100 magical items based on real medieval history?

Well, they're not "magical" but "quintessent"—but yes!

Designed for Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying using the Grit System but useful for all players of medieval TTRPGs (OSR games, D&D, Borg games, Knave, Cairn, Into the Odd, etc.), this zine features great art and writing by Danse Macabre creator Christopher Pickett.

How does quintessence alter the body horror of the game? Find out as you read through these well-researched and actually interesting medieval weapons, books, clothes, and curios.

If you enjoy Danse Macabre, please consider leaving a brief positive comment to help others find the game—or just to let the artists know you stopped by. We really appreciate every reader, player, and Chronicler (GM).

We had to do a historical mega-dungeon.

The months and months of research = well worth it.

If you are into medieval TTRPGs, trying out Danse Macabre, looking to bring more gritty realism (and some abbey cats) to your D&D/OSR/Borg game, or just a fan of well-written adventures (featuring early mechanical horrors, zombies, shapeshifting undead nobles, the English! the dread English! and so forth), please check out Unsunken: Paris Below.

It's in-depth, full of art and maps, and really about as weird as it can be while still hewing to the original idea of a Parisian mega-dungeon based entirely in real French history and myth. (Plus mutant zombies.)

If you enjoy the campaign setting/dungeon/new underground rules, please let us know in the comments! We are a very small TTRPG-design studio, and we appreciate every single player/reader. Thank you!

Expand your medieval world with the Guide

Designed for Danse Macabre but useful for any medieval horror/dark fantasy TTRPG featuring body horror—this is a wild book of settings, encounters, and quests.

Check out the Guide if you have any version of Danse Macabre, or if you run other medieval TTRPGs. This book features a host of guest writers exploring different settings, dozens of excellent black-and-white illustrations in an old-school style, and many sparks to help you GM memorable and lethal medieval horror games.

If you like the book, please tell us in the comments! We really appreciate everyone who takes the time to check out our games.

Are you a fan of…

Between Two Fires? Souls-like games? Medieval history? Zombie-slaying with a thoughtful philosophical twist? Body horror?

Then check out Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying by Christopher Pickett & the Stillfleet Studio, now available on Itch.

This Grit System game is jam-packed with intuitive rules for brutal combat, 300 unique mutation powers (you become more potent—but less human—each time you die and rise again), real medieval weapons, memorable demoniacs (mutant zombies), and true death-granting relics—all drawn from history. The art is amazing. The alt-history (year = 1390) pulls the world away from "clashes of civilizations" and toward cosmopolitan, fortified city-states filled with zombie-genre scheming. And the game is 100% #HumanMade.

We (Stillfleet Studio) are a small indie TTRPG-design studio. We appreciate everyone who checks out, downloads, plays, and/or reviews our games. If you like the look/feel, feel free to drop a kind comment or join us on Discord to chat or jump into a one-shot. Thanks!

This game is great, really inspiring!

Check out actual play of Danse Macabre with three awesome streamers and the creators!

We have just launched the full version of Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying, the dark historical fantasy TTRPG by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio, on Kickstarter. Please check it out if you enjoy Prima Mors!

http://stillfleet.com/danse

FYI, we have just launched our third game using the Grit System—Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying, a dark historical fantasy TTRPG by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio. Please check it out if you enjoy the Grit System and dark medieval fantasy!

http://stillfleet.com/danse

FYI, we have just launched our third full game—Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying, a dark historical fantasy TTRPG. Please check it out if you enjoy Blister Critters!

While they look different, both games use the same system, are about building community in the face of apocalypse, and feature rad art by indie illustrators! Please consider supporting us:

http://stillfleet.com/danse

FYI, we have just launched our third full game—Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying, a dark historical fantasy TTRPG. Please check it out if you enjoy Blister Critters!

