Patchwork Fez Games is best known for publishing system-neutral horror scenarios set in modern Britain.
We’re also known for getting a bit carried away in pursuit of researching for adventures, making good art, and producing authentic handouts!
Darkened Hill & Dale was the first book we published, just last year, and it's also the reason we're able to join the panoply of delights that is the ENNIES Emporium – because it was nominated for Best Cover Art!
Darkened Hill & Dale and our more recent release, TERMINUS, are both part of This Blighted Isle – a developing series of system-neutral materials that explore the lurking horrors of the British Isles...
If you like your horror with a troubling dash of truth, read on to learn more about out games and explore the offers we have for you during the ENNIES Emporium!
The sun may be shining, but the British countryside is still filled with shadows…
From village fairs and heritage sites, to big cats and isolated churches, Darkened Hill & Dale reveals the lurking horrors of the modern British countryside in seven system-flexible scenarios.
A mix of cosmic and folk horror, the scenarios contain unique situations and threats to negotiate. The settings encompass market towns, garden centres, sleepy villages, moorlands, and beyond.
These scenarios are intended to run in 1–3 sessions and with a variety of systems. Suggested frames for player groups and notes on scenario structure are included.
While these scenarios are set in Britain, most should be adaptable to other locations as they’re all based in fairly rural locales.
A beautiful wedding turned into a violent bloodbath, but the survivors can’t remember why.
Six people are dead and over a dozen more have been injured in a violent brawl at an otherwise charming wedding. The cause of the brawl is unknown – none of the survivors remember the violence, a cause, or much of anything after the vows. Investigators may find that truths and roses have thorns about them, providing they don’t forget themselves first.
Death Knell
Ashby Knell is going all-out with this year’s village fair, where the rediscovered church bell will be rung for the first time in centuries.
It’s been several centuries since half of Ashby Knell burnt to the ground and the church bell was lost, never to be replaced. Recently rediscovered and restored, hundreds will be attending the fair to hear it ring again – even if the tragic death of the local vicar has cast a pall over the event. The entire village may be about to discover that some things are best left buried.
It Takes A Village
Everything looks perfect for Upper Dalby’s ‘Open Gardens’ weekend, despite the recent accidents.
The village is in full bloom, the local W.I. is enjoying a membership surge, and, just the other day, two young girls were miraculously saved from drowning in the river… weren’t they? Investigations during an Open Gardens weekend reveal that things perhaps aren’t quite as they seem.
Aurora Temporalis
Wild camping at a remote beauty spot whilst an aurora lights up the night sky should be relaxing, despite the local stories of strange apparitions.
Vibrant auroras light up the skies across Britain – what better time to arrange an illicit camping trip to the magnificent stone formations of Malham Crags? As the metallic scream of a failing plane engine cuts through the night, lights in the sky are soon the least of the campers’ concerns.
Fatstock
It’s winter in Mawbury. The reservoir has frozen over, the Hunt has gathered, and it’s time for the annual Fatstock Show & Dinner.
This agricultural market town continues to thrive against the odds, and farmers from all around bring their finest livestock to compete in the annual Fatstock show. After the show, the town’s elite gather to paint the town red. That the dinner is oddly secretive is probably nothing to worry about, and the death of a local businessman is surely unrelated.
Moonlit Shadow
Old Annie Haddow, Captured a Shadow, Up on the moor, In a silvery night.
A summer wildfire has uncovered ancient rock carvings up on the moor, purported ‘big cat’ sightings abound once again, and the police are looking for witnesses following the death of a local metal detectorist in a suspected dog attack. Local folklore tells tales of witchcraft and greed, but the truth may be even stranger.
Fools’ Fire
The village sank into the marsh years ago, but its lonely church remains. Its doors open only once a year, for the midsummer festival of St John’s Eve.
The coastline of Inskirk is rife with superstition and mystery – including sea caves haunted by smugglers’ ghosts and an entire village sunken into the marshland except for its church. It’s all great material for a team of content creators focusing on folklore, although they may not be prepared for such authentic folk tales.
Every physical copy of Darkened Hill & Dale comes with a folder of 21 player handouts – three per scenario.
These include maps, news articles, drawings, photocopies of folklore books, notebook pages, and more. These are printed on a variety of papers, for verisimilitude.
The digital edition of the book also comes with the handouts, but in digital format.
