Happy Friday, Folks!

We have another FVTT conversion drop to brighten the end of your week: Cypher Shorts: Post-Apocalypse Shorts Vol. 2!

If you're a Diviner or higher tier member, use promo code 'TRASH_WORLD' to get your free copy from the UO store below. 

UO Store | Drivethru

Enjoy and happy gaming!

~ Jess

This Volume of Cypher Shorts Includes:

• Flaring to Life: In a recently fallen world, the players are struggling to survive in the aftermath of a solar flare that wiped out the world’s technology and information. But somewhere to the north, a tower has blinked to life and is broadcasting a signal that might change the PCs' future—if they can reach it.
• Kill The Messenger: In a fallen desert world, the players have carved a safe place for themselves from the unforgivable landscape. But a scout from a warlord’s army threatens to reveal the location of their community and bring it all tumbling down. Can the players do what must be done to save the people depending on them?
• The Refuse Left Behind:  In a waste-filled world, the air is thick with smog, the rain too acidic for life, and the oceans caked in trash. But the rumors of a place with trees and clean air have given the characters something to fight for. If they can find it.
• Cypher Shorts Guidelines: The simplified rules that you need to run and create characters for your Cypher Shorts. 

Happy Valentine's Week, folks!

Because the holiday has us all feeling a little mushy on this end of things, we're providing a free focus for all of our members this month: is Devoted to the Heart Song!

Some of you may recognize this from our release last year, Heralds of Love and Beauty. That title has a ton of great Cypher System add-ons, so if you like the focus below and want to see everything else included, feel free to snag it from one of our storefront links. 

UO Store | Drivethru

Enjoy, happy gaming, and happy Valentine's Day. 💝

~ Jess

Focus: is Devoted to the Heart Song

The Beautiful One, the Heart Song, the Eternal Lover. No matter what you call your goddess, you have been wholly ensnared by AlayalBreen and devoted your life to her edicts. For you, the world is driven by beauty, love, and music, and you see it as your divine directive to spread and inspire as much of your goddess’s attributes as possible. You fall in love freely and fearlessly, following your heart wherever it may guide you. You grasp the inherent romance of every moment and never turn down an opportunity to show the world the power that comes from an open heart and mind. 

  Warrior types Devoted to the Heart Song are paladins, striving to live as the earthly embodiment of their goddess and defending what she holds dear. Adept types Devoted to the Heart Song are clerics, proselytizers of AlayalBreen’s words, ways, and unending love. Other types that find themselves Devoted to the Heart Song may be one of the goddess’s worshipping bards or rarely chosen muses. 

  Connection: Choose two PCs. You have either been involved in romantic entanglements with them directly or someone close to them at separate times in the past and remained friends after you moved on.

  GM Intrusions: A jilted ex-lover makes things difficult. Your church’s reputation proceeds you. 

Tier 1: AlayalBreen’s Gifts. AlayalBreen has blessed you with the tools necessary to sing her praises. You are trained in all positive social interactions and one area of musical performance. Enabler. 

Tier 1: Beauty’s Aegis (2 Intellect points). The beauty of your goddess shines through you and deters even your enemies from wanting to see you harmed. For the next minute, all foes that can see you have attacks that they make against you hindered. Once an enemy has successfully attacked you, this effect ends for them. Action to initiate. 

Tier 2: Glorious Inspiration (3+ Intellect points). Choose a target within a short range (potentially yourself) to inspire. The target can choose Might, Speed, or Intellect. For the next minute, they gain an asset on all tasks related to their chosen stat. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can use Effort to select an additional target to inspire, one additional creature per level of Effort applied. Action to initiate. 

Tier 3: Passion’s Bloom (5 Intellect points). You create a melody that causes passion to well within the chests of your friends. All allies that can hear you within short range immediately recover 4 points in a stat Pool of their choice. Additionally, their next defense roll with their chosen stat in the next 24 hours is eased. Action. 

Tier 4: Lover’s Acumen. AlayalBreen’s charm and allure are passed on through you. You are considered specialized in all positive social interactions and one area of musical performance. Enabler. 

Tier 5: Beauty’s Aura (6 Intellect points). You extend your Beauty’s Aegis ability to all your allies within short range. Action to initiate.

Tier 6: Heart Song (9 Intellect points). You raise your voice to the heavens, hold your holy symbol aloft, and sing your goddess’s Heart Song. All allies that can hear you within short range immediately recover 6 points in each of their stat Pools and may choose attack, defense, or task rolls. For the next minute, their selected rolls are eased by three steps. Action to initiate.

Copyright © 2024 Underground Oracle Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or in any form without express written permission from the publisher.

This product is an independent production and is not affiliated with Monte Cook Games, LLC. It is published under the Cypher System Open License, found at http://csol.montecookgames.com.

CYPHER SYSTEM and its logo are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC

Unplaytested Presents is live on Backerkit with No Mercy For Monsters, a Wretched & Alone game of familial oaths, dark obsessions, and the toxic bond shared between mortal rivals.

