Righteous Vow: Black Masts & Magic Pre-Orders

We hit 20K! Nearing 400 backers! Thank you!
3 months ago – Thu, Apr 02, 2026 at 08:51:31 AM

Over $20K and closing in on 400 backers!

Hey everybody! I wanted to check in and say thank you! Thank you to all of you who have made this awesome project possible, and those of you who continue to support our third party publishing endeavors. We are hard at work putting together the rest of this zine, and we're closer to having the layout completed. Art is also coming along nicely.

Today I would like to send a couple of screenshots of the amazing work that Righteous Vow artist DeWayne Rogers has been doing on our ship layouts. Each one of these is hand drawn by DeWayne. They really show the detail of what each deck of the ship contains, and every one of these ships included with the adventure will also be added to the digital files included with the PDF. So you can print them out for table use, or import them to your favorite VTT to adventure with your friends via Foundry, Roll20, or Owlbear. (Or any number of other VTTs.)

Along with new ships and rules for sailing, we also give a new class called the Buccaneer. Instead of starting with the usual rolled background. The Buccaneer will be able to select a crew ability which acts as their background. They can choose to be a cook, surgeon, sail-master, master gunner, or even a quartermaster aboard their sailing ship. With enough experience and a vote from their crew. Eventually a buccaneer can become a Captain or even an Admiral in charge of commanding one or more ships. Each one of these backgrounds has rules that pertain to sailing, and being a vital part of the ship's crew during their adventures at sea. But that's just a small part of what the buccaneer class will bring to the table. Soon you'll learn more about this and the other classes available in Black Masts & Magic. So stay tuned!

Along with plenty of ships and sea adventures. The Primal Islands themselves will have adventures waiting within. A volcano temple with caves and an infestation of ash ghouls will have your crew climbing and descending to search for ancient artifacts hidden within. Each layer of the maps for Black Masts & Magic are scaled to fit perfectly on top of one another and work well for VTT and printed use. The islands include other locations like the Pyramid of the Wind Spirit, and the reefs of Nes Etria known as the Island of Life. Without giving away too much, it will be easy to keep your crew adventuring for a good long while with the content in Righteous Vow Volume 4.

Be on the lookout for more content coming soon as Dungeons & Dyslexia and other excellent Shadowdark RPG content creators get their hands on preview PDFs to review.

We're stoked for more Conventions this year!

We had an amazing time at Gary Con this year. It was so fun playing games with all of you and getting new play tests of Black Masts & Magic to real, dice wielding members of the Crawl Club. We absolutely cannot wait for the next conventions to start this year. We will be at North Texas RPG Con in June, and Nuke Con in October. So we hope to see you there!

Druskara is Amazing and You Should Back It!

Our friends Xane and Bunni have put together some really amazing campaign books in their new Druskara setting. Over on Backerkit you can pledge to get this new amazing book set once it releases. Xane let me hold the books in my hands at Gary Con and holy smokes are they WAY COOL! The artwork, the layout, the writing! We're absolutely thrilled to see this project doing so well. It'll definitely be worth the wait. Go get yourself a copy here!

You Matter to Us!

Thanks again everyone for being a part of this awesome journey. If you haven't shared our project please do. We only have 7 more days before the Black Masts & Magic Kickstarter ends. And we want to get this tome of awesome into as many hands as possible. So thank you for being a part of the Crawl Club and making that happen. Word of mouth means a ton!

Nearly done with revisions and layout. Back to work! See you all soon at North Texas. Lets roll dice and hang out!

-Bill

Tomorrow tune in for a live-play adventure on Tabletop Bob!
3 months ago – Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 07:40:39 PM

A Quick Update

Tomorrow we will be livestreaming a one shot adventure from Righteous Vow Volume 4 on Tabletop Bob! Tune in and see us play through an intro adventure featuring new monsters, classes, and content from the new Black Masts & Magic book!

Tune in tomorrow at 6:30PM Central to heckle Bill in the chat, and join in the fun of the adventure! See you there!

