Tales of the Burned Stones

Tales of the Burned Stones is a dark-fantasy dungeon-delving RPG about raiders, treasure hunters, and the lost kingdoms buried beneath the endless pits.

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Mount Baram groaned and shattered, birthing unfathomable tunnels spiraling deep into the unknown. From the abyss, shadows emerged. Countless hordes of monstrous fire-spitting creatures laid waste to all in their path, reducing to ashes the realm that lay at the foot of the mountain. The remaining kingdoms now stand as mere shadows of their past selves. You are one of the remnants. The Sisters of the Eclipse found your lifeless body, and brought you back. Waking up among the debris of the cataclysm, changed and indebted, you have turned to scouring the endless pits for the treasures and stories buried deep within. Commoners plead for your help in finding missing heritage and mementos while guilds offer rewards for locating lost wealth and gold. Even queens require your services and task you with finding rare folktale artifacts like the Burned Stones of old. Despite everything, you press on. The past is lost, the future uncertain, but your skills remain. The past is lost, the future uncertain, but your skills remain.

Tales of the Burned Stones is a free and solo-friendly dark-fantasy role-playing game of journeying and dungeon delving. In this game inspired by Diablo, The Witcher, and The Warded Man, players assume the roles of raiders and treasure hunters who are brave and foolish enough to delve into the derelict kingdom, located next to the demonic-controlled lands of Mount Baram, in search of stories, mementos, wealth, and lost artifacts.

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Features

An easy to expand upon dark fantasy setting.
Player-facing rules and oracles to assist with solo play.
Fast character creation , all based on rolling tables.
An exciting skill degradation based on the Breathless SRD.
Numerous subsystems to handle fictional positioning, items, looting, long-term projects, challenges, combat, travel, and dungeon crawl, and more.
A player-driven and story-tied progression mechanic.
Printable pamphlets for the GM and the players.
Tons of rolling tables to help run the game.
An introductory adventure frame.
Fully open licensed text and rules.
And more…

Previews

Quotes

Tales of the Burned Stones is a fantastic evolution of the Breathless system. It really captures a fantastic fantasy / old world feel while being eminently gameable at the same time.

By Alan Bahr of Gallant Knight Games

Tales of the Burned Stones is everything I wanted from a dark fantasy game. It has enough lore to be flavorful, but it leaves enough room for me to make the game my own.

By Andrew Boyd of Pandion Games

Tales of the Burned Stones is an incredible dark fantasy adventure game that packs enough style, richness and mystery in a compact package to give endless hours of fun.

By Wolfe Scott of Level 1 Adventuring

Tales of the Burned Stones is a hidden gem. The game is quick, easy to learn and, most importantly, the dark fantasy setting and easy adaptation to classic fantasy gives it a lot of room to explore.

By La esquina del rol

This is the kind of game that you can really get into, and by the nature of the game, with oracles and prompts and the setting, really make the game your own.

By Steph C of TTRPG Kids