Will you poor souls become heroes, or will all Hell break loose in the final installment of Afterthought Committee's Level-0 series for Old-School Essentials?
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Baron Van Booraem is famous for his extravagant and exclusive dinner parties bringing wealthy nobles, high-ranking officials, and other elite members of society together for a night filled with debauchery and overindulgence. Given their exclusive nature, these parties are a favored topic of gossip. It's always been a dream of yours to attend and find out what really happens behind the closed doors of that manor. As luck would have it, you've finally been given the chance, invited through a random lottery of common folk the Baron has opened his doors to for the first time. But beware, the Baron has a secret connection to the Demon Lord Infernus and has gathered a crew of cultish followers to this party for a sinister plot to call upon the demon lord himself. Gather your friends and get dressed up for the night of your life in Dinner With The Damned!
Dinner With The Damned is a Level-0 Funnel for Old-School Essentials, suitable for around 3-8 hours of play. Instead of a single adventurer, each player will control 3-5 classless, level-0 characters at a time as they explore Baron Van Booraem's mansion, rub elbows with a crowd of eccentric dinner guests, and uncover the darkest secrets plaguing the township's rich & powerful citizens. As they attempt to make it out of the manor alive, these characters will be challenged by social encounters, combat scenarios, puzzles, and deadly traps. Will they survive the night and emerge as heroes, or will all Hell break loose?
Brought to you by the Afterthought Committee, Dinner With The Damned brings together writing duo Reilly Qyote & Josh Domanski, the team that brought level-0 funnels to OSE, with illustrator Evangeline Gallagher for a night of terror that will echo through your campaign.
Dinner With The Damned is an A5 staplebound zine (5.8in x 8.3in) containing a scenario suitable for a level-0 funnel or a challenging experience for a low-level adventuring party. In a funnel, players each control a small handful of common folk with no class abilities or strange powers and attempt to navigate a challenging, lethal gauntlet in order to survive. Through play we discover that crucial moment where everyday folks overcome the odds to become full-fledged adventurers. The zine includes:
A deadly scenario suitable for around 1-2 sessions of play, connected to the OSE Demonic Grimoire.
Unique illustrations by Evangeline Gallagher.
Mechanics for creating and playing Level-0 characters in OSE.
50 character backgrounds and their associated equipment.
A two part dungeon, diving into the fortress-like manor of the Baron and the horrid cultist tunnels beneath the house.
Advice on continuing play after the dinner party and connections to other Demon Month projects.
Grab the two original OSE funnel scenarios from the Afterthought Committee as part of the Three Course Bundle!
In Zed & Two Noughts, terror descends upon a quiet town, kidnapping citizens and thrusting them into a hellish nightmare. Trapped aboard a vessel crewed by prophecy-driven shapeshifters, unfortunate souls must band together—or perish. Fight brutal monsters, avoid devastating traps, and test your wits against an inscrutable enemy. This zine includes:
A deadly Level-0 funnel inspired by cosmic horrors & recurring nightmares.
Rules for creating and running a level-0 party in OSE.
Strange encounters and events lovingly illustrated by Andrew Walter.
Zed & Two Noughts
In Tangled, a carnivorous tangle of vines and bramble has spilled forth from an ancient fortress, swallowing up the countryside. Today, it reaches the outskirts of Peatstead. With promises of gold and glory swirling through your head, you’ll accompany a small army of commoners to put an end to its deadly expansion and emerge as heroes. Discover ancient treasures, avoid devastating traps, and encounter the wrath of nature itself. This zine includes:
A deadly Level-0 funnel inspired by environmentalism.
Rules for creating and running a level-0 party in OSE.
Pixel art by Postmodern Ouroboros & Luis Melo.
Tangled
Please note: Due to the logistics of group shipping (see Shipping & Fulfillment below), we are currently unable to offer Zed and Tangled in physical format as part of this crowdfunding effort. We will keep everyone in the loop if this changes.
Dinner With The Damned is brought to you by the Afterthought Committee, a group of independent writers, editors, and artists with a passion for tabletop games. This project brings together the following creators:
Reilly Qyote (Author) They/Any - Known for Cast Away, All Growed Up, Tangled, and Zed & Two Noughts. Reilly is the creative director behind Afterthought Committee and a regular contributor to the Far Horizons Co-Op. You can find more of their work here: Afterthought Committee
Josh Domanski (Author/Layout) He/They - Known for Tangled, Zed & Two Noughts, and their work with Liminal Horror. Josh specializes in writing adventures dripping with tension and horror. You can find more of their work here: Unenthuser
Evangeline Gallagher(Illustrator) They/Them - A freelance illustrator from Baltimore, Maryland with a BFA in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art. They have gone on to illustrate bestselling books and editorials for clients including: Penguin Random House, the New York Times, Disney, The New Yorker, Folio Society, Simon and Schuster, the Wall Street Journal, ProPublica, Warner Music Group, Pearl Jam, The Cure, Dave Matthews Band, The Guardian, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Peachtree Publishing, Harpers Magazine, The New Republic, Scientific American, and many more.
Evangeline Gallagher Portfolio
This work was made by humans. No AI or Machine Generated works are included in this project. Supporting this project means you are supporting real human beings who have dreams, passions, and bills. Thank You.
Dinner With The Damned is in partnership with Necrotic Gnome for OSE Month 2026—a month-long celebration of Old-School Essentials, demons, cults, and dark magic, featuring sister projects from other renowned creators!
SAVE BIG with DISCOUNTED GROUP SHIPPING! Thirteen of the seventeen projects in OSE Month are participating in group shipping with Demonic Grimoire. This means all rewards from these projects will be grouped and shipped together so that you can back multiple projects without paying a ton for shipping! For instance, if you're in the US and back the Demonic Grimoire Ritualist Pledge Level + 9 other projects, you are paying up to $29; saving you $124 vs. the approx $153 if you had backed each project individually.
Please note that the values in the table are an estimate to the best of our knowledge at the time the campaign launched given the shipping fees and rates from our fulfillment warehouses. Fulfillment is estimated to begin in January of 2027.
Old-School Essentials Month
Old-School Essentials Month is a group-collab project led by Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome, featuring a new 176-page OSE book — the Demonic Grimoire — and sister projects from 16 other renowned creators in the OSE community.
The theme of OSE Month 2026 is: DEMONS! Get ready for hordes of new monsters, adventures set in the realms of hell, fiendish new character options, and lashings of blood-dripping art.
Group Achievements
We will be announcing a series of achievements tied to the success of all OSE Month projects jointly! To start with:
All projects funded: When all OSE Month projects fund, we will arrange a community Ask Me Anything session on Discord, featuring creators from across the projects. This will be a chance to chat with the OSE Month creators about their projects.
Old-School Essentials (OSE) is a role-playing game of fantastic adventure inspired by classic games of the 1970s and 1980s. Players delve into forsaken ruins, battle fearsome monsters, explore haunted forests and perilous mountain ranges, sail the high seas in search of lost lands, recover fabulous treasures, and unearth secrets of ancient magic.
