EN World columnist Mike Myler has reworked and expanded a number of his better known tabletop roleplaying games to be compatible with the 2024 version of Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (5.2024e or 5.5e). In a single crowdfunding campaign, he’s offering five books plus a 90-page free preview. That’s ambitious. I asked him about the books, what unites them, and what backers of his original campaigns can expect.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Mike, you have more sourcebooks coming through your latest Kickstarter than most creators produce in a year. What are you launching?
MIKE MYLER (MIKE): A collection of FIVE books that provide everything a GM needs to run amazing games in the lands of Soburin and beyond—whether you’re playing original D&D 5E or the newest iteration (I’m going with “5.5E”). This includes the Mists of Akuma campaign setting book, Beyond the Great Divide adventure path, 2099 Wasteland campaign setting generator, and two volumes of encounters for 1st–20th level called Soburin Vignettes.
EGG: Let’s talk about each of the books. First up is Mists of Akuma. What is the book about and what are you changing with this campaign?
MIKE: An eastern fantasy noir steampunk campaign setting where foreign occupiers were overthrown by a rebellion a decade ago only for ancient magical mists to appear that transform people into monsters. To keep order as the prefectures are stymied by the wounds of the past and corruption spread by the primordial fog, Emperor Hitoshi has appointed special government officials (bengoshi) able to deputize citizens to perform tasks on behalf of the empire. This book was first written 8 years ago and has been thoroughly re-tooled with snappier trade dressing, cleaner layout, expanded with hundreds of pages of additional content (especially for Sanbaoshi, the capital of Soburin), and is now in full color! Over 200 monsters and NPCs, scores of feats, more than two dozen class archetypes, equipment, magic items, spells—it’s got some of everything (it is a hefty 420 pages).
EGG: Beyond the Great Divide is an adventure path. What’s the hook, and what character levels is the adventure designed for?
MIKE: At the far edges of the seas around Soburin the water drops into an abyss and in the distance is a furious maelstrom: the Great Divide. Because of a decree from Emperor Hitoshi a king’s ransom waits for whoever can cross it and return with artifacts of medical technology from Ceramia or Ropaeo. Adventurers that seek to pass this barrier of antimagic and elemental power in search of glory or wealth can undertake the Beyond the Great Divide adventure path! This enormous tome takes PCs from 3rd to 16th level on adventures all across the realm from the skies of Uso to an accursed ritual in the forests of Shinko, the doings of ne’er-do-wells all over Hofuku, a scientist’s dungeon in Uragi, a frame-up and crime spree by a cadre of unforgettable villains in Rimono, an homage to Seven Samurai in Satsujin, and defeating an oni warlord in Namida. Along the way the party gathers the seven sacred grains and earn their way across the impossible wall of energy surrounding Soburin—entering the Wasteland that remains of their defeated oppressors. The adventurers have to negotiate the paranoid town of Garstahn, overcome a host of mascot cannibals, and outrun gigantic mutants in order to survive and return home as heroes! Although not as weighty as the campaign setting, this book cruises in at over 360 pages so it’s also chock full of excellent stuff (over 100 monsters and NPCs, 19 magic items, class archetypes). It’s also definitely a useful GM resource with 44 maps to cover the adventure path’s battles and cities, and I think the first adventure path with a 5.5E version.
EGG: Soburin Vignettes Volumes #1 and #2 offers what type of encounters?
MIKE: Each of these books uses ukiyo-e style artwork and Dyson Logos’ black and white cartography to map out an encounter for every level from 1st to 20th. As far as type goes that varies wildly; sometimes it’s the mystery of a murderous ghost hound, or an onsen where customers are dying in strange ways, helping the struggle of a cursed hero, escaping the rampage of a bamboo giant, defending a noble’s keep from a siege, or surviving the Sea of Skulls. They really run the gamut! These encounter books could easily be used to provide the framework for any original campaign in Soburin, but they’re also great for one shots or to supplement one of the adventure paths (either Trade War or Beyond the Great Divide).
EGG: 2099 Wasteland provides a campaign setting generator. Talk to me about this setting?
