"Epic low level OSR and 5e catacomb crawl" to hit Kickstarter on February 1st.
January 25, 2022
[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Game Developer and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press]
Author: Marc Star
Whispers in the shadows. Eyes of suspicion cast askance. None dare risk being accused of warlockery — for the accused, some innocent, some not, all gave their last breaths hanging from the trees of Warning Grove.
The villagers of Soulum know one truth — that such maleficence, the return of the warlocks, is the first sign of the prophecy: The Shadow Lord will rise again.
The Mirror of Malatesto launches Feb 1st 2022 on Kickstarter
The Mirror of Malatesto is an epic low level OSR and 5e catacomb crawl (with an overland intro) for 4-7 players in a world of paranoia, prophecy and the looming, world-altering plot of a conspiracy of warlocks scheming to raise an ages-old slumbering evil.
The Mirror of Malatesto features:
• 70+ pages
• 10 maps (1 continent map, 1 regional hex map, 5 location maps, 1 map of the Temple, 1 map of the Temple Catacombs and 1 map of the Maleficium) • Richly detailed Setting and Background info
• 9 Tables
• 24 Fully Statted NPCs
• 33 Monsters and Foes
• 26 Unique Items
• 12 New Spells (malefic magic)
• Slated to feature art by Del Tiegler (North Wind Adventures) and Chris Malec (Old School Essentials)
The Story
Lord Magnus Zaragoza, master of the village of Soulum, has put out an open call to the hardiest and bravest adventurers throughout the Empire of Ahm to venture into an abandoned and sealed dwarven mine to retrieve a powerful but dangerous artifact uncovered generations ago — a purple gemstone known as the Eye of the Dragon.
But before this dangerous quest begins, an unexpected local murder leads players into the catacombs underneath Soulum's Temple of the First Sage where lies the fabled Mirror of Malatesto — a doorway into the Maleficium, the secret sanctum of the First Age warlocks and their unholy experiments into the demonic art of malefic magic ... and the prison of Zaragoza's daughter Celestine.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
The Mirror of Malatesto takes place in a richly detailed and interwoven campaign world that players can explore, interact with and richly profit from. Every door, every room and every location interactively reveals more pieces of the puzzle of this world for players to put together.
But, the players DO NOT KNOW that a secret cult of warlocks schemes behind the scenes in this world and has infiltrated the majority of the institutions of the realm. Nevertheless, the evidence of this cult's efforts are all around and produce a highly dangerous environment.
The dangers vary from simple to suicidal — so this isn't just your average hack and slash. Wits will sometimes be a greater ally to the players than their steel. And explorers are amply rewarded for their efforts with an enormous variety of loot — from the mundane to the imaginative to the wondrously powerful.
The MALEFIC Campaign Trilogy
Malefic Book 0: The Mirror of Malatesto is a prequel adventure to introduce players to the Malefic campaign setting and the epic story that is forthcoming in three major installments:
PART I: The Rise of Summanus: The warlocks carry out and complete the necessary steps required to give physical form to their otherworldly patron, the Dragon King Summanus, in a climax that sees the world tearing open and the horrors of the Abyss erupting to the surface.
PART II: Kingdom of the Dragon King: While the Dragon King Summanus employs his Abyssal minions to extract the minerals and metals of the earth to construct his oppressive kingdom, PCs may either choose to profit in this world through an orgy of plunder or seek out Summanus in an attempt to destroy him. BUT, the reveal at the end of part 2 is that Summanus can never truly be destroyed unless the Heartstone, a giant gemstone that is the seat of Summanus's soul and his link to the physical plane, is found and shattered.
PART III: Into the Abyss: The Abyss is a megadungeon filled with all manner of ages-old vile horror through which players must delve in order to reach the very core of the underworld where resides the Heartstone.
Links
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marcxstar/the-mirror-of-malatesto
Email: [email protected]
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