About This Document

This free PDF is a design statement and release outlook from Wagon Wheel Publishing & Games.

It explains the philosophy behind our games, how our current lines relate to one another, and what players and GMs can expect from us going forward. This document exists to provide clarity, transparency, and long-term context for anyone considering or already playing our games.

This is not a rules supplement or playable content.

What We Build

At Wagon Wheel Publishing & Games, we design tabletop roleplaying games focused on pressure, consequence, and long-term play.

Our games are not about power fantasy or perfect outcomes. They are about decisions made under uncertainty — and what those decisions leave behind.

This document outlines how that philosophy is applied across our current lines:

• Ash & Oath
  A deeper, long-form fantasy survival system built for slow mastery and extended campaigns.

• Saloons & Outlaws
  A grounded frontier survival game focused on scarcity, reputation, and consequences that linger.

• Rum & Rogues
  A survival game at sea about crews, visibility, escalation, and knowing when to walk away.

Why This Is Free

This document is provided as a free download to answer common questions:

• How do these games differ?

• Which line is actively supported?

• Is any line being abandoned or replaced?

• What kind of release cadence should players expect?

Rather than answering these questions repeatedly or through marketing language, we’ve put our answers in one place.

🔜 WHAT’S NEXT

• Rum & Rogues launches as a complete three-book system within the next 72 hours.

• Saloons & Outlaws continues active development, including:

  • Working the Land (campaign-scale supplement), releasing later this month

  • A new Frontier Job (released this week)

  • A new Frontier Story (releasing Sunday)

• Ash & Oath continues along its long-form development arc, with future releases focused on depth rather than volume.

Some content releases digitally first. Some appears later as collected print editions. This approach allows us to maintain quality, sustainability, and consistency across our catalog.

We are building a studio — not chasing trends.

Who This Is For

• Players deciding which of our games fits their table

• GMs wondering how supported each line is

• Existing customers looking for clarity about future releases

• Anyone interested in pressure-driven, consequence-focused RPG design

— Wagon Wheel Publishing & Games

A sinister stone mutated a group of miners, causing them to sprout a second head and descend into violence. Now, a two-headed wyvern has taken residence in this cursed mini-dungeon.

The Monster Lair series offers a change of pace for your players. Each is a short, but vibrant, dungeon centered around a different creature.

They require minimal prep and include a VTT map and the raw Dungeon Scrawl file for you to easily edit and expand if you desire, for free, on the Dungeon Scrawl website  

Add them as minor points of interest in a hex map, bake them into random encounters, or use them to buy yourself a little more time to prep for that next big adventure. Download your copy today!

Files Included:

• Wyvern Lair 1 file - all stat blocks included.
• VTT Maps - DM and Player views
• Dungeon Scrawl file

This Guide is a practical tool for Gamemasters who need to fill in details and flavor for roads, trade routes, and overland travel without having to create them on the fly.

Each chart contains 100 unique items, rolled for on a d100. It works in any fantasy setting and many modern ones as well, and was designed to be system-agnostic as a versatile storytelling aid.

This guide includes:

• 100 travel encounters
• 100 scenery ideas
• 100 foraging ideas
• 100 inns and rest stops
• 100 story hooks
• 100 weather descriptions
• 100 travel complications
• 100 roadside locations/encounter sites
• 100 travel hazards
• 100 lost and abandonded goods
• 100 road and route names

Every pirate fleet needs somewhere to disappear.

Pirate Cove: Hidden Cove brings the heart of the pirate stronghold to life—a secluded anchorage and underground network designed as a true home base for outlaws, smugglers, and free captains. This pack focuses on where pirates regroup, divide loot, plan raids, and hide from the reach of law and empire.

The pack includes two large exterior maps of the hidden cove itself:

• A sheltered anchorage with docks, and a tent camp

• An alternate version featuring a lit watchfire, signaling activity, celebration, or heightened alert

Beneath the cliffs, a fully realized smuggler’s cave complex integrates directly with the cove above, providing layered play and multiple entry points:

• Pirate Treasure Room for hoards, vaults, and dangerous temptations

• Prison Cells for captured enemies, informants, or mutinous crew

• Council Chamber for secret meetings, power struggles, and betrayals

• Cargo Storage & Smuggling Areas for contraband, supplies, and stolen goods

All maps are designed to function independently or together as a connected hideout, allowing Game Masters to shift seamlessly between open-air encounters and tense underground scenes.

Whether your players are defending their haven, plotting their next raid, staging a jailbreak, or uncovering secrets buried beneath the cove, Pirate Cove: Hidden Cove provides a believable, reusable pirate base built for long-term campaigns.

License:
Users are granted a license to use these maps and GM Notes for their personal use only via either display on a virtual tabletop gaming system (VTT) or to print them to be used for reference and/or play-aids. Any commercial use is strictly forbidden without express written permission. If you wish to use the maps and/or GM Notes in a public live-stream video of your game or in the context of a review, please contact us at support (at) mmpapps (dot) com to secure permission. The license is not transferable, and the maps and GM notes may not be redistributed, resold or sub-licensed in any way.

