Death Grip + Blood Library (Mark Drummond J Collab) (Patreon)

Greetings adventurers!

In a faraway temple that reaches up from the ground like the rigid remains of some unnatural creature, there lies a gauntlet. Some have sought it out to extend their lives. Others have gone in search of the power to end the existence of others. They all end up cursed in the end. It’s quite sad really, but we’re not ones to turn down a little “spicy” magic.

This item and map were made in collaboration with our good friend and fantastic cartographer Mark Drummond J. This isn’t the first time we’ve worked with him and certainly won’t be the last! We recommend checking out his Patreon. More details on his work below.

MarkDrummondJ is creating unique otherworldly battlemaps and environments for TTRPGs, with designs often encompassing both Science Fiction and Fantasy. 2-3 times a month, patrons receive a new release containing detailed hand drawn battlemaps and ready to play FoundryVTT modules. Feature releases also include an alternate perspective view of the battlemap environment.

Support mark on patreon - https://www.patreon.com/markdrummondj 

Our patrons get early access to all of these items as well as additional formats that are easily usable in both physical and online play for D&D and Pathfinder 2E. Additionally they get high-res art exports, easy to use text exports, behind the scenes updates, and a lot more.

If that strikes your fancy, consider becoming a Patron

Design notes from Matthew:

Cursed items are fun. I wish I could say that in a more eloquent way, but the simple truth of it is that I love making them and I love getting them as a player. That said, I think the best cursed items are ones that offer you a tradeoff rather than simply a straight penalty. That’s where many designers, including the ones at WotC, have gone wrong in my opinion when developing items with a curse. They try to punish rather than offer a meaningful, but potentially problematic choice.

The concept of this started with one of my favorite parts of Pathfinder 2E and older editions of D&D which is that undead are healed by necrotic or negative damage and harmed by healing. I think that’s absolutely fascinating and something that should absolutely be explored more and this gauntlet offered the perfect opportunity to offer the player a meaningful choice in that way. You have to determine if you can still keep yourself alive without the normal healing that everyone is reliant on. It presents a hard choice and that’s the crux of a good choice.

The ability to punch the soul out of something and get it to do your bidding for a moment, well that’s just a certified cinematic badass moment. It was honestly a bit difficult to write as giving it the proper benefits to outweigh the downside required some delicate balancing. That’s the point of balance on an item though. It’s all push and pull.  Give a little power, offer a choice.

We’re nowhere near done with this month as we have some bangers coming up that we’re really excited to get into your hands. We haven’t made a sword in a bit but we fully plan to rectify that next week. After that, we move on to our next Drudgework construct along with a paired item. Thanks again for all the support. We love making these things for you all.

We highly encourage you to join our Discord server where you’ll get access to exclusive channels that have sneak peeks, behind the scenes chatter, and more.

Rewards for Patrons!

Kraken's Kohorts ($3 tier)

Kraken's Kompanions ($6 tier)

Kraken's Kollaborators ($10 Tier)

Get a grip!

- Fernando & Matthew