Stygian Citadel

A lone warrior trudges across a cyclopean labyrinth in search of a long-forgotten treasure, with nothing but the strength of his arms and the steel of his weapon to stand against the ancient horrors that awaken in the dark.

A maniacal sorcerer, driven by visions granted by an eldritch monstrosity from beyond time and space, whips a throng of cultists into a frenzy in a remote jungle temple, their ritual aiming to unleash untold calamities upon the world.

A ruthless pirate crosses the cerulean expanse at the head of a mighty warship, crewed by the most vile miscreants that ever trod over the water, her grim banner striking terror in the hearts of any poor souls that cross her path.

Stygian Citadel is a tabletop RPG in the tradition of Sword & Sorcery, a genre of fantasy where the stakes are personal, the enemies are fiendish, magic is mysterious, blood is cheap, and bravery is the only recourse.

With fast, semi-random character creation, you will strive to survive in an unforgiving world with what little the gods gave you... or die trying, and jump right back in with a fresh character in one minute! But don't worry - the strength of your determination and the fickle hand of Fate (in the form of the Fortune and Will stats) can turn the bleakest situation around. In this game, your destiny is in your hands!

Credits/Inspiration:

The clearest font of inspiration for this project, of course, is the collection of Conan the Barbarian works by Robert E. Howard. Everything in this RPG seeks to capture those stories' sense of mystery and eldritch horror, overcome by unflinching bravery and a good dose of cunning.

As far as RPG mechanics go, TWERPS was the most direct inspiration (in fact, this whole thing came very close to being just a TWERPS supplement), which is reflected in how Might rules almost everything. But I studied a number of other systems in order to come up with this one - Mini Myth being a notable example (and the reason I even learned of the One Page RPG 2025 jam in the first place), but also GrimRogue, World of Dungeons and Shadowdark.

Images within the documents are from Needpix. The photo in the banner and cover image is from Pexels, credited byrahul, 2019. Fonts: Title - Poor Richard; Document - Bookman Old Style; itch.io page - Eagle Lake.