Cult of the Blood Queen, Warlock & Cleric Supplement for 5E
Created by Catacolyte Games
A body horror warlock and cleric supplement for 5E featuring pain, pleasure, and grotesque transformations.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Cult PoD For Real This Time & Sins of Our Mother FUNDED!
6 months ago
– Thu, Nov 16, 2023 at 10:01:19 AM
Cult Print on Demand
In my last update, I announced that Cult of the Blood Queen PoD was live and available for purchase... When it was not. I'm sorry. I made one last edit which mistakenly reset the product to 'private' and had to wait for DriveThruRPG support to set it back.
The good news is Cult PoD is available now, and looks great!
Sins of Our Mother Goal Set & Match
The Sins of Our Mother campaign has really blown me away! Thank you all so much for your support. Catacolyte, and my dream, would not be possible without you. We've raised over $1400 in less than two days. That's more than a 1/3 of Cult's campaign fund in a fraction of the time.
So, what've we unlocked so far? Here's a few of the most exciting things (and art).
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Euphoria Fighter - $900
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This is a big one for me, and the first class unlocked. Well, what's the Euphoria Fighter actually do?
They go fast and do a ton of drugs. Seriously. The Euphoria Fighter is all about lust and ramping up to a big, climatic pay off. The Euphoria Fighter was inspired by Elsa Granhiert from Re:Zero, a serial killer.
Elsa Granhiert from Re:Zero (not Catacolyte art)
This Fighter won't come with a ton of baseline features, but you'll be able to mix and match your favorite perverse proclivities through Ritual Feats (this is a subversion of the Ritual Feat's usual goals). It's too soon to lock anything in, but here's an example feat:
Pain Drive (Ritual Feat)
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You may spend a bonus action to inject yourself with a heady concoction of synthesized pain. For the next 1d6 rounds, you suffer 1d6 acid damage and may spend a bonus action to let loose an ecstatic cackle. Enemies who can see and hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw versus your Overdose DC.
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Sloth Druid - $1200
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The Sloth Druid is a Blood Queen faithful who has embraced their inner indolence and have forsaken the more traditional pleasures like red meat and rich wine in favor of the sun's soft rays. These seemingly gentle souls are not above violence though, and will rip apart any person who interrupts their repose or the cycle of life and death.
Sloth Druids guard the give and take between life and death. These slow stewards fertilize soil with blood and plant seeds in corpses so that life, even in death, possesses meaning.
So, we have this idea that these Druids are lazy and tied to the churn of life and death. What does that look like gameplay wise? It's too soon to lock anything in, but there's an example spell:
Lazarus Myrtle (2nd level spell)
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You plant the seed of a Lazarus Myrtle on a space with a corpse within your Root Network range. At the beginning of the round, the tree births a Spore Pod. On your turn, the Spore Pod moves to the closest enemy and explodes, dealing 1d12 poison damage to all creatures who fail a Constitution save in a 10 ft radius.
HUGE NEWS! - Sins of Our Mother for 5E, Cult Print on Demand, and Black Heaven: A Necromantic Dating Sim
6 months ago
– Sun, Nov 12, 2023 at 11:23:31 AM
Hello, everyone! This week is huge for Catacolyte Games, and I've got a ton of fantastic news to share.
Sins of Our Mother
Catacolyte's newest project, Sins of Our Mother, launches Tuesday afternoon on Backerkit. There's really too much to share here, so check out the project's landing page!
Catacolyte Games is holding nothing back on this one. Literally. Sins of Our Mother's sports a new modern layout, mold-breaking game design, and story driven dungeons. Get that old Cult feel, but more.
I've had the honor of playtesting (and even doing a little coding) for Black Heaven, a dating sim visual novel. I personally attest to the superb quality of the writing, depth of narrative, and clever game mechanics.
Relive happy memories as you cross a ruined, ash-filled world to return to your old university and discover the horrid fates of your former classmates. I won't spoil what happens, but the story's rich body horror, depictions of self-surgery, and gruesome mutations definitely delight.
Please note that Black Heaven contains nudity, gore, and other explicit content and is only intended for mature audiences.
From Chris Mahon, the creator:
“Black Heaven” features a mechanic called "Fractal Madness," which warps the game if you repeatedly attempt to undo your past actions by reloading a previous save file.
Simply reloading the game doesn't increase your Fractal Madness, but returning to decisions you've already made will.
