Dynasty of Blood, Vol. 1 - Fenria's Lantern

"He is doing drugs, he is having sex, he is killing animals, he is selling the things he's stolen to buy more drugs..."

Beverly Walsh's nightmare is unfolding in front of her as her son describes a brutal killing with glee, one he thinks is just a game! She knows, thanks to advice and guidance from a survivor of the very occult world Stuart seems to be heading toward, that Dynasty of Blood is no mere game.

Her boy, Stuart, knows a different truth.  He plays Dynasty of Blood with his friends, with their minds and some dice. 

He also knows there is a sword inside of him, one he has to draw -- with markers!

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Fenria's Lantern is 12 pages of prose fiction, the first part of a larger story set in a fictional 1980s, one very much rooted in reality. And no matter how crazy it seems, reality was much, much weirder, as I have found during my research.

Satan was behind everything in the 1970s and 1980s. Just ask the parents, the journalists (the reputable and disreputable ones), politicians (and their wives), and far, far more people than you might believe would publicly and very loudly claim actual demons were in board games and popular music. Some of those people claimed to have seen the demons, to have literally fought werewolves, and to have escaped cults associated with the Illuminati.

The story is centered around Dynasty of Blood, a fictional TTRPG. Both it and the overall story came together thanks to a lot of influences, some from my recent reading of Satanic Panic, a collection of essays edited by Kier-La Janisse and Paul Corupe. I've always been interested in that time period and have started studying it closely. Similarly, I've always been interested in tabletop games and the communal act of storytelling they utilize, plus the pure fun and goofiness of the hobby, which I deeply respect. I'm a lifelong SFF and horror fan, so most likely you can see those influences as well. The visuals, gameplay, and world of DoB (which doesn't actually exist; though maybe some day) are influenced by three main sources I adore: the Rogue-like game Caves of Qud, the Malazan Book of the Fallen dark fantasy series, and the fantastically weird Dungeon Crawl Classics.  I'm also hugely inspired by the music of Heimat Der Katastrophe, which produces the best dungeon synth out there. The cover of this volume owes much to the D&D Module Quagmire by Merle M. Rasmussen.

You can find more of my work at austinrwilson.com. Watch out for more volumes in the Dynasty of Blood series, which are coming together right now.

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Cover art copyright Dean Spencer (C) 2024, used with permission, all rights reserved. Mr. Spencer's clip art is available through DriveThruRPG.

All written work copyright (C) 2024 Austin Wilson. Please feel free to print the file, but not for resale. If you have purchased a copy from someone other than the author, you have purchased a pirated copy. Please email austinwilson@duck.com if you are aware of an unofficial sale. Free distribution/sharing is encouraged.