A 5e and 5.5e compatible Full Campaign and Players Guide based around subterranean environments deep within the earth, involving Dark Gods, Drow, Dwarves, Subterranean Magic, Strange Creatures and much more!
Follow and Reserve for $1 - for a bonus Digital Bundle of Adventures*.
The Dark Beneath is a Two Book Set containing The Dark Beneath, a massive 5e and 5.5e subterranean sandbox campaign for characters levels 1 through 10. As well as Children of the Dark Beneath, a player facing companion featuring new several Drow sub-Species, subterranean Backgrounds, Subclasses, Feats, Spells and Magical Items for 5e and 5.5e characters.
The Dark Beneath will be offered in Physical Print as well as Digital Format to Backers during launch.
Forced into the depths below, battle the twisted evils that dwell there, or choose to join them...
The first book of the set is called The Dark Beneath, an over 200 page dark fantasy sandbox style campaign for both 5e as well as 5.5e. This campaign takes place in the subterranean world deep below the surface and prominently features the Drow, a species of Dark Elves known for their complex intrigue and insidious cruelty.
The campaign is designed with player character agency at the forefront of the story as it develops. Throughout the game, characters and parties of any alignment are capable of finishing adventures and enjoying a challenging and meaningful conclusion based on the decisions they make through organic roleplay.
Will players decide to back the forces of Good or Evil? Will players throw the subterranean world into chaos or establish order and law? Will characters seek to benefit others, or will they strive for wealth and power for themselves? Each has a path and an outcome within “The Dark Beneath.”
Tools to create unique adventurers from the world's darkest depths...
The second book of the set contains The Children of the Dark Beneath: A Players Campaign Companion. This over 100 page volume is designed as a player-facing supplement for campaigns that take place in dark subterranean settings. It is compatible with a variety of worlds and sub-settings involving Drow, Dwarves, Goblins, Gnomes, and Orcs. It will be published using 5e compatible rules as well as a version using 5.5e compatible rules.
Within Children of the Dark Beneath: A Players Campaign Companion, you’ll find various subterranean specific mechanics and content for 5e and 5.5e such as:
Over 5 unique new species each related to the Drow,
A Hybrid Species Generator to create your own unique subterranean player species for 5E and 5.5E campaigns,
Over 18 New Subclasses for underground adventurers,
Over 15 new Backgrounds, for characters with subterranean backstories,
Over 36 new deep world Feats,
Over 50 new Spells derived by arcane users from far beneath the surface,
Over 20 unique Magical Items found in the shadow of the worlds heart,
and much more…
FOLLOW AND RESERVE TO UNLOCK PRE-LAUNCH EXTRAS
Unlock early access and exclusive bonus adventures*, plus stay up to date with all the pre-launch campaign updates and reveals.
Follow - to receive digital access to the free exclusive 5e compatible bonus adventure* “Murder in the Wisperholt.”
Reserve for $1 - to become eligible for a bonus Digital Bundle of adventures*.
Join our mailing List - to receive campaign updates and stay up to date on upcoming releases from Sythom Studios.
Back on Launch Day – to get digital access two additional exclusive 5e compatible bonus adventures* from within the Dark Beneath campaign setting.
Sythom Studios believes in 100% Human made content. No generative AI will be used in this Project.
* Pre-launch extras are only redeemable with physical pledges. The bonus adventures will be available to backers who complete the Pledge Manager and will be fulfilled digitally post campaign.
Latest from the Creator
Sythom Studios
5 days ago
The Dark Beneath Pre-Launch update 2
Hi all, I have been so busy editing the Dark Beneath that I haven't updated as much as I should.
We are back from GenCon and we met a lot of great folks out there.
In addition, we are currently working on a Free Campaign Primer which will include a tiered encounter featuring never before seen creatures from the Dark Beneath and unique player content selected from the Children of the Dark Beneath: A Players Campaign Companion. That should be available for free download soon.
