Aurochs & Aboleths Aurochs & Aboleths

The Setting

Where the Lava Meets the Sea

An island built on a volcano, and something underneath it that was sealed a long time ago by people who did not explain themselves.

The stone remembers. That is not a metaphor here — it is a mechanic, and it is the first thing players learn.

A vast underground hall of carved columns and a sealed door, a lone stone sentinel standing watch
The hall beneath Calyrosart by Fagner Mathias

Shadows of the Ashbound is three adventures in this world. They can be played standalone or as an arc. They are built around a simple idea: that the fiction should be able to reach out of the story and act on the actual table — on the objects, on the players, on what happens next.

I write about that idea elsewhere on this site. At the table, it just feels like the world is paying attention.

The engine

The Heart of Unbinding

Everything that is sealed was sealed against something. The Heart is what the seals are for — the setting’s engine, and a thing no one who carries it puts down unchanged.

What it is, and what it costs to carry, is learned the way everything here is learned: sideways, and too late to give back.

The Heart of Unbinding — a cracked stone mass balanced on a plinth
The Heart of Unbinding  ·  art by Fagner Mathias

People you’ll meet

Solen Veth, a hooded figure with coiled rope and travel gear, looking off to one side
Solen Vethart by Fagner Mathias
Tender Torren, smiling, a small bird perched on their staff
Tender Torrenart by Fagner Mathias

Three adventures exist in this world, road-tested at GaryCon and run at Gen Con. See where to play →