In Danse Macabre by Christopher Pickett and the Stillfleet Studio, you play a Pilgrim, a conscripted peasant, sentenced to traverse the wilderness in pursuit of quintessence—the sole remedy against the curse of undeath. Because in the twilight of the 14th century, death is no longer final: those who die are miraculously and terribly revived, each time with new maleficia—mutations of both the spirit and the flesh.

Your journey unfolds alongside a caravan of fellow exiles, united in the quest for artifacts of a bygone era which hold the keys to your—and your city’s—salvation. There is no magic to save you here, only a rich, realistic, historical setting: to complete your quest, you will travel through the intrigue-filled cosmopolitan cities of the medieval Mediterranean, its mutant-infested wildernesses, and the abandoned ruins of its many broken kingdoms, Christian and Muslim alike.

Danse Macabre: Prima Mors includes a full early version of the game, which is currently in development and being actively playtested. This OSR-adjacent book is 64 pages long and features: complete rules; 6 backgrounds (classes, including Archer, Mendicant, and more); 20 maleficia (wild body-horror mutations); Full lists of equipment (weapons, armor, useful medieval travel gear; a beautiful written introduction to the game-world (which is a twisted shadow of our own in 1390 CE); an introductory quest; an ornamental character sheet; and amazing art (all HumanMade by the author!).