Get your copies of Righteous Vow Volume 4 pre-ordered before we go to print. There WILL be a price increase on the book once it hits our store. This is over 200 pages of pirate rules and adventure for Shadowdark RPG. Everything you will need to play a pirate themed campaign with the Shadowdark RPG ruleset.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
We're So Close! But We Need Another Week! (or so)
about 1 month ago
– Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 04:50:25 PM
Here's where we stand on Black Masts & Magic.
Writing is at 100% Editing was just finished this week. We have done 2 revisions and 3 full edits from two line editors and our copy editing team. Along with the local, online, and convention playtests, we have the most complete and edited work Crawl Club Publishing has produced so far. So. Editing is at 99.9% as we do one final pass to check for grammar and punctuation. Art is sitting at about 95% as we get the final art pieces into the book. I have to say, this is going to be a feast for the eyes once we get it in your hands. The new book is jam packed with original artwork. It's going to be well worth the wait.
But we do need a little bit longer. I know we originally had our goal at the end of June to release the digital PDFs. But it's looking like we will be sending them out the first week of July instead. This is because, well, we're human. We are working super hard on this, but it's just taking us a little bit longer to make sure it's the best it can be. We appreciate the patience, and we promise to get this made right, and well.
Printing is scheduled! We have our hardbacks schedule to print in July at Walsworth. They have a pretty full schedule though, so it's looking like the first week of August when we will receive the hardbacks in our hands. Which means a little later on that front too. But, we're not too much longer than expected. Just a little bit. I'd rather let everyone know right away than keep the information from you all. This is what it is, but it also gives us a little more time with the PDFs before we go to print. So, everyone can help us identify any errors we missed. MIXAM is printing our softcovers and we are excited to have them again, because they did a terrific job on our last several softcover books.
We are beginning to charge cards for shipping and add-ons/pre-orders. This way digital files can be sent for the earlier books, and digital rewards can start going out soon. We will begin shipping books as soon as we have them in hand. Not too much longer, so thank you for being amazing and supportive!
Finally, here's several pages of spoilers to give you something to look forward to. We have a 213 page book on our hands. The 160 page target is long gone. But the value and content is through the roof on this volume. Needless to say, my next few projects will be in the 24 page or less range. Enjoy! And thank you again for your support. (Also if you don't want to have too much spoiled, look away!)
Hopefully this gets you excited. I know I am! Talk to everyone very soon! -Bill
Smoke Tests SENT!
about 2 months ago
– Mon, Jun 15, 2026 at 01:46:48 PM
Smoke tests went out today! As long as these first several surveys go out without issue, we should be good to send out the rest of the surveys this week. Which means everybody will be that much closer to getting books!
We also finished another round of edits, so we're really close to getting Black Masts & Magic to your door. We will be printing the first week of July as long as everything goes according to plan. Which means the books will be shipped to us the second week of July, and then... to your door shortly after!
Thank you all so very much again for your patience. The PDFs will be going out for all previous books RIGHT AWAY since you'll get a download link to all of your stuff as soon as the surveys go out. We will be sending DriveThruRPG links to POD and any digital rewards as soon as RV4 is done and DriveThru allows. Hoping that process will go smooth and align with the printing timeline. We will see! They usually are very responsive and helpful over there at DriveThruRPG. There might be a slightly longer turnaround time for the POD items just because it may take a little while to get proofs back. But I'm hoping it will be only a matter of a few days difference as I will send for the proofs in tandem with sending our physical books to print.
Alright everybody. Thank you again for filling out your surveys. As always if you have ANY questions whatsoever, shoot us an email at [email protected] and I will personally return your message ASAP. I always want to maintain a high/timely response rate, and I want to make sure I take care of each and every one of you with the same respect and service I would desire myself. So, thanks all! Have an excellent week! And once again, THANK YOU, for making this project come to life.
-Bill
P.S. If you have friends who missed the Kickstarter and want a RV4 book or bundle. We have our pre-order store up and live here: https://rv4.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Also. There is an AWESOME item we have included as an add-on that everyone should check out when they get a chance. For anyone playing on VTT. Our friends at Dead Hawk Publishing have created a $10 VTT Old School token pack with a pirate theme they are offering as an add-on with Righteous Vow 4. You will already be getting some cool VTT tokens as a stretch goal. But these will supplement those with even more cool options for your pirate games. Just wanted to highlight them because they are a super cool item made by a friend and creator that we love to support. Here's a preview of some of the cool, human made (NO AI) artwork for this project.
Again. These are available in your surveys as an add-on or in the pre-order store as well. So if you want some great tokens, definitely add them on. (Plus you get 50 of them for $10. That's a deal!)
Pledge Managers Go Out THIS WEEK! Plus, PDFs COMING SOON!
about 2 months ago
– Tue, Jun 09, 2026 at 06:22:26 PM
We're Heading Toward the Finish Line
Sparkstep spell art by Andrew Beckwith
We're double checking a few things and making sure all of the digital downloads are ready for all of our backers. Digital PDFs, VTT tokens, and map files are being uploaded so we can deliver content for all previous books to all backers this week. The surveys from the pledge manager will go out this week and every backer will get their digital rewards if they included any earlier volumes in their pledges. So be on the lookout because the surveys will be hitting your inboxes very soon. We will also be charging shipping for physical pledges, all of which will be headed your way in July. We are printing at the end of June, which hopefully means we will have all pledges shipping soon after they arrive at RPG Ramblings for fulfillment. Jeff does a terrific job and will be handling all of our fulfillment once again.
We just returned from North Texas RPG Con where we playtested more Black Masts & Magic! This volume of Righteous Vow is shaping up to be the most complete and content filled book yet. And we received excellent feedback from our players as we made more friends in Texas last week! (By the way Texas BBQ is bomb yo!)
