Stranded along the ragged edge of the infinite worlds of dreaming lies The Painted Wastelands, a mind-melting tabletop role-playing game adventure module designed for Old School Essentials. Set in a lavishly detailed and uncompromisingly weird world drawn from the pages of Tim Molloy’s Mr. Unpronounceable and inspired by the art of Mœbius and words of H. P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. The Painted Wastelands blends the wondrous, the whimsical, and the other-worldly into a campaign setting like no other.
The Painted Wastelands is an adventure module for Old School Essentials and other classic retro clones based on the most popular roleplaying game in the world. It is filled with desert weirdos and teeth-stealing nightmares. It is unlike any tabletop roleplaying game out there. Follow the project on Kickstarter so that you can receive notification emails when the it goes live. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thepaintedwastelands/the-painted-wastelands
Explore
Explore 35 fully detailed hexes and conquer 4 terrifying dungeons with only your wits and a disembodied skull buddy to guide you. Discover ancient gachapon machines, sail rivers of blood, delve into caverns of retired gods, foil the plans of the demented Diseased One, and reunite with everyone’s long-lost best friend, Grint Fleebo!
The Painted Wastelands is a Hexcrawl through a strange dreamland where reality melts and warps. It is a place with a very chill and weird vibe. It is reminiscent of psychedelic rock music and an issue of Heavy Metal.
Weirdness
Embrace the total weirdness with over a hundred different ways to become permanently changed, both inside and out, including but not limited to being turned into a horrible fish monster, a horrible slug monster, a brain in a jar, and a fourth horrible monster we can’t even talk about without a signed consent form.
Embark across the merciless sands on the Pilgrimage of Yaldabythos to gain the favor of a lost goddess and cure the myriad maladies of the wasteland—like all the aforementioned horrible transformations, and more!
Torment your players with over new monsters, deadly dungeons, new spells, and did you not see how many horrible transformations are in this book? Like, hot damn, seriously. Who thinks of this stuff?
Unravel the secrets of dreams with the Oneiromancer class and it’s esoteric spellcasting centered on the subjugation, safeguarding, and summoning of dreams! Delight in the long-coming reveal that you’ve actually been playing the Cat class the entire time, with its loyal human servant class feature!
Old School Essentials
Created by Necrotic Gnome, Old School Essentials is an RPG inspired by the most popular roleplaying game in the world. It is compatible with most editions of that game. The Painted Wastelands uses this system as its engine because it is easily converted to other game systems.
Book Contents
- 35 detailed hexes! Explore a grotesque land! Undertake the Pilgrimage of Yaldabythos to wash away any curse! Help carry a Mummified Demigod on a sacred Desert pilgrimage while wearing a bootleg Legends of The Golden Child t-shirt!
- 4 deadly dungeons! Visit the Temple of the Whale God, the Painted Wasteland’s most popular escape room! Rescue a village of avian alchemists from the Floating Mausoleum of the Sky Ghouls! Commune with the past at the Violet Ruins of the Aeon Dwellers! Find treasure and glory in the Tower of the Diseased One!
- 2 new classes! Become the Oneiromancer, the master of dreams, or the Cat, the master of looking cute.
- 55 new spells! Master the new spells of the Oneiromancer, the dream sorcerer who has the ability to warp the loose reality of the Painted Wastelands to their will.
- 50+ new monsters! Your players will beg for mercy and find none at the hands of fungaloids, the Laughing Spider, and the acolytes of the Void cult.
- 100+ new art pieces by Tim Molloy! The creator of Mr. Unpronounceable has drawn completely new images for this book.
Kickstarter
The Painted Wastelands is launching on Kickstarter on August 1st. There are three pledge levels:
Digital Only Backers receive a PDF digital download copy of The Painted Wastelands and all digital stretch goals. This is a digital only product.
Physical Pledge Backers receive the physical hardback copy of the Painted Wastelands as well as all digital and physical stretch goals. Physical backers will also receive a PDF copy of the book free of charge. This is a physical product; you can apply add-ons to your pledge.
All in Pledge Level by supporting this level, you will receive the limited-edition faux leather gold foil hardback copy of The Painted Wastelands. This version of the book is only available for a limited time through this Kickstarter project. All in backers will also receive a PDF copy of the book free of charge. This is a physical product; you can apply add-ons to your pledge. You receive:
- Referee Screen: 33″x8″ with a beautiful vista of the Painted Wastelands by Tim Molloy on one side and useful charts and NPCs on the flip side.
