My most popular printed products in 2 bundles for the holiday season. The Ziggurat Bundle gets a DCC and an MCC adventure & one free month of Ophoric Patreon. The Wizard Sea Chronicles 2-Pack gets volumes 1 & 2 & one free month of WSC Patreon.
Ziggurat of the Mega-Maiden (Dungeon Crawl Classics, 2022) was a great success (by my meager expectations) and continues to be a popular title when I sell at conventions and other events. Tables are always full when I run it. So I put a lot of extra energy into making a deadlier version called Blackest Night (a reference to the Lantern Corp oath from DC Comics). The physical book contains both the original and the super-deadly Blackest Night version all in one. I call it a "heavy metal-fueled combat fest," as you roll initiative at the beginning and never leave it. Fans of Iron Maiden and Megadeth will find lots of easter eggs in it. But you needn't be a fan of heavy metal to enjoy the adventure. To this day, I still think about putting out a prequel to it. Currently, it is a Silver seller on DTRPG and rapidly approaching Electrum. That's in addition to the original crowdfund for it.
I followed that up with Ziggurat of the Megaton Maiden (MCC, 2024) where I took liberty with the word ziggurat (but I just love them so much!) and changed the venue (Mutant Crawl Classics). It's still a crazy cult trying to do something insane and deadly and you're again tasked with stopping it. The Ziggurat is an ancients nuclear power facility and the big bads are some of the toughest I've made. At cons, this is a gonzo session with tons of crazy things happening and often... a TPK.
In 2024 I started a new series of books, but this time they're system agnostic. More of an ever-growing campaign setting called The Wizard Sea Chronicles. It's my personal world where I've run games for 15+ years. It centers on the Wizard Sea, a large inland sea with a strange history. That location is now the heart of a massive continent that houses most of the adventures I've published. But it's a completely different style.
In it I do some experimental adventure design because I want it to be unique. In Volume 1 the main creature is an ever-evolving voracious predator. In Volume 2, all the enemies are human in nature. While there is space in the world for magic, I don't specifically design things to be magic. It's more of a gritty medieval era design to give it the ability to port into multiple game systems. I often leave notes in the books for GMs who have no/low/high magic worlds. For example, The Ravenous who is the BBEG in Vol 1 can be explained through multiple realistic scientific principles (infection, disease, parasites) but it could also be mystical and the culmination of a curse. It could be flat out magical in design and The Ravenous could be a magical creature of some sort. The goal is to paint a landscape onto the canvas of GM minds so they can fill in the details to make it what they want.
This is a what now? An experimental Speed Metal Dungeon? Yes, yes, it is. The idea emerged while listening to, shockingly, heavy metal. Specifically, Iron Maiden and Megadeth, hence the title and content. So, what’s it all about?
The PCs have been on the path of The Cult of the Mega-Maiden. The Cult seeks to bring the Demon Seed of Deth to the Iron Ziggurat of the Mega-Maiden. There they hope to perform the Ultimate Ritual and fulfill the Prophecy. This will break open the Demon Seed and bring the Wrathchild into the world with the Mega-Maiden acting as surrogate mother. We begin in medias res, in the middle of the plot. This gives Judges various options to drop this into an existing campaign with some minor set up, make this the culmination of previous adventures, or just run this as a speedy one-shot.
The Mutation Nation strive to bring the gift of the atom to all. The Doomsday Clock stands at 2 minutes to midnight and they have taken over Nooktun, a massive Ancients facility that once supplied the power of the atom to the region. They are preparing a ritual that will cause a massive detonation of ancient nuclear technology. This will bathe the region in radiation which they believe will allow all to bask in the mutating glow of the Megaton Maiden and become true Children of the Atom. but it may just kill everyone….. Can you stop them in time?
