Explore A World Like No Other!

Take to the watersands with your scrap house crew and unlock the secrets of the Blighted Plane! Strike out from one of the Four Nations and claim precious resources from the ever-shifting landscape, or travel to wastes and ruins risen from the sands to discover old-world treasures and newly imbued sources of the crystalblight—radiant energy that generates magic-like effects and shapes all life on the Blighted Plane. During your travels, you’ll outmaneuver your rivals, outrun ship-destroying leviathans, and overcome surges from planar tears and rifts to become legends. 

Harrow: The Blighted Plane contains everything you need to explore this incredible crystalpunk fantasy world: 

• Sleek, narrative-focused rules for story-based tabletop roleplaying games that reward exploration and discovery.
• A concept-driven character creation system that allows you to choose from a myriad of options to play as your ideal character. 
• A fully fleshed-out world with unique cultures, strange locations, and deep lore that provides an immersive roleplaying experience. 
• Sandship customization rules that allow every crew to alter and outfit their vessel to their needs.
• Dozens of mutations that transform characters and creatures alike, imbuing them with powerful ways of using the crystalblight. 
• A menagerie of feral beasts, blighted monsters, and horrifying leviathans—massive creatures that hunt the sands and skies of the plane. 
• One complete adventure and two one-shots to launch and expand your campaign.
  
  

Buy It Now!

Store | DrivethruRPG

In Chapter 27 of the Harrow: The Blighted Plane corebook, we point out that on the plane, dead means dead. There’s no baked-in means of resurrection because the presence of the crystalblight prohibits souls from lingering on the plane. Once something dies, it passes on to the great unknown far beyond Harrow. 
  That not only means no coming back, but it also means that spirits and other undead creatures simply don’t exist in the world. But just because ghosts, ghouls, and zombies aren’t concepts that can be pulled from, that doesn’t mean that you’ll have to forgo your horror adventures. 

As any gatherer on the plane knows, Harrow presents more than enough opportunities for terrifying encounters. 

Members receive this article as a PDF with bonus encounters, additional materials, and spoilers! Click here to grab yours.

Terrifying Epilogue

Smell of ozone | goosebumps | afterimages

Hand-sized, crystal discs litter the chamber's floor, spilling from the broken and overturned shelves that fill the room. As the characters sift through the debris, a flash of bright blue light bursts from the discs, and the virulent echo of their crew being torn apart by gleaming reavers plays out before them. 

Twists

1. One of the crew members in the echo is missing, replaced by a stranger.

2. The gleaming reavers are wearing white metallic collars.

3. The crew in the echo appears to be fifteen years older than they are now.

4. The blue light continues to strobe long after the echo plays out.

5. The crystal discs explode after the echo has finished. 

6. The echo repeats every two minutes, changing slightly each time.

Corrupted Son

Earthy rot | stinging eyes | squelching muck

An enclave of sporebound lie sprawled across the ground before the characters, limbs jutting at odd angles and oozing green-black mycelium gushing from their orifices. As the characters take in the scene, a dark figure made of shattered bodies and slick, stinking fungus glides into the area. Three of the faces near its head say in unison, “The Mother must feed on her weakest young.”

Twists

1. Gelatinous spores rain down from the canopy, burning the flesh they touch. 

2. Three small versions of the fungoid figure tear from its body. 

3. The fallen sporebound all begin to scream “Mother” together.

4. Twisting filaments burst from the soil and wrap around the characters. 

5. A sporecat, dribbling dark green-black corruption, joins the figure. 

6. A shadow falls over the area, and the figure says again, “She must be fed.”

Sudden Turn

Pained screams | moonlight | musky sweat

A tortured scream draws the characters’ attention to a woman falling to her knees on the walkway, her hands and feet clenching and curling against the boards, and her spine contorting gruesomely. The broken moon above casts the area in stark shadows—and highlights the knife-like claws and gleaming crystalline spikes now covering her monstrous form. 

Twists

1. A nearby child begins crying, drawing the monster’s attention. 

2. The monster roars as spikes shoot from its body in all directions. 

3. The monster leaps from the walkway and begins running wildly toward The Gutter. 

4. Toxic, glowing bile drips from the monster’s mouth, coating her chest. 

5. A piercing howl erupts from the monster, shattering all of the glass in the area. 

6. The monster writhes on the ground weakly as the armed watch approaches.

Personal Invasion

Rustling | coppery taste | damp 

Pink, papery cocoons sway in the breeze above the characters’ heads, each backlit just enough to see the multitudes of squirming forms each one contains. As they pass below them, several of the toddler-sized sacks fall, tearing open on the characters and covering them in the legion of glistening worms within. 

