Even the Dead have tales to tell…
Chronicles of the Crossing is a collection of full-length novels, TTRPG Campaign and Setting Guide, and Metal-Infused Musical Score. These novels explore the question any adventurer has had to ask. You died. Now what?
Chronicles of the Crossing is a collection of five full-length novels, a complete TTRPG campaign and setting guide, AND a metal-infused musical score. These novels explore the question any adventurer has had to ask:
You died.Now what?
Better Luck Next Life
The poetic mystery of death has long been a fascination for the living. Images of warm hearths and a familial embrace are conjured for some, while others picture screaming in eternal torment at the hands of a demon.
And yet, clerics have the power to pluck the dead back from that plane, thrusting them back into their mortal coils or even raising them into a state of eternal Undeath. Surely the gods would grow weary of their clerics pinching souls that rightfully belonged in their afterlife.
Wouldn’t they?
The Campaign For the Party That Never Listened...
The Sunless Crossing has existed for many millennia as a nexus between the countless realms that each god or devil carves out for an empire. There, the souls of the dead engage on a journey of self-discovery while clerics from all religions (both living and dead) serve as ambassadors with their own ambitions and machinations.
Ruled by a tragic monarchy that sacrifices everything in the name of divine purpose, The Sunless Crossing was always meant to be a temporary fix to an unsolvable equation: Does death hold meaning?
The Black Ballad is a full adventuring campaign and setting in the styles of Elden Ring, Shakespeare, and the morbid beauty of metal. Tales of tragedy, sacrifice, and the acceptance of mortality await your players within the realm of the Sunless Crossing.
A realm designed to serve the gods is thrust into a savage war between two factions that ignites from the lands of the living and spreads to the land of the dead. The Players' choices throughout will determine not only their own fates, but that of the Sunless Crossing, the countless souls trapped within, and the cosmos itself!
This is the perfect books for every Storyteller to have at their table for the inevitable.
Peer behind the veil into the nature of gods, deities, and divine magic. Get access to new domains and spells, new playable species templates for your existing character, and a full length setting and campaign guide!
Multiple endings based on player agency!
This BG3 style approach allows you to run the campaign multiple times with vastly different outcomes. Which path will your players choose?
This campaign is scalable to level 1 as we've done our best to ensure that every encounter is as epic or harrowing as possible.
A book that serves both as a novel and as a game to finally answer "What transpires after your heroes die?"Replace death saving throws.
Challenge your players to cheat death and escape Purgatory and discover how one might become an Unhallowed or a Soul Stitched abomination.
What becomes of those who have lost their god?
Will they carry on into the Storm of Broken Worlds and seek their revival? Or will they usurp the dying embers of a deity on an epic quest to become a god themselves?
A means to cheat the realm of waiting by gambling the very time a dead soul has remaining... or for the desperate, their very memories.
Choose Your Fiction, Defy Your Fate, Kill Your God with Novels and More!
Roguepunk (Memory Thief by C.D. Corrigan) Necromantic Heist (Mortal Coils by Chris Durston) Death-Torn Mystery and Romance (Duskwalker by Crystal Wood) Metal-Infused God Wars (To Slay A God by Brian Fitzpatrick) Divine-Infused Afterlife Setting & Campaign (The Black Ballad by Storytellers Forge) Player Journals and Tragic Short Story (Ashlynn's Memoir by Courteney Penney and Ash Blankenfeld)
Download the intro to The Black Ballad and first two Chapters of Duskwalker OR listen to DiAmorte's music video!
DIAMORTE - WHERE THE LIGHT GROWS COLD (FEAT. BUDAPEST SCORING ORCHESTRA)
All novels and TTRPG products can be mixed and matched via the 'Add-On' feature. Don't worry about missing out on something and being ill-equipped for the afterlife! Choose your format for your base pledge and all add-ons, and they will ship together in one bundle to you.
All the novels below come in Epub, Paperback, or Hardcover variants. You can pick a single novel as a pledge in any format, or even all of them (in any format).