We're also very pleased to have been able to commission character art from Jazmin Presi, scene art from RainbowPhilosopher/Sarah, and a lino print from Mat Pringle – the latter of which neatly incorporates an element from every scenario into one unnatural scene.
and people are going missing at Tottenham Court Road.
Strange disappearances, esoteric architecture, and buried secrets combine in this system-neutral horror scenario for tabletop roleplaying games, set in modern London.
The latest release from Patchwork Fez Games – and the second item in the This Blighted Isle series – TERMINUS is a single scenario that draws on the genuine art and architecture of Tottenham Court Road, the archaeology of the surrounding area, and strange quirks of history to spin a tale of architectural horror with just a touch of Lovecraftian mythos.
TERMINUS is expected to run in 1–2 sessions and should be compatible with a variety of systems.
TERMINUS comes with a two maps for players to use; these are included with physical copies as a folded, double-sided, A3 colour print.
It’s also accompanied by a variety of digital supporting resources, including VTT backgrounds, and you can find links to real-world Crossrail documents that can be used as player handouts on this website.
Much like Darkened Hill & Dale, TERMINUS isn't just a book.
Every physical copy of TERMINUS comes with two maps, delivered as a folded, double-sided, A3 colour print in a dedicated folder.
TERMINUS is also accompanied by a variety of digital supporting resources including VTT backgrounds, a suitably cursed ambient soundtrack by the excellent Sail, and you can find links to real-world Crossrail documents that can be used as player handouts on the website.
The hardback edition of TERMINUS also has a special cover finish; the tiles of the mosaic design are glossy while the grout and signage remains matte – giving it and almost embossed feel.
The visual style of TERMINUS – and some of the scenario's plot – is inspired by the works of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, the artist who installed the strange and vast mosaics at Tottenham Court Road Tube station.
Unable to use photos of the real-world mosaics, I created an array of mosaics and other pieces to illustrate TERMINUS myself.
The cover art for TERMINUS, along with almost all of the other artworks in the game, is a photograph of a physical work.
An exception to this is the IT IS WAITING BELOW poster, which was inspired by the (often troubling) vintage tube posters of Frederick Charles Herrick.
Darkened Hill & Dale and TERMINUS have both received very positive reviews and been nominated for awards.
'... Darkened Hill & Dale and Terminus are a couple of the most rewarding and intriguing adventure books that the postman has fought through time and space to bring me. They are also lavish packages filled with cool bits and pieces to hand to your players, and then ALSO glaringly British.'
“Darkened Hill & Dale is strong in theme and singular in vision; its seven adventures […] remind us that role-playing does not need to be bound to genre landscapes worn smooth by repetition.”
“… Darkened Hill and Dale is a strong collection of scenarios, pleasingly varied while still unified in theme and style. If you play any modern horror RPG and are willing to put in a little work in preparation, it’s well worth your time.” ★★★★★
I'm pleased to announce an exciting collaboration as part of this campaign:
Alewood Games and I are teaming up to produce a brand new mini scenario: Stage Fright!
Stage Fright will be a system-neutral horror scenario set in modern Britain (much like Darkened Hill & Dale or TERMINUS), but particularly compatible with ARKYVR – Alewood Games's documentary horror toolkit for Mothership that was nominated for Best Supplement at the 2025 ENNIE Awards.
How does modern British horror fit together with sci-fi film-making? Back both projects to find out!
This mini scenario will be provided in a digital format as a free gift to any backer who backs both of our campaigns!
You don't have to back either of our campaigns at any particular tier, but you do need to back both to be eligible to receive Stage Fright.
We're keeping things simple for the ENNIES Emporium, with a variety of deals and combination bundles on Darkened Hill & Dale.
Some of these are simply discounts on the usual RRP, while others bundle art prints and books with some new little extras.
By way of add-ons, we also have some very limited edition prints and works by other creators, but more on that below...
But first, here are the available pledge levels:
Support Only (£1)
This Blighted Isle – Digital Bundle (£20)
This Blighted Isle – Art Print Bundle (£20)
This Blighted Isle – Paperback Bundle (£45)
This Blighted Isle – Hardback Bundle (£60)
This Blighted Isle – Everything! (£80)
Darkened Hill & Dale – Paperback Deal (£25)
Darkened Hill & Dale – Hardback Bundle (£50)
TERMINUS - Paperback Deal (£15)
TERMINUS - Hardback Bundle(£30)
Check out the 'Pledge Levels' tab at the top of the page to find more information about each of the bundles, and the Add-Ons & Extras section below for more information about those!
