More than a century ago, the Ragweed Tumble was a mundane, ordinary sort of place called Goldacre forest. Then, everything abruptly changed when the benign, clement woodlands became afflicted with the kind of verdant overgrowth befitting a dense jungle. The prolific spread of plants and vegetation culminated in huge, vine-like growths that towered the height of trees emerging throughout the forest.
Fast forward to today, and the tumble appears to be in a state of flux once more. Though this time, the metamorphosis is far more disturbing and has much more troubling implications. The forest appears to be expanding again after a century of harmonious balance. A surge of violent earthquakes and tremors shake the treetops, causing sinkholes and fissures to form in the forest floor. Scattered reports speak of vicious animal attacks. Paths are voraciously consumed by undergrowth. And, an inexplicable malaise spreads throughout the tumble like wildfire.
Linora Luddington, the leader of the forest's settlement of Raggers Hollow, has set out the call for 'brave adventurers and intrepid dungeoneers' to seek her out in the tumble. For reasons their own, the PCs have heeded that call. Though, what awaits them beneath the murky canopy of a corrupted realm of trees, magic, and fey remains to be seen.
"Too good to miss, Thunder of the Thorn is packed to bursting with carefully considered materials just begging to be brought to life at your table."
Thunder of the Thorn is...
...A 1st-to-5th-level adventure that is presented over an estimated 160-pages
...Setting-neutral/agnostic and built from the ground up for use with the 5th Edition of the world's oldest roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons
...Complete with thorough, lavish, and intricate gazetteers on the Ragweed Tumble and the village of Raggers Hollow–exploring both in intimate detail
...Packed with pages and pages of entirely new, adventure-specific rules, such as those used for for the handling of mental manifestations and physical corruptions; classes, backgrounds, features, and campaign traits.
...Bursting with extensive tables and charts that provide dozens of random encounters, events, treasures, discoveries, and more besides.
...Extensive and provides lengthy appendices that contain original monsters, bespoke NPCs, and unique magic items.
...Greatly expandable and easily adaptable, providing fully-developed Side Quests; as well as quest outlines, suggestions, and guidelines–which we're calling Quest Primers.
...premium and benefits from both triple-A production values and high-quality, full-colour artwork and cartography throughout.
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Slayers are swift-footed masters of battlefield navigation that channel the momentum from one kill into tearing other foes asunder. This complete, level 1-20 class also offers 5 unique and lethal Slayer Callings to help set each slayer apart from their deadly peers.
Soulbound are wretched and accursed souls whose fate and very existence has become embroiled with a Cursed Artifact. One of the most wildly ambitious classes released for 5th Edition to date, each soulbound is mechanically and thematically unique based on the physical form that their artifact takes, its origin, and the concept of its creator–allowing for unparalleled customisation.
Thunder of the Thorn itself is due out in July. However, those who want the Legacy rewards offered through Everything DeepDark (Digital) and Everything DeepDark (Digital + Physical) can expect those to ship much sooner.
You can also find us elsewhere on the web with the following links:
Please feel free to get in touch with us via direct message or by emailing me directly at daniel@deepdark-designs.co.uk.
"Est 2015, DeepDark Designs LTD is a game design studio and publishing house that writes adventures and rule supplements for your favourite tabletop roleplaying games"
Sounds great, but what does that mean in practice?
"In truth, we're a small business that's run by two brothers, Daniel & Sam, who once had 'proper jobs', but decided that we liked writing RPG supplements more. It doesn't seem like it, but that was quite a few years ago now. When we set out on this journey back in September of 2015, we were, admittedly, clueless. Neither of us have any background in publishing (indie or otherwise) or in the tabletop RPG industry, we'd never used Photoshop, and we'd never even heard of InDesign. Our credentials at that time amounted to our experiences at the table as gamers and game masters, and a couple of self-published novels that I put out shortly before founding DeepDark Designs. But, we're smart people, and we don't give up easily (or at all really).
Since then, we've worked tirelessly to hone our art. Working, on average, 100 hours a week. A typical day for us involves getting up at 03.45 in the morning, heading out at 04.40, and returning home around 20.40-21.00 (with an extra 2-3 hours in bed at the weekends, thank goodness). We work elsewhere 3 hours each day Monday to Friday but, the rest of the time, we're here in the office, at our desks, come rain or shine. We've been doing that for years now. Why? Because we're passionate as all hell about what we do. And, we think it's starting to show in the quality of what we're able to produce. But, that's for you to decide, not us.
Sam and myself can't wait to show you the fruits of our labours, and it means the absolute world to the pair of us to be able to do so. Thank you for supporting us in whatever capacity you're able to do so, and for joining us on this journey!" - Daniel McDonald, Director, DeepDark Designs
Though there are risks inherent to any venture of this nature, we do not foresee there being any major hurdles to releasing Thunder of the Thorn on time. Typically, the biggest stumbling blocks during fulfilment relate to things that need to be outsourced, where we have less direct control over them and it's harder to accurately predict deliverables. However, in this instance all of the outsourced work (cartographic illustrations, cover art, other artwork, etc) is completed already. In fact, around 65% of the book is actually finished and ready for release at this time.
While delays are always possible, we believe that we've budgeted sufficient time to get everything else done in preparation for launch - especially as none of the stretch goals we unlocked during the campaign should delay Thunder of the Thorn.