Black Market Guide to Immortality

With just 3 days left, let's sweeten the pot so we can make sure to reach $120K. We're very close now to 110K, so I think we can do it!

Here are more variant monsters that we're eager to produce if we make it:

Bakotsu (Centaur/Nightmare) After a warlord burned a centaur village allied with a rival, the clerics placed one last curse as retribution for their fates. Their collective malice brought alive their corpses as Bakotsu, skeletal centaurs engulfed in flame, that constantly regenerate in order to haunt their enemies. Ghosts that will never forgive the atrocities visited on them to be forgotten.

Blade Hag (Hag) An odd Korean monster. These hags appear in battlefields, drawn to the scent of blood, and do everything within their power to continue the fight. This could mean sneaking into a battlefield, disguised in the colors of one or the other army, and taking the first swing that lights the powder keg of war. They love discord and making contracts, serving as swordsmiths, that would corrupt well-meaning, valiant young warriors into bloodthirsty butchers.

Gu Huo Niao (Harpy) They're a variant of harpy possessed by the grief of a mother losing their young. Once a harpy is overwhelmed by this despair, they're compelled to seek out and snatch a child to raise. If they do successfully raise the child, a curious magic transforms the child into another Gu Huo Niao. Their true mother's grief at losing them can also bring to life another Gu Huo Niao, so... there's really no winning here, is there?

Luotuoshi (Dullahan) A sorcerous variant of a dullahan, it's said that they're immortals who've learned to survive without their heads. Their heads instead become a spell focus which they can intentionally sever and have fly far distances remotely. By wielding this strange connection, they can spiritually connect to multiple severed heads, using them as components for barrages of spells.

Ohachisuye (Roper) An Ainu monster born from the lingering resentments of a long abandoned house. The creature's flesh engulfs the walls of the house and uses the outside as a protective shell. Like a roper, it extends its long tendrils to keep travelers from leaving, slowly killing them while they stay the night. It's capable of using cleverer, more subtle means such as projecting illusions to invite them into what seems like an empty house.

While we're on monsters, we're also happy to share this funny little guy:



The Mo in China, or Baku in Japan, is a chimera of sorts whose sharp teeth are capable of eating both hard materials like metal or soft, intangible concepts like dreams. Many famous inns in the Iseung region got their start by domesticating Mo to eat the nightmares of their guests. If the Mo get too hungry, they're liable to also eat people's sweet dreams, leaving them feeling empty when they next wake up. It takes a skilled beast tamer to make sure a mo doesn't get carried away with their appetite.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to respond here or email us at [email protected].

You can also click the banner below to join our Discord server for updates and conversations about our books!

Hello, everyone! We've only got a little over 3 days left of crowdfunding to go. We're on our way to the $110K stretch goal (Undying Corruption AP season 2) and past that, the Legacy of the Wailing Souls one-shot based on encounters from this book.

We're also eager to offer something a little different for the 120K stretch goal: Variant Monsters

In our research, we've found a number of creatures that'd be difficult to stat up largely because they seem so similar to an existing creature. However, with Variant Monsters, we can offer sets of monsters that tune-up statblocks of existing creatures.

Here's a list of what we have in mind for round 1:

Overall, we'd be thrilled to have the chance to stat up creatures that normally seemed mechanically too similar to existing monsters. The twists we'll make, I think, will definitely distinguish them. Plus, naturally, we'll have a lot of new cool art to share, all made possible by your generosity.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reply here, email us at [email protected], or join our Discord server!

With under 5 days left, we're pleased to present to you a little video we've made compiling some questions and answers from our Discord in-character Q&A with Black Market Guide author, Shin Seul-ki! Many thanks to Rachel Reed, our video editor, and Apphia Yu, Seul-ki's voice actor.

We've also very close to hitting our 110K stretch goal, which unlocks Season 2 of the Undying Corruption Actual Play with Black Market Guide expansions! Catch you next time as we share more of what's to come.



If you'd like to join us over at our Discord server, just click the banner below:

Welcome to the Moon.



With the NPC Guide having unlocked special NPC entries for the moon, the world of Iseung can enter the realm of spacefaring! In light of Starfinder 2e coming out, plus other settings where high fantasy meets cosmic exploration being available for play, we're excited to delve a bit more into how these concepts can intertwine.

