I love the Dungeon Backdrop line. The idea for Dungeon Backdrops came out of a conversation I had with a GM friend years ago, and I’m forever grateful for his insights. I’ve used several Dungeon Backdrops in my own campaigns, and while I haven’t used the Nightmare Lodge yet, I like knowing I have it in my “back pocket”. I’ve designed...
2024-03-08 07:55:57 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we have a free and exclusive mini-eventure for you. If your players need to visit a skilled weaponsmith, you can use Shopping at Fisfelond’s Smithy to add depth and flavour to their experience. As a reminder, you get one of these patron-exclusive mini-eventures every month, and this year, we are foc...
2024-03-01 08:36:23 +0000 UTC View PostThe Dread Laironomicon is another of those books I hope will be useful to you, whatever fantasy RPG you play. Within, find 700 thematic lists designed to add depth and flavour to 100 different kinds of monstrous lairs. Whether it’s orcs, giant spiders, wraiths or something else entirely, you should be able to find a table in the D...
2024-02-23 08:15:39 +0000 UTC View PostIn a slight change of plan this week, Raging Swan Press hurls the Goblins of the Death Rune into your inbox.
The original plan was to release the Dread Laironomicon this week, but I spotted a minor problem with the book’s physical print cover. It’s a really minor problem; apparently, all blacks are not equal, but once I saw the problem...
2024-02-16 08:01:30 +0000 UTC View PostI enjoy the Dungeon Backdrop line very much, and I have found some of the instalments tremendously useful for my own campaign. I love the modularity and plug-and-play aspects of the books. You’ve got a setting—now just plug in the appropriate monsters, and off you go! I’m limbering up to use December’s Lost Cellar of the Nameless Mag...
2024-02-09 08:45:30 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, our first February release is your free and exclusive mini-eventure. As I’ve previously said, in 2024, we are fleshing out Dunstone. If your characters are desperate to visit an inn run by an eccentric gnome famed for her odd, prophetic dreams, I have the mini-eventure for you!
As an aside, I am looking forwar...
2024-02-02 08:06:56 +0000 UTC View PostI am jolly excited to finally share with you our first Monstrous Delve. This line has been a long time coming, and I would love to know what you think of it. I hope you can find a place in your campaign for the Flayed Skull orcs and that your characters enjoy meeting (and slaying) these foul raiders.
Mon...
2024-01-26 08:06:44 +0000 UTC View PostLast last year, I started a second weekly gaming group. On Monday nights, I now run a 5e campaign set in Ashlar. (Check out the session summaries here if you are interested in how things are going). I set the campaign in Dulwich, but some of the playe...
2024-01-19 07:39:23 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we have the last instalment in the Wilderness Dressing. Everyone needs bandits for their game, and this week, we give you the handy tools to make the bandit encounters in your game more exciting and flavoursome!
(And, yes, a Wilderness Dressing hardback is coming this April; save a spot on your bookshelf! We have a full-on...
2024-01-12 07:41:17 +0000 UTC View PostWelcome to 2024! I hope you have an excellent year of gaming ahead of you.
I’m mixing things up a bit in 2024, and I’ll explain in more detail as the changes filter through into the release schedule. With several of our established lines (Monstrous Lairs and Wilderness Dressing) coming to a natural end, it seemed like a good time to pl...
2024-01-05 08:04:24 +0000 UTC View PostWe end the year with a cracking Dungeon Backdrop. Old, buried settlements long lost to time are a classic part of fantasy roleplaying games. They provide innumerable opportunities for adventure! Behold, Lost Cellar of the Nameless Mage (which comes in 5e, OSR, Pathfinder 1, Pathfinder 2 and System Neutral editions).
In this month...
2023-12-15 07:52:28 +0000 UTC View PostSome GMs find improvisation easy, and some find it hard. Even among GMs who find improvisation easy, some things come easier than others. For me, I often fail to come up with good, thematic names for random NPCs while I can go on and on about dusty dungeon corridors, overgrown trails wending their way through deep, gloomy woods and so on.
...
2023-12-08 07:52:53 +0000 UTC View PostDecember is always a tricky month for the release schedule. Who wants to be reading emails and downloading books between Christmas and New Year unless they absolutely have to? That’s why I’ve combined the Monstrous Lairs and Urban Locales releases this month.
This week is also momentous because you get the last two Monstrous Lairs to a...
2023-12-01 08:08:20 +0000 UTC View PostAdventurers sometimes work for wealthy patrons. Such folk are often successful, monied merchants. But where would the characters meet such folk to discuss details of their mission (and, perhaps more importantly, the terms of their remuneration)?
Wealthy merchants probably don’t hang around in the kinds of taverns and inns the characters ...
2023-11-24 08:29:48 +0000 UTC View PostI’ve been looking forward to this week’s release for quite some time. I have big plans for the Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands, and they start today!
I wrote the original version of this adventure for Pathfinder 1st edition back in 2012. A lot has changed in a decade.
