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.
Wretched Verses Issue 1: Avalidad City Guide (released in pdf only). Wretched Verses is a new series of small digital titles for the Wretched line of #OSR #ttrpg. The first issue includes an expanded version of the city guide in Wretched: New Flesh (and a 50% discount code for the purchase of the core book at The Red Room Store) You can find it here:
Wretched Verses Issue 1: Avalidad City Guide
Avalidad is a large district inside Tangiers, Morocco, sponsored by an international conglomerate of several corporations interested in investing in northern Africa. The futuristic metropolis was built from scratch during the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the early days of Avalidad, the City was divided into subzones, each managed by a different corporation. As Avalidad grew and expanded, the need for the corporate districts faded away, and they were repurposed into laboratories, offices, warehouses, and residential areas for their respective businesses. Nowadays, the City is organised around its central business district, the neurological centre of Avalidad.
As previously mentioned, we are going to start releasing a series of small digital sourcebooks for the Wretched game line, something similar to the RPGPundit Presents periodical. Jae Tanaka (who authored the cover and several inside illustration for the core book Wretched Role-Playing Game) is working on cover for this new series, which will be named The Wretched Verses. We are now finishing the first titles for this series, which will be (at least at first) a weekly release:
Avalidad City Guide: This is a revised and expanded version of the city guide contained in the Wretched New Flesh core book. Description of the city and many characters, with added tables of encounters and locations. The purpose it to make it usable for other future noir/ cyberpunk/ biopunk games.
Welcome to the Den: 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.
Life on the Edge: A Journey Through the Borderline: An expansion of the Dark Real of the Beyond, through the Bordeline and the Darklands, the pinnacle of anguish, where existence for many is a barren, winding path of dust.
Still being planned: Vitulyan Chronicles, a scenario for Wretched Bastards, inspired by HBO’s Rome. Vitulya, once a powerful empire, is now a kingdom under the iron grip of Dictator Gaius Vitulius. The land of Vitulya is surrounded by nations like Riget, Scania, Bavarr, Ruz, and Baetica. The scenario takes place during a pivotal moment in Vitulyan history, as the dictator seeks to expand the kingdom’s territory and restore its former glory. Players will be involved in the political intrigues of Quirine, the capital city, as well as the military campaigns against neighbouring nations.
Stay tuned, Stay Wretched!
Wretched Role-Playing Game is now available in print at Lulu.com. Sílvia Clemente’s dark-fantasy scenario, Temple of Flesh, is also available now! Wretched RPG will have a hardcover version later, so stay tuned for that one too.
Following a recommendation from the RPGPUndit a few weeks ago, we are going to start releasing a series of small digital sourcebooks for the Wretched game line, something similar to the RPGPundit Presents periodical. We’ve already contacted Jae Tanaka (who authored the cover and several inside illustration for the core book Wretched Role-Playing Game) to do a cover for this new series, which will be named The Wretched Verses. We will have more information about it soon!
https://mailchi.mp/c91677df7bc4/a-fistful-of-blood-and-dust-and-more
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We’ve updated the psychics section and added bookmarks to the file. You can download the updated version at The Red Room store and Big Geek Emporium.
Dick Pound revised MEN addressing a few issues found by reviewers and buyers. If you have purchased MEN from The Red Room or Big Geek Emporium you can download MEN 1.2 If you purchased it through that (un)wretched hive of scum and villainy called DrivethruRPG, contact us so we can send you the new file. The print on demand at Lulu has also been updated and is again available for purchase.