Twists

1. The worms immediately start biting and burrowing into the characters’ flesh. 

2. The worms undulate and buzz, filling the characters’ minds with excruciating static. 

3. The worms squirm up the characters’ faces, desperately trying to enter their eyes. 

4. The worms cover the characters’ mouths and noses en masse, cutting off their breathing. 

5. The worms swarm down the characters’ bodies, pushing their way into their navels.

6. The worms sit up and begin spitting thick, nauseating liquid onto the characters. 

Horrific Calm

Unsettling quiet | burning sun | sea rot

The aftermath of the blight squall has killed the winds, leaving an unnatural quiet in its wake and turning the watersands surrounding the characters’ ship stagnant and still for as far as their eyes can see. The corpses of creatures damaged in the storm float on top of the calm, their carcasses left to molder on the sands in the beating sun, alongside the characters’ hopes of escape. 

Twists

1. Long, grasping forelimbs emerge from the calm, feeling the air in the ship’s direction.

2. The sun intensifies and seems to loom larger in the sky. 

3. The rations on the ship have become moldy and inedible. 

4. Every day, the characters forget something important to them. 

5. A breaker vessel stops 1 mile (2 km) away and waits. 

6. Watersands begins to accumulate in the bilge from an unseen leak.

Glimpse from The Underground: Terrorborn and Nightmare is live and available for purchase!

This Black Flag supplement includes: 

• The Terrorborn lineage: a new extraplanar lineage that allows you to embody your foes' greatest fears. 
  • 4 different sources of horror that give your terrorborn unique abilities.
• The Nightmare heritage: an origin for your character that ties you to communities from the Plane of Nightmares itself!

Members receive this PDF for free. (Promotion applied at checkout)

At the risk of understating the obvious, the TTRPG world—and the world in general, honestly—has been a little volatile for a while now. As creatives, this has forced the UO trio to reevaluate how we release our titles and materials, and what we release when we do. 

Luckily, like the gulley/alley/wasteland creatures that we are, we're malleable and thrive in chaos, so read on for the plan going forward, what new systems are entering our mix, and what new developing TTRPG is joining The Underground. 

New Systems, New Directions

We've been playing in the Cypher System space for several years now. We built our first large-scale world, Harrow: The Blighted Plane, using Cypher, and also created a ton of one-shot volumes for the system. Clearly, we're fans. But we don't want to repeat the same mistakes of our past (putting all of our eggs in the OGL basket) or do a disservice to our worlds and titles that would make more sense in an alternative system.

So going forward, you'll see releases and materials from UO in the Cypher System, Daggerheart, and Black Flag (as well as smaller, more indie offerings from Unplaytested Presents). We'll be leading each of the systems with our current primary worlds: 

• Cypher System - Harrow: the Blighted Plane
• Daggerheart - Foxfire
• Black Flag - Realms of Quaseloth

Which segues nicely into the next part of our announcement. 

A Relaunch, A Reboot, and A New World

We started creating Foxfire for the Cypher System, but we're pivoting it to Daggerheart. There are a few reasons for this—with the launch of Cypher System 2nd edition playing a small part—but primarily it's because after playing around with Daggerheart, it just feels right. It will be all of the same magnificent lore that we've created for it, but with even more original system materials than we originally had planned. Members will be seeing updates on this soon, so follow along for more details. 

Those of you who have been following us since our 5e days will recognize the name Quaseloth, which is the core fantasy world where our materials were set. We've experimented with converting them to Cypher System as member bonuses and freebies in the past, but we'll be focusing on Black Flag for the world going forward. Additionally, we're taking this opportunity to do a soft reboot of Quaseloth, so it better reflects its evolution over the years. No elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. Instead, we'll be showcasing the original lineages and cultures that we've developed for the setting. We'll also be slightly retooling some of our original, previously released Quaseloth titles and posts to better reflect the current status of the world. So look for older, non-canon materials to disappear as those new offerings drop. 

Members will get a great first look at a part of Quaseloth in the new developing TTRPG that we'll be rolling out to members, Realms of Quaseloth: Shadowgleam. Shadowgleam is a chem-stained, urban fantasy setting that we're incredibly excited to introduce to folks. Members will start getting looks at the gritty city next month. 