Aside from extra copies of the games and artworks, the following items are available:
Darkened Hill & Dale Lino Print (£20)
This hand-made linocut print from artist Mat Pringle incorporates elements from the scenarios in Darkened Hill & Dale to form one unnatural scene.
Printed in red-terracotta ink on Japanese HoSho paper, this is a limited edition of 20 prints, with only a few remaining. Each print is signed and numbered.
Darkened Hill & Dale Artwork Postcards (£9 NPCs/Scenes, £15 All)
A6-sized artwork postcards featuring scenes, characters, and the cover art from Darkened Hill & Dale, as created by RainbowPhilosopher/Sarah, Jazmin Presidente, and Camilla Sicignano.
Available as packs of 7 cards depicting NPCs or scenes, or as a 15-card bundle including all NPCs and scenes plus the cover artwork.
Fear & Panic (£3.50 PDF, £15 Printed+PDF)
Fear and Panic is a focused, player-friendly horror role-playing game system.
This edition of Fear & Panic has been published in the UK by Patchwork Fez Games, in collaboration with its US-based creator, Lyme.
The Night Clerk is a system-neutral scenario for use with any modern horror role-playing game system; featuring monsters, tables for unnatural artefacts, random encounters, and more.
This edition of The Night Clerk has been published in the UK by Patchwork Fez Games, in collaboration with its US-based creator, Ross Payton – host of ENNIE-award winning podcast Role Playing Public Radio, co-host of Ludonarrative Dissidents, author of Base Raiders, and writer for games such as Delta Green and Eclipse Phase.
Extras
Some pledge levels come with little extras, such as:
Darkened Hill & Dale Bookmark
Mat Pringle's linocut artwork for Darkened Hill & Dale, provided in the format of a sturdy bookmark. This is expected to be a wooden bookmark with the design printed on it (and perhaps even a tassel), but I'll keep you updated on the specifics!
TERMINUS Mosaic Pin
One of the pretty glass mosaic tiles I have leftover from creating the TERMINUS artwork, which I'll personally select and turn into a pin badge. Colours will vary.
This Blighted Isle Keyring
This is expected to be a die-struck metal keyring featuring the skull-motif logo for This Blighted Isle, about ~5cm long and with an 'antique silver' finish.
A mosaic tile, mounted as a pin badge.
Photographs of these items aren't yet available as they'll be made to order for this campaign. As such, they're represented in pledge bundle photos by a printed cardboard bookmark, a black-and-white This Blighted Isle sticker, and the mosaic pin badge I made for myself.
These extras may be available as add-ons in the post-campaign pledge manager, depending on popularity, but it's not guaranteed.
The vast majority of the rewards for this campaign are good to go (what with being 'ready to ship'). However, once a campaign ends, it takes a few weeks for backers' cards to be charged, funds to reach a campaign's creator, addresses to be collected, and so on.
With that in mind, I'm expecting the following sort of timeline:
Digital rewards should reach backers around mid-August, as these can ship quickly once payments are processed.
Physical rewards are a bit more variable, but I'm hoping that all backers will receive their physical rewards by mid-late September. I'll be shipping everything myself (which I've done before – don't worry, I know what I'm in for and I'm prepared!), and will be despatching orders to overseas backers first, since it'll take packages longer to reach you across the oceans.
I will, of course, be keeping you all updated on progress via project updates.
I don't like to bombard backers with updates during or after projects (because I think we all get enough emails already), but I do aim to keep folks fully informed about progress and share any fun developments.
Shipping
Backers outside the UK:
Contrary to popular practice, I usually charge shipping during campaigns, because I personally hate getting hit by unexpectedly massive shipping costs months after I've backed a campaign.
In this case, however, I'm afraid that I am going to have to charge non-UK backers for shipping after the campaign ends, closer to the actual shipping date.
International tariffs, fees, and regulations have been changing rapidly of late all over the world, with the EU and USA particularly affected. I'm less concerned about being financially caught out by this myself, and more concerned about you, lovely potential overseas backer, being hit by unexpected customs fees and whatnot.
