage

A wizard’s failed lichdom unleashes the Lichseed—a parasitic bloom that warps land, beast, and mind. Explore cursed ruins. Battle horrors born of the bloom. Unearth grim truths. Already published in 5e and Shadowdark!

Book Two – The Corpse in the Void

Corpse in the Void is a cosmic dark fantasy adventure set upon the drifting body of a dead god, suspended in the endless Void. Inside you’ll find background lore, DM guidance, deadly surface encounters, surreal interior zones, biomechanical horrors, corrupted dwarven survivors, alien technology, forbidden magic, and escalating psychic terror. As the second chapter in the Lichseed Trilogy, it continues the story begun in Isle of the Sunken Mage but can also be adapted as a standalone 5th Edition adventure for groups that want a strange, lethal, high-concept descent into the unknown, compatible with both the 2014 and 2024 rulesets.

Book Three – The Root Beyond Worlds

The Root Beyond Worlds is a brutal infernal break-in adventure set across a drifting floe of cursed ice, a frozen wasteland haunted by the damned, and the black pyramid of Set itself. Inside you’ll find planar hazards, deadly patrols, soul-breaking environmental effects, treacherous infiltration challenges, trapped halls, infernal guardians, Egyptian-inspired dungeon chambers, and a final struggle to shatter the soul-binding ledger at the heart of the pyramid. As the third chapter in the Lichseed Trilogy, this adventure brings the saga into Hell itself, where cunning, stealth, negotiation, and nerve matter more than brute force. It can also be adapted as a standalone 5th Edition adventure for groups that want a lethal, high-stakes descent into an alien infernal stronghold, compatible with both the 2014 and 2024 rulesets.

Pledge on BackerKit!
Pledge on Kickstarter!

Check out the Lichseed Trilogy and back it today!

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Mice of Legend – Omnibus Volume 1

I’ve had the very great pleasure to work with Alchemical Press and its owner Paul Hoeffer on the layout of a number of their products.

In particular, the Mice of Legend line which includes the Perils of Portal Lake campaign setting and adventures, in both OSRIC/1E/OSR and Shadowdark variants. Over on DriveThruRPG they also have OSE & 5E conversion guides. From the Alchemical Press website…

Tiny Heroes, Epic Adventures

Do you want something fresh, wildly imaginative, and packed with rich details? How about an adventure where your party is transformed into heroic mice, navigating a world that’s both thrilling and whimsical—where even the smallest step feels epic?

If you’re saying, “I’m in!” then Mice of Legend is your next great campaign series. Bursting with intricate lore, beautifully designed maps, and adventures that will have your players laughing, strategizing, and immersed for hours, this is the unforgettable experience you’ve been waiting for!

Step into a world where even the smallest heroes can make the biggest difference! Mice of Legend transforms your favorite D&D (and now Shadowdark!) gameplay into a thrilling, mouse-sized epic filled with towering predators, mystical relics, and heart-pounding quests.

Whether you’re a seasoned adventurer or looking for a fresh twist, our Campaign Guide has everything Dungeon Masters need to bring this tiny world to life. Your players will navigate colossal challenges in a land where a blade of grass becomes a forest, and a puddle turns into a perilous lake. It’s D&D – and Shadowdark! – from a whole new perspective!

Why Play as Mice?

Mouse-Sized Adventures: Experience D&D/Shadowdark with a unique twist—your characters are transformed into mice, and every challenge becomes larger-than-life! Sneak past predators, explore miniature civilizations, and wield magic in ways you’ve never imagined.

Easy Conversion for All D&D Systems: Our conversion tables make it simple for your table to turn their existing party into mouse-sized heroes. Written for AD&D/OSR with conversion guides for OSE (BX) and 5e, and easily adaptable to other OSR systems. Native Shadowdark editions are in play-test now and will be published in the spring of 2026.

Stunning Visuals and Maps: Over 100 hand-drawn illustrations and 50 vibrant, VTT-ready maps transport your party into a world bursting with detail. From sprawling mouse villages to dangerous lairs, every corner of this miniature world is filled with danger and wonder.