Memory Thief by C.D. Corrigan. Genre: Roguepunk. Everyone has regrets about their life. But those memories are the very things that grant you form and prevent you from becoming a mindless wraith. Delving into crime within the Sunless Crossing, Memory Thief explores redemption, zealotry, and what happens to souls who aren't rich enough to enjoy the lofty afterlives of the powerful. Mortal Coils by Chris Durston. Genre: Necromantic Heist. What does it mean to be evil? A necromancer races against time to fulfill her dark god's wishes before her old master can resurrect her as an undead slave (or worse) in the material plane. With death her only chance at freedom, Mortal Coils asks: is there anything a bad person wouldn't do to escape a far worse enemy? To Slay A God by Brian Fitzpatrick. Genre: Mafia-Infused Adventure. Epic Adventure? Mafia Intrigue? God Resurrection?! When a dying god's soul gem bursts on the battlefield, embedding sentient shards within opposing forces, the struggle moves to the afterlife in a fight to either resurrect the god of pestilence or end his reign forever. Duskwalker by Crystal Wood. Genre: Death-Torn Mystery and Romance. Explore how clinging to toxic relationships of the past can taint your present... and rob you of the future. Duskwalker features stories surrounding the Unhallowed, those who are split between the lands of the living and dead, and how one might escape The Sunless Crossing.
Ashlynn's Memoir by Courteney Penney and Ash Blankenfeld. Genre: Player Journal! Ashlynn's Journal for the Dead is the perfect all-in-one Campaign Journal to bring your stories into the afterlife! Peer in and read the diary entries of the Sunless Crossing's Sovereign before the events of the Black Ballad and admire the accompanying sketches that help bring the text to life. The Journal then becomes yours to fill in as you (or your character) wish! Just don't let your character see their own sheet. That never ends well. The journals come in five different colors: Red, Blue, Green, Black, and Purple. Pick your favorite!
The Campaign Book The Black Ballad campaign is already written and finished! But we now have it available in new versions and variants of print. Choose from Digital, Epub, or Standard Hardcover Edition. All editions of The Black Ballad come complete with DiAmorte's orchestral soundtrack included within the book!
DiAmorte is a unique force in the realm of music, blending operatic performances with the raw energy of orchestral and metal music. This Metal Musical Theater Production offers an immersive experience, combining captivating visuals with powerful narratives.
Rooted in Theatrical Opera and dark musicals combined with Metal, DiAmorte presents a fresh take on musical theater. Their performances harmoniously intertwine elaborate stage presentations with their distinctive musical style. The result is an exceptional live experience that bridges the gap between traditional musical theater and the world of heavy metal.
Experience the full metal album "The Black Ballad" by DiAmorte.
Scheduling RPG Times can be an absolute nightmare. So, we wanted to do a special project that keeps everyone interested while the monstrous realities of life get in the way of rolling shiny math rocks.
For the past year-and-a-half, five authors have been writing full-length fantasy novels! So... let's showcase these brilliant minds who have been wickedly scribing tales of tragedy.
Stretch Goal #1: Return Of The Black Ballad Art Team! Unlocks at $30,000.
We can make covers. That's easy. But James wants to do something cool for ALL the novels, and so do some of our favorite artists from The Black Ballad. With this tier unlocked, we will kick up the art team to illustrate full covers for each of the 4 novels!
Stretch Goal #2:Fiction to RPG, RPG to Fiction! Unlocks at $40,000.
With this stretch goal unlocked, all authors and our layout crew will create NPCs, Villain, and Social Statblocks (potentially even new magic items) based on scenes and characters featured within the novels. All backers will get a free digital PDF containing the new content to add to the Black Ballad world!
Stretch Goal #3: Fully Illustrated Scenes From Each Novel!Unlocks at $60,000.
This tier goes beyond the covers. With this stretch goal, we will pair authors up with artists and have gorgeous two-page TTRPG-style art scenes that are perfect for desktops that depict iconic fantasy locations or epic battles set within each novel. All backers will receive downloads for 4 pieces of desktop-worthy artwork if this goal unlocks, and Storytellers Forge will have some serious art to use for The Black Ballad Setting.
Stretch Goal #4: New TTRPG Maps based on Novel Locations! Unlocks at $75,000.
