A daemonic campaign swarming with bloodthirsty undead, Inquisition zealots, and enough pirates to fill all the hulks in the Colonies!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Poll & Stretch Goal!
6 months ago
– Sun, Mar 29, 2026 at 07:39:28 AM
Ahoy!
Zac here. Coming to you from the wrap-up of PAX East over in Boston. If you haven't been before, this is one of the more original PAX conventions that's way more focused on video games than TTRPGs.
That said, it still has a strong tabletop presence, and we get to meet a lot of newer community members. I'd say the ratio is maybe 4:1 in favor of video game-centered vendors, but the gap is narrowing every year.
As a Penny Arcade fan for the past 15+ years, every PAX is special for me. They feel different, more homey and laid back, even if they're actually rip-roaring with tens of thousands of people.
Back when PAX South was a thing, I went to every one with my brother-in-laws and occasionally another friend or two. I snuck out to both PAX East and West in the last couple of years, PAX Unplugged is S Class, and Luke and I got to cross something off our bucket lists by working with Acq. Inc. on a PIRATE BORG live-play for PAX Australia.
STRETCH GOALS
✅$45,678 Bonus Dungeon 3 | I think this will be the last of these, unless you all just completely dismantle our expectations for the rest of the campaign. You'll now all be getting 3 bonus dungeons that you can use to seed demonkind throughout the Dark Caribbean.
That's actually what our poll is about, so make sure you pop down below and see what's up there.
Our next stretch goal is for a VTT edition of On a Trail of Blood. It's a higher goal because I want to give it out to some of you for free and it takes quite a bit of work to do the conversion, but we'll talk about that more if we hit it.
There's a few other Stretch Goals also in the works, so if VTT modules aren't your thing, you can cross your fingers that we push past this one and line ourselves up for something new afterwards.
DUNGEON POLL
Okay, so I'll admit to having a couple of reasons for doing a poll today. It's always hard to get a sense for how many people read through the updates, so I'm hoping that this will help answer some of that, but the other thing is that we've unlocked all the bonus dungeons, and I'd really like to know what sort of content you'd like to see inside them!
Let us know as soon as you can.
No "PROJECTS WE LOVE" today, as I'm trying to keep things short and tidy, even with the poll, but I'll give a quick shoutout to a project I backed from Exalted Funeral the other day called TAVERS. Andrew Bellury (Tiger Wizard) is a peach of a person, so I'm thrilled to back whatever he touches.
TTFN,
Zac G. & The Hellions
Playtests, Stretch Goals, & Reveals
6 months ago
– Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 06:38:26 AM
Ahoy!
Zac here...finally back from GaryCon and sitting in the airport on the way to PAX East. I turn my back for a few days, and you all went ahead and snuck through another couple stretch goals. Before we get into that though, here's some details from the con....
GARY CON GAMES
GaryCon continues to be one of the best shows of the year. As someone who usually hits between 12 and 15 gaming conventions each year, this one distinguishes itself by:
Being in the "Mecca" of TTRPGs: Gary Gygax's hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Taking place in a sprawling resort, that hosts several thousand people playing games at hundreds of tables.
Drawing in dozens and dozens (if not hundreds) of the best designers and artists from both the current scene and the decades past.
This year, we decided Limithron should go all-in, sponsoring the show, taking over the indoor waterpark as an event space, and hauling our massive "pirate ship" booth across the country (see pictures below). It was awesome.
You'll have to read an upcoming Limithron newsletter for all the details, but here's the cool things that happened that pertain to this Kickstarter:
I had the pleasure of being invited to run one of the con's "All-Star" Games, which are currated tables that sit two Special Guests at a public table. The rests of the seats are awarded by what amounts to a lottery. I got my top choice of Special Guest: Merle Rasmussen, TSR alumni and the original creator of theTop Secret Secret RPG, and then had the pleasure of meeting TJ Storm as the second guest. Both were excellent players, but Merle and I have chummed around at several conventions over the years -- I even helped him sell his most recent edition of Top Secret for a bit -- so it was really special to get to introduce him to his first game of Pirate Borg. As is his custom, he showed up in full costume, handing out prop pieces of eight to the other players (who also had some gifts of their own), and in general made it game for the ages. We played The Repentant, which you can get in Cabin Fever for free, or the expanded version as part of this campaign. I consider it to be the prelude to Winds of Hell...or at least the spiritual predecessor.
