10 Wonderous and Cursed Artifacts - Issue 01: Tomes

In the half-light of guttering candles—where dust settles thick upon forsaken vaults—lie tomes of whispered power; veiled in secrecy, and steeped in doom. Their pages murmur truths both hallowed and profane, offering wisdom with a blade pressed to the throat: its razor edge glinting with promise and peril alike. Those who dare to read find themselves forever changed—for knowledge, once grasped, is a weight that cannot be put down.

This collection began as a series of improvisations in the Ward Against Evil development channel, where ideas sparked and spiraled into the strange and arcane. The author of the project suggested I release these under my own name—so here we are.

If you haven’t yet, go explore their work. Crowns 1e/2e and Aketon rank among my favorite OSR releases in recent years. You can find their official publisher page at ward-against-evil.itch.io.

This is intended to be the first of many such collections. Future editions will expand upon this theme, released in blog, print, and source-controlled formats. All text, code, and diagrams (except for artwork) are published under CC-BY 4.0, unless otherwise noted. Source files can be found on GitHub