The Stygian Library 📚 | an OSR dungeon crawl | Reading is Fundamental™️

About the adventure

A DUNGEON FOR BIBLIOPHILES: "And so our brave heroes go deep into the shelves and the dark. The shelves go on forever, and the dark goes on forever, and the books speak, and the ghosts beg, and through sword and sorcery and cunning our heroes three think they can leave here alive." 🔖 An old-school revival dungeon crawl 🔖 A mystery pulsing at the Library's heart 🔖 Backdrops, VFX and SFX, and handpicked music for maximum ambience 🔖 A roguelike experience through the Library: no two playthroughs are the same 🔖 A chance to achieve total enlightenment* A dungeon in the extra-dimensional spaces between every library in the universe. Inside, an order of inhuman Librarians guard the "Sheol Computer", a device said to contain all the accumulated knowledge in every book ever written. You have your own reasons for being here. Will you escape with what you seek? Or will you lose everything in the pursuit of knowledge? *N.B., enlightenment not guaranteed, your mileage may vary.

Additional Details

How to prepare

🎤 Decent mic for voice chat 🎥 Web cam for video chat (optional!) 🌐 Decent internet for connectivity 👾 Discord account (free to register!) 🎭 Character chosen from the Rogues Gallery (coordination welcome!) ✨ A sense of equal parts whimsy and dread

What I provide

🎨 Pictures and licensed images to establish ambience 🎶 Stock and licensed music to do more of the above 🐲 An adventure with maps and tokens and things 🎲 An immersive tabletop experience through Foundry VTT 👀 My own sense of whimsy and weirdness

Gameplay details

📃 Consent Checklist: this will be found in a drive prior to game's start! Please feel free to be as open as possible, in order that I might help you enjoy the game better. Sometimes, a game's content is not suited for everyone, and that's okay! Please do not feel pressured to be "okay" with all content. ❌ ❓ ⭕: X, N, and O cards, as depicted by emoji to the left. Please, please feel free to either publicly let the group know in the Discord voice channel text, or privately to me as a personal message, how you are feeling about the content to that we may respond in real time. You don't have to explain yourself. Just send along an ❌ if you want to hard-stop what is happening, a ❓ if you wish to begin fading to black, or an ⭕ if you want the content to continue. 🚪 Open Door policy: if you, the player, need to leave, whether permanently or temporarily, that is okay. I would ask, as a personal favor, that you reach out to me in order to debrief, hopefully without triggering further trauma, to go over what I could have done better in crafting the experience for you. 💭 Breaks: we will be taking them regularly, roughly 15 minutes for every two hours. Even if you think you are fine emotionally and mentally with content, we really shouldn't be sitting and staring at screens for so long. 🙂 Everyone gets a chance to bio, get some water or snacks, and otherwise decompress for a bit. 🌟 Stars and Wishes: after gameplay, I'll be happy to receive feedback regarding your experience! If you were to let your friends, a family member, or your doppelganger (non-evil!) play this game, what would you recommend I change? What would you keep the same?

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Breaks
Monte Cook RPG Consent Checklist
Open Door
Stars and Wishes
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

💡 Pre-generated characters will be provided before game begins: players are welcome to talk amongst themselves to divide them up! There are no limitations on alignment, and players are encouraged to come up with reasons as to why they have sought out the Library, or vice versa.

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.