I also got to playtest one of the WoH adventures, Bones of Gold, some more. It's a dungeon crawl through some Spanish catacombs, and I'm starting to get really happy with it. Not only did I get to run it for Frank and Derrick (team members on this project), but also Erica Lowe (Ragnaborg), Gregory Harris (Tangled in Shrouds), Crystal Black, Chrissy & David Barrentine (one of my favorite designers and layout artists), Andrew Hindenburg (Scrap Rats), Zack Allen (Raptor Ruckus), Richard Markert (HELLSPAWN), Jeff Jones (Gary's Appendix), Ulysses (my favorite player), and of course the immortal Troy Sandlin. That's a Murderer's Row, if there ever was one.
Austin was also there, showcasing his finished Saltwater Sacrament, which I continue to keep hearing only hardcore enthusiasm for at every show it's ran...and really any show Austin happens to be running Pirate Borg, Mythic Bastionland, or any other RPG at.
STRETCH GOALS
✅$40,666 Bonus Dungeon 2 | The WoH team will be taking our critters and crafting another short dungeon around them. This will again be free to all backers digitally.
✅$43,210 Demon Ship Generator | There's a black fleet that sails a blood red sea on not-so-distant shores. Their infernal crews seek mortal souls and the Dark One himself is their Commodore. These ships are unholy constructs, and we aim to give you all the resources to outfit and arm a wide range of vessels. This is a free upgrade to the Winds of Hell book.
Next up is a third bonus dungeon, then we've got the biggest leap, as we aim for a VTT build-out for On a Trail of Blood. I need to chat with Golem Productions a bit about it, but I'd like to go ahead and imagine that this will be for both Foundry and Roll20. We'll see when we get there!
Today, instead of dropping a bunch of Kickstarters below, I'm going to instead post a few projects that I've mentioned from people above that you can still get on pre-order. They're some of the things I'm most excited for, and you can't go wrong with any of them.
See you at PAX?
Zac & The Hellions
PROJECTS WE LOVE
RAGNABORG | Who am I to assume you don't already know about (and backed) Erica's Viking-hack of PIRATE BORG? Even at our ship-shaped booth, I couldn't evade the throngs of fans practically giddy over their games this week. This is an easy purchase: https://ragnaborg-www-kickstarter-com.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
HELLSPAWN RPG | Both a ruleset and a campaign setting that builds out and brings together the Dying Lands across various Borgs, Richard Markert is making something special with this one. Chase devils across the infernal wheel, dipping into the Dark Caribbean or other locations in a perfect accompaniment to Winds of Hell...which may be why we've contracted him as a guest writer: https://www.hellspawnrpg.com/
PIRATE BORG: These Bloody Sails | Will Tramp's first foray into PIRATE BORG just wrapped here on Kickstarter, but it's already up for preorder over on Backerkit. I playtested part of this with him last year, and I'm itching to get the whole thing: https://pirate-borg-these-bloody-sails.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
Another 2 Stretch Goals Down & More Revealed!
7 months ago
– Wed, Mar 18, 2026 at 08:49:39 AM
Ahoy!
Zac here. I mean, you all are killing it.
✅$33,333 Black Painted Page Edges |Upgrades The Winds of Hell to feature black-on-black-on-black. It's gonna look slick.
✅$36,663 Haunted Soul: The Wretch | Find yourself dragged down to Hell before your destined time? Have ye burned through enough Devil's Luck to fill all the coffers of a dozen saintly shrines? "The Wretch" is what you've become -- a twisted version of your former life. Clay in the hands of a demented potter. A new hybrid class included in The Winds o Hell.
We've also revealed the next round of goals, which include another bonus dungeon and a demon ship generator, which I think we're especially excited to design.
At this point, we're all neck deep in GaryCon setup, but don't let that stop you! We've got a few more goals where these came from....