You can find Black Heaven: A Necromantic Dating Sim on Steam or Itch.io.
With Gratitude,
Ashton Baker, Creator of Catacolyte Games
Shipping Complete! - General Update: Cult 1.1 Release, Print on Demand Delay, Website, & Seven Sins
9 months ago
– Tue, Aug 01, 2023 at 04:15:04 PM
Hello and thank you for your patience! A lot of things have been happening, and I'm ecstatic for Catacolyte's future.
Shipping Complete!
Shipping is complete! The last four packs of art cards went out this morning. It took more hours standing in line at the post office than I thought, but I'm happy its done.
Some of you may have already received your art cards. If you haven't, please allow up to two weeks (three if you're outside the United States) for your rewards to arrive.
Damaged of Unreceived Rewards
If you haven't received your art cards by mid-August (late August for Backers outside U.S.), or have received damaged product -- Catacolyte will replace your art cards so long as you pay the shipping fee. Shipping costs have gone up dramatically since the campaign and will be higher than the cost during the campaign.
To get the ball rolling on your replacement, please contact me here on Kickstarter, at [email protected], or on Discord.
Please note that there's only a limited number of art cards remaining and replacements will be issued on a first come first served basis.
Website
The Backerkit pre-order store has been incredibly helpful, but every company needs its own website! I'm currently working with a programmer friend to bring a basic website to life. More soon!
Cult of the Blood Queen 1.1
Good news! I've taken feedback to incrementally improve Cult of the Blood Queen in preparation for the Print version (read more on that below in the next section). You can pick up the new version at Backerkit the same you did for the digital release.
Cult of the Blood Queen 1.1 - Ovid
Changelog:
Domain of the Blood Queen's Like Mother trait no longer applies half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to your Spawn's AC. This bonus burdened players with a superfluous calculation in an already very math-heavy subclass. This bonus could also push AC past what's reasonable in a bounded accuracy game.
Domain of the Blood Queen's Shell Spawn had their armor bonus reduced to +3, down from +4. Thank you Schmidt for your very helpful feedback!
The Desireborne are stronger. You may now choose which attribute to apply your +2 bonus (was only Dexterity or Charisma). This better fits the myriad forms Desireborne can take.
Desireborne now also possess "Creature of Creativity" which stipulates how Desireborne gain sustenance. Thank you Possessed for taking the time to further explore the Desireborne with me!
New Ovid quote and art! This art didn't make it into the original release, but it was too good let it go to waste.
Print on Demand
Bad news, unfortunately. I kept kicking this update back because I wanted so badly to announce that Cult of the Blood Queen was available for print through DriveThruRPG... That'd be incredible, right?! Unfortunately, the cover art contains nudity and thus doesn't meet the store's product guidelines. They won't sell or print the product until the Blood Queen covers up.
This is only a set back though. I've already reached out to the artist to begin working on a solution. For those of you who expressed interest in a printed version, don't worry. It's still coming, just slower than originally planned.
Next Project Quick Look: Seven Sins
Preproduction for the next project has already begun! No title yet, but we've codenamed it "Seven Sins."
It's too early to show off anything, but artists are already hard at work drawing some really delicious body horror.
Seven Sins is already shaping up to be huge -- at least twice as big as Cult of the Blood Queen. Here's a quick look at what's planned.
Vow of Beauty - Paladin Subclass
Medusite - Monk Subclass
100+ Pages (double Cult's page count)
Triple the Art!
Double the Magical Equipment
Individual Player Homes
NPCs
Pre-Written Quest Hooks for DMs
Improved Rituals
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Ashton Baker,
Creator of Catacolyte Games
FULL DIGITAL RELEASE! - Art Card Shipping Update, What's Next, and More!
10 months ago
– Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 04:22:18 PM
It's a big update. The release information is right at the top, but here's a table of contents.
Digital Release - June 30th (today)
Physical Card Prints & Shipping - Mid July
DriveThruRPG PoD Coming Soon
Writers & Abandoned Cathedral
Survey Feedback
What's Next?
Post Mortem on Radio Free Brooklyn (July 15th)
Digital Release Date - June 30th
Finally, some news! It's been a wild, wild ride but Cult of the Blood Queen releases today, June 30th! I'm over the moon in a tired sort of way. This project has been a herculean task, and I've learned so, so much.
Please check your email for the Cult of the Blood Queen PDF. If you haven't answered your Backerkit survey, please do so as that'll make sure your reward gets to you. If after a little while and you still don't see your email with your reward please reach out to me here on Kickstarter, or on Discord.