With this stretch goal, we will bring back our map makers to create battle maps for the best location in each novel. Since we do both hand-drawn and digital variants of the maps, we might even be able to slip the map into the printing of each book (no promises on that one), but regardless, all backers will get four location battle maps from the art team in case they wish to run side quests in locations featured in the novels!
Stretch Goal #5: The Final Stretch goal - Official Red Opera / Black Ballad Crossover -Unlocks at $150,000.
This goal, in and of itself, is a lofty goal and could very well be the focus of its own crowdfunding campaign. If this tier is unlocked, we will develop a side quest that merges The Red Opera and The Black Ballad during the height of the calamity facing both worlds designed to run a split party at separate times. Our goal is to design a side quest that can be run if not all players can make it to either campaign by utilizing both the material and purgatory settings we've created!
Storytellers Forge is an indie roleplaying game design studio headquartered in the state of Illinois in the US that focuses on crafting compelling narratives—with a creator-focused spotlight. We create full campaigns, storylines, and worlds adaptable for any storyteller’s home world in evocative and immersive ways.
Our first project, The Black Ballad, was successfully crowdfunded and the full team of amazing creatives and artists who built that project is available by clicking on this link: The Black Ballad by ST Forge.
For Chronicles of the Crossing, here are the editorial and production staff helping assist the authors in developmental editing and production!
4Horsemen Publications is our partner in Purgatory, bringing the publishing apocalypse one book at a time. They are an eco-friendly, mid-sized book publisher combining over 20 years of experience in business, publishing, design, and marketing in a joint venture to provide alternative publishing options for new and veteran authors. Trendy covers, top-notch typesetting designs, newsletter building, competitive pricing, wide distribution, strong editorial practices, a drive to provide readers with innovative book series, and many other aspects make up the quality and brand we call 4 Horsemen Publications. We aim to serve our readers and authors by building strong branding platforms to help authors grow.
Once the novels are finished with developmental editing, 4 Horseman will take the novels into Copy Editing, Layout, Typeset, and Distribution! Don't be surprised when you get emails from 4HP when the books ship out!
Let's lay out why we are crowdfunding and why we need your support!
All Authors have completed their 1st draft of the manuscript and started editorial rounds. In truth, while the team behind The Black Ballad was finishing the RPG side, these fine keyboard warriors have been slaying digital demons for months. One does not cook an 80,000+ word manuscript overnight.
We are seeking to raise funds to finish production to make these books the best possible versions they can be, and that means we need to raise funds for:
Cover Art: Art Director James Mosingo and returning artists from The Black Ballad wish to design glorious illustrations for these books.
Trailers and Media: Creating projects and crowdfunding takes time, money, and artwork. David Granjo and Drake Mefestta have built wonderful trailers, music, and graphics for this page. These will serve as our baseline elements for attempting to defeat A.I. Algorithms once the book launches.
Developmental Editing and Copy Editing: Editors, it turns out, need food (despite how much they protest). We love our editors. We'd like to pay them.
Future Studio projects: We'll be upfront about this one: Storytellers Forge desires to bring projects to a closer state of completion before coming to crowdfunding. With The Black Ballad, we started with barely anything. Chronicles of the Crossing - we have full manuscripts. For our upcoming projects, we want even more finished to lower the timeline it takes to deliver projects.
Production Timeline: Our goal is to deliver all books by May 2025. Life happens and so does production schedule delay, but we feel confident in this. For products already finished however... how about sooner?
Digital Distribution will start as soon as possible on all items that are already fully completed after surveys are finished! Any order for finished products that doesn't need bundling will be handled shortly after all the fiddly bits of address' and add on surveys are completed.
All taxes and shipping fees will be added after your survey is completed. We are based out of IL and given recent changes in tax laws in 2022, yes that means even states exempt from Sales Tax have to fork over money to the state of IL. Shipping prices below are a range:
Domestic: Novels and Journals: $7-10 based on quantity and version. The Black Ballad: $10-14 based on quantity and version.
International: (priced in USD). All international products are printed locally anywhere Ingram, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble has services. While some countries will still have VAT and Shipping, the net cost should be lower across the board. Shipping and Taxes will be added after the campaign ends before the books are delivered.
Novels and Journals: $7-10 based on quantity and version. The Black Ballad: $10-14 based on quantity and version.
