Blood & Madness

A Bullets & Bootleggers Campaign for the Ghost Ape System

A king is falling. A neighborhood is watching. And you’re standing close enough to catch the blood.

Bridgeport, 1928–1929.
A tight little neighborhood of taverns, unions, slaughterhouses, and grudges older than the bricks. At the center of it all sits Frank McErlane — gunman, folk legend, walking disaster. Every cop, bootlegger, and bookie knows the truth:

Frank was always dangerous.
But this year… he starts to come apart.

Blood & Madness is a 13-mission campaign for Bullets & Bootleggers and the Ghost Ape System (GAS) — a complete, table-ready saga charting the rise and implosion of Frank McErlane as seen from the eye level of the people stuck orbiting him: your crew.

This isn’t a mob power fantasy.
This is a street-level tragedy written in whiskey, paranoia, and cordite.

WHAT’S INSIDE

Thirteen Fully-Scripted Missions

Follow the slow-motion collapse of a gangster who once terrified Chicago — from petty paranoia to open war to the final night in the slaughterhouse. Every mission is written in playable noir prose with full read-alouds, checks, branching choices, HEAT outcomes, and GAS stat blocks.

Sandbox Tools for a Living Bridgeport

Even while Frank spirals, the neighborhood keeps breathing. Includes:

• Dynamic event tables

• Trouble generators

• Faction shifts for Saltis, the O’Donnells, and McErlane remnants

• Off-the-cuff mission construction for downtime between the main arcs

NPC Roster — Friends, Liabilities, Ghosts

Meet Sadie (the canary in the coal mine), Tommy Feeney (good heart, bad luck), Leo & Vinnie McErlane, and the full O’Donnell lineup — all written with hooks, motives, and GM levers.

Bridgeport in 1929

Taverns, alleys, union halls, garages, slaughterhouses, and rain-slick streets rendered in period-accurate noir detail. The district becomes a character — and eventually a witness.

The Slaughterhouse King — Final Confrontation

Rules, stakes, and stat block for the final showdown with Frank McErlane.
Kill him, spare him, or stand with him. Every ending scars the city differently.

WHAT YOU NEED

• Ghost Ape System (GAS) Core Rules

• Bullets & Bootleggers: Player’s Guide (optional but strongly recommended)

TONE & THEMES

Blood & Madness leans hard into:

• Prohibition noir

• Street-level paranoia

• Moral erosion

• Loyalty under pressure

• The cost of following a man who’s already dying on his feet

This is a campaign about falling, not rising.
About what happens to the people standing too close when the king starts swinging.

A System Agnostic Sword and Whiskers Adventure.

The characters are all citizens of Bramblestitch. A winter pox has struck with many ill and dying mice and now a dozen mice have gone missing north of town over the last week. The council of elders have asked the characters to investigate, find out where they have gone, and stop it from happening. As an added hook one of the characters should have a beloved little sister, Merrybins, who has gone missing. 

Featuring cosy artwork, maps, and a fleshed out campaign setting for sessions and sessions of cosy mouse-themed fantasy adventure. 

This product is designed to be system agnostic but play-testing used the Darkfast Dungeons Mice and Rats cards. 

Paper minis and cards available here: 

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/153741/darkfast-dungeons-mice-rats

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/153742/darkfast-dungeons-mice-rats-set-two

Greetings, Story Weavers!

Step into a trove of unforgettable faces and voices that will breathe new life into your Dungeons & Dragons adventures. Forgotten Folks: NPCs for 5E is crafted to help you fill every tavern corner, bustling street, and shadowy alley with characters who feel real, intriguing, and full of secrets. Whether you’re an experienced GM or just starting out, you’ll find ready-to-play NPCs waiting to surprise and challenge your players.

A Cast of Endless Possibilities

Inside these pages, you’ll discover a diverse collection of NPCs spanning all walks of fantasy life — from shady informants and grumpy innkeepers to noble heroes and mysterious wanderers. Each NPC is designed to spark a story twist, prompt a memorable encounter, or become a recurring figure your players can’t forget. Use them as written or reshape them to fit your unique world.

Your NPCs, Your Way

These characters are tools — flexible and easy to drop into any campaign, side quest, or last-minute improv moment. They come with quirks, motivations, and hooks to make every interaction vivid and impactful. Your creativity brings them to life — this book simply lights the spark.

Let the Stories Unfold!

Whether you need a quick ally, a surprise antagonist, or a cryptic stranger to steer the plot, Forgotten Folks is your secret weapon for turning ordinary moments into memorable tales. May these pages inspire countless encounters and stories around your table. Happy storytelling!

Trouble in Downwind!

The Outer Plane of the Abyss

The Outer Plane of the Abyss is the most feared, volatile, and corrupted expanse in all existence, a churning maw of chaos where reality fractures beneath the weight of endless hatred and ruin. It appears as a cosmic wound torn into the fabric of the multiverse, devouring light from the Astral Sea and reshaping whatever falls into its depths. No map can define it, no mind can truly grasp it. Countless abyssal realms drift within its void, each a nightmare world ruled or ravaged by the monstrous wills that dominate them.

Yet within this nightmare lies unimaginable power. Abyssal artifacts overflow with raw creation, forbidden magics seep from the cracks of dying worlds, and secrets of ancient ages lie cocooned in webs, drowned in trenches, or buried beneath shifting dunes. The Abyss is destruction, but also transformation.

This eBook plunges into the monstrous depths of the Abyss, unveiling its realms, factions, horrors, and demonic sovereigns:

Vermoria 

A collapsing rotten continent adrift on acidic seas, birthplace of Janus the Swarmfather and home to vermin-plagues that devour entire landscapes.