Thanks Crawl Club,

Bill

Gary Con was Incredible! We hit $17,000! The Pyromancer is unlocked!
3 months ago – Sun, Mar 22, 2026 at 02:39:41 PM

Thank you Shadowdark RPG Community!

From the players, to the GMs, to the crew at the vendor hall. Every single person I interacted with at Gary Con was so stoked about playing and running Shadowdark, that it felt like a jolt of positive energy. I can't wait to get back to building the playtests into the new revision of RV4, and I can't wait to finish the layout so we can begin revisions and editing.

To everyone who took the time to visit the Arcane Library booth to pick up a book, to those who played and gave us excellent feedback on the playtesting, to the many who simply said hello, thank you! The positive community of quality people in the Shadowdark space are second to none. You proved it once again this weekend.

We hit $17K! The Pyromancer is Unlocked!

The Pyromancer is an elementalist class that will now be available in Black Masts & Magic. Featuring a full list of new fire based spells for you to commit arson with, the pyromancer is equipped with familiar classics like burning hands and fireball. They are also able to cast a full array of new spells like searing dart, melt metal, and cauterize. The pyromancers of the Primal Islands are also the only discovered source of saltpeter used with charcoal and sulfur to make gunpowder. So the pyromancers of the known world are sought after from birth and quickly employed by the Merchant's Guild with their fleet of sailing ships.

You will see and hear more about the pyromancer soon, as we are hard at work on the artwork and development of this new thematic spell slinger. 

We are getting more of the story elements illustrated, like this new piece drawn by Righteous Vow's lead artist, Andrew Beckwith. I personally love this one because it turned out exactly as I hoped when I described the idea to Andrew in a few short messages. He read my mind and then made what I asked for even better than I imagined.

Uriah is also hard at work on NPCs, monsters, and magic items for the book. You'll have a wealth of terrifying sea creatures to keep the Primal Islands dangerous.

DeWayne has been drawing some new monster art to go along with his amazing hand drawn ship layouts. Some of which completely creep me out. Especially his new Bone Naga he just finished for us. This one has an old school charm that I absolutely love.

OK! That was fun. Hope you love these. Time to get back home and keep working on the new book. Thank you so much for your pledge! And thank you for telling your friends!

-Bill and the Crawl Club

We're at Gary Con! (Also we hit $15,000 woohoo!)
3 months ago – Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 01:34:43 PM

We're HERE! Hope to see you this week!

We just checked into our rooms and we're beyond excited to do some gaming this week! We're heading over to the DarkSpace RPG get together at 8PM in the Open Gaming area on the second floor. So be there! We will be running playtests of Righteous Vow 4 all week as well. So if you were one of the lucky ones who registered for one of my games before it filled up. YOU JUST HIT THE JACKPOT! You will experience the first part of Righteous Vow Volume 4: Black Masts & Magic before anyone else!

We Hit $15,000!!! It's Sticker Time!

We hit our $15,000 goal today to unlock additional holo-stickers as an add-on. So if you didn't get your pledge in within the first 48 hours, or you just really want another one. We have limited them to 5 per person. They are now available as an add-on for those of you who would like one. We also added the remaining stickers from the Righteous Vow 3 Kickstarter as an add-on as well. Once those are gone, they're gone!

Additionally. I would like to shout out this incredible Pirate Borg project from some excellent individuals including the amazing Zac Goins! If you haven't picked up The Winds of Hell for Pirate Borg yet, here's your chance!

The Winds of Hell provides a full campaign set within the Dark Caribbean, with enough content to turn your crew notorious. 

• 110+ Page Campaign Book composed of six sea-faring, dungeon-crawling, hellraising, & port pillaging adventures.
• Vampires, Demons, & Driftwood Wraiths, plus expanded options for Inquisitors, clergy, and unholy wretches.
• 2 New Factions the Damned and the Demons, both vying for a seat at the table.
• Detailed Port Royal the Sodom and Gomorrah (or Vegas) of the Dark Caribbean, littered with pubs, warehouses, eateries, gambling houses, and cutthroats in every alley.

