Monsters/NPCs
Awful Pets
Content: 8 basilisk friends for you to take home (or to a fun dungeon)
Writing: A veritable blender of sarcasm, irony, and overt humor—a fun read
Art/design: Could easily be a full-page ad in The Dying Land Gazette
Usability: Generate your own basilisk in only 3 rolls
Babalon’s Hangover
Concept: “The mother of abominations woke up expecting after a feast held in the pits of doom and gloom.”
Content: 40 diverse monsters to add depth and flavor; many truly striking concepts
Writing: Some evocative prose and poetry; first- and second-person instructional text adds a personal tone but may break immersion for some readers
Art/design: Skillfully captures Mörk Borg’s aesthetic
Usability: Streamlined stat blocks, clear tables, and instructional text for linked entries and creature categories
Ballad of Bergharuth
Content: Copious lore, a table of guises Bergharuth takes, and stats for Suffocating Tentacles
Writing: A sinister tone and visceral, violent imagery; also includes some nascent adventure seeds
Art/design: Repetition of organic forms and lines help create a visual unity and graphically represent the concepts described in the text
Usability: Could be implemented as a background plot or counternarrative to the primary apocalyptic scenario
Basilisks Hate Grundel Fims
Content: The all-singing, all-dancing crap of the crappy world
Writing: Includes lore, a stat block, a little ditty, and stats for the patrons they inspire
Art/design: Typographically differentiates the various components, plus a whole lot of basilisks crawling all over everything
Usability: He’ll hit you with his lute, apparently
BEAR-THING
Content: An undead amalgam of bear and goblin (but also undead)
Writing: Succinctly but entertainingly describes behavior and motivation
Art/design: Economic arrangement of text around a pretty expressive image
Usability: Keeps PCs on their toes by knocking them off their feet (with its blood)
Beast from the Lightless Depths
BEstitchARY
Content: 30 creatures, 900 combinations to mix and match (including BASILISKS) with tables for hooks and additional features
Writing: Brutally entertaining
Art/design: Absolutely meticulous
Usability: Includes digital Stitcherer generator; product page includes instructions for printing as a zine or as cards, or you can just mutilate the book (and this is one of the few times that’s okay)
Betty Blackteeth
Content: Jenny Greenteeth adapted to the swamps of the Greater Galgenbeck area
Writing: Descriptive text provides character and tactics; stat block includes a chain of nasty Specials
Art/design: Builds the isolated, suffocating atmosphere that defines the monster
Usability: This is why you shouldn't play in swamps (or maybe why you should when you're playing Mörk Borg)
Big F’n Rock
Concept: “Röck Borg”
Content: It’s a big f’n rock
Writing: Infuses the mechanics with some grim humor
Art/design: Use of color keeps text visible against but coordinated with ground
Usability: Rock ’n roll
Bird of Ill Omen
Content: Relatively benign; may transfer Omens from players to the GM, and feathers allow PCs to re-roll low Omen rolls (at a cost)
Writing: Mostly mechanics with concise description of behavior
Art/design: Monochrome silhouette suits the monster concept
Usability: Additional in-game lore, inspiration, and hooks provided on the product page
Birth of the Unsaint
Black Adder
Content: Danger noodle (sometimes called a nope rope)
Writing: Stat block and a mechanically straightforward but still twisted special ability
Art/design: An object lesson in pictures being worth a thousand words
Usability: Special damage adds more nuance to an already sturdy monster
Black Lady
Content: A retributive, relentless night-haint
Writing: Lore and mechanics are both delivered clearly and efficiently
Art/design: Clearly delineate segments of text and uses color and typeface to add emphasis
Usability: Escapable but not killable; has the potential to debilitate long-term guests
Black Poodle
Content: A cunning, monstrous hound that can induce fight, flight, or freeze responses in PCs
Writing: Describes sinister behavior alongside stat block and Specials
Art/design: Gets a lot of aesthetic mileage out of a relatively limited set of elements
Usability: Definitive proof that poodles are jerks
Black Shuck
Content: A formidable four-legged opponent
Writing: Quick, concise stat block
Art/design: Relatively conservative but with an expressive illustration