Our Pre-launch on BackerKit has reached 102 Followers! I want to thank everyone who has gone and followed the Dark Beneath. You folks are making this project a reality. Remember, Followers that sign up during pre-launch are entitled to the free bonus 5e adventure “Murder in the Wisperholt” in addition to the book set. Delivered when the book comes out. This bonus adventure is not included in the regular book set, and there are no plans to publish it other than for Pre-Launch followers of this BackerKit campaign.
For Followers that feel strongly about supporting the Dark Beneath, BackerKit does have the option to Reserve a Pledge for 1 dollar. Doing so entitles the person to a digital bundle of bonus 5e adventures, delivered when the book set comes out. These Adventures were originally conceived for inclusion in the Dark Beneath campaign book, but during first round editing we felt that they would be better published as a series of 1-shot adventures on their own. The Dark Beneath 5e/5.5e campaign is rather large and has plenty of side quests without them. Like “Murder in the Wisperholt” this bundle of bonus adventures is not currently panned for any publishing other than to those that reserve pledges for $1 prior to launch.
Some specificity on our project status. Both books are written, complete, initially play tested and currently in editing. They still need art (a lot more art), more editing, more maps (cartography), an additional round of play testing, layout for print, and printing. In order to make that happen we need funding, hence the BackerKit crowdfunding.
In order to launch the BackerKit campaign and begin funding, we need 300 Followers on the Pre-Launch page. If we achieve that, we will need about 250 people to pre-order/Back the book set via "pledge." Again, I appreciate all your support. Please feel free to reach out with any questions you have about the project, its content, or about our crowdfunding campaign.
We are Sythom Studios, a small independent TTRPG publisher and fiction publisher.
Currently We have a major project incoming. It is called "The Dark Beneath" and is a two-book set for 5E and 5.5E (two versions will be published).
The first book of the set will contain The Dark Beneath a campaign, for characters levels 1 through 10.
This over 200-page volume is a dark fantasy sandbox style campaign that takes place in the subterranean world deep below the surface and prominently features the Drow, a species of Dark Elves known for their complex intrigue and insidious cruelty.
The campaign is designed with player character agency at the forefront of the story as it develops. Throughout the game, characters and parties of any alignment are capable of finishing adventures and enjoying a challenging and meaningful conclusion based on the decisions they make through organic roleplay.
Will players decide to back the forces of Good or Evil? Will players throw the region into chaos or establish order and law? Will characters seek to benefit others, or will they strive for wealth and power for themselves? Each has a path and an outcome within “The Dark Beneath.”
The second book of the set contains Children of the Dark Beneath: A Players Campaign Companion.
This over 100-page volume is designed as a player-facing supplement for campaigns that take place in dark subterranean settings. It is compatible with a variety of worlds and sub-settings involving Drow, Dwarves, Goblins, Gnomes, and Orcs.
This volume primarily focuses on sub-species of the Drow but also contains various subterranean game and player options for use in such campaigns. This book was designed to be used in conjunction with The Dark Beneath Campaign, but it may be used with a variety of other campaigns as well if desired.
Within this book, you’ll find various subterranean specific mechanics and content such as: -Over 5 unique new species each related to the Drow, -A Hybrid Species Generator to create your own unique subterranean player species for 5E and 5.5E campaigns, -Over 18 New Subclasses for underground Adventures, -Over 15 new Backgrounds, for characters with subterranean backstories, -Over 36 new deep world Feats, -Over 50 new Spells derived by arcane users from far beneath the surface, -Over 20 unique Magical Items found in the shadow of the worlds heart, -and much more.
Currently both books in this set have been completely written, initially play tested and are currently in the second round of editing. If we reach our goal, we expect editing to continue, additional artwork will be commissioned by our illustrator, and we will conduct a short second round of playtesting prior to fulfillment (keep your eye on updates for playtest opportunities).
Sythom Studios believes in 100% Human made content. No generative AI will be used in this Project.