Instant Gameplay: Your adventure begins in the human realm, where a sacred relic has mysteriously vanished—only to be hidden in the world of mice. As your party transforms into their tiny counterparts, the quest to recover the relic and protect the mouse world kicks off an unforgettable journey.

More Adventures Coming Soon: Module M6 is in art and modules M7 & M8 – along with two 1-shot adventures – are written and in game testing. Each module offers new locations, new monsters, new spells, and new magic items for you to explore.

Join the Community: Stay connected and be part of the growing Mice of Legend community. Join our Discord server to connect with other DMs, share your campaigns, and get insider tips on running your adventures.

The Shadowdark versions (of the setting guide and first 3 adventuures) are coming to Kickstarter soon here, as well as the OSRIC/1E version of M6, and Whispers of the Burrow Gods (a complete mouse pantheon).

Please click the buttons to go to the Kickstarter pages and Save to get notified:

Shadowdark Kickstarter
M6 + Whispers of the Burrow Gods Kickstarter

The modules are available individually as well as the setting guide, but we’ve compiled them into hardbacks too which are available soon.

This is the compiled Mice of Legend Omnibus Volume 1 hardcover, which includes the following: the Setting Guide, adventures M1, M2, M3, M4, N1, and relevant maps from the Adventure Atlas products.

A hardcover gaming book titled 'Mice of Legend: Omnibus Volume 1' featuring illustrations of a dragon and cartoon mice characters, resting on a detailed fantasy map.
A close-up view of the book 'Mice of Legend: Omnibus Volume 1', featuring a colourful illustration on the cover with mice characters and a dragon against a textured background.
The back cover of a book featuring an illustration of anthropomorphic animals by a river, surrounded by trees, set against a detailed fantasy map.
An open book displaying the credits and contents pages, with a detailed map in the background.
Open book displaying a trail map key with detailed descriptions of various locations, including skeletons and creatures, set against a textured map background.
An open book showing a page titled 'Arrival at Hill Town' and a section on 'Notes on the Woodrat Ambush Map', alongside an illustration of a white dragon and a red dragon in a mine setting with the chapter title 'M4: Part-time Professional Mine Janitors'. The background features a detailed map.
An open book displaying game rules and character illustrations, with a map in the background.
Open book displaying two pages of gameplay modules, M1 and M2, with tables of character statistics, attributes, and an illustration of adventurers.
An open fantasy map illustrating Portal Lake, featuring nearby forests, mountains, and marked locations along paths and waterways.

Get in on the mousey action!

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Ryecroft – An Unforgettable Adventure Ends Soon!

Hello Everyone,

We hope you are all doing well.

The Ryecroft Kickstarter is into the last few days of the campaign and it’s not too late to pledge. We are already funded and have pulled out all the stops to get this product printed and out to backers as soon as humanly possible.

For our loyal US customers: We don’t produce books in China, so you don’t need to worry about getting stung on high tariffs. At time of writing, there is no tariff impact on fulfilment.

Please feel free to share!

Ryecroft: A Dangerous Cemetery Crawl for OSE and B/X TTRPGs

A dangerous cemetery crawl location for Old School Essentials (OSE) and B/X retroclones. Suitable but challenging for Levels 1 and above. We promise there aren’t a lot of undead!!

ENDS SOON! Back Now on Kickstarter

Ever since the plague and consequent razing of the abbey over one hundred and eighty years ago, Ryecroft has been left to its fate. An overgrown and unearthly place, most that have heard of it, do their best to avoid it. Some say that the dead roam its memorial strewn grounds, but the knowledgeable believe otherwise… Before her savage death, the old abbess swore that the dead would never rise within its boundaries, and she was mostly right. It is not the dead that trespassers should fear. It is the things below…