A crude doll bound in twine and dried husk. You swear you can hear it laughing at night, thin, muffled, and far too close.

When death comes calling, the doll answers instead. Once, upon taking fatal damage, negate it. The Corn Husk Doll ignites in sudden flame, screaming as it burns to ash.

Pay What You Want.
May it laugh for you… until it doesn’t.

Made for Morktober day 6 2025 the word was ''Husk"

BLOODSTONES - THE CROWN OF BLOOD & ICE

Welcome to Chapter 3 in the continuing Bloodstones Adventure Campaign.

For Crawler Levels 3-4

A ShadowDark Adventure of Frozen Horror, Dark Elf Betrayal, and Deadly Treasure.

The Dark Elves ruled their Vel’Zhauneth (Fortress of Shadows) Stronghold for centuries. Their dominion was sealed by a millennium old relic of cold and terrible beauty: the Bloodstone of Ice Blast.

To possess it was to rule.
To inherit it was to kill.

Then the coup began.

Steel met spellfire in the shadowed depths below, and Dark Elf loyalists clashed against rebels. In the chaos, the ambitious Mistress Vesstra, leader of the coup reached for the Bloodstone, only for the Queen Mother to sever her arm in a single brutal strike!

The Bloodstone fell into blood… and awakened... into a sudden violent blast of frozen terror!!

Then Vel’Zhauneth fell silent. But silence doesn’t mean safety.

Now the fortress stands abandoned, its gates open, its halls crawling with monsters, haunted by ghosts, and its obsidian corridors were designed to confuse and consume intruders. Deep within the stronghold, a severed hand still clutches the Bloodstone.

But the Dark Elves are coming back, because Vesstra survived, and she returns to reclaim her crown… and the Bloodstone that nearly killed her.

Your Crawlers have one chance:

Enter the Fortress of Shadows.
Find the Bloodstone of Ice Blast.
Escape before the Dark Elves return.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

BONUS:

Included in the book and handouts are the Dark Elf NPC character sheets so you can also run a reverse-adventure and play as the BAD GUYS!! The Dark Elves are returning home. But what condition is the stronghold currently in since it was abandoned two year ago?! Monsters wandering the halls? Ghosts of your dead brothers and sisters come back to haunt you? And most annoying of all... trespassing Adventurers will need to be dispatched and dealt with.

As well, this adventure can easily be played as a one-off. But I highly recommend running the campaign instead.

Stay tuned for Bloodstones Chapter 4 which will take your Crawlers to a far away and deadly new continent.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support.

Legend of Talik & Glenn Stark

The Festive Skeleton is a new base class for 5e with subclasses for different holidays, from the Pumpkin King to the beachside Bonfire Jack to Spring Jack with his feet of the rabbit and regenerative powers of spring, and of course, the grinning skull of Christmas cheer that is Mister Claws.

The Festive Skeleton is a half-martial half-caster similar to the Paladin or the Ranger, but unlike most classes, nearly all of a Festive Skeleton's class features are determined by their subclass, including a unique spell list. Bonfire Jack has a combination of burning aggression and dazzling illusions, the Pumpkin King runs heavy on debuffs, darkness, and stealth, Spring Jack is lightning fast and an adept healer, while Mister Claws is a beacon of hope and joy who delivers buffs, temporary HP, and light healing to all nearby. Though every Festive Skeleton subclass gets similar features at a similar time - auras at level 3, an extra attack at level 5, expertise at level 7, and so on - their differing mechanical emphasis and lack of common features in favor of more subclass features means that you can slot a Festive Skeleton into virtually any party by picking an appropriate holiday. You could even have a party comprised entirely of Festive Skeletons of different holidays and it would be reasonably well balanced.

Bring some holiday cheer to your table and help further my decade-spanning plan to slowly port all of Kingdom Hearts into tabletop without letting Disney's lawyers catch wind of it.

The year is 2350 B.C. The First City is a memory of ash and the Second City has fallen, but the ambition of the Cainites remains unwavering. In the heart of the Fertile Crescent, they do not hide in the shadows; they are the Anunnaki, the Living Gods who rule from atop their Ziggurats, demanding worship and sacrifice.

But who are these gods? What moves their hearts, stilled for millennia?

Tales of Mesopotamia is the missing piece of the Age of the Living Gods puzzle. Directly continuing the atmosphere of political intrigue established in Burning Gods, this anthology delves deep into the inner workings of the vampire castes that divide the ancient world.

Forget the stereotypes of the Victorian Age or the Modern Nights. Here, a Ventrue is not just an executive, he is a Priest-King with the divine right to rule. A Nosferatu is not merely a pariah in the sewers, but a chthonic monster feared like a plague sent from the heavens.

What you will find in this book:

• The Voice of the 18 Lineages: For the first time, explore the individual perspective of all 18 active lineages in the setting. Each tale is a window into a Clan's soul, revealing how Lasombra, Tzimisce, Salubri, and others viewed their existence before the Camarilla or the Sabbat existed.

• Living Legends: Each tale is accompanied by the detailed background of its protagonist. These are not just names on a page; they are complex figures with allies, enemies, and ambitions that the Storyteller can immediately insert into their chronicle.