I want to ensure that shipping is as cheap and reliable as possible for you, so I'm going to explore some new options to that end.
However, I do want to give you some idea of shipping costs, because nobody likes going into these things blind!
So, I expect that (barring any massive upsets to international shipping) these costs will be the maximum that you will be charged for shipping on any one pledge level* – but you may actually be charged less, depending on your pledge:
EU: £10, however...
As a note, EU shipping prices are currently the most difficult to predict. On July 1st, the EU introduced a new flat customs duty of €3 per line item on the customs form for good entering the EU. This is, as you can imagine, a bit of a pain, as that can add up pretty quickly! It's not actually a shipping cost and, due to the nature of the fee, it's also not a cost I can absorb. It's also difficult to mitigate. You can read more about this change here. If you're in the EU, and keen to get hold of some of this campaign's physical rewards but worried about these costs, feel free to get in touch and we'll see if we can estimate your potential shipping costs.
USA: £20
Rest of the World: £20
(*If you add five extra copies of TERMINUS to your pledge as add-ons, for example, these costs may not hold true, but I'll still do my best for you.)
Please note that you will most likely be responsible for any customs fees or tariffs charged by your local customs entity, as I'm not currently able to handle IOSS pre-payments.
Books are often exempt from customs fees and tariffs, but I can't guarantee that'll be the case for your country. Other items (like keyrings and artwork) are more likely to incur customs fees and tariffs.
UK Backers:
You shipping cost will be... £0.
Yes, UK backers get completely free shipping!
It honestly seems churlish to charge you shipping here when orders valued at £20+ get free shipping on my web shop.
If you want to chip in for the cost of your shipping then you can add a donation to the tip jar in the campaign's add-ons section, and I will aim to draw a little smiley face on your pledge packaging by way of thanks.
I'm going to be restrained and not include any formal stretch goals in this campaign for two reasons:
Campaigns that are part of the ENNIES Emporium are meant to be 'ready to ship'. Ordering more fine art prints or bookmarks is one thing, but creating something entirely new may end up taking longer than anticipated and delay everything.
I'm hoping to launch a crowdfunding campaign for my next project – which will be something new – in early autumn, and don't want to get too distracted from that work!
That said, I have been known to make 'little extras' during campaigns anyway...
If this campaign is particularly successful, I may look into creating an 'audiobook' version of Darkened Hill & Dale and/or TERMINUS, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while.
I may also finish and throw in a couple of silly, one-page miniatures games I've been working on – you never know!
If you'd like to read a bit more about why and how I create these games, there's a recent written interview over here that might be of interest.
My diverse career has included writing and designing for video games, copywriting and editing, project management, publishing, and event organisation.
In the UK, I’m also known for helping to run artsy games events and organising Trick or Retreat – a not-for-profit event where folks gather to play tabletop games and generally chill out.
I do not use AI in my projects.
ENNIES EMPORIUM 2026
The ENNIE Awards(the “ENNIES”) are an annual, fan-driven celebration of excellence in tabletop roleplaying games. Dedicated to recognizing outstanding achievement, the ENNIES honor the designers, writers, artists, and publishers whose creativity and passion shape the hobby. As a true people’s choice award, final winners are determined by online votes from the global gaming community.
This year, in collaboration with BackerKit, nominees from 2025 are coming together to further celebrate all the amazing games and products that were part of the ENNIES last year by launching ready-to-ship projects featuring their dominated game/product.
MORE ABOUT THE ENNIES
Founded in 2001, the ENNIES began as an online awards program hosted by EN World, the leading D&D/d20 system fan site, in partnership with Eric Noah’s Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News. Originally owned by Russ Morrissey until 2019, the awards have grown alongside the hobby itself. What started as an internet-based recognition program has evolved into a prestigious annual awards ceremony held at Gen Con.
Over the years, the ENNIES have expanded beyond their d20 roots to celebrate excellence across the full spectrum of tabletop roleplaying games. With categories recognizing everything from core game components to beloved product types, fan-driven websites, and more, the ENNIES provide fans with a meaningful way to acknowledge exceptional work—and to say “thank you”—to the creators who make tabletop roleplaying games extraordinary.
Let’s celebrate these amazing creators one more time, and who knows, you may discover your new favorite game within.
⭐️ UPDATE: Check out this year's new 2026 nominees now, and cast your vote starting Friday, July 10th!
