Hello Backers!

I’m happy to announce that with the 90 day pause on tariffs, Catacolyte can finally move forward with importing the Class Packs! They’ve already left the warehouse and are in transit. Once I receive the shipment, I’ll immediately begin shipping out the Class Pack rewards.

Also, I’ll be appearing on the radio show Orcs & Dorks at 11:00 AM on June 7th to discuss Sins of Our Mother. I’ll go into detail about designing and publishing the book, discuss some of the project’s biggest pain points (and pleasures), and more!

Please tune in (via the Radio Free Brooklyn website) to hear more about how Sins was made and the thought processes that went into producing it. Call-ins are also welcome if you have a burning question and you want the answer straight from the horse’s mouth (we’ll provide a number once on air).

That’s all for now! I’ll have more soon.

Thank you for your continued support,
Ashton Baker, Creator of Catacolyte Games

I’m really happy with how the book turned out. The weight’s good. The colors pop (especially the reds). It’s funny how something just feels so much more real when you actually hold it in your hands.

If you backed Sins at the Inquisitor or Hierophant pledge levels (or got the addon), your PoD copy at cost is now ready!  Please check your email for a link. It'll come from DriveThruRPG ([email protected]), and look something like this:

Obligatory if you don't see it, check your spam folder. If didn't receive the email, please reach out to me here on Backerkit, via email ([email protected]), or via Discord (catacolytegames) and I'll get it worked out.

It'll take another 3-5 business days for the book and PDF to go up for sale on DriveThruRPG as they're currently reviewing the submission.

Here's the book!

Check below for images!

Hello everyone!

I’m here with a few updates regarding Sins of Our Mother physical rewards. 

The Class Packs are close to finishing mass production… Unfortunately, I have to delay distribution by at least a month due to tariffs. The current U.S. tariffs on goods imported from China is a staggering 120%. Catacolyte simply cannot afford to pay that much. Hopefully the tariffs are repealed and distribution can continue as originally planned. In the meantime, I will continue looking for alternate solutions.

At least we can see the first print run!

Backers who pledged at the Hierophant tier, I’ll be reaching later today to begin scheduling the one shot sessions. Please be on the lookout for an email from [email protected] The email will include nine possible dates, as well as an optional “consent checklist” to help make sure everyone has fun. 

I’ve been notified that the DriveThruRPG print prototype is on its way. As soon as I have more information, I’ll update everyone. 

That’s it for now. I hope everyone has a great week!

Ashton Baker
Creator of Catacolyte Games

Fear, heretic, for the majestic mother descends to liberate us from our shackles! Sin, and ascend, for we are her hammer, nail, and timber. We are the pieces of our own fleshly paradise. Blessed be the one true queen.

I'm proud to announce that Sins of Our Mother is complete after over a year of development! The final word count comes in at around 50,000 words, with almost 200 pages of content.

Backers, please look for your Backerkit survey email. Once you finish filling out the information and locking in your order, you'll receive your digital rewards shortly after via email.

Digital rewards depend on your pledge level, but can include: DRM-free PDF, Wallpapers, and Class Pack PNGs for Printing.

I also commissioned three new pieces of art in the last month to go with the narrative dungeons: Rebellion in Saint Rose City, Hospital of Quiet Minds, and Race of the Silver Tower.

Writing and playtesting these dungeons was some of the most fun I had all project. Each one offers something unique, and I encourage Backers to check these out as soon as possible.

The Class Packs have already gone to mass production, and should begin shipping in early May.

If you pledged at the Inquisitor or Hierophant level (or picked up the add-on), your rewards include a copy printed at cost. The book comes in at a little over $33 to print at cost, and will retail for $50 USD.  Sins has already gone to the DriveThru printer, and I'll receive the prototype in 4-7 weeks.

This process normally takes less time, but Sins' unique layout is more difficult to print. Backers who unlocked this reward will receive an email with a link to order through DriveThruRPG sometime in late May or early June. I'll make a Backerkit update then with photos of the book, so keep an eye out!

If you pledged at the Hierophant level (or grabbed the one shot add-on) you've got a seat at a one shot session run by Neill Shaughness, a Game Master with over a decade's worth of experience. Players will get to experience one of three narrative dungeons designed for Sins: Traitor Duchess & the Estate of Undeath, Race for the Silver Tower, or Rebellion in Saint Rose City. Sessions will run for 3-4 hours over Discord on Saturdays in the months of May and June. I'll be in touch personally to schedule these meetings, and make sure everyone gets into a group right for them.

You might be wondering, why isn't Hospital of Quiet Minds an option? Well, that narrative dungeon scares  me, and I wrote the damn thing. To be run properly, the adventure requires an antagonistic relationship between the Game Master and their players. I believe this is only possible for people who know and care about each other.

Sins of Our Mother has been a monumental undertaking, and the timeline shows. I've reinvented Sins not once, but twice. The first time was when the five subclasses transformed from into their own, unique classes. I think this was for the best, as it fit better with Sins' goal of radicalizing traditional D&D design.