• Dual System (V5 & V20): Whether you are an old guard veteran or a 5th Edition neonate, the book offers full support. All 18 protagonists possess complete character sheets adapted for both systems, ready to be used as PCs or powerful NPCs.

• Glimpses of the Past: With original illustrations for each character, visualize the majesty and terror of the Cainites in their Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian attire.

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow red. Are you ready to drink from this history?

Urban Combat Zones: War-Torn Modern Battlemaps

Urban Combat Zones: War-Torn Modern Battlemaps is an 18-map battlemap bundle depicting the aftermath of modern urban warfare. These maps focus on destroyed city streets, collapsed buildings, wrecked vehicles, and shattered infrastructure—perfect for tactical encounters, exploration, and high-tension scenarios set after the fighting has torn through the city.

Designed for modern, cyberpunk, near-future, and sci-fi RPGs, this bundle emphasizes environmental storytelling and tactical terrain rather than active combat scenes. Every map is built for immediate use in virtual tabletops.

🧱 What’s Included

• 18 high-resolution modern urban battlemaps

• War-torn city streets and intersections

• Collapsed and damaged buildings

• Rubble-filled alleys and courtyards

• Burned-out vehicles and barricades

• Cratered roads and destroyed infrastructure

• A mix of open sightlines and tight, cover-heavy environments

These maps work equally well for:

• Urban combat encounters

• Post-battle exploration

• Search & rescue missions

• Stealth and infiltration

• Cyberpunk and near-future operations

• Narrative scenes set in devastated cities

🗺️ Map Features

• Top-down battlemap perspective

• Clear square grids (consistent scale across all maps)

• High contrast surfaces for excellent token readability

• No text, labels, or embedded icons

• Designed for VTT use (Foundry, Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Owlbear Rodeo, etc.)

• System-agnostic and setting-flexible

🎲 Compatible With

• Modern tabletop RPGs

• Cyberpunk and near-future systems

• Sci-fi and post-apocalyptic campaigns

• Military, espionage, and urban survival scenarios

📦 File Details

• High-resolution image files

• Organized and ready for drag-and-drop use in VTTs

Whether your players are navigating the ruins of a fallen city, fighting over strategic choke points, or uncovering secrets buried beneath the rubble, Urban Combat Zones: War-Torn Modern Battlemaps provides flexible, atmospheric environments built for serious play.

Demons & Discoveries! Lichs, Wraiths, and Undead by Dave Bailey is a sweeping exploration of undead lore, tracing its evolution from ancient myth to modern pop culture and creative design. Each chapter delves into a different era or aspect of the undead, blending historical analysis, literary critique, and practical advice for creators.

Chapter 1: Whispers from the Grave – Ancient Roots of the Undead

Journey to the dawn of human civilization, where primal fears of death and the unknown gave rise to the earliest undead myths. Explore burial rituals, cave art, and the spectral beings of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Norse, and Slavic cultures, revealing how the boundary between life and death first became blurred.

Chapter 2: The Grim Reapers – Medieval and Renaissance Undead

Witness the transformation of undead lore during the Black Death and the Middle Ages. Discover how plague, mass death, and religious anxieties fueled tales of revenants, vampires, and liches, and how these fears were woven into literature, art, and the emerging archetype of the intelligent undead.

Chapter 3: Gothic Horrors and Victorian Specters

Step into the shadowy world of gothic horror, where the undead become metaphors for psychological dread and societal change. From the birth of the modern vampire in Polidori and Stoker to the haunted mansions of Victorian ghost stories and the existential terror of Poe, this chapter explores how the undead reflect the anxieties of their age.

Chapter 4: The Undead Revolution – 20th Century and Beyond

Follow the undead into the modern era, from Lovecraft’s cosmic horrors to Romero’s cinematic zombie apocalypse. See how Dungeons & Dragons codified undead archetypes, how Anne Rice and others reimagined the vampire, and how video games and pop culture have kept the undead at the forefront of our nightmares.

Chapter 5: The Architect of Undeath – Crafting Compelling Undead

A practical guide for creators, this chapter dives into the art of designing original undead creatures, their motivations, lairs, and the magic systems that animate them. Learn how to move beyond clichés and breathe new (un)life into your own stories, games, or campaigns.

Chapter 6: The Future of Fear – Modern Trends and Creative Frontiers

Explore the undead as metaphors for contemporary anxieties—consumerism, environmental collapse, digital identity—and discover how new media, interactive storytelling, and ethical questions are reshaping the genre. The book closes by challenging creators to push the boundaries of undead fiction for a new generation.

Perfect for writers, gamers, and fans of the macabre, this book is both a historical deep dive and a creative toolkit for anyone fascinated by the enduring power of the undead.

Tommyknockers ntroduces a new Vaesen for North American adventures; the subterranean Tommyknockers. Sometimes, they are helpful, warning miners of impending disasters. Other times, they are mischievous. And sometimes, they are malevolent, burying miners who offend them.

This is a module in the American Vaesen series. Check out previous releases and bring your Vaesen Investigators to Mythic America.