No Mercy For Monsters is a solo GM-less journaling game about revenge, obsession, and the toxic co-dependency shared between rivals. It is a game where you will struggle under the weight of legacy, expectation, guilt, and past failures.

You take on the role of a woodsman, one who has failed the people depending on you and can only see the possibility of your absolution in the death of The Beast—an enemy that your existence has become defined by.

You live in a liminal space you call The Hunt, where only you and The Beast reside. You have seen and done terrible things to find them. Would gladly do more to draw them close enough to touch. You know that you will most likely fail, that you’ll be killed or corrupted before your vengeance can be secured.

This only ends with The Beast’s death or yours. You do not know which you fear more.

Highlights:

• No Mercy For Monsters is a Wretched & Alone solo journaling game
• Towerless play - you just need 2d6, a few tokens, standard playing cards, and writing materials
• New doubles mechanic - see how The Pull of The Moon will influence your time in The Hunt
• For fans of gothic romances, monstrous tragedies, and dark fantasy horror experiences
• Text-only version of the zine will be available for backers immediately upon funding completion
• PDF fulfillment through Itch.io or DrivethruRPG
• Gorgeous 30-page physical zine filled with art
• Human-Made for Zimo 2025–No AI was used in any part of this project
  

Get Your Pledge in Here

Happy Friday, Folks. 

We're back with a treat for our Steward and up tiers, a surprise drop from our imprint, Unplaytested Presents!

This one is Bad Moon Over Burnt Rock, a Weird West and Whiskers adventure for Mausritter. This little gem is the first adventure site for the Goldwater Gulch campaign setting that will be slow-dripped from Unplaytested Presents in the following months. If you loved Fievel Goes West but thought it could use a lot more eldritch folk horror, this will be your jam. 

Right now, if you're not a member of the Steward or higher tier, you can grab Bad Moon Over Burnt Rock at the links below. 

If you're a Steward or higher tier member, use promo code 'BMOBR' to get your free copy from the UO store below. 

UO Store | Drivethru | Itch

Enjoy and happy gaming!

~ Jess

A Weird West and Whiskers Adventure for Mausritter

Reports of livestock mutilations, missing homesteaders, and bad omens are cropping up all over Goldwater Gulch, and a few good mice are needed to go out to the abandoned town of Burnt Rock to investigate.

Beneath The Surface

A desolate soul from out in Prairie Mounds has given himself over to a being of the Wicked Black—the pestilent Sister Grin. In exchange for sacrifices from around Goldwater Gulch, she has transformed him into a jackalope, a powerful agent of the Wicked Black with an unquenchable thirst for blood.

What in Tarnation?

Bad Moon Over Burnt Rock is a dark, Weird West adventure site for Mausritter that can be used as a one-shot adventure or to introduce eldritch folk horror into your existing Mausritter campaign. 

Bad Moon Over Burnt Rock  also provides a great taste of our upcoming Weird West and Whiskers campaign setting, Goldwater Gulch! Follow us here for more upcoming adventure site drops as it develops.

This Adventure Site includes: 

• 11 points of interest to explore in Burnt Rock--an abandoned town in an old farrier's shop
• 4 new creatures to inject your bestiary with eldritch folk horror
• 7 new items flavored for the Weird West
• 6 new bad turns--special conditions your mice may get from contact with the Wicked Black

Credits: 

• Created and Written by: Jess Pendley and Keith Pendley
• Art by: Toby Blanchard and Arcus Masmeyer
• Layout By: Arcus Masmeyer

Happy Thursday, Folks!

Big treat for the Diviner and up tiers this month, as we catch up on the Foundry VTT conversions for our past Cypher Shorts!

Right now, you can head over to the UO storefront and snag both Cypher Shorts: Post-Apocalypse Shorts Vol. 1 and Cypher Shorts: Sci-Fi Shorts Vol. 3 for FVTT. 

If you're a Diviner or higher tier member, use promo code 'CS3V1' to get your free copies from the UO store below. 

We'll be catching up soon and meeting our regular cadence on the FVTT conversions very shortly, so if you're a Diviner or Steward, make sure to snag them fast before the next ones drop and the code expires. 

(If you're not a member of the Diviner tier, now would be a time to get a lot of bang for your buck with an upgrade.) 

UO Store | Drivethru

Enjoy and happy gaming!

~ Jess

We'll be dropping the last two volumes of our Dark Supers shorts cycle this month and next, which means we need to plan for the next trio of one-shot volumes—and that's where you come in!

For the first time, we're opening up for suggestions from the public!

Just drop a comment below with the genre you'd like us to cover in our next cycle and we'll include it in a poll for members of our Sage and up tiers to vote on. Do you want to see fairy tale, weird west, or cyberpunk? Want to see us dig back into fantasy or horror? Have a combo or other subgenre in mind that you'd like to see the UO crew tackle?

Add your comment below and join us as a Free member if you have a moment to drop your email here. 

Suggestions will be open until 11/22/24.

You can view our past collections of Cypher Shorts in our store or on DrivethruRPG.