In 2022, Raging Swan Press released a 5e-com...
2023-11-17 07:45:40 +0000 UTC View PostNovember is shaping up to be a print-tastic month at Raging Swan Press.
This week, we have print editions of GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Backdrop III in 5e, OSR, P1, P2 and System Neutral editions.
Next week we have updated editions of Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands in 5e and Pathf...
2023-11-10 07:50:59 +0000 UTC View PostThis month is very special for me.
Back in July, my son joined the British Army. Unfortunately, during training, he fractured his foot and was medically discharged. (He’ll be rejoining once it is healed.) My son is a keen gamer, and to pass the time while his blinding vitality reasserts itself, he has been writing for Raging Swan Press!<...
2023-11-03 07:57:28 +0000 UTC View PostAs I’ve previously posted, I’m plotting and scheming my way through a first-draft release schedule for 2024. A few weeks ago, I asked what were your favourite product lines. The results were illuminating; thank you.
This week, I’d love to know which edition of our books you use in your campaigns. Here’s the question:
...
2023-11-02 09:22:09 +0000 UTC View PostThis is one of those rare weeks when we aren’t releasing any new products to the public. However—fear not—we have something for you!
This week, we are releasing our final Dulwich Patreon-exclusive mini-eventure into the world. Next month, the compilation will be available, but for now, enjoy Visiting the Lumber Guild in 5e, ...
2023-10-27 06:56:14 +0000 UTC View PostBart Wynants makes a triumphant return to the release schedule with Dungeon Backdrop: Drowned Fane of the Elder God. It will come as no surprise to you whatsoever that this Dungeon Backdrop features more than one tentacle. (This makes me happy.)
Patrons at the $2 and up levels get all five editions—5e, OST, P1, P2 and System Neu...
2023-10-20 06:38:18 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we focus on the urban adventures with the next two instalments in the Urban Locale line. This week, we give you Armourers & Sewers (mercifully in two separate books).
Sewers might not be historically accurate in the vast majority of medieval-style cities and towns, but they are an excellent urban adventure locale. Thieves, w...
2023-10-13 06:36:50 +0000 UTC View PostAs 2023 hurtles to a close and 2024 lurks in the shadows, I've started plotting next year's design schedule. To help me plan the best release schedule possible, I'd love to know which of our current (or recent) lines you love. (I've also included a blast from the past.)
- Adventures
- Dungeon Backdrop
- Dungeon Dressing 2023-10-11 07:39:17 +0000 UTC View Post
In your campaign:
If so, you need Wilderness Dressing: Underwater! Make the underw...
2023-10-06 06:56:57 +0000 UTC View PostIf owlbears—the product of a deranged wizard’s wild experimentations—are a thing, why aren’t gelatinous hippogriffs?
Given gelatinous hippogriffs don’t yet exist, we’ve settled this week for Monstrous Lairs focusing on hippogriffs and gelatinous cubes.
I think a gelatinous cube Monstrous Lair has been long overdue. I love...
2023-09-29 06:24:47 +0000 UTC View PostI really love the Dungeon Backdrop line. I love designing a dungeon with loads of intentional “wiggle room” for a GM to customise it to perfectly suit their campaign. The whole line came about after a friend explained that he never ran any commercial module “as written”. I thought it would be cool to design dungeons with the intention of...
2023-09-22 06:49:19 +0000 UTC View PostFortune tellers are one of those NPCs with which you can have some real fun as a GM. Using a fortune teller allows you to foreshadow events, provide hints and clues about the future or even muddy the water with vague warnings and red herrings. Fortune tellers—particularly eccentric ones with outre reputations can be great fun to use in a campa...
2023-09-15 06:38:47 +0000 UTC View PostLast week, I floated the idea of Wilderness Dressing: Astral Plane and Wilderness Dressing: Ethereal Plane. Several of you are keen on the idea.
The more I think about it, though, such books should probably belong to their own line. For example, the line, Planar Dressing, could comprise the following books:
- Astral ...
2023-09-14 09:51:40 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we continue dressing your wilderness with Wilderness Dressing: Savannah. We didn’t tackle the savannah on our first run-through of Wilderness Dressing, and I’m delighted to correct this error now in the same way we’ve tackled tundra, badland and caves.
It’s great to push the boundaries of the line and include to...
2023-09-08 06:54:33 +0000 UTC View PostThis week, we put the “M” in Monstrous Lairs, but—perhaps—not as you would think!
As we continue to close in on the 100th instalment in the line, this month’s releases focus on mercenaries and myconids!
I’ve always had a soft spot for myconids since I first encountered them in A4: In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords 2023-09-01 06:46:39 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s a Dungeon Backdrop compilation month! Physical print books—hooray!
I love printed books. As a pencil fanatic (it’s best not to ask me about this), I love marking up books, making notes, and generally getting ready for my game. Most of my books are festooned with my (wild and feverish) scribblings. There is something tremendously...
2023-08-25 06:51:20 +0000 UTC View Post