Speaking of members...

New Membership Offerings

We've retooled our memberships to a single all-access tier. Through that tier you'll get: 

• 15% Store Discount
• Free Cypher Shorts Genre Sampler Volume
• Early Access To Playable Materials From Upcoming Releases
• Early Access To Our Developing TTRPGs
• Exclusive Playtest And Feedback Forms For Developing TTRPGs
• Exclusive Hidden "Member" Tiers On Our Kickstarter Projects

Each month, starting with this one, members will get exclusive access to new Cypher, Daggerheart, and Black Flag materials. Some of those will be from upcoming titles in the pipeline (like some new Harrow goodies I'm incredibly excited about), some of them will be from our developing TTRPGs, Foxfire and Shadowgleam, and some of them will be à la carte offerings that we just think you'll have a great time with. 

Additionally, leaning into some new features that Kickstarter has rolled out, each time we launch a Kickstarter to bring a new title to life, we'll have hidden tiers for our members and past Kickstarter supporters. These tiers will have discounts and/or exclusive materials that won't be available outside of the tier.  

For micro publishers like ourselves, the consistent support from memberships is incredibly important. It allows us to hire the artists and other human freelancers who help us bring our titles to life, so we want to make sure we're able to reward that support accordingly in a way that works for our team and our members.

We'll have more updates and drops throughout the month, so stay tuned, and in the meantime, happy gaming. 

~ Jess Pendley

You May Have Missed

Where your superhero character gets their extraordinary powers is one of the most important pieces of background information in the genre, and when playing in the dark supers niche, it's arguably the most important. 

Unlike their traditional caped counterparts, dark supers characters often inhabit a grey area of their world, caught somewhere between good and evil or man and monster, and are forced to struggle against both society's perceptions of who they are and their own internal conflicts. And that fight typically starts with the origin of their powers. 

Did they stumble too close to eldritch entities in their pursuit of knowledge or were they chosen by some unimaginable force seemingly at random? Were they born a creature confined to the shadows or were they made a monster by a nefarious cabal? Are they a fallen angel or a risen demon? Any of those examples paint a very different picture of the sort of character that might develop from those catalysts.  

The below table contains fifty possible origins for your dark supers character that you can use if you need additional inspiration. Roll once and leave it to chance, roll a few times and pick your favorite, or simply choose the one you like. There are no wrong ways to use it when creating your character. 

d100

Dark Supers - Power Origin

01–02

Cursed bloodline (vampire, werewolf, elder thing, etc.)

03–04

Discovery of blasphemous site

05–06

Practiced ritualist

07–08

Manifested thought-form

09–10

Esoteric study

11–12

Summoned demon

13–14

Techno occultist

15–16

Child of celestial

17–18

Covert paranormal government program

19–20

Immortal guardian

21–22

Earthly embodiment of natural force (death, love, fear, etc.)

23–24

Extreme near-death experience

25–26

Ritual sacrifice survivor

27–28

Child of demon

29–30

Escaped demon

31–32

Holdover from an advanced ancient civilization

33–34

Blessed relic

35–36

Powerful patron entity (unknown)

37–38

Alchemical substance

39–40

Revenant created through foul science

41–42

Cosmic punishment

43–44

Chosen by Death

45–46

Otherworldly being (fey, spirit, jinn, etc.)

47–48

Techno occultic corporate asset

49–50

Possessed 

51–52

Rejected by Death

53–54

Fallen celestial

55–56

Forgotten minor deity

57–58

Awakened construct (statue, doll, scarecrow, etc.)

59–60

Indoctrinated into an ancient sect

61–62

Conceived to fulfill a prophecy

63–64

Transfigured by an eldritch knowledge

65–66

Sole survivor of a tragic supernatural event

67–68

Latest in a long line of hunters (demon, witch, monster, etc.)

69–70

Cursed artifact

71–72

Emerged from ley line

73–74

Bound celestial

75–76

Ritual sacrifice result

77–78

Avatar

79–80

Cursed attack (vampire, werewolf, poltergeist, etc.)

81–82

Primordial champion

83–84

Powerful patron entity (known)

85–86

Discovery of sacred site

87–88

Touched by the elder things

89–90

Revived by fate for a purpose

91–92

Latest in a long line of sorcerers

93–94

Mythological species

95–96

Born during an astrological conjunction

97–98

Tainted by occult exposure

99–00

From a dark and uncanny dimension

Copyright © 2025 Underground Oracle Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or in any form without express written permission from the publisher.