Layouts also changed significantly. Backers might remember the early prototypes from the campaign. Those are long gone. Same with the early access layouts. Although I have experience with cards, book layouts were a beast in their own right. I worked with graphic designers (and even read The Elements of Typographic Style) to further hone Sins' layout design. I strongly believe this final version better represents Sins of Our Mother and what it aims to accomplish. I hope you feel the same way! Here's a quick look at how the layouts have changed (the oldest being on the left).

The two biggest changes were ditching the boxes, and moving from three to two columns. More subtly, the fonts changed to serif, the background became whiter, and gained crack marks to evoke marble.

Thank you all so much for your patience with me as I worked to finish Sins of Our Mother. I think the wait was worth it. As always, I'm open to feedback, and eagerly await your responses!

I don't know! I've given Sins my everything, and challenged myself at every step to exceed my abilities in terms of design, layout, and writing. I hope it shows. I need to take a short break, step back, and examine what Catacolyte wants to accomplish.

The new tariffs hit Catacolyte incredibly hard, as I partnered with Eastar Games Manufacturing in China to produce the Class Packs. I'm following through with production to ensure Backers get what was promised, but this new trade policy was incredibly disheartening for me as an indie designer. Catacolyte might switch to purely digital goods going further, but I will still be looking into more sustainable ways to offer physical products.

Best Wishes to All the Queen's Faithful,
Ashton Baker, Creator of Catacolyte Games

Sins of Our Mother goes well. The word count has climbed again in the course of editing, reaching over 50,000 words. These additions have filled plot holes, added nuance, and clarified information. Here’s the writing that’s been edited and finalized:

The narrative dungeons have seen a lot of work. These are the biggest, most complex chapters in the book. They sport NPCs, plot lines, quests, and more. Everything has to be measured with an exacting eye. This results in rewrites upon rewrites. For example, Hospital of Quiet Minds has gone through several drafts. Here’s a general look at their progress:

Everything gets better with each pass. Thank you for your patience as I put the polishing touches on Sins of Our Mother. I’m proud to announce that the PDF will be released in March, and the other rewards will come soon after. In the meantime, let’s take a look at one of my favorite classes.

The Flesh Singer has been really important to me ever since the beginning. I knew right away that I wanted something that both delivered on the fantasy of creating music and meddled with the meta aspects of Dungeons & Dragons. Nothing in vanilla D&D comes close to offering either.

I played an all Bard campaign a while back. We roleplayed a travelling band, wrote hit songs, and generally had a great time. But I never felt like I was making music. I was really just playing a utility spellcaster with a bit of flavor. Bardic Inspiration, while powerful, didn’t sell me the class fantasy. I wanted that feeling of piecing together notes to build towards something unique and interesting. Thanks to my good friend Tyler who kindly took time to explain musical theory, this’ll be possible with the Flesh Singer.

Composers string notes into various combinations that coalesce into a song. That’s what the Flesh Singer wants to do: combine notes into unique combinations that result in an effect. The problem is that the nigh-infinite combinations of notes that make music so rich are impossible for tabletop. That many permutations would not be fun (trust me, I tried). So, how can we streamline this design? Luckily, there’s a few rules in music we can use to reduce our choices. Let’s look at the Flesh Singer’s bread and butter ability: Blood Notes.

Low-level Flesh Singers will spend and roll their Hit Dice, and then parse out that number of Blood Notes to their allies and enemies. No creature can have more than three Notes at a time, so no doom stacking Sloth or Pride.

Instead, Flesh Singers will weave together Notes to affect the tempo of the battle. You might beef up a frontliner with Lust, Pride, and Wrath while giving a backline caster some extra oomph with Greed, Greed, and Sloth.

Spending Hit Dice like candy though can be rough. D&D combat is not just a question of tactical choices, but also logistics. Flesh Singers have a few class features to help the player keep up with their comrades. One of these is Will to Flesh.

So we have Blood Notes and a way to keep chugging along. What’s next? The Flesh Singer’s marquee feature comes at level three: Flesh Chords.

The number of Chords a Flesh Singer can keep simultaneously active is limited by another ability (Instrument of Flesh), but they possess a unique Chord for each Blood Note. Let’s look at three for now:

With Flesh Chords, the class’s  gameplay loop shifts from handing out minor buffs and debuffs to building powerful Chords. Some of these Chords make a creature more dangerous (like Pain), others offer utility (like Creation), while a few change the very nature of a creature (like Asymmetry).

At this point, the Flesh Singer comes into their own. They’re no longer dabbling in music, but full composers whose gameplay choices weave together to create original works. With luck (and a few other class features not shown here), player symphonies will become more than the sum of their parts and take on a life of their own.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Sins of Our Mother. Stay tuned for next time, and thank you for your support!

Ashton Baker,

Creator of Catacolyte Games