Players take on the role of pure-strain humans, mutants, manimals, and plantients and attempt to infiltrate the facility, defeat the Cult and stop the ritual.
his is a region I created some time back and have used off and on in numerous games and systems. It even appeared in a Twitch show called The Swashbucklers on TheLichingHour (though I'm not involved currently, the game continues) for a season before the BBEG destroyed that universe. Ouch.
The map is based on an actual place that I then took and edited, modified, twisted and and changed until I was happy with it. The Wizard Sea is roughly 150 miles E-W and around 100 miles N-S. Barristerburg (off map bottom right) is where much of my Intro to D&D for Kids sessions took place.
Contents of this zine include:
The Qualities Index v2.0 (QI2) - A way to adapt content to your favorite game system. The Ravenous - Ferocious, deadly, monstrous. None of these words capture the true horror that is The Ravenous. Each specimen has been unique in physical form, but one shared characteristic is their insatiable hunger for living flesh. The Horror at Lakecrest - The PCs are traveling south with a caravan. When they arrive at their last stop, Lakecrest, there is a commotion in the village drawing them into local events. A short adventure introducing The Ravenous. Appendix A: Lakecrest information - More information about the town where the adventure takes place to breathe more life into it. Appendix B: The Church of Vo, the One True God - A new militant, monotheistic religion spreading in the region. Appendix C: Children of Ceridwen, the Great Mother - The old pagan belief system in the region that may have some truth to it. Appendix D: Lakeside Introduction - A primer on the next volume of the chronicles. The closest town to Lakecrest. Lakecrest Area Random Encounters Appendix E: Owlf Encounter - Bonus creature! Part Owl, part wolf...all predator!
The Wizard Sea Chronicles Volume 2: Danger in Lakeside
The second area in the Wizard Sea region, Lakeside. While just 3 miles south of Lakecrest, Lakeside is a completely different vibe. Times are hard, life is cheap and things are bad for the residents. Crime is commonplace, homes are still burnt husks from the Workers' Revolt, and work is scarce. Lakeside need help! Have you got the skills to help clean up the town?
Contents of this zine include:
A Brief History of Lakeside - From original settlement until the time of the adventure. Danger in Lakeside - Lakeside is town in flux. Events of recent years have changed its very naturey, from a trading company-owned town, to a town divided. To the east is the walled East Lakeside (EL), owned and operated by the North South Trading Coster (NSTC). They are the former masters of the town until the worker revolt several years back. Now danger is high and life is cheap in Lakeside. Appendix A: Lakeside information - More information about the town where the adventure takes place to breathe more life into it. Appendix B: Lakeside Factions - A run down of who's who in the factions vying for control of Lakeside. Appendix C: Hammerball - An entirely new sport with elements of soccer, rugby, hurling and lacrosse. Appendix D: Lakeside Economy - Notes on the coin, and commerce of the town. Appendix E: Weather - This plays a major role in Lakeside, from a light fog to a Mystical Monsoon, it's all outlined here.
The Ophoric Labs Patreon - Unique TTRPG creations for any game. Products include Madventures (Mad Libs meets game design - Free for ALL), Creature Features (new creatures I dream up, stat out and give brief encounter notes on), adventure locations (Outpost Zeta, a wasteland gas refinery | The Swamped Village, a ruined village of dark energies and dangerous denizens | Critical and Fumble tables for specific weapon types, long/short blades, small/2-handed blunt | A random mighty deed table for DCC, to give those who struggle to design their own a hand up) 25 City Chase events, things that can happen to liven up a chase through the city.... and the list goes on.
The Wizard Sea Chronicles Patreon - Wizard Sea specific content. Sometimes I repurpose things from Ophoric Labs and call them WSC Side Quest, place them on the Wizard Sea map or give general guidance on where to put them. There are appendices that did not make it into the book which are background information for the region. Experimental game design ideas that I flesh out to a usable state like Influence which can be used when a Player needs to move the hearts and minds of many others but might not be the eloquent speaker or intimidating tough that their character is. Continued expansion of the Wizard Sea region outside of the printed books.