While they look different, both games use the same system, are about building community in the face of apocalypse, and feature rad art by indie illustrators! Please consider supporting us:

http://stillfleet.com/danse

FYI, we have just launched our third game using the Grit System—Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying, a dark historical fantasy TTRPG by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio. Please check it out if you enjoy Stillfleet! This game is also dark and political, but in a completely different way, being set on earth in the year 1390.

http://stillfleet.com/danse

FYI, we just launched our third full game—Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying, a dark historical fantasy TTRPG. Will Savino is one of the artists working with us on the Danse Macabre Official Sound Track!

http://stillfleet.com/danse

FYI, we have just launched our third game using the Grit System—Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying, a dark historical fantasy TTRPG by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio. Please check it out if you enjoy the system!

http://stillfleet.com/danse

Oh, that's awesome! We actually have worked with a Brazilian Portuguese translator before, Leonardo Andrade, so I'd want to loop him in. But we'd be flattered and excited to get the SRD out to more players in Brazil. Can you email co at stillfleet dot com? I'll connect us with Leo to discuss.

Growing Pains is fun in the sun (and the greenhouse)

Dear Critter Comrades—we have hired our buddy Linnie Schell from Twice Rolled Tales to write a zine-length, plant-themed starter-adventure zine. This will help new Packs start playing Blister Critters, the world's greatest cartoon mutant-animal eco-apocalyptic suburb-crawl tabletop roleplaying game! (Phew, need a breath after that one.)

Check out the new pilot-episode zine >

Isn't Anthony Grasso's art and design just plan byootiful? I would *definitely* watch the animated show based on this TTRPG…

This one features a full-on adventure with NPCs and readaloud dialogue and whatnot. It's the perfect companion to the Blister Critters Boxed Set or Blister Critters Rulebook!

Get the basics of the system behind Stillfleet, free

Here's the link >

We're excited to be working on a full version of the system reference document (SRD) which will be a webpage, free PDF, and inexpensive print zine. Until then, we created a short version that fits on one front/back letter-size sheet.

Major thanks to Anthony Grasso—creator of Blister Critters and graphic designer of Danse Macabre: Medieval Horror Roleplaying—for squeezing all of this information into eight columns in a highly readable format!

Link again to the Grit System One-Page System Reference Doc >

Thanks so much! We really appreciate it!

Absolutely! The cards are really fun. Link = https://stillfleet.com/products/blister-critters-cards-series-1-sunscorched-subu...

If you like them, please let your friendly local game store know we have books, boxes, and cards to offer :)

And let us know what you'd want to see in future card decks. The creator, Tony, is working on more…

TTRPG fans, we are proud to offer your an awesome new game by Will Savino, published by the Stillfleet Studio: Gunless Gauchos.

It's a non-colonial Western fantasy game with no games. It's one legal page long. It's rad. Check it out (PWYW/free!), and tell us what you think!

Now, ride along!

Great concept, well thought-out!

This is such a beautiful game and Itch page! Love the graphic design and illustration.

This manifesto rocks.

Hi there, thanks for checking out Blister Critters! The free Quickstart does tease most of the concepts in the game, but the full Rulebook is three times as long, with all of the options for animals, all of the Blister Paths in full (for leveling up and gaining fun weird mutations), a whole chapter full of Stuff (usable items, each with very simple mechanics—there are hundreds), a chapter on Producing (GMing—include rules for Beasts and Bliffs), and two different pilot episodes.

So it's really a question of what you're looking for: if you want to use the free Quickstart to make up your own stories, that can be fun. But I personally like the full Rulebook because it offers a lot more options and thoughtstarters—and, of course, rad art by Tony Grasso. I'm biased, though, and I hope you have fun either way.

Poll: what do you want to see Michael draw during the livestream on Monday, March 24, at 6:30 PM EDT https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/stillfleet-studio/enter-the-nostalgitron/po...

Link to watch and chat = Twitch.tv/Stillfleet

Heard of Blister Critters, the greatest cartoon RPG?

Now you can pick up tons of free locations, adventure ideas, Beasts, and lists of useful Stuff in one PDF.

Check it out!

This is the result of the first-ever Blister Critters game jam in 2024. We are so thankful for all of our player–creators who contributed, and we look forward to using these locations in our own games.

