This update contains news on The Darkest Woods app, gives you some insight into the design inspiration for The Darkest Woods, and provides you with a list of rewards that have been fulfilled.
Building The Darkest Woods
Our techs have spent weeks in The Darkest Woods using their amazing skills creating the app. There will be more on this in later updates, including some spreads and images to show their progress, but we wanted you to know they are working diligently to bring Monte's vision to life—and to your desktop!
Sneak Preview
A quick peek into the draft of The Darkest Woods hardcover reveals the following art!
Two giant crow sentinels flank a carved stone stair leading up from the forested stone chasm.
A humanoid figure is restrained by tendrils inside a huge hollow of a dead tree.
A figure sits in the sunlight on the steps up to a wooden house in the woods
Rewards Available to Redeem:
The following rewards are available to redeem from the MCG store. Here’s a reminder of how you claim your rewards.
Cypher System Starter Set
NPC Deck in print and PDF
Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game in print and PDF
The Darkest House, digital
The Darkest House, hardcover
The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game in print and PDF
The Weird in print and PDF
Your Best Game Ever in print and PDF
The Darkest Woods: Design Inspiration
We’ve been posting design diaries for the new Cypher campaign so you can see the creative process and how things work. We wanted to give you similar insight into The Darkest Woods. Here’s Monte to tell you about it:
“While The Darkest House was inspired primarily by horror books and films, The Darkest Woods was inspired primarily by personal experience. Not that I'm trying to say that I faced some kind of paranormal terror in the forest. I haven't. But I've been in the deep, deep woods, with visibility only a dozen yards or so due to thick, twisted trees. The trees take on strange and unnerving shapes in the twilight, and the silence is broken by strange, unknown noises. And at night, it's the darkest of darks, with nothing resembling civilization for miles and the canopy above blocking the stars and moon. It's a vibe. Maybe you've experienced the same thing yourself. Sure, there are plenty of horror books and movies that added to that vibe, but every encounter in The Darkest Woods goes back to that initial feeling. It provided a sort of "vibe check," so that if an encounter matched with the feeling the dark woods gives you in your gut, and on the back of your neck, and running down your spine, I knew it was right for The Darkest Woods”.
A Dragonrider sits atop their mount on a red carpet in a castle, addressing their banner bearing retinue
Cypher Is Here—Back It Now!
While The Darkest Woods holds on to its mysteries for a little while longer, if you’re keen to play any campaign, any genre, with any character then dive into Cypher! There are exciting changes in progress: find out more here.
Showing the Character Book and GM's Guide for Cypher