Thank you all for your patience and support. I hope you enjoy Cult of the Blood Queen!
P.S.
There'll be two versions of Cult, one with the original cover art and one with a slightly safer version with no nipples.
DriveThruRPG PoD Coming Soon
I'm working on releasing a Print on Demand version on DriveThruRPG, but I want to run a test print myself to make sure everything looks good before I officially announce it to y'all. More soon!
Physical Card Prints & Shipping - Mid July
We got the new physical card prints in last week! We did a test run a few months back and quickly discovered the dimensions were just too big. They couldn't support their own weight and would flop about and bend. It wasn’t pretty. So, we decreased the size to a more standard 4 x 6 inches. This size is a lot more stable, easier to handle, and, well, aren’t all floppy woppy.
Unfortunately, the mailers that I ordered just never materialized, and I'll have to manually find new ones. We'll send out a test shipment in early July. After we confirm the test shipment arrives in one piece and undamaged, we'll begin shipping in mid July.
Personal Thank You Letters
I haven't forgotten about the Thank You Letters for the Hierophant reward tier! These'll be jam-packed with gratitude and will ship in mid July in the same envelope as the art cards.
Writers & Abandoned Cathedral
One of my goals for Catacolyte Games is to create a space where designers can express themselves and create meaningful work. We're not there yet, but hiring Richard Bucey (a talented writer and creative game designer) to help write the Abandoned Cathedral rooms brings us one step closer!
Survey Feedback
I've read everyone's survey responses, and it's been really eye-opening. I'll definitely use this feedback to do better next time. There was a ton of great responses, but I'll share (anonymously) some of the ones that either stood out or represented a large portion of the community.
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“Art!”
Yeah! I love art, too! This response came up alot, and that makes me really happy. Art was one of the things I thought most about. Richard Nguyen did a great job!
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“You don’t need to be so hard on yourself.”
Oh, this one just pierced me right to the quick of my soul. You’re absolutely right, but I still will be.
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“Reduce questions.”
That’s fair! A few responses had something to this effect. Next time, I’ll include a “N/A” response that’ll allow people to get on with their lives just a little faster. Backerkit doesn’t allow users to skip questions as far as I can tell, but including a clickable response will make things a little easier for everyone.
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“The art cards were intriguing but I feel they would’ve been more tempting if they had the game information on the back side or descriptive text . . . so they would be more useful at the table.”
Really good point. One of my biggest takeaways from this campaign was that the art cards weren’t well integrated into the project. They were just kind of there looking cool, but not really doing anything. Next time the physical add-ons will do more for the feel and play of the game.
What's Next?
Well, I've got to sit on the whole experience for a week or two. Cult of the Blood Queen has been (and continues to be) an excellent teacher, even by first project standards. In fact, it's been so educative that I'm burning to get on to the next thing. But first, I need a little break. I set a hard deadline for Cult of the Blood Queen because I have a tendency to add and add and add. But, real artists ship as they say.
I've started replaying Fallout: New Vegas (a real favorite of mine), and I'm falling in love all over again. After I finish my first ever Caesar playthrough, it'll be time to lay the groundwork for Catacolyte's future. We'll need a website, digital store, proper contracts, and everything else that'll form the company's foundations. Then, it'll be time really dig into the Vow of Beauty paladins and the Medusite monks!
Vow of Beauty
An order of paladins dedicated to the Blood Queen whose one desire eclipses all others. These dedicated souls eschew hedonism and renounce flesh itself for one goal: perfection. As their dedications and triumphs to the red queen mount, their devotion purifies their soul, readying them for ascension.
Medusites
An ancient order of assassins that have enforced the Blood Queen's will since writing was more shape than sound. This mythical organization has no written texts and instead couple with a lineage of snakes that empower their skills and keep their secret histories.
Feedback?
Okay, Cult of the Blood Queen is out, you've looked at it, and you've got something to say! Well, I'm always open to feedback good and bad. You can leave a comment here the Kickstarter, or you can come on over to the Discord channel and share it directly. I'm especially interested in feedback on balance, ease of use, and sense of gameplay.
CultPost Mortem on the Orcs & Dorks Radio Show
I'll be doing a Cult of the Blood Queen retrospective on the Radio Free Brooklyn's (RFB) Orcs & Dorks show on July 1st (tomorrow) at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. I invite all Backers to tune in tomorrow morning on www.radiofreebrooklyn.org to hear about what went well (and what didn't), and what I've learned over the course of the project. Listeners can also call in and ask questions! It'll be fun.