Nagarothis

A drifting serpent-shaped world of venomous jungles, scorching deserts, and golden ruins torn from Terrae, where the shattered Lilith slowly reforms.

Noscaarn 

A frozen hunting ground marked by crimson rain from T’Zehen, ruled by Lupina the Wolf Queen, mother of lycanthropy and eternal predator of the tundra.

Ulmariss

A vast abyssal ocean world lit by bioluminescent horrors, where Matoloth commands the sahuagin empire from drowned temples and bottomless trenches.

Silkgrave

A shattered realm bound together by living webs, ruled by Shilob the Spider Lord, where every fate is a thread waiting to be harvested.

Origins of the Abyss

Though its birth is unknown, fragments of matter, suffering, and dead worlds fell into its depths during the earliest ages, spawning the first demons and igniting conflicts that shaped entire eras.

The Demonlords

Sovereigns of ruin who shape their realms through sheer will, waging endless war as they claw for dominance within the shifting dark.

Abyssal Denizens and Factions

Swarm cults, spider clans, sahuagin empires, lycanthropic legions, and fiends born from pure chaos.

Within these realms lie stories of decay, ascension, corruption, and power.
Here, adventurers face unending darkness, confront demonic tyrants, and uncover truths that were never meant to be known.

The Lost Archipelago is a collaborative worldbuilding project set in the sword-and-sorcery realm of Kal-Arath. Here be a sea of 11 mysterious islands, each one a unique mini-setting created by different community contributors

Every island features its own culture, lore, map, and a handful of locations or encounters, all designed for the Kal-Arath RPG.

Includes:

• Ala, Kingdom of the Golden Ram by Hyford Keiran Sweeney
• Ikandir by The Oubliette
• Isle of Leone by Tony Urquides
• Jarnhofn by Envandro Novel
• Jarnhofn Character Art
• Kiri Shima by Ivo Ziskra
• The Island of The Colossal Waterlily by Jay Ottersong
• Kiagala Island by Rhys Aled Owen
• Nani Maka by Norman Eschenfelder
• Oka Morrasa by Thomas Martin
• Spires Of Uchel Nyfn by Phil Vogel
• The Last Isle by Silver Nightingale

Thank you for choosing this adventure! As my debut TTRPG creation, Whispers of the Valley represents a passionate first step into adventure design. While I approached this project without prior D&D experience, the journey of bringing this story to life has been enriching.

Original Content

All media, artwork, maps, and photography featured in this adventure are original creations by me.

• Photography: @tamaps.photo
• Cartography & Art: @tamaps.carto
• Portfolio: tamaps.art

Credits

• Layout by Homebrewery
• Adventure Design by T.A. Maps
• Writing by T.A. Maps
• Directed by T.A. Maps
• Cartography by T.A. Maps
• Artwork by T.A. Maps
• Illustration by T.A. Maps
• …you got the drill already, haha…

Special Thanks

To everyone who playtests this adventure and shares their experiences—your feedback shapes how this story evolves. Special recognition goes to Gage W. Berry for invaluable suggestions and support during development. Check out their work on DriveThruRPG: Toxins & Tonics.

Designer's Note

Echoes of the Fallen was designed as a flexible, system-agnostic adventure perfect for those moments when you need a compelling side quest at short notice. The Valley of Relmar serves not merely as a backdrop, but as a living character that responds to player choices.

This adventure prioritises atmospheric storytelling and meaningful decisions over pure mechanics. Whether you run it as a standalone one-shot or expand it into a longer campaign, the valley awaits your players' choices—choices that will echo through its halls long after the session ends.

System Compatibility

While stat blocks are provided in D&D 5th Edition format for convenience, this adventure includes a conversion guide for adaptation to any TTRPG system. All artwork and maps featured here are also available separately as stock art on my publisher page.

Your Feedback Matters

As my first adventure, your reviews (positive or constructive) will directly influence the quality and style of future releases. Please share your thoughts and help shape what comes next.

May your stories be worth remembering.

Legal Notice

This is an independent production not affiliated with any specific game system or publisher. All content © T.A. Maps.

The Awoke

The curse of the Khashmur family has extended to a forgotten tomb of ancestors nearby. They mill about their resting place, con-fused and agitated. Perhaps they know some-thing about the long lost artifact the Kings seeks?

Starter adventure for the Crumbling Keep of Khashmur megadungeon.

SD-BA-21

2 pages, six-panel brochure

For Shadowdark (SD) - 1st to 2nd level.

SD4 - The Crumbling Keep of Khashmur - Shadowdark RPG Adventure

The remaining family members and servants of a once-proud keep now languish in the dark levels beneath its surface, awaiting the day when their predicament can improve - or their suffering can be ended. An artifact of great power, likely capable of healing the royal family, lies hidden within the keep's deepest and deadliest levels. All that is needed to open the ancient catacombs and retrieve the artifact is a few of the family’s amulets…

While the suffering family members and servants await death in the upper levels, other denizens have made the lowest dungeon areas below the keep their home. As characters delve ever deeper to find the lost treasures of the Khashmur clan, they risk being overrun by foul factions and evil foes. Will the hidden treasures of the dungeons below the keep be worth the risk?

A Shadowdark adventure for 4-6 characters of 2nd to 4th level, by Thom Wilson

The Ruins of Sleetvale Tower

A ruined watchtower on a snowy cliff

The Ruins of Sleetvale Tower

A ruined watchtower on a snowy cliff