The 'Toymaker’ has gone missing - and nobility across the realm are scrambling to get their hands on his highly sought-after dolls. Hauntingly beautiful, and scarily well made.
His workshop is hidden, deep within the ‘Whispering Woods’. A dark and desolate forest, that locals warn all who dare enter, never return... that is, all except the Toymaker. To find his workshop, you must navigate the pitch black wood, haunted by imprisoned demons, zealous lumberjack wardens, cursed werewolves, possessed dolls, an entitled elf prince and a gaggle of other monstrous horrors.
The balance of power in the woods is shifting - will the evils that lay trapped here be released unto the world?
“The Master Of Puppets" is a level 4-6 dark and whimsical forest crawl adventure designed for use with Old School Essentials. This 50 page A5 zine contains over 50 keyed locations, including 2 dungeons, and multiple factions vying for control over the forsaken woods.
FOREST CRAWL
The Whispering Woods is a demonic prison of perpetual darkness. The zine features 13 populated hexes, and tables for over 30 random encounters to challenge the PCs as they search for the Toymakers' workshop.
DUNGEONS
A giant marble titan turned into a werewolves den, and the Toymakers workshop, filled with guardian constructs and vulnerable demons. You can check out a free preview here.
FACTIONS
Astarano - A demonic warlord of Nethria. He and his horde of fiends are trapped within the giant trees of the Whispering Woods.
The Troncarti - An ancient order of woodland wardens, now deteriorated and desperate.
The Toymaker - A conniving warlock, exploiting the trapped demons for realm wide domination.
The Possessed Dolls - Dominated demons, and pawns of the Toymaker.
The Elf Princeling - An eccentric and entitled individual whose personal ambitions have exacerbated the situation in the woods.
By day, I'm a Creative Director at an animation studio creating wholesome content for kids. By night I'm writing, drawing and playing old school ttrpg content. You can check out my itch.io page to see a whole bunch of my previous adventures and public-domain art packs, all of which are free!
A freelance editor with over 10 years experience. Her main areas of focus are games, professional development material and web content.
No AI was used in the production of this adventure zine!
The Master Of Puppets is my most ambitious rpg project to date. While I've created countless adventures for my own table over the past 17 years, polishing a project of this scale to publishing quality has been a fun and challenging experience. While I have done most of the work myself, I’ve tested, consulted and collaborated with others as needed.
“Puppets is full of whimsical little adventure sites that never take themselves too seriously. And it still manages to maintain its own logic so players can come up with their own crazy schemes that make sense. This is gonna be a good time.”
“I haven’t even reached the table yet, and it already feels like a loaded weapon - demon-haunted trees, soul-bound dolls, and a dead Toymaker still pulling strings behind the curtain. This is the kind of adventure that doesn’t just challenge your players… it tempts them to make the worst possible choice - and *want* to.”
"This is the kind of adventure I love. A whole bunch of squabbling weirdos bound together in a messy web of relationships and motivations you can play on, all stuck in a map that's packed with cool things to interact with and explore. It's fantastic."
Currently I am on track to have a 99% complete version of the zine ready for the end of the funding campaign, with just final proofing to be done. Immediately upon the completion of the campaign, an up-to-date version of the PDF will become available to all backers. The finalised zine PDF will be shared again with backers around early June. Finally, because this project is participating in the group fulfilment from Exalted Funeral, there will be a slightly delay - making sure all of the multiple purchases can be collected together to save you folks as much on postage as possible.
All production and printing costs are covered. The Master Of Puppets is going to be a physical print!
Throughout the zine, we have included some illustrated adventurers, as they attempt to explore the Whispering Woods. These will be fleshed out into a set of 5 pre-made character sheets, ready and equipped with gear and magic items suitable for their experience, to better prepare them for the horrors they are about to face. These digital files will be included with the PDF download.
A digital asset pack of VTT maps, character and monster tokens will be included with your PDF download. All the assets required to have the best online experience while running 'The Master Of Puppets'.
Included with every print copy of the zine will be a 3' vinyl die-cute demon head sticker. (Sticker design still TBD, above image is only a placeholder).
Fulfilment is being handled by Exalted Funeral. Postage estimates are as follows:
US $9-$12 CA $18-$20 UK $10-$13 EU + EFTA $12-$15 AU $14-$17 REST OF WORLD $20-$25
SAVE BIG with DISCOUNTED GROUP SHIPPING! Thirteen of the seventeen projects in OSE Month are participating in group shipping with Demonic Grimoire. This means all rewards from these projects will be grouped and shipped together so that you can back multiple projects without paying a ton for shipping! For instance, if you're in the US and back the Demonic Grimoire Ritualist Pledge Level + 9 other projects, you are paying up to $29; saving you $124 vs. the approx $153 if you had backed each project individually.
The projects participating in group shipping are:
Demonic Grimoire Abattoir Hymnal The Black Spire Pact A Ritual Most Foul & A Delving Most Dark Dimension Delvers Guide to Demons & Devils Dinner With the Damned Emporium of the Damned Hellblaster Master of Puppets Mildew and Silver Skullboy's Illustrated Guide to Demons The Ooze The Tiger Princess of Treacherous Tripura
Please note that the values in the table are an estimate to the best of our knowledge at the time the campaign launched given the shipping fees and rates from our fulfillment warehouses. Please see the FAQ section for more information on shipping.
Old-School Essentials Month
Old-School Essentials Month is a group-collab project led by Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome, featuring a new 176-page OSE book — the Demonic Grimoire — and sister projects from 16 other renowned creators in the OSE community.
The theme of OSE Month 2026 is: DEMONS! Get ready for hordes of new monsters, adventures set in the realms of hell, fiendish new character options, and lashings of blood-dripping art.
Group Achievements
We will be announcing a series of achievements tied to the success of all OSE Month projects jointly! To start with:
All projects funded: When all OSE Month projects fund, we will arrange a community Ask Me Anything session on Discord, featuring creators from across the projects. This will be a chance to chat with the OSE Month creators about their projects.
Old-School Essentials (OSE) is a role-playing game of fantastic adventure inspired by classic games of the 1970s and 1980s. Players delve into forsaken ruins, battle fearsome monsters, explore haunted forests and perilous mountain ranges, sail the high seas in search of lost lands, recover fabulous treasures, and unearth secrets of ancient magic.