- Ectoplasm Dice: 7 light green polyhedral dice with specks that glow in the dark or under black light. The numbers are gold. Borealis Light Green/gold Luminary dice from Chessex.
- Deck of Strange Things: A physical divination deck of cards. These are tarot sized (2.75″x4.75″) cards with images designed by Tim Molloy. The Deck of Strange Things appears multiple times in the adventure, and players have a chance to draw from this cursed artifact of unspeakable power.
- Ectos: Paper banknotes used as money in the Painted Wastelands. Referees will be able to hand these out to players as they earn them. Receive a stack of 250 ectos to hand out to your players.
Stretch Goals
- $20k Digital Stretch Goal: Morbis Wretch, one of the desert weirdos of the Painted Wastelands, will write a song to share with us around an ectoplasmic campfire. Available via digital download for all backers.
- $30k Physical Stretch Goal: Sticker! Every Physical backer and All In backer will receive a special sticker designed by Tim Molloy!
- $40k Digital Stretch Goal: Receive a digital PDF copy of It Shines and Shakes and Laughs, 100+ pages of bizarre comics by Tim Molloy! Available via digital download for all backers.
- $50k Digital Stretch Goal: Deck of Strange Things PDF. Receive a PDF of the Deck of Strange things for personal use. Available via digital download for all backers.
- $60k Digital Stretch Goal: Receive a digital PDF copy of Mr Unpronounceable Adventures, 200+ pages of complete madness set in the Outer Dreamlands by Tim Molloy! Available via digital download for all backers.
- $70k Digital Stretch Goal: Morbis Wretch will produce another psychedelic dungeon synth song for you. Available via digital download for all backers.
- $80k Digital Stretch Goal: Receive a digital PDF copy Mr Unpronounceable and the Sect of the Bleeding Eye, 160 pages of strange comics by Tim Molloy! Available via digital download for all backers.
- $90k Digital Stretch Goal: Morbis Wretch creates another dungeon synth song for you. Available through digital download for all backers.
- $100k Digital Stretch Goal: Dungeon Crawl Classics conversion booklet! We will produce a PDF to convert all the monsters, spells, classes, and other mechanics to Dungeon Crawl Classics by Goodman Games! Also includes an exclusive Patron.
- $120k Digital Stretch Goal: MORK BORG conversion booklet! We will produce a PDF to convert all the monsters, spells, classes, and other mechanics to Mork Borg by Pelle Nilsson and Johan Nohr!
The Team
- Tim Molloy. Artist. He is the creator of the world in which the Painted Wastelands takes place. He is the writer and artist behind the Unpronounceable comic series. Follow him on Instagram @TimMolloyArt. Join him at Patreon.com/timmolloy. Visit his website Timmolloy.com. He has written It Shines and Shakes and Laughs, Mr. Unpronounceable Adventures, Mr. Unpronounceable and the Sect of the Bleeding Eye, and Mr. Unpronounceable and the Infinity of Nightmare
- Christopher Willett. Writer. He is the writer who converted this land of rainbow sherbert colored sands and converted it into an adventure for Old School Essentials. He is the author of AEON Ancient Greece: Volumes 1-4 and ZIGGURAT OF THE BLOOD GOD. Join him at Patreon.com/HELLCRAWL.
- Mina McJanda. Layout Artist. She is the incredible mind who brought order to the raw chaos of possibility. She is a layout designer, RPG writer, artist, and lapsed scientist. She has worked on Lancer, Voidheart Symphony, and Gun-Witch. Check out her portfolio at https://honeybatdesigns.myportfolio.com/work and follow her on X @minahoneybat.
- Rebecca Curran. Editor. She is the anvil upon which the raw iron of this book was forged into steel. She is best known for Life Among Ruins, Voidheart Symphony, Bleak Spirit, and Pigsmoke.
- Beau Rancourt. Proofreader. He is the analytical mind that honed the Painted Wastelands from the mad ramblings of two drooling idiots into something useful for the game table. He is a Cryptographer, Programmer, Mathematician, and Game Master. Follow his incredibly in-depth analysis on Substack at com/@rancourt.
- John Leibee. Proofreader. He was placed in charge of ensuring the module worked as a book that is enjoyable to read. Author of Airaghardt, available now on Amazon.
Social Media
Stay up to date on all Painted Wastelands updates by following the official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/share/1hwnAasgmiHVdnPt/
Image Source: BigStockPhoto.com (Licensed)
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