That's All For Now! Thank You So Much!
Ashton, Creator of Catacolyte Games
Major Update - Art, Budgeting, Reward Surveys, Timeline, Early Access, & More
12 months ago
– Fri, May 05, 2023 at 12:30:35 PM
Major Update
This one's big. If you want to skip all the fluff and get straight to your stuff, just scroll all the way down and check out Reward Surveys and Early Access.
So what's new? I've been chugging away at writing, play testing, commissioning art, and everything else needed to get Cult of the Blood Queen done. We're almost in the home stretch. We missed the April release date for Early Access, but for good reason! I lost a few days to being sick, but mostly the Domain of the Blood Queen (the cleric subclass) needed some extra love.
Budgeting
I want to be as open as possible regarding Cult of the Blood Queen and Catacolyte Games in general. You made this all possible so it's only fair you know where your money goes. Please be aware this isn't an exact budget, but more a quick look for you, the investors.
Art - $2,200
Writing - $200
Playtesting - $100
Printing & Shipping - $400
Campaign Fees - $485
Reserves - $298
Art, writing, playtesting, printing & shipping are all obvious, but what's Reserves and Campaign Fees?
Campaign Fees are the transaction costs necessary to run a campaign. Kickstarter and Backerkit both take their very reasonable shares.
"No plan survives contact with the enemy" as Helmuth von Moltke said. Reserves are the funds held back in case of unexpected costs, like if shipping prices go up or people receive damaged product. If nothing goes wrong, this money will be used for a little bit of final polish like writing or a tad more art.
Discord Stickers
We've got new Discord stickers, courtesy of the wonderful Joann J. Hill! Click the image to join our Discord and get these scrumptious little things for yourself (comes both as a sticker and emoji).
I love art. It's a huge part of the design process for Cult of the Blood Queen and often comes before my own writing. So, I think it's fitting to share a little here!
Meet the Spawn Fly (name pending), one of the Spawn clerics sworn to the Blood Queen can birth. This thing's nasty. Part mangled human, part eldritch horror, but all love for the majestic mother.
Spawn Fly
Spawn Fly Sketch
Honestly, I love all of these sketches (there were more than you see here) and wish I could have commissioned all of them. I particularly love the little beady eyes behind the helmet in the third one. But, alas, money isn't infinite and I had to pick just one. Maybe some of these ideas can make their way into a future expansion!
And here's a sketch for a cleric who's given their flesh over to the Blood Queen. It's gross and I love it.
Surveys are incoming! Please check your emails and fill out those questionnaires. Answering the questions will really help us understand Cult of the Blood Queen and improve future Kickstarter campaigns and products.
If you pledged at Blood Priest or above, please check your email to fill out your shipping address. We had way more preorders than our initial print run, so physical rewards will ship in June after we finish the second print run.
Backerkit
We're officially on Backerkit! Backerkit's Pledge Manager will help get rewards to people faster, and allow more people to preorder Cult of the Blood Queen. Please note that I've raised the preorder price from $5 to $7 USD to reflect the added stretch goals. Cult of the Blood Queen will increase to $10 on release.
If you know anyone who still wants a piece of the action, you can find the Backerkit preorder page here:
Early Access will be rolling out soon and will include:
Domain of the Blood Queen (cleric subclass)
Warlock Patron & Pact of the Pleasure Seekers (warlock subclass)
Anathema Nurse, Tools, and Thorn Stockings (equipment)
Early Access won't include the whole Cult of the Blood Queen book, but it will contain most of the core mechanical features. This'll be a great opportunity to hear feedback and balance the systems. Please keep in mind that most of the systems in Early Access have already been internally tested. Early Access's goal is to showcase these systems and obtain feedback for mechanical balance I can't achieve on my own. For example, I'd love to hear your feedback on individual Flaws, the Flaw system in general, and how they influenced your gameplay. This information will help fine tune the system and improve the overall quality of play.
Backers who either picked up the Early Access add-on or pledged at the Call of the Cardinal tier or above will receive a DRM free PDF later next week.
P.S. I apologize for the Early Access delay. I didn't realize that it would take until May for the Kickstarter funds to process. That, and the Domain of the Blood Queen cleric subclass ended up being rewritten.