But that's just the beginning...

• Saltwater Sacrament an adventure zine set deep within the bowels of a Spanish Inquisition stronghold.
• On a Trail of Blood a pamphlet-sized mission to escort a holy man into Guadeloupe while keeping a low profile. 
• Plus infernal Netherworld Obols, holographic stickers and even more PIRATE BORG adventures! 

Get it HERE!

That's all for now good people. Have an amazing week! More as the week unfolds.
-Bill

Smashing through Stretch Goals! (Achievements Unlocked!)
3 months ago – Sat, Mar 14, 2026 at 09:42:20 AM

The excitement builds for Righteous Vow Volume 4: Black Masts & Magic as we begin to unlock pieces of the new classes being developed for the book. We have some cool spoilers up ahead. So get ready folks. The party is just getting started!

Hydromancer Class Unlocked!

We are smashing down stretch goals. And today we get to spoil the artwork for the Hydromancer Class!  The hydromancer is a elementalist with a mastery of water. Focused on spells that manipulate the seas and the creatures within them. The hydromancer will have an entirely new set of spells like echolocation, water breathing, ice shards, tidal wave, and water elemental, all have their own unique flavor that will make players feel like their character is truly a master of their element. And the new artwork by Derek Stevens is another stellar original piece being added to the book to immerse you in the world of Righteous Vow.

NEW Stretch Goals!

The current stretch goal lineup is getting absolutely demolished by you, our excellent backers. We are thrilled to reveal the next set of stretch goals. We rely on word of mouth and our fans to get the word out about our project. So thank YOU for all you are doing to help our small publishing company get to those who may not know about our project yet.

•  $5,000.00 ✅  | Added Ship Layout (The Brigantine Merchant Ship) 
•  $6,000.00 ✅  | Interview Video with FOXXOF RPG!
•  $7,000.00 ✅  | Added monster (The Leviathan!)
•  $8,000.00 ✅ | Interview Video with Runeforged Tabletop Gaming!
•  $9,000.00 ✅ | Added class (The Hydromancer!)
•  $10,000.00 ✅ | Add-On: POD art pack (at-cost through DriveThruRPG!)
•  $12,000.00  | Space Pirates Adventure for Darkspace RPG! (By Than Gibson)
•  $15,000.00  | Holo-Stickers as Add-ons (Get extra holo stickers for your collection)
•  $17,000.00  | Added class (The Pyromancer!)
•  $20,000.00  | Actual Play Event! (Tabletop Bob YouTube Channel)
•  $23,000.00  | Black Masts & Magic VTT Token set (Added to every pledge!)

We're working on the art for the Leviathan, so that will be spoiled once it's ready. And we're going to make an awesome POD art pack that everyone will receive as a digital reward. That way you can get the art printed and hanging on your wall to impress everyone who enters your nerd-cave! (Fulfilled by DriveThruRPG, prints will be a little over $3 for a full set).

Plus! If we can make our way to 12K today. Our friend Than Gibson (Co-Creator of Darkspace RPG) will be designing a Space Pirates Adventure that will be added to every pledge as a digital stretch goal!

Thank you so much to everyone who has backed and continues to boost the signal for Righteous Vow Volume 4. We are excited about what we have achieved so far. There's still a lot more we can do before April. So stay tuned.

Also those of you participating in Gary Con! I will be there and running adventures from Black Masts & Magic! So come find me for free stickers and SWAG! We will also have all of our books available at the Arcane Library Booth! Including our new Darkspace RPG third party compatible modules. Shadow Crawler Carnage and Maximum Monster Mayhem!

See a bunch of you next week at Gary Con! The rest I can't wait to meet you at a con soon. (Hopefully at North Texas RPG Con or the next PAGE!)

You're in the club now, the Crawl Club!

Bill Harvat
Crawl Club President

(Also if you read this far, and you're at Gary Con. Come talk to me. I have a Skull and Dagger Holo-Sticker that is for our Discord members. If you join our Discord and say "hey give me a sticker Bill!" I'll totally hook you up.)