Who will you meet in your journeys through the hells? We took the iconic Appendix D from the Original DMG and gave it a B/X twist to help you find out. Check out our Random Demon Generator here: https://knightowlpublishing.com/demons.html
Emporium of the Damned is part of the Group Shipping with Demonic Grimoire--the more projects you back, the more you save!
An Interdimensional Hell-Market for Old-School Essentials
“Life is cheap here…but a good soul will cost you.”
Hell isn't cute. It's not cozy, fun, or charming. Hell is weird and evil and messed up. In a word, it sucks. It's the kind of place that leaves you uncomfortable and unhappy, even in relatively safe places like the Emporium.
Even in the dead lands, where the very air is stained nicotine yellow, even in the infernos of Hell, where the rancid smells of burning flesh and sulfur assault the senses, even in the frigid lands of ever-winter, where the ice is so cold it burns like acid, even in places and planes more terrible and more remote than all these combined…
people do be shopping.
The Emporium of the Damned is a sprawling, infernal marketplace that exists in a pocket dimension beyond the planes of Hell, yet connects to all of them. It is what it has always been: inviting…insidious…inevitable.
It stretches across a fossilized demon’s ribcage rising from a lake of burning pitch: a bazaar like none other, where demon lords trade secrets, cultists barter souls, and desperate adventurers risk everything for the slightest bit of power.
Because we wanted to make something that you would be able to use at the table right away—and that was 100% hardcore and metal AF. We didn't want players to have to wait a single day to interact with the despicable and the damned, and they get to do it all day, every day at the Emporium of the Damned! Demons are demonic, the Hells are a nightmare, and corruption is forever. This book never lets you forget any of that.
The Emporium serves as a nexus linking all the planes ruled by the demon lords—bypassing the usual routes through the Land of the Dead—making it a perfect clandestine setting for secret deals and shadowy collusion between demon lords and their underlings.
It functions as a meeting ground or launching point for adventurers planning to delve into any of the demon lords’ realms, providing rich plot hooks for countless infernal journeys.
It provides PCs with a place to unload infernal items and equipment that they have collected in their journeys through the Hells and beyond, and to gear up in preparation for further adventures.
Designed to work well with other books in the campaign. With tons of new equipment, NPCs, rumor tables, corruption mechanics, and plot hooks, it will also make for an excellent stand-alone resource as well.
Included within the Emporium of the Damned, you will find:
A campaign hub
Patrons, factions, and the damned
A corruption engine
A deal-with-the-devil (soul-pledging) subsystem
Hell-mounts, Infernal Wares, Demonic Grimoires, and more
We believe that cursed items shouldn’t be “gotchas.” They should be temptations. They offer the PCs real power, at a price. You may not know exactly what the cost will be when you make the purchase, but you know there is one.
Because in the realms of the damned, there is one unbreakable rule:
Everyone pays their dues.
Every demonic item in Emporium of the Damned is designed to:
Offer real power
Corrupt its user, causing meaningful complications
Escalate over time
Invite player choice
We offer over 60 demonic weapons, grimoires, and illicit goods for your table, including:
Devil Blades that grow more powerful with each companion they kill
And just so you know, here's what's not in the book:
We will never use AI-generated artwork in any of our publications. Every single illustration, map, graphic, and logo is 100% human-made by Wind himself. If we ever need more artwork than Wind can do all by himself, we always hire real human artists to make it for us. We believe strongly in the integrity of the creative process, which means no shortcuts.
Because your campaign deserves a location you and your players will never forget.
Because cursed items are more interesting than +1 swords and healing potions.
Because temptation is more fun than treasure alone.
Because somewhere in your world, the door is open, the faint odor of brimstone is filling the room, and the calls of the Emporium can already be heard.
Wind Lothamer — Art, design, layout. The visual mind behind nearly all Knight Owl Publishing books, plus work for Necrotic Gnome, Expeditious Retreat, Orbital Intelligence, Arden Vul, and more.
Ahimsa Kerp — Writing, editing, outreach. Author of nearly everything we’ve published, contributor to Ultracosmic, Knock! and Dolmenwood, and novelist with Severed Press.
You — The RPG community that makes every project possible. Thank you for bringing Emporium of the Damned to life.
We’ve run many successful crowdfunding projects before—small and not-so-small—and we pride ourselves on clear, honest communication.
We are participating in the group shipping with Demonic Grimoire and other OSE Month projects. Which means that the more you back, the more you save in shipping! Emporium of the Damned will be shipped from the Exalted Funeral fulfillment center with Demonic Grimoire and any other participating projects
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.
If you back Emporium of the Damned by itself, it will also be shipped through Exalted Funeral with the following estimated rates: US $9-$12 | CA $18-$20 | UK $10-$13 | EU + EFTA $12-$15 | AU $14-$17 | Rest of World $20-$25
Writing and development are well underway before launch. The primary variables are layout time and print scheduling. We have successfully navigated these processes across multiple campaigns and will provide consistent updates throughout fulfillment.
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.
