Author: Miguel Ribeiro

Our low-magic, dark-fantasy world Wretched Bastards will be released soon, this time as a setting, instead of a full game. When the core book was released almost a year ago, we were still uncertain if players would be interested in embodying greedy and lewd scoundrels. However, the response was positive, and we quickly realized we had tapped into a market open for this type of gameplay. As a result, we shifted our focus to developing Wretched into a full game line. Our exploration of new genres, including western, investigative and exploitation horror, space opera, and post-apocalyptic action, led us to introduce new mechanics and refine existing ones. Then came the OGL fiasco and we decided to cut ties with with a licence that offered no guarantees and which we didn’t actually need in the first place.

With the release of the revised Wretched Role-Playing Game core book, we were able to move forward with our plan to create setting books instead of full games for our second editions. We wanted to provide fleshed-out settings for our players, and thus the world of Antillia grew. While we understand that many gamers enjoy creating their own settings, we believe having a developed world will be useful for game masters looking for a quick and easy setting for Wretched Bastards. In this second edition, you’ll find an expanded Antillia with a whole world to explore, even if it’s not yet thoroughly described.

We’ve also included The Seven Bastards campaign setting in the main book, so players can dive right in. Finally, we’ve added some new mechanics suited for fantasy games to round out the Wretched system and provide even more options.

Blood in the Arena is a Wretched scenario inspired by the TV show Spartacus, where the players take on the roles of gladiators in the Rutilus Ludus, a training school for gladiators in the Vitualyan city of Nervea. As slaves, they have no choice but to fight and entertain for the pleasure of their wealthy Roman masters. As tensions between the slaves and their lanista, Gaius, simmer and eventually boil over, the players will find themselves caught in the middle of a rebellion that could change the course of history. They will need to navigate a world of political intrigue, backstabbing, and cutthroat combat in order to survive and achieve their freedom. (48 pages)

Stubbornness is starting to kick in again after several people reminded me this week that the existence of the Red Room motivated them to start (or restart) publishing. I don’t handle compliments well, but this is different; not actually a compliment, but more like stating a fact. It makes sense: We came out of nowhere, no one had ever heard about us outside of this small rectangle of land in the Iberian Peninsula (and even here, only a handful of people in the “community” had met us) and after a few months, we had a moderately successful tiny independent RPG publisher. Granted, it doesn’t take many triumphs for a tiny independent publisher to enjoy moderate success, but it took a lot of work and persistence and a very welcoming reception by not just the OSR audience but also several people who had been in the business for decades, like Grim Jim, the RPGPundit and Venger Satanis. The moderate success didn’t last long, but like hell we’m going to give it up that soon and give those woke cunts a reason to celebrate. As long as we don’t lose money (we refuse to do this as vanity press), we’re here to stay. That’s the Wretched spirit!

For now (at least), Wretched Role-Playing Game – the recently released core book for the Wretched line – is FREE at The Red Room store. Pick it up, take a look, see if you like it, and grab our quickstarts too.

We lost most of our audience when DrivethruRPG banned us and, apparently, they aren’t coming back. We either find a new audience, or Wretched is dead.Get your free items and help us promote the hell out of this!

Wretched Verses Issue 2 is out: A small sourcebook on opium dens for Wretched Époque or other OSR 19th-century role-playing games by Joe Coombs.

Opium dens, once prevalent across the globe, embody the distinction between drug use and abuse. These establishments were deeply woven into the fabric of the Belle Époque, with opium’s widespread acceptance and romanticization particularly resonating among poets and artists.

Drawing inspiration from various literary works, The Den takes you on a journey through the world of opium, delving into the complexities of drug use and abuse. Among the key influences are Thomas de Quincey’s mesmerizing Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1822, revised 1851/52) and William Burroughs’ compelling Junkie and The Yage Diaries, a fascinating correspondence between Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. To enrich your understanding, we also recommend R.D. Laing’s The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness, Graham Hancock’s Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind, Rick Strassman’s DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, Robert Tindall’s The Jaguar that Roams the Mind: An Amazonian Plant Spirit Odyssey, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless classic the Sherlock Holmes series.

The second edition of Wretched Bastards is in the works and it will be coming soon. By the end of this month, if all goes according to plan. But why the hell do you need a second edition this soon? Well, when the core book was released, we were still uncertain if players would be interested in embodying greedy and lewd scoundrels. However, the response was positive, and we quickly realized we had tapped into a market open for this type of gameplay. As a result, we shifted our focus to developing Wretched Bastards into a full game line. Our exploration of new genres, including western, investigative horror, exploitation horror, space opera, and post-apocalyptic action, led us to introduce new mechanics and refine existing ones. Then came the OGL fiasco and we decided to cut ties with with a licence that offered no guarantees and which we didn’t actually need on the first place.

With the release of the revised Wretched Role-Playing Game core book, we were able to move forward with our plan to create setting books instead of full games for our second editions. We knew we wanted to provide a fleshed-out world for our players, and thus the world of Antillia grew. While we understand that many gamers enjoy creating their own settings, we believe having a developed world will be useful for GMs looking for a quick and easy setting for Wretched Bastards. In this second edition, you’ll find an expanded whole world to explore, even if it’s not yet thoroughly described. We’ve also included The Seven Bastards campaign setting in the main book, so players can dive right in. Finally, we’ve added some new mechanics suited for fantasy games to round out the Wretched system and provide even more gameplay options.