  • Main Book: An A5-sized hardcover, 224 pages, 120 gsm uncoated interior, smythsewn binding, black ribbon, black endpapers, containing 224 interior pages. Containing:
    • A timeline of events.
    • The detailed village of Woodchurch Eaton from which your PCs can make forays into the cemetery and recuperate.
    • Adventure hooks table.
    • Handling movement around the overgrown cemetery and random wandering monsters.
    • Desecration and atonement rules for disturbing burials.
    • Collectable items: Blueglass shards, Bones of the Saint, and Tombs of the Lost Crescent items.
    • Factions within the cemetery: Woodlings, maggotkin, wormkin, the old abbess, and the golems.
    • Notes on Gamemastering the cemetery.
    • 34 detailed above ground locations.
    • 133 detailed below ground locations.
    • 27 brand new bestiary creatures.
    • 5 new magic items and 1 new spell.
    • 3 bestial playable race-classes: Grubkin, Protector Lice, and Wormancers.
    • 12 tables for generating memorials.
  • Collectables Record Booklet: An A5-sized softcover, 8 pages, 120 gsm uncoated interior, stapled binding, matt laminated softcover.
  • Memorials Record Booklet: An A5-sized softcover, 8 pages, 120 gsm uncoated interior, stapled binding, matt laminated softcover.
  • Maps: Folded to A5. Printed full colour both sides. 150gsm uncoated paper stock.
    • Referees Map: Detailing the above and below ground locations for the referee.
    • Players Map: Detailing the above ground map for the players, as well as the village of Woodchurch Eaton and some cool mood artwork.
  • Card Deck & GM Screen Inserts: Level 3 Reward Tier backers will also get access to ‘at cost’ coupons for the following print-on-demand items:
    • 120-card Memorial Card Deck (Premium US Poker-sized cards)
    • 11-page Portrait GM Screen Inserts (Premium 8.5 x 11” cards)

Our Level 3 Reward Tier…

ENDS SOON! Back Now on Kickstarter
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Ryecroft is Live Now on Kickstarter!

Hello Everyone,

We hope you are all doing well.

We just wanted to let you know that we have a new Kickstarter campaign now running which might interest you.

Please feel free to share!

Ryecroft: A Dangerous Cemetery Crawl for OSE and B/X TTRPGs

A dangerous cemetery crawl location for Old School Essentials (OSE) and B/X retroclones. Suitable but challenging for Levels 1 and above. We promise there aren’t a lot of undead!!

Now LIVE! on Kickstarter.

Ever since the plague and consequent razing of the abbey over one hundred and eighty years ago, Ryecroft has been left to its fate. An overgrown and unearthly place, most that have heard of it, do their best to avoid it. Some say that the dead roam its memorial strewn grounds, but the knowledgeable believe otherwise… Before her savage death, the old abbess swore that the dead would never rise within its boundaries, and she was mostly right. It is not the dead that trespassers should fear. It is the things below…

  • Main Book: An A5-sized hardcover, 224 pages, 120 gsm uncoated interior, smythsewn binding, black ribbon, black endpapers, containing 224 interior pages. Containing:
    • A timeline of events.
    • The detailed village of Woodchurch Eaton from which your PCs can make forays into the cemetery and recuperate.
    • Adventure hooks table.
    • Handling movement around the overgrown cemetery and random wandering monsters.
    • Desecration and atonement rules for disturbing burials.
    • Collectable items: Blueglass shards, Bones of the Saint, and Tombs of the Lost Crescent items.
    • Factions within the cemetery: Woodlings, maggotkin, wormkin, the old abbess, and the golems.
    • Notes on Gamemastering the cemetery.
    • 34 detailed above ground locations.
    • 133 detailed below ground locations.
    • 27 brand new bestiary creatures.
    • 5 new magic items and 1 new spell.
    • 3 bestial playable race-classes: Grubkin, Protector Lice, and Wormancers.
    • 12 tables for generating memorials.
  • Collectables Record Booklet: An A5-sized softcover, 8 pages, 120 gsm uncoated interior, stapled binding, matt laminated softcover.
  • Memorials Record Booklet: An A5-sized softcover, 8 pages, 120 gsm uncoated interior, stapled binding, matt laminated softcover.
  • Maps: Folded to A5. Printed full colour both sides. 150gsm uncoated paper stock.
    • Referees Map: Detailing the above and below ground locations for the referee.
    • Players Map: Detailing the above ground map for the players, as well as the village of Woodchurch Eaton and some cool mood artwork.
  • Card Deck & GM Screen Inserts: Level 3 Reward Tier backers will also get access to ‘at cost’ coupons for the following print-on-demand items:
    • 120-card Memorial Card Deck (Premium US Poker-sized cards)
    • 11-page Portrait GM Screen Inserts (Premium 8.5 x 11” cards)

