Black Market Guide to Immortality

Hello everyone, we hope you've all been properly scared this Spooky Month!

Very happy to report to everyone that late pledges are officially open.

Click here to access late pledges

In addition, we had a number of stuff we still wanted to do. I mean, we love designing new playable content and monsters, so we have a very special holiday offer.

Until February 2026, we're keeping some very informal stretch goals open. At 125K and every 5K after, we'll add another playable species/ancestry/heritage, subclass, or monster! As long as we're still working on the book, I don't see a reason why we shouldn't add more to it if we can help it.

Surveys

A small number of surveys has been sent out to test the waters. If folks don't report any issues in the next 24 hours, we'll send the rest out. You can expect them soon! As folks fill out their surveys, we'll be sure to give you guys a month by month update on where we're at production-wise. So far, everything's up to speed and I'm hoping to knock out a conclusive draft of the book by the end of the year, in time to be edited Q1 of next year.

I'll work out digital downloads and get them up and running by the end of the week. We are distributing all digital content through DriveThruRPG, so I want to make sure I can figure out how to set that up properly. Folks have been excited to access Undying Corruption, so I want to prioritize that.

Previews

To show you that we've been busy since the crowdfunding campaign, we're happy to show you a couple things we've been working on.



As per the latest stretch goal, here is the Ohachisuye, our variant Roper based on a monster from Ainu folktale. It uses illusions and trickery in addition to the usual Roper tricks to reel in unsuspecting travelers. Any GMs out there will totally give their players a fright when they realize, oh, that's not a house at all, is it!


The Imoogi Dragonborn has also been designed! They appear more serpentine, certainly a bit like a naga. Unlike other dragonborns, they possess the power to "evolve" and temporarily access different dragon forms that empower their physical strength and natural dragonborn abilities. Like a tougher breath weapon.

We'll continue to touch base with you! If you have any comments or questions, you can reach us by replying to this update or emailing us at [email protected]. We've also got an increasingly active Discord server!

We've wrapped up crowdfunding at 120K!! All things considered, not too shabby at all, so thank you all very much for your support in reaching this point.

Within a week or so, you can expect the surveys to reach your inboxes. There, we'll collect whatever information we need such as your game system of preference for books and if you backed us at higher tiers, a form to fill out with references and descriptions of characters you'd like for us to illustrate.

At the same time, preorders will open up including late pledges. We know that times are tough, so we want to keep the bundled pledge rewards open for ease of choice for folks whenever finances allow.

After a month, we'll send out a new version of the playtest document for your approval. As we work on the newly voted on classes, we will update it periodically with new mechanics as we finish and proofread them.

Speaking of, the winners of the polls are as follows:

Everything listed above will be included in the playtest document. We'll build new mechanics around these choices, so thank you all for participating in shaping our book! Likewise, for those who backed both us and Nightfell The Witches' Path, we will start work on the Lunar Cultist subclass.

From here on, you can expect production updates and various previews as we complete this book.

Consider also clicking the banner below to join our Discord server!

We have unlocked the new one-shot, 10 new monsters, and a new homebrewed subclass!

Pardon my rush writing this message, but in the hopes that people see this, I'm making a risky offer: for every 3K that we make from here, we will design a new subclass or lineage/heritage based on the community polling!

These will count as last minute bonus stretch goals. Let's make this a grand finale! And again, thank you for your generosity through these tough times. This whole experience with crowdfunding, all the highs and lows, will be a lasting memory for all of us in the Nine Heavens Press team.

We're at the final several hours! And we've got about under 6K left from meeting the 120K stretch goal!

And the preview for 130K has been revealed: we're excited to put out printable monster and item cards based on what we've produced in Undying Corruption and will produce in Black Market Guide.

To give an example of what they'd look like, here is a sample from our collaborative partner, Mithral Canvas:

They would look something like this, but of course, we'd toy with the layout in our personal team.We're thinking about doing the same and folks in our livestream today. Since folks were interested in seeing cards with our monsters for easy access, we're happy to expand on that idea and include them!

To sweeten the pot, we're also happy to add another lineage/heritage of an existing ancestry/species based on results from our community polls. In other words, the top 4 will be chosen in total if we clear 130K!

Once again, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who backed us and we do not take your generosity lightly. Here's to taking this all the way home!

Preview


Goddess of Drought, Hanba. Once a water goddess and daughter of the Jade Emperor, she joined the war on his behalf against the rival deities for dominance over the heavens and the earth. She reversed her authority to overwhelm the storm and wind gods on the opposing side. The traumas of war left her as a goddess of drought, banished from the heavens to wander the earthly realms and lower planes as a bringer of drought.

Though an omen of disaster, she simply wishes for a place to belong.

If you have any questions or comments, do reply here or click the banner below to join our Discord server:

As we close out the crowdfunding campaign, I wanted to take this time to thank everyone for this successful turnout. We're grateful and delighted that there are so many people out there who are interested in seeing and playing through an East Asian setting that's been created by East Asian artists.

Your generous support really allows us to create new art as ambitiously as we have so far. It helps us make sure all of our teammates are compensated for their time and effort in a perfectly fair way. Of course, we'd also like to put out more stories just like the ones we've shared with you! So truly, thank you for helping make a difference.

As a show of our appreciation, we'll add a bonus to the upcoming 120K stretch goal:

Community Poll: New Subclass
We'll choose a total of 2 most popular classes in both our 5e and PF2e polls and design a totally new subclass based on your pick. As of now, it's looking like that would be the Gunslinger and Psychic in PF2e and the Warlock and Rogue in 5e. The choice in one version will be converted to the other version, so you're getting 2 for the price of 1.

In total, you'll be getting: 10 new monsters, 2 new subclasses, and a one-shot. Quite the bargain, if we make it!

With under 37 hours remaining, let's end this campaign with a bang!