TTFN,
Zac G. & The Hellions
PROJECTS WE LOVE
Raptor Ruckus | We'd be remised if we didn't prod you toward Raptor at least once during this campaign. This is our Jurassic Park-inspired RPG that's in preorders now and already dropping PDFs.
We're pretty proud of it, and if you've already backed it, you should know we've added several new add-ons over on Backerkit. You can check everything out here: https://raptor-ruckus.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders/
2 More Stretch Goals Unlocked! 24 Hours Left on Early-Birds.
7 months ago
– Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 08:17:30 AM
Ahoy!
Zac here. Yesterday was incredible -- far exceeding our expectations. I just hope we have enough stretch goals in the can.
Speaking of which, we've hit a couple more:
✅$24,642 Bonus Dungeon |We'll be writing another short adventure/dungeon that utilizes some of the new factions and creatures found in the campaign book. This will be distributed to all backers for free!
✅$29,666 Spanish Relics Upgrade | One of the spreads we've previewed on the campaign page is a set of 12 Spanish relics that you might find during one of the adventures. With this goal unlocked, we're going to bump that up to a table of twenty!
From here, we're staring down black painted page edges for the book. As Frank said, "The only thing better than black-on-black, is black-on-black-on-black."
At this point, the dice pouches are all sold out, but there's still about 24-hours left on the Early-Bird rewards! If you haven't jumped on board yet, there's still time to get the free adventure/pamphlet/sticker.
TTFN,
Zac G. & The Hellions
PROJECTS WE LOVE
The Amethyst Alcove | I've long held that the icy region of Kergus is the best location in the Dying Lands of Mork Borg. It's where I placed my 7 Aboard the Schackel adventure, where I wrote my piece of short fiction, and I buy almost anything that drops for that section.
Funded & First Round of 3 Stretch Goals Down!
7 months ago
– Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 09:57:08 AM
Ahoy!
Zac here. But also Frank, Derrick, Austin, and the rest of the crew. We've funded and rammed right through our first round of stretch goals, so we've got plenty to talk about (also, THANK YOU!), but first, you should know that Frank & I will be on a livestream with Adrian Williams here in about 2 hours to chat about the project:
[Starts at 2pm Central / 3pm Eastern]
STRETCH GOALS
We've hit 3 already, and if you're not careful, we're liable to hit another before tomorrow.
✅$9,999 Embossing |Winds of Hell will now have embossed elements on the cover, probably the title, the spine, and all the crawling demons.
✅$13,131 Loot the Body Endpapers | Richard Markert's (of HELLSPAWN fame) handiwork will be on full display as we place his dastardlytables for both Inquisition and demonspawn loot front and center...well, actually front and back, encompassing our endpapers.
✅$16,666 Black Ribbon | Simple enough, but a nice touch. The Winds of Hell will now sport a black ribbon to complement the black-on-black cover and dark-designed interior.
What's up next? At $24,642, the core team will write a bonus dungeon (probably 2-4 pages) that features some of the denizens found in the campaign book. Free to all backers!
RUNNING LOW!
We've got just a precious few of the buckskin bags left. If you want one at this point, you'll need to add it to your pledge as an add-on.
Once they're gone, they're gone...though I might try to convince Dad to work up a couple extras for the pledge manager. We'll see.
Most of us are headed to GaryCon tomorrow, which is always one of the best shows of the year. I'll be sneaking in a few games of Pirate Borg, including a couple of off-the-books games of Bones of Gold (one of the Winds of Hell adventures), plus The Repentant, and Limithron's new multi-table epic!
Stop by the booth if you have time, and let me know you backed!
Gary's Appendix 10 | Listen, if we're 10 deep into Gary's Appendix and you haven't given it a look yet, you're beyond missing out. These are published by Jeff Jones and are zines packed with OSR content, mainly articles, that swirl around different topics.
This issue, the focus is on demons and devils, which makes it a great companion piece to what we've got going on with Winds of Hell. I wrote an entry for it called The Clan of 66: Tongues of Yeenoghu, an unflinching account of Yeenoghu's chosen attendants, their rites, their relics, and the bone-temple their god raises for them wherever they roam.