If you're new to Blister Critters, you can also pick up the free quickstart. We always give away the basic rules of our games, and we look forward to seeing how people use, extend, and hack them.

Looking forward to more Blister Critters stories in 2025!

And another one—we are simultaneously working on developing The Sometimes Kingdom RPG, the medieval horror game Danse Macabre (coming out this year!), and a new, comic book-sized quickstart + full venture for the infamous political/sci-fi TTRPG, Stillfleet!

• Teaser on Itch.io – https://stillfleet.itch.io/enter
• News post on Itch.io – https://itch.io/t/4565475/new-stillfleet-quickstart-by-comic-book-artist
• Follow the campaign on BackerKit – https://stillfleet.com/enter

It's a satirical, cartoon-show, super-future, easy-to-learn, all-in-one adventure + rules set

We're working on a big relaunch of the infamous sci-fi political TTRPG, Stillfleet. In the meantime, we've collaborated with cartoon and comic artist/designer Michael Cohen to bring to life his vision for an extra-zany, Saturday-morning introduction to the game.

It's still the epic far-future game we released a few years back (with major thanks going to Fun City Ventures!)—but this time, it's also a retro-nostalgic and color-shifted back into 1991.

Learn more ahead of the book's release >

Pick up the FREE TEASER on Itch.io to get a good luck at Michael's art and some of the content in the full book, which will be ~64 pages and fully illustrated.   

Free teaser on Itch.io >

The full book features 4 unique pregens, 4 full encounters (plus smaller random-encounter statblocks), 8 "playsets" within a floating techno-castle mega-dungeon, tons of wacky NPCs, a cult (of course), lots of archaetech to hack/steal/run away from, and of course maps and sidebars tying this venture back to Official Lore by the game's creator, Wythe Marschall.

Follow the campaign on BackerKit for updates >

Don't miss out! Enter the Nostalgitron and Get Ripped today!

Play a fantasy game where *everyone* can cast spells

From the mind of artist, writer, and puppet-designer Ethan Gould comes The Sometimes Kingdom RPG—the PWYW/free playtest version of the latest Grit System game from the Stillfleet Studio (the creators of Stillfleet, Blister Critters, and Danse Macabre).

In The Sometimes Kingdom RPG, contractor–Adventurers take on the petty problems of Seasons' Keep, a climate-disrupted world brought to vivid, exploration-ready life through Gould's art and the Stillfleet Studio's famously flexible/player-empowering Grit System. This high-fantasy/portal-fantasy RPG adds new mechanics to the system, including a new and powerful system for forging any spell you can imagine!

Check out the PWYW Early Access Rulebook today!

Also, did we mention the art? It's bonkers: hand-drawn, piled on top of itself, multimedia, inspired by retro video games and art history—you just have to check it out. Maybe start with our streamlined character creation flow: The Sometimes Kingdom RPG inverts traditional dragon-game expectations and encourages you to play a Skeleton Driver with a magic car, a FaE Knight, or a Talking Animal Alienist (magical psychologist, mind witch).

Plus we're playtesting the game now and periodically adding more chapters. Join us in our quest to make the most fun, radically vitalist fantasy game we can!

If you like classic fantasy tropes but are searching for a different, modern, innovative, inclusive way to enjoy them, then check out The Sometimes Kingdom RPG and get in touch. We really value playtesting, and we can't wait to learn what our fellow Adventurers discover as they explore Seasons' Keep, where the seasons are fixed and the magical societies defined by them are ever-evolving in the face of disruptions to magic due to Earth's technological influence…

Get your copy of The Sometimes Kingdom RPG while it's still PWYW!

Yes, we do have rules for opossums as Critters!

You can also easily adapt any animal into a Critter by selecting its type (Fuzzy, Feathery, Scaly, Warted, Shelled, or Crawly) and then mixing and matching the ~200 animal talents (Critter powers) in the full rulebook. Every Critter gets 2 animal talents.

