ABOUT THE PROJECT

“My vengeance upon you will leave none left to tell the tale. History will not remember you by dawn. I will not stop until your very existence: every last one of you is not but ash and blood in my hands.” —Dorian, the Accursed King

This saga for the ages follows the very fate of the afterlife itself in your campaign world; decisions must be made whose repercussions will be felt for all of time, and it is your table that shall make them!

This campaign is written in the stylish themes found in musical works focused on the loss, acceptance, and epic nature of determination in the face of one’s own death or the gall to challenge the will of divinity.

Clerics are the minders of the divine. Each god prays and serves as a flag bearer, enacting the will of their deity upon the mortal realm. The very gods themselves parcel out power from the domains they’ve become intrinsically tied to, rewarding their followers for their servitude. While some gods demand great cathedrals be erected in their honor to prove their follower’s faith, others are content to watch their clerics steal from the rich, and adventures are filled with tales of clerics who defile the dead in their god’s name. Yet no matter which adventuring party, society, or dogma one belongs to, clerics form the spiritual backbone of those who surround them—influencing culture for better or worse. For when tragedy strikes, it is the clerics who summon forth the power of gods to restore injuries and revive the dead.

But where do the dead go when they rest?

Within this book you’ll find that very home for the dead detailed; the setting of the Sunless Crossing, the great city of Nox Valar, its major players and politics, and a catastrophe that strikes. A calamity threatens this once stable realm of the dead—and the fate of the greatest of all divine loopholes, resurrection. The only catch is… it all occurs in the afterlife.

Our adventure begins where your last adventure ends. The Black Ballad is a perfect campaign to run after your party has fallen into the afterlife through sword or dragon’s fire. Of course, there are many ways one could find themselves here—and that’s surely an interesting story. As a Game Master, you’ll find the cleric-focused city of Nox Valar to be a perfect hub to launch this campaign and plug into any world like Ravenloft, The Red Opera, or even a homebrew world of your own creation—regardless of your players’ character levels.

Features:

• ​Over 300 pages, designed for both Storytellers and Players in mind.

• ​Multiple endings and player agency options. Choice matters!

• ​Full story campaign with 10 major cinematic chapters, 30 acts, and ​over a​ year of gameplay.

• Multiple full-length fantasy novels for the readers in your group!

• A detailed look into how gods in fantasy settings deliver divine magic to their clerics.

• New mechanics for the faithful such as The Godless Core Class, New Domains, and New Spells.

• New lineages designed for dead characters such as the Unhallowed or the Soul Stitched.

• The setting of The Sunless Crossing, a realm of waiting for the dead, built to handle the impact of resurrection in fantasy settings.  

• Dynamic encounter design to accommodate Theater of the Mind and Grid Style. Every fight is epic.

• ADA-compliant multiple formats (pdf, epub, and more!) for digital distribution.

• Full orchestral soundtrack by DiAmorte! Composed by Drake Mefestta, Mike Pitman (Riot Games), and Michael Romeo (Symphony X).

• Purgatory Poker mini-game for bartering within the lands of the dead!

• ​Written and illustrated by award-winning game designers and artists from around the world!

• Compatible with 5E and designed to be easily convertible to any D20 system.

• Official P2FE Rules Conversion Packet available for free at www.storytellersforge.com.

• Audio Introduction by Carlos Ferro, voice of Dom from Gears of War and Leonardo DaVinci from Assassins Creed.

• Storytellers Forge campaign design for Tier 4 play, yet scalable and written for all levels. Perfect for any home campaign no matter what level the party is.