Finally, just to update you on the progress of Black Masts & Magic. We have made some immensely positive progress on the book and June is where we put the polish on the final book. Final pieces of art are rolling in as Andrew, DeWayne, Uriah, and Matt continue to put together our signature original artwork for the book. Each new art piece brings out more and more character to the book. We are thrilled with how cool everything is turning out. Soon we will be able to unveil all the hard work to all of you. And we appreciate your patience as we get everything ready for you.
We have had four revisions of the book including a revision with our content editor William "This Effin' GM" Tramp who made a pass through everything. If you know Will, he's a master of great ideas. So we made some excellent revisions, and made things even better! Now the book is off to line edits with Wayne and Laurie and we're making final changes as we finish layout. This means that PDFs will be sent out to everyone by mid to late June! We're on schedule and things are looking/playing great!
Thanks again everyone for your continued support! We wanted to finally finish things off by showing you all our next Crawl Club Publishing Project. This will be a smaller book with two adventures for the Pirate Borg system. Due out in July is a Double Feature for Pirate Borg featuring two new third party adventures written by myself and Erica Lowe-Tarpley. The Righteous Violence! Kickstarter will launch on July 15th! But you can get notified of the launch by following our new project here! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/crawlclub/righteous-violence
Also since you read all that, here's some more awesome art!
Andrew Beckwith's Pyromancer Spell Art
Matt Morrow's Hydromancer Art
Uriah Groves' Artifact Art
More updates coming soon! Get excited. It's almost time to unleash Black Masts & Magic!
Thank you again crawl club, Bill
We're in Editing and Revision 3 has a Full Layout!
3 months ago
– Sun, May 03, 2026 at 05:36:04 PM
Late Pledges for Righteous Vow Volume 4: Black Masts & Magic will be closing soon as we are sending revision 3.4 to editing. We will be doing extensive playtesting and editing in May and the beginning of June, as we finish the artwork and lock in final layouts. The book has a completed layout (not a final one, but a completed one), and we're now in the tweaking process. Super excited to get this into your hands. In the meantime, we are looking forward to meeting you at North Texas RPG Con this year! Please come say hello, and even sign up for one of my games. Because I will be running Righteous Vow at North Texas RPG Con!
Things are going really well, and I just wanted to send this quick update out so everybody can be stoked that things are happening! There's a lot of art being drawn, a lot of layout changes being made, and everything is being put through the paces with playtests. So we're super happy with the progress.
Thank you all again for everything. You rock! Also. Get out there and back other creators who are making excellent Shadowdark stuff! I know right now we have a few other projects that have caught my eye. Let's take a look at these other creators' excellent work!
Shadow Fables
A Mythic Bestiary of Global Folklore for Shadowdark RPG
Across every region and culture, spirits in the twilight, monsters in the dark, and fair folk enthralled or terrified people. Shadow Fables brings more than 300 creatures from world folklore into a single, easy‑to‑use tome for Shadowdark RPG.
The creatures within are based on historical folklore, so think much more Brothers Grimm and less modern cutesy variants you might be familiar with distilled into the fast, dangerous, OSR‑inspired style of Shadowdark.
Whether you want to terrify your players, enrich your worldbuilding, or explore mythologies beyond the familiar, Shadow Fables is your gateway into the Otherworld.
Stronghold of the Mad Dwarf is a classic-style dungeon crawl designed for 4–6 characters of levels 1–2. After exploring the upper section of the stronghold, the party will descend into the long-abandoned lower level of the dwarven hold of the Elderhorn clan, a place untouched for decades after its lord descended into madness.
Inside the lower levels, they’ll explore abandoned, tainted halls; haunted forges; and winding, trap-filled passageways, uncovering what remains of the maddening secrets that hide in the darkness. The adventure blends exploration, danger, and atmosphere, giving low-level characters plenty of opportunities to investigate, fight, and make meaningful choices as they uncover what lies beneath the mountain in their search for the Tome of Many Verses.
Thanks again, talk more soon. Have a great May! -Bill and the Crawl Club team
We Funded and Righteous Vow Volume 4 is in Production!
4 months ago
– Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 08:29:48 PM
From all of the team who create content for Righteous Vow, thank you!
We are excited that Black Masts & Magic is now funded and we ended the Kickstarter at $25,000. This means we have the funds needed to produce the next adventure, and we will be able to add all the art needed to make this yet another fantastic installment in the Righteous Vow series. Thank you, yes you in particular, for being a part of this awesome project along side of us. We couldn't have done it without you, and we are thankful for your support.
Things are moving along nicely. We are extremely close to having the third revisioin done. We are playtesting more, and the entire project will soon go to editing. Which means we're on schedule. We definitely like to be on schedule!
In a week or two we will open up a few of the new adventures in RV4 for online playtests via our Discord server! So if you're interested in helping us play through some of these new adventures and experience them ahead of time. Get on our discord channel! We'd love to have you included!
We're also going to be using MIXAM and Walsworth for our printing once again. So all of our books will be printed in the USA, and we will be doing proofind likely in late June or early July. With delivery sometime in mid to late July. (PDFs will go out much sooner. With a couple revisions for anything we missed before we go to print.)
So that's the plan. We're really happy to be creating something fun and great. Can't wait to share more with you soon!
Until then, here's another great project to check out!
Will M-B which stands for William Major-Badass is making a majorly badass new adventure you should check out right now. Chances are he will not even read this. But if he does hopefully he laughs.
9 Daemons of Ramlaat for Shadowdark RPG & Megadungeon Month
Within the White Temple, an extradimensional elf-made prison, you must battle Ramlaat’s supreme daemons and harness their Stones of Power for Law or Chaos. Get yours here!
Alright awesome people. More updates soon! Have a great weekend!