In terms of adapting Blister Critters to a pre-/non-apocalyptic setting, that's also easy: just describe the world differently! Perhaps humans exist, and your Critters are simply living apart from them. Perhaps the Critters are escaped test subjects from a secret lab, which is why they are intelligent and have powers…

The one thing to keep in mind is, in our canonical setting, there are no humans, so we don't have rules for them, only animals. But you can just give them high scores and assume they're generally in charge, pre-Poof (pre-apocalypse), and everything else works.

Ah, dang, great minds! We are not affiliated with Mythopoetic. Thanks for letting us know about their game. Our game does not feature faeries but does feature a mutant apocalypse. Their game looks cool, too, FWIW!

Love these ideas! I think we aren't doing fantastical Critters ourselves, although we encourage the community to use the game however they want. I know we have more aquatic and mini-big-animal Critters. And playing as Bliffs… I can't say much more than—stay tuned! More rules are currently in development. If you want to playtest some, check out our Discord server.

Just a generic snake! We looked at hundreds and hundreds of animals and realized, we can't fit them all in the Rulebook! So the Rulebook features many options, and later supplements will feature many more.

Hopefully it's clear how to build your own animals (each gets two powers and sits in one of six categories based on the type of body plan they have).

Please feel free to let us know what animals you'd like to see in future Blister Critters supplements—and thanks so much for supporting the game!

I haven't figured out the trashposting mechanic yet, but—

Battlefellaz: RUBICON is a fully playable, fun, one-sheet (front/back), PWYW tabletop roleplaying game about fighting fascism. The game uses the Grit System (which powers Stillfleet, Blister Critters, and Danse Macabre): your scores are dice, and you burn a resource called grit (GRT) in order to use powers.

In this version, your pool of GRT is a deck of cards, which you discard as you use powers or take damage. Who knows—could be fun!

Note: this game is expressly political, though it's also a silly way to blow off steam. I play to run some sessions this fall if anyone is interested. Can we built solidarity through tabletop games? Let's find out!

Please check out Battlefellaz today!

Here's an image of the logo for the system, to satisfy the one-image minimum for this thread:

Happy birthday, Hodag!

Medieval horror roleplaying

In Danse Macabre by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio, you play a Pilgrim, a conscripted peasant, sentenced to traverse the wilderness in pursuit of quintessence—the sole remedy against the curse of undeath. Because in the twilight of the 14th century, death is no longer final: those who die are miraculously and terribly revived, each time with new maleficia—mutations of both the spirit and the flesh.

Danse Macabre: Prima Mors includes a full early version of the game, which is currently in development and being actively playtested. Prima Mors is 64 pages long and features:

• Complete rules
• 6 backgrounds (classes, including Archer, Mendicant, and more)
• 20 maleficia (wild body-horror mutations)
• Full lists of equipment (weapons, armor, useful medieval travel gear
• A beautiful written introduction to the game-world (which is a twisted shadow of our own in 1390 CE)
• An introductory quest
• An ornamental character sheet
• Amazing art (all #HumanMade by the author!)

Danse Macabre uses the highly adaptable Grit System, which was created by Wythe Marschall and also powers the successfully Kickstarted TTRPGs Stillfleet and Blister Critters. The Grit System’s mechanics are simple (your scores are dice) and narrative-focused (powers just happen, leading to epic moments).

It's super fun! And this is only the early access version (though 64 pages!).

You won the Critter City Crawl Jam 2024! Since I can't DM you on Itch, can we chat on Discord? Link to our server: discord.stillfleet.com.

Thanks for the quick reply! That completely makes sense. Thanks for supporting other human-made game designers by sharing your work under this license!

These are so cool! To clarify, the license allows for commercial work as long as it's human-made and credits you? Or is the license for non-commercial work? All good either way. Really dig your style!

This is just a quick thank-you. We really appreciate how many people jumped into this jam for a brand-new game, and the submissions look rad! Tony and Wythe are reading/enjoying them this week. We hope to have updates soon.

Super excited to get the book and use it in our Blister Critters games! Great work!