Horrors of the Whispering Wood Collector's Box

Horrors of the Whispering Wood Box Set

The Whispering Wood has always been dangerous. Cougar-esque kroloons stalk the deer trails, ready to pounce on lone travelers. Lobster-clawed mud lurkers crawl the river beds, ready to pull under those who come too close. And that was before the pervasive corruption spread over this land. The pitted shells of soil creepers hide giant, hideously transformed woodlice. Retch ravens spill putrescent remains from their crop, attempting to sicken and weaken their prey. Corpse crawlers and giant spitting flies seem to manifest anywhere one can find flesh in a state of decay. These Lurking Horrors creep, waiting for the careless to stray...

Horrors of the Whispering Wood is a box set that contains two zines: Lurking Horrors Vol. 1 and A Guide to the Whispering Wood.

Lurking Horrors Vol. 1 

• Is a 32-36 page zine that compiles dozens of monsters from The Precipice of Corruption, Desperation of the Hungry, Tragedy at Wood-Witch Rise, Hillwood Camp, and The Protectorate of Jenulane.  
• It will also introduce new monsters, like giant screaming frogs, helmet bugs, soil creepers, stump rattlers, and more that will be brand new to this publication. 
• Each monster will have additional information to give them possible adventure hooks, treasure, or variations. 
• Many have been updated to reflect countless in-home and convention games, in some cases making them even more terrifying for your players!

A Guide to the Whispering Wood

• A stand-alone, 28-36 page hexcrawl toolkit.
• Inspired by the likes of Dolmenwood and The Dark of Hot Springs Island.
• It can be used to expand the Whispering Wood, introduced in Tragedy at Wood-Witch Rise, into a campaign region around Stennard. 
• This collection of tables and encounters will provide weeks of play for your group.

The Collector's Box

• These will be packaged in a 8.5" x 5.5" x 1" Collector's Box. 
• It can also hold your copies of Tragedy at Wood-Witch Rise and Desperation of the Hungry. Of course, you can fill it with whatever zines that you like!

The Whispering Wood Bundle Box

• If you missed Tragedy at Wood-Witch Rise and Desperation of the Hungry, you can purchase this box set with both of those zines as well, to provide your players with a months of campaigning in the Whispering Wood.

Stennard - Grimdark Fantasy DCC

Stennard is a grimdark, survival-horror setting created for Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. Stennard does contain some mature themes that are best suited for those 13+, and parental guidance is encouraged. If you would like to dig into existing Stennard content, check out these jumping off points: The Precipice of Corruption, The Stennard Courier Vol. 1, and the Stennard Character Creation Guide, which is available at DriveThruRPG for "pay what you want".

Writing and Art Credits:

I am the writing and design mastermind behind Horrors of the Whispering Wood. The cover art, at this time, was all done by Ricardo Gaspar. The interior art will be a combination of commission art from Ricardo Gaspar and Francesco Accordi, along with past art from Jamie Jordan, Carlos Castilho, Mike Tommyrot, and others. Find Ricardo Gaspar @_gasparisme on Instagram.

Box and zine stats: The box will be 8.5" x 5.5" x 1", printed on 70# paper stock applied to .035" chipboard, manufactured at Marion Paper Box Company in Marion, Indiana. Both zines are slated to be 28-36 pages, saddle stitched. The interior will be black and white on 60# text and the cover will be black on white 65# cover stock. The zines will be printed at DigiCopy or Print-n-Press, both here in Milwaukee, WI.

The $5000 Goal:

The goal of this Kickstarter is to raise the funds to print 100 copies of this box set. Additional money will fund additional copies, stretch goal alternate box covers, art for future projects, and my mortgage.

• Art ~$250
• Editing ~$500
• Printing (including "thank you" cards and stickers) ~$3000
• Kickstarter's cut ~$500
• Shipping and Handling ~$750

UPDATED! Stretch Goals

I normally don't do Stretch Goals because my projects take long enough to complete as it is. However, folks keep requesting empty boxes to store their Stennard zine collections, and I really want to accommodate these diehard fans!

• At 200 Add On Empty Boxes sold or $11K (whichever comes first) I will add an addition box design.
• The above image is just one idea. When we get close I'll mock-up a few designs and run a poll.

Shipping & Handling

Unlike my previous campaigns, shipping will be collected after the campaign. USPS postage went up in January 2024, July 2024, and are going up again in July 2025. Know this project will likely cross July 2025 to complete, this is the best option.

Additionally, if you are an international backer, and you add a single 36-page zine to the the $40 tier, the shipping will go up ~$10 as the box weigh crosses from less the 1lb to more than 1lb. That makes calculating Add On shipping really complicated within Kickstarter. Here are the ranges you can expect to pay after the campaign:

• USA: $8 - $10 (Media Mail)
• Canada: $20 - $28
• Western Europe: $23 - $37
• Asia & Australia: $23 - $43

Add Ons:

There are a bunch of available Add Ons, and these are just some of them. I expect we'll have a couple to add before the campaign is done! 

If you are impatient to get items that are already readily available, you can purchase them on the Goodman Games website or at our own home, Breaker Press Games. You can also find the PDFs at DriveThruRPG.

Testimonials:

Nick Baran's Stennard setting is deeply atmospheric, punk, and grimdark. There is a massive amount of intricate social relationships built in to the material, ready for the judge to make use of these life-like villagers to support, cajole, and betray characters who travel through this rotting landscape. It does not get better than this when it comes to pre-generated settings. -Trevor Stamper - Blind Visionary Publications / Tales from the Smoking Wyrm

What is Dungeon Crawl Classics?

Glory & Gold Won by Sorcery & Sword

You’re no hero.

You’re an adventurer: a reaver, a cutpurse, a heathen-slayer, a tight-lipped warlock guarding long-dead secrets. You seek gold and glory, winning it with sword and spell, caked in the blood and filth of the weak, the dark, the demons, and the vanquished. There are treasures to be won deep underneath, and you shall have them.

Return to the glory days of fantasy with the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game. Adventure as 1974 intended you to, with modern rules grounded in the origins of sword & sorcery. Fast play, cryptic secrets, and a mysterious past await you: turn the page…

Rules Set: DCC RPG, an OGL system that cross-breeds Appendix N with a streamlined version of 3E. Download the Quickstart Rules for free here: 

https://goodman-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DCC_QSR_Free.pdf

Support: Goodman Games supports DCC RPG with an extensive line of adventure modules and select other materials.

This product is based upon the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, published by Goodman Games. This product is published under license. Dungeon Crawl Classics and DCC RPG are trademarks of Goodman Games. All rights reserved. For additional information, visit www.goodman-games.com or contact info@goodman-games.com