Our Level 3 Reward Tier…

Please feel free to check it out here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monkeyblooddesign/ryecroft-a-dangerous-cemetery-crawl-for-ose-and-b-x-ttrpgs?ref=c4vnji

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Ryecroft nears…

It’s finally coming…

On Friday 28th of this month, we finally launch Ryecroft, a dangerous cemetery crawl location for Old School Essentials. It’ll run in most B/X systems easily and nicely in Swords & Wizardry.

Sign up to get notified on Kickstarter

What is it?

A dangerous cemetery crawl location for Old School Essentials (OSE) and B/X retroclones. Suitable for Levels 1 and above.

Ever since the plague and consequent razing of the abbey over one hundred and eighty years ago, Ryecroft has been left to its fate. An overgrown and unearthly place, most that have heard of it, do their best to avoid it. Some say that the dead roam its memorial strewn grounds, but the knowledgeable believe otherwise… Before her savage death, the old abbess swore that the dead would never rise within its boundaries, and she was mostly right. It is not the dead that trespassers should fear.
It is the things below…

We avoided most of the undead tropes and for the most part, undead don’t really play a part.
Also, there’s no AI involved in the project either.

You can get…

  • A 224-page smythsewn A5 hardback
  • Two A5 softcover booklets for tracking collectables, and recording memorials
  • Two A2 posters (folded to A5), one for players and one for referees.
  • In addition, there will be an option for grabbing a deck of memorial cards and also some GM screen inserts (to make the Referee’s life a little easier at the table).

There will be three pledge tiers:

  • (£15) Level 1: Digital files
  • (£40) Level 2: Physical rewards and digital files
  • (£50) Level 3: Physical rewards and digital files, as well as the option to get the cards and GM screen inserts
Sign up to get notified on Kickstarter

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Ryecroft: A Dangerous Cemetery Crawl for OSE and B/X TTRPGs

I’ve been working on this project over the years, but life kept getting in front of it. The pandemic, moving house, lots of freelancing, etc. It was close but needed a push over the line and NOW, the Kickstarter prelaunch is finally up.

With an expected lanuch of January 2025, this should finally get MonkeyBlood Design back to doing what it does best…. creating great and memorable products. Bring it on! This is a cemetery like no other!

Click any of the images to take you to the Kickstarter prelaunch page and get notified when it goes live!

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ENDS VERY, VERY SOON!

Rancid Canyons of the Floating Death Sheep
on KICKSTARTER has just a few days remaining!
Don’t get backer envy, secure your pledge now!

An adventure with versions for 5E, Swords & Wizardry, and Dungeon Crawl Classics. Now LIVE! on Kickstarter.

Take me to the Kickstarter page!

Rancid Canyons of the Floating Death Sheep is a low level adventure available in three rule variants: Fifth Edition (5E), Swords & Wizardry* (S&W), and Dungeon Crawl Classics** (DCC) and therefore can be used in all retro-clones and old school role-playing games with little or no work.
The adventure features the following.

  • The detailed village of Yarrowbone featuring NPCs and 22 locations (can be used as a base for any future adventure).
  • Immersive NPC and building art.
  • Six pieces of cool cartography.
  • Three new juicy magic items.
  • Seven tricky new adversaries.
  • Five engaging mapped encounter locations.
  • Table of additonal adventure hooks.
  • Table of NPC names.
  • Information on fitting the adventure into the Lost Wyrld setting of The Midderlands.

* Swords & Wizardry, S&W, and Mythmere Games are trademarks of Matthew J. Finch. Glynn Seal, MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing are not affiliated with Matthew J. Finch, Mythmere Games™, or Frog God Games.

