Tolia is a dark, dystopic, ominous setting where blood has been used as the main source of energy since the discovery of a magical crystal; Angst. Wars and darkness ensued. Danger and atrocities now await Tolians, lurking behind every corner, infesting their lives like an epidemic. The people are forced to live under the tyrannical rule of one of the two cities; Kanrath or Cyherested, just to find a modicum of “peace” as they are literally drained to power the war machines of the dictatorial ruling class; the vampires and the sorcerers.

As blood engines power trains, zeppelins, radios, bloodwork weapons, boats, and factories, Tolians are forced in many ways to fuel the engines with their own flesh and blood.  

Bloodpunk features two hardcover books; each of a higher quality than the next: a 1st-7th level adventure called Heritage of the Damned and a setting book titled A Guide to Tolia. This Kickstarter also will include a bright GM screen with a magnificent illustration, a handy map pack of 6 maps to use as it suits you, and a meticulously-designed box to store your books: all in all, this Kickstarter gives you all the tools you need to delve deep into the malefic secrets of this foreboding land!  

Blood engines are the latest, state-of-the-art technology that work together with angst crystals; semi-magical minerals that look like crystalline rocks, resembling faintly-glowing orange quartz. The method of producing energy is mechanically simple, yet scientifically astonishing; blood flows through tubes made of angst, creating heat and a bright orange light.  

In this Kickstarter, we present you with two hardcover books and the opportunity to discover the depths of Tolia along with all its denizens. You can use A Guide to Tolia to homebrew other adventures in this gruesome land of gloom, or you can jump straight on the blood train with Heritage of the Damned, an action-packed 1st-7th level adventure where the players race against time as they tackle thrilling ordeals!

People must find shelter in either of the two cities or perish in Tolia’s unforgiving wilderness: Cyherested, ruled by blood sorcerers, or Kanrath, the crimson city of vampires. In both cities, the citizens are oppressed by the cruel system and endure poverty, inequality, and pollution on a daily basis. The cities are connected via a complex train system; a memento left over from the times of rich angst crystal mining. Today, citizens use the train system as the main means of transportation between the two cities, although some abandoned stations are occupied by rebels working to tear down the system.  

For those of you brave enough to adventure in the gruesome lands of Tolia, Bloodpunk offers plenty of options: 20 archetypes ranging from Veinscripter Wizards to Blood Knights and Bounty Hunters, 3 races, and plenty of backgrounds and feats to further customize your character.

Imagine thousands of monsters creeping and slithering in the wilderness, lurking in the dark back streets of the cities, ready to murder any creature on sight. A Guide to Tolia offers over 30 one-of-a-kind monsters with great variety, ranging from red hags to bloodwork automatons, each more terrifying than the next.

Bloodpunk features 30 thematic magic items with striking, detailed illustrations. They work with the same magical means with which we’re all familiar from 5E, along with some new developments made possible by the angst crystal. Although many of these items have reached a level of use that challenges the place of magic itself, magic is still a force to be reckoned with in Tolia.

Use of the angst crystal and blood has foreseen some of the greatest innovations in all of Tolia’s history: bloodwork weapons and angst weapons. The industry of war alone has altered completely thanks to these unique inventions that utilize the reaction between the angst crystal and blood.

Angst weapons have veins made of angst crystals embedded within as the name suggests, which are activated when fed with blood; yours or that of your enemy. There are many different types of angst weapons, but all work with this same basic principle.

In bloodwork weapons, blood is stored in high-pressure canisters, which react with the angst and create a combustion. This pressure then pushes projectiles through a barrel, sending the ammunition to the target with a speed and momentum greater than that of crossbow bolts.

Needless to say, both are bound to bring a distinctively violent flavor to your game!

Players will get to meet the memorable NPCs of this land like no other, and GMs will have information on the backgrounds and motives of all of them in great detail. At least 10 NPCs with exciting stories await your arrival in Tolia; even more if you unlock some stretch goals!

Kanrath was built as a monument of animosity against the sun itself. Founded by the First Vampire to insult daylight and everything that prospers under it, it witnessed unparalleled advancements and bore wars as well as extreme cruelty even before the fall of the Founder. Now under the rule of the Crimson King, the city seems to be doing… better. For vampires, that is… For mortals, nothing has changed.

Not all are content to live under such tyranny; various factions, groups, cults and even some courageous individuals work in secret day-in and day-out for the demise of government agencies, the vampires who run them, and the King. Some of these groups are funded by Cyherested, the city of sorcerers, some factions by rebels, and some operators by angst traders; all for their own agendas. The police force labels them as rebellious criminals, as terrorists even, and its officers try their best to eliminate the threat. Mortals are often the first to be suspected of these threats, and even if they’re not, the police seem to make a couple of mortal arrests for good measure during each investigation.

You, citizen of Kanrath! You, alas, are among the unlucky. Arrested and falsely accused, you’re caged, bullied, roughed around, and eventually executed. No one cared. Why should they? You are a mortal, after all. The Kanrath Court of Justice ruled that you should be exsanguinated. They drained your blood, every ounce of it, and discarded your body as if it were thrash. Your eyes caught a glimpse of the red drops falling from above; the last sight you had as you departed from this world.

This is not the end for you! You can still feel the blood coursing through your veins; but you’re not sure if it is, in fact, your blood. You can breathe, talk, and walk but it feels unnervingly alien. How are you alive? Why are you alive? You need to find the answers that lie within the enigmatic history of the city, forgotten to many except the monsters that lived through it. Hurry. You have an eerie hunch that something is on its way, that you’re being chased by something. But you need time to find answers. You need to start moving. Above all, you need to survive!

Along with other new mechanics sure to spice up your gaming sessions, Bloodpunk is proud to present the concepts of blood damage and blood degeneration; both an integral part of the game you’re going to play.

The founder’s blood has somehow made its way into your veins, and it now seeks to take over your entire being. Blood degeneration concerns the amount of blood that the founder has succeeded in taking over. The level of blood degeneration you suffer determines how much blood damage you take as a result of this infestation, which you take no matter what after you’ve had a long rest.

The printing process will start 1 week after the release of the PDFs. The entirety of the printing process, which concerns the approval of a sample and then the printing of the copies, takes 2 months. After the printing, the freights are set up and sent out to the distribution hubs, which takes another 2 months. Custom clearances and distribution adds one more month to the fulfillment process, which thus takes roughly 5 months once the PDFs are released.

We work with DrivethruRPG for the fulfillment of PDFs. We will release the PDFs of Bloodpunk: Heritage of the Damned and Bloodpunk: A Guide to Tolia in Winter 2022-2023. If the stretch goals concerning additional content are unlocked, they will be released in Spring 2023.

As printing and fulfillment takes 5 months after the release of the PDFs, we estimate that we will deliver your books in Spring 2023. This may be postponed to Summer 2023 if we have additional content to write and print owing to certain stretch goals being unlocked.

Current global conditions are causing a real turbulence in both the ship-booking times as well as the shipping prices themselves. Because of these fluctuations, as suggested by our pledge manager, we will be setting up and collecting the shipping prices close to the shipping time.

We are working with Quartermaster Logistics and GamesQuest for our deliveries. Although many of you may already know these firms from other Kickstarters, we also wanted to note that they have provided us with superb service in our previous fulfillment, even with the global logistics crisis due to the pandemic and everything else going on in the world.

As we still have more than a year until delivery and thus do not know the exact weight or volume of our products, and given the current turbulence in global economy, we are currently only able to provide a roughly-estimated shipping cost. Below, you can find the estimated shipping costs of the Hardcover Library pledge:

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