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If you're also a child of darkness, a headbanger, or otherwise a conduit for all things grotesque and distressing to normal folk, I think I've found the perfect grimdark TRPG resource for you as a game master. Right now Exalted Funeral are Kickstarting a pretty grim sourcebook for messed up tabletop roleplayers such as ourselves, and I can't wait to get stuck in. The best part is that it's system agnostic, so while you could use it to supplement your D&D campaign, you could just as easily use it to spice up a game of Thirsty Sword Lesbians or some other obscure tabletop RPG.
Either way, Glumdark seems to offer everything we twisted souls desire from a sourcebook, in a way that it's not tethered to any of the best tabletop RPGs in particular. You might even use it along with Exalted Funeral's own Dolmenwood TRPG by Necrotic Gnome, if creepy-as-heck fairytales are your bag. I expect it works exceptionally well when paired with a setting like that of Mork Borg, since the vibes are similarly abominable. *Smiles creepily*
The book includes over 2,500 items and ideas spread over 140 fully illustrated pages of roll tables and original fiction based around the Glumdark setting. You're getting roll tables for "Totally Ridiculous Magical Items", "Bizarre and Banal Characters", and "Bleak and Unique Quests", to name just a few.
What's more, the creators have made a statement around their use of AI, which is always appreciated. It says "The Glumdark book does not contain a single piece of AI-Generated content. We made it all with our grubby little hands and unfortunate brains."
Over on the original Glumdark site there are a host of random roll tables that generate sadistic and twisted (handwritten) goodies each time you refresh the page. There's everything from Peculiar Potions that might have your PCs' skin hardening into steel, and roll tables that'll see them meeting their maker in some incredibly dumb ways.
For this we have Matt McGlintlock and Christopher Drellow to thank, so think of them as you send off your player characters as the accidental target of drunken hunters, or as a wrongly-assumed friendly dog's dinner.
Fun fact, the project was almost called "Blocko's Wild Imaginarium", but Glumdark won out. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about that little tidbit from Drellow in his interview with The Vintage RPG Podcast.
If that sounds like something that floats your freaky boat, you can back the Glumdark Kickstarter campaign until February 22. It's $24 for the digital PDF plus an STL file for the little Glumdark spider mascot that you can 3D print at home, and full access to the Glumdark site that you'd otherwise have to be a patron for. Otherwise it's $36 for the physical copy, plus all of the above, as well as the option to add stickers, T-shirts and even a patch for your jacket onto your pledge.
For more recommendations, why not check out the best D&D books.