** Dungeon Crawl Classics and DCC RPG are trademarks of Goodman Games. For additional information, visit www.goodman-games.com or contact info@goodman-games.com.

Click here to head to the Kickstarter page and make your pledge:

Take me to the Kickstarter page!

Many thanks,
Glynn over at MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing

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Rancid Canyons of the Floating Death Sheep NOW LIVE on Kickstarter!!!

An adventure with versions for 5E, Swords & Wizardry, and Dungeon Crawl Classics. Now LIVE! on Kickstarter.

Take me to the Kickstarter page!

Rancid Canyons of the Floating Death Sheep is a low level adventure available in three rule variants: Fifth Edition (5E), Swords & Wizardry* (S&W), and Dungeon Crawl Classics** (DCC) and therefore can be used in all retro-clones and old school role-playing games with little or no work.
The adventure features the following.

  • The detailed village of Yarrowbone featuring NPCs and 22 locations (can be used as a base for any future adventure).
  • Immersive NPC and building art.
  • Six pieces of cool cartography.
  • Three new juicy magic items.
  • Seven tricky new adversaries.
  • Five engaging mapped encounter locations.
  • Table of additonal adventure hooks.
  • Table of NPC names.
  • Information on fitting the adventure into the Lost Wyrld setting of The Midderlands.

* Swords & Wizardry, S&W, and Mythmere Games are trademarks of Matthew J. Finch. Glynn Seal, MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing are not affiliated with Matthew J. Finch, Mythmere Games™, or Frog God Games.

** Dungeon Crawl Classics and DCC RPG are trademarks of Goodman Games. For additional information, visit www.goodman-games.com or contact info@goodman-games.com.

Click here to head to the Kickstarter page and make your pledge:

Take me to the Kickstarter page!

Many thanks,
Glynn over at MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing

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Rancid Canyons of the Floating Death Sheep

An adventure with versions for 5E, Swords & Wizardry, and Dungeon Crawl Classics. Coming to Kickstarter in early 2022.

Click here to ‘Notify me on launch’

Rancid Canyons of the Floating Death Sheep is a low level adventure available in three rule variants: Fifth Edition (5E), Swords & Wizardry* (S&W), and Dungeon Crawl Classics** (DCC) and therefore can be used in all retro-clones and old school role-playing games with little or no work.
The adventure features the following.

  • The detailed village of Yarrowbone featuring NPCs and 22 locations (can be used as a base for any future adventure).
  • Immersive NPC and building art.
  • Six pieces of cool cartography.
  • Three new juicy magic items.
  • Seven tricky new adversaries.
  • Five engaging mapped encounter locations.
  • Table of additonal adventure hooks.
  • Table of NPC names.
  • Information on fitting the adventure into the Lost Wyrld setting of The Midderlands.

* Swords & Wizardry, S&W, and Mythmere Games are trademarks of Matthew J. Finch. Glynn Seal, MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing are not affiliated with Matthew J. Finch, Mythmere Games™, or Frog God Games.

** Dungeon Crawl Classics and DCC RPG are trademarks of Goodman Games. For additional information, visit www.goodman-games.com or contact info@goodman-games.com.

Click here to head to the Kickstarter pre-launch page and get notified when it launches:

Take me to the pre-launch Kickstarter page!

Many thanks,
Glynn over at MonkeyBlood Design & Publishing

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Against the Darkmaster Adventure

The fabulous folks over at Open Ended Games asked me if I would write an adventure for Against the Darkmaster (also known as VsD). I said yes of course! So keep your eyes peeled for The White Watchtower as part of a campaign series coming soon.

I pixellated this so you wouldn’t spoil the surprise!

Already having backed the KS for the glorious hardback, and having read through the Core Rules, I LOVE this system and setting! Let’s hope the hardback gets a reprint soon too.

My own copy of the gloriousness that is Against the Darkmaster

Mockup of the Hard Cover Full Rules Core Book
Image (c) OpenEnded Games