Empress Kaguya of Kyougen, based on the myth of Princess Kaguya, was raised on the terrestrial plane while being born on the moon, so she definitely sees an impetus of wanting both civilizations to someday make proper contact. In such a way where first contact wouldn't throw a very quasi-medieval world into chaos.

Among the deities that can be credited for having crafted mankind (meaning in this case, most humanoids), Nuwa is atypical for sharing a particularly close relationship to them. Many of the setting's creator gods moved on or grew bored after their first round of crafting, but Nuwa always remained fascinated with how much her little clay dolls could grow on their own. If she had her way, she would've gifted them with immortality from the start, though the other gods vetoed her on that.

She gifted them with the foundations of culture, even weaponry to protect them from monsters and the Primordial Beasts. It's said she accomplished this in a similar way to Hwanung by acting as a temporary sovereign before willingly stepping away. Nowadays, she's primarily worshiped by artisans and matchmakers who idolize her relationship with her husband, Fuxi (though he's more of a patron to scholars and mages, those more contemplative). 

Nuwa idealizes change and evolution, despising stagnancy and barriers to progress. If the gods should one day stand against mankind's ascension, then Mother Goddess Nuwa wouldn't hesitate to side with mankind.

We noticed that our friends over at Grim Moon Studio are working on a PF2e-expansion of Nightfell! Given that the Lunar Cultist is included in that expansion, we're very happy to announce that we'll include a Pathfinder 2e conversion of the Oath of the Eclipse subclass as a bonus for anyone who backs both us and Nightfell The Witches' Path. 

At the very least, given interest, we thought of making the Eclipse subclass some manner of a Champion cause, but happily, there's already synergy between our two projects.

 

Now that we've reached 1000 Backers, everyone will receive a total of 2 stickers with their order (should they choose)! We'll add the new bonus to everyone's order after the crowdfunding campaign ends.

That's it for now, but we're excited to share what we've got for future stretch goals as they get unlocked! Next up is the Undying Corruption Season 2 Actual Play w/ Black Market Guide expansion!

I think I forgot to send the last update to everyone, so if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to vote for which tier of play you'd like to see our potential one-shot adventure, Legacy of the Wailing Souls, to be set at! Both for 5e and PF2e play, of course.

If you have any questions or comments, comment here or email us at [email protected]. Please also join our Discord server by clicking the banner below!

We are entering the last week of the project! Though we're just around the corner from unlocking our 100K Stretch Goal, adding more moon lore to the book, we thought it's been enough time to update you on how we were doing.



First, to show you a bit of what your generosity is allowing us to create, here's a draft of our original soundtrack's cover! You can see Seul-ki conducting before an orchestra of spirits in Dangukese royal halls. We're excited that we get to make these artistic flourishes with what we do. 

Ranger: Vaultrunner/Animist: Voyager of Forgotten Storerooms and Cleric: Emptiness Domain/Oracle: Enlightenment Mystery have been added to the preview documents! When able, we'll continue to update the pdf with material that's been unlocked. You'll get to see them slowly but surely over the coming weeks. Please let us know what you think as we take community feedback to punch up the material a touch. 

For our 130K stretch goal, we've decided to put out a new one-shot: Legacy of the Wailing Souls. It will feature Seul-ki hiring you as part of a team of adventurers to help her scavenge a Society of Wailing Souls cult hideout that's been largely (not entirely) abandoned after the events of Undying Corruption. She's in the process of gathering materials to write the in-game Black Market Guide to Immortality and needs to get her hands on a last secret that her mother has been hiding. Namely, how she has lived for so long and the source of her connection to the Primordial Fox.

We will also use these new resources to touch up Dirge for My Bygone Days for both 5e and PF2e official release.

In preparation for the one-shot's potential release, we've put out a poll to get your preferred tier of play down! We can make this newcomer friendly or give a rare challenge for higher level adventurers. Your choice here will absolutely help shape the contents of this adventure!

We're also excited to announce that we'll gather again for another livestream to answer questions and wind down the campaign! For this, we'd like to get as many people as we can, so if it's at all possible, we might move around the time. You will of course be notified immediately.

For now, we're eager to spend several hours answering more questions if any, chatting, and watching as the final hours count down. Please be sure to join us!



To leave you with one last preview, the Skull Gwishin has largely finished being modeled! That is now 4 out of 5 of the team-chosen copies. We will begin voting on which other monsters or npc's you might like to see modeled after the project!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reply here or email us at [email protected]. Or please join our Discord server by clicking the bottom banner!