This product is an independent production and is not affiliated with Monte Cook Games, LLC. It is published under the Cypher System Open License, found at http://csol.montecookgames.com.

CYPHER SYSTEM and its logo are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC

Happy Monday, Folks!

Our September member bonus is a cypher flavor that will help turn any character into one appropriate for those spooky season games.

The dark pact flavor is perfect for horror-tinged dark supers, fantasy, or modern magic settings and is rife with potential to spin off character arcs or whole adventures centered around the struggles or obstacles that the character's dark pact brings. 

Enjoy and happy gaming!

~ Jess

Flavor: Dark Pact

Setting: -
Genre(s): Dark Supers, Fantasy, Modern Magic

What would you do for power? 
  Whether to protect the ones they care about, to avoid being a victim, or to simply be able to take what they want from the world around them, characters with the dark pact flavor would do almost anything. These characters reached out in a moment of desperation and need and found that what clasped their hand from the world beyond was something fell or unholy. Or perhaps they found a book, relic, or other item that instead called out to them. Delivered murmured promises of dreams delivered and enemies vanquished for nothing more than the cost of a promise, a contract, a pact. 
  No matter the situation surrounding the offer, they were asked and answered “yes” and in the aftermath found themselves sealed to a being they could never truly understand or ever hope to betray. 

The full description for each listed ability below can be found in Chapter 9 of the Cypher System Rulebook or for free at Old Gus' Cypher System Reference Document.

First-Tier Dark Pact Abilities

• Enthrall
• Ribbons of Dark Matter
• See the Unseen
• Terrifying Presence
• War Flesh

Second-Tier Dark Pact Abilities

• Bloodlust
• Blood Magician
• Dream Thief
• Poison Touch
• Unexpected Betrayal

Third-Tier Dark Pact Abilities

• Blood Fever
• Dark Matter Strike
• Evanesce
• Fury
• Uncanny Luck

Fourth-Tier Dark Pact Abilities

• Castigate
• Dark Matter Shroud
• Greater Frenzy
• Intense Interaction
• Soul Interrogation

Fifth-Tier Dark Pact Abilities

• Attack and Attack Again
• Foul Aura
• Hard to Kill
• Terrifying Gaze
• True Senses

Sixth-Tier Dark Pact Abilities

• Embrace the Night
• Embraced by Darkness
• Final Defiance
• Lethal Damage
• Usurp Cypher

Copyright © 2024 Underground Oracle Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or in any form without express written permission from the publisher.

This product is an independent production and is not affiliated with Monte Cook Games, LLC. It is published under the Cypher System Open License, found at http://csol.montecookgames.com.

CYPHER SYSTEM and its logo are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC

Happy Wednesday, Folks!

To celebrate our latest Cypher Shorts cycle, this month's member bonus is a set of subtle cyphers that your wasteland travelers can acquire. 

My personal favorite is trick ear, which we've had a lot of great moments with in our UO games. 

Enjoy and happy gaming!

~ Jess

Cyphers (Subtle)

Setting: -
Genre(s): Post-Apocalypse

Forced Peace

Level: 1d6 + 4

Effect: Creatures of a level lower than the level of this cypher cannot attack the user for 24 hours. Creatures that do not need to breathe are unaffected by this cypher.

Gene Shield

Level: 1d6 + 2

Effect: For a number of days equal to this cypher’s level, the user is immune to damage or effects from radiation or toxic waste.

Mutant Slayer

Level: 1d6

Effect: For the next 24 hours, when the user damages a mutated creature, they inflict an additional 3 damage and may add a minor effect to their strike.

Psionic Backlash

Level: 1d6 + 4

Effect: When the user suffers damage from an attack or ability, they immediately deal an amount of Intellect damage equal to this cypher’s level to the source of the attack or ability.

Trick Ear

Level: 1d6 + 3

Effect: For a number of days equal to this cypher’s level, when attempting to discern the contents of an unmarked or indecipherably labeled container (a canned good, storage box, etc.), the user can discern its general contents by knocking, tapping, or shaking the object near their ear. The GM assigns a level to the depth of information that the PC is looking for. As a guiding example, determining whether something is edible, toxic, or a weapon might be level 1, whereas knowing that a canned good contains peaches or fruit cocktail would be level 7. The cypher cannot provide detail beyond its level.