Usability: A challenge for lower- and even mid-level scvm; dog biscuits probably won’t improve its reaction
Black Shuck
Content: A supernatural portent of impending death (yours)
Writing: An even split between descriptive text and mechanics
Art/design: Text is also visually split by the central image of Black Shuck
Usability: Easy to use but difficult to kill, making him ideal to hound your players with
Blaze Marches East
Content: This composite monster doesn’t start fights but will most definitely end them
Writing: Some verse and a paragraph describing behavior; no stats other than damage
Art/design: An excellent illustration and color-coordinated text blocks
Usability: A strong motivator to resolve conflicts without violence
Bloodlusting Nutcracker
Bloody Cap
Content: Stats and description of the monster along with a short dungeon lair
Writing: Does a good job conveying maliciousness and viciousness
Art/design: Use of color reinforces the creature’s theme
Usability: Some text may be difficult to read, particularly when printed in black and white
BOG
Content: A handy horror
Writing: A stat block with a pair of Specials
Art/design: Integration of title with illustration is wonderfully creepy and fitting for the concept
Usability: May give PCs the munchies (for hand meat)
Bog Iron
Content: Includes bog-iron weapons, a map of the area, various encounters, and 7 creatures
Writing: Adds lots of local color that’s in line with the larger character of the Dying Land
Art/design: Draws lots of visual tropes from Mörk Borg but still maintains a distinct style
Usability: Keep it handy in case the party ever ventures through the region (or if you want some nasty weapons and monsters)
Boitatá
Content: Giant, on-fire snake-guardian of the Yvy Forest
Writing: Detailed descriptions of context, setting, and creature, but no explicit mechanics
Art/design: Nice illustration and overall design
Usability: Requires some prep on the GM’s part
Böka
Concept: I think I’m missing a key reference here
Content: A cold-weather-themed monster
Writing: Standard stat block
Art/design: One of the more terrifying visages to inhabit Mörk Borg
Usability: Some details to keep in mind, but manageable
Bone Bowyer
Content: An unearthly foe or unsavory ally of circumstance
Writing: Sets a thoroughly grim tone and provides multiple hooks
Art/design: Appropriately creepy and atmospheric illustration
Usability: Will always hit, but maybe not the intended target
Boni, your bone companion
Concept: “A disembodied skull with a penchant for rambling stories of old exploits and griping about how things were better in the good old days.”
Content: Some descriptive text, simple mechanic, and sample commentary
Writing: Straightforward with humor as dry as an old bone
Art/design: Text laid out intuitively around the central image
Usability: Somewhere between an NPC and a magic item; works well as both
Bon Terry
Concept: “Undying and cowardly, this legendary spirit seeks eternally for the ‘sinless one’, hoping to carve out their heart, and offer it up as a sacrifice before Nechrubel, to plead departure from this dying world.”
Content: A sad, death-bereft NPC with a knack for retribution
Writing: Provides some folksy lore and a straightforward stat block
Art/design: Clear division between lore and stats with a deceptively innocuous illustration; brooding greens create a murky, pelagic feel
Usability: Despite modest stats, the ability to steal PCs’ Omens and break PCs with no Omens may make Bon Terry a challenging adversary
Book of Misery
Bork Borg
Content: Dog breeds, dog-related items, an optional dog-based class, rules for dog PCs (with their own optional classes), and a dog-centered adventure
Writing: Clearly and affectionately written with a clever shift to the dog’s POV in the dog-PC section
Art/design: Designed for easy reading and navigation with graphic touches like a dog-head border and pawprints across pages
Usability: Sit. Stay. Good.
Börk Morgue #666
Content: Random tables, optional rules for dice & powers & armor/weapons/combat, pointy teeth, monsters & NPCs … and a Börk Morgue & a Maus Borg
Writing: Presented with a personable tone with plenty of wry wit
Art/design: Loaded with Mörk Borg aesthetic elements, color, and some creative layouts
Usability: Adds some deeper complexity in some areas (especially complex) and some irreverent variety all around