The Crypt Has Opened

Magic

Plunge into a free-form magic system where there are no spell lists. The Spell Path framework will guide you and your imagination in creating unique spells to combat the horrors of the Crypt. Every player has access to every Spell Path, allowing for a truly open play experience. Your limits are your imagination and the threat of the Crypt.

Combine your magical Trope and Tradition to create unique characters. Be a Hexmonger whose Tradition is Nu-Wizard. Or play as a Crypt Hunter, climbing the ranks within a Hierarchical organization.

Cryptids

Encounter classic cryptids like the Sasquatch, Jersey Devil, and the Chupacabra; all with a chilling narrative twist. Discover lesser-known cryptids like the Snallygaster and Rockbolter that will terrorize your town and overrun the Dead Spaces. 

Each Cryptid entry comes with lore specific to the setting, wicked abilities, and suggestions on how to use them for your game. You’ll also be guided on how to create your own cryptids, ensuring you’ll never be without an answer for what the players may run into next.

Town Building

At the start of each campaign, the players will answer a set of questions that develop a unique town that comes with its own character sheet. You can work toward rebuilding a small hamlet up to a metropolis. But do not be complacent, the Crypt still slinks in the shadows, its ever-present skeletal hand ready to drag the living back to the grave.

• Your town follows the same mechanics as your practitioner.
• Your choices and dice rolls create complications for you and plot points for the Crypt Keeper, who will build off of the results for emergent and interconnected stories. 
• Will you be a bastion of hope on the hill? Or a rum-running village tucked in the dark forests? 

Imposition Dice System

An easy to learn dice system, the Imposition Dice System facilitates story-driven, character-driven game sessions. All rolls are player-facing, meaning every roll has an impact on the narrative. 

It all hinges on the Imposition Die, a die chosen by the Crypt Keeper to act as the difficulty of the roll. With the player’s Spell and Path Die, they attempt to roll higher than their Imposition. There are three potential outcomes. Success, Success with Consequences, and Failure. For people who love Blades in the Dark, Cypher System, or Brindlewood Bay, you will feel right at home.

The Team

Rewards

We are keeping it simple. Your pledge helps us produce the final book in digital and print. Everything you need to play will be in the Crypt Tome: game rules, character creation, how to run the game, setting information, cryptids, and more! This book will be a soft-bound cover, like a comic trade paperback, sized for that throwback feeling of reading a Silver Age comic.

This campaign also comes with some spine-tingling digital goodies. Two scenario books, Crypt Chronicles, that provide the Crypt Keeper with chilling tales to drop into their campaign. Each Crypt Chronicle has within it: 

• A two-page comic with which to terrorize the players
• New cryptid
• New locations
• More setting information
• Trigger warnings are displayed prominently on the front
   

You can also add on the Cryptid Card pack. These tarot sized cards have a heart stopping illustration of a cryptid on the front found within the Crypt Tome, and quick reference information for the Crypt Keeper on the back. 

Stretch Goals

Every pledge helps us get closer to our stretch goals which, like the campaign we’ve kept simple. With each contribution we can get closer to the Crypt Chronicles and Cryptid Cards in print. We also have two bumps in creative pay for our layout artist (Andrew Beauman) editor (Chaotic).

Finally, there is one big reward if we really go viral. I promise, it won’t disappoint.

Status

Mechanically, the game is complete. In fact, you’re free to download the beta rules right now! 

We also have a fantastic Actual Play we recorded last year (still in editing because that shit is hard work). Watch the first two episodes of “Shadows of Point Pleasant” so you can see firsthand how the game plays. Don’t worry, these are heavily edited and last less than 2 hours, with music and sound effects!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to follow the campaign and be on this incredible journey with us as we bring The Crypt Has Opened to crowdfunding. Having spent so many years tweaking and play testing, I believe you will find many more years of enjoyment with—

We’ll see you by the camp fire.