MIKE: We first made this book not long after Mists of Akuma as an answer to people who wanted to know what was beyond the Great Divide around Soburin. On one side of the coin it’s a campaign setting all its own, an alternate-reality version of the world envisioned in Hypercorps 2099 where instead of cyberpunk superheroes the world suffered nuclear apocalypse. The other side of the coin: it doesn’t provide a static place (like a map with kingdoms on it), it’s dynamic. Every group’s Wasteland is generated by the GM and party as they explore further and further. When the PCs reach a new area of the world the GM rolls up what regions adjoin it and the resources that can be found there, then the adventurers collect what they can to invest in settlements they build (and ultimately rely upon). The basic idea was that if you’re running a Mists of Akuma game where the party is trying to escape Soburin (like I did! Props to the On Turbine Wings playtesters! ♥) that you could pick up the 2099 Wasteland book and roll out the ruins of Ceramia or Ropaeo. This is right in the middle of the pack in terms of size (just shy of 200 pages) but if you like a little Fallout or Tank Girl in your 5E it’s the place to be. New heritages, feats, archetypes, backgrounds, conditions, longer rests (short rest 1 day, long rest 1 week; cackle as you watch them weep), and even rules for building custom melee or ranged weaponry!
EGG: Five books retuned for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition 2014 (5e) and 2024 (5.5e), that’s a mountain of content, more than most campaigns offer. How do you plan to deliver that much material?
MIKE: I’ve been working ahead. The 5E versions of these books were actually ready in July (after half a year of treatment, extra playtesting, and development) but after getting a look at the new format for monsters in 5.5E I hit the brakes and put my nose to the grindstone. Much of the past month and my next month are all about converting the layout files for the smaller books in this project over to 5.5E (thankfully the biggest one is done already).
EGG: Based on the titles, these books don’t seem related. Are they connected?
MIKE: They are! The best way to use them is to run a Mists of Akuma campaign using Beyond the Great Divide, supplementing it with encounters and scenarios from Soburin Vignettes #1–2, and at the end extending the party’s time in the Wasteland using the world generation rules in 2099 Wasteland before bringing the game to a close.
EGG: If you’re a backer from the original Kickstarter campaigns for either 2099 Wasteland or Mists of Akuma, what can they expect?
MIKE: They should check their DriveThruRPG account libraries to find the PDFs for the 5E versions of those books already available to them! Statistics have been retuned, each has received another round of editing, a whole new layout treatment, and development to bring the balance of class features or monster attacks better into the bounds of the 5E ruleset. Plus they each have a new (low level) introductory adventure in the back.
EGG: That’s cool that you’re taking care of the original backers. Who is publishing these books?
MIKE: After Kickstarter rewards are delivered two of my licensees are ultimately publishing these books—Storm Bunny Studios is publishing the Mists of Akuma books and Legendary Games is publishing 2099 Wasteland.
EGG: Beyond this campaign, what else are you working on?
MIKE: Sometime soon RPG Writer Workshop is releasing my third course (5E Class and Archetype Design) and EN5ider is consistently putting out great articles (with the occasional adventure by me
). Otherwise I’ve been developing Hundred Acre Hell, a corrupted and warped supplement where Winnie the Pooh’s endless honeypot suddenly stops refilling itself. It’s up to him and the rest of the gang to find more honey! Folks can check out its original iteration (which is a bit rough around the edges and features some less than amazing artwork; sorry Roo) on my website, and early next year pledge to get it for Level Up 5E, original D&D 5E, or D&D 5.5E. I am VERY stoked to write the art orders for that! Managed to answer all of those questions without once mentioning that there's a 90-page preview PDF on the Kickstarter page (for both 5E and 5.5E).
Mists of Akuma: 5E+ Eastern Fantasy Noir Steampunk Bonanza from Mike Myler
MIKE MYLER (MIKE): A collection of FIVE books that provide everything a GM needs to run amazing games in the lands of Soburin and beyond—whether you’re playing original D&D 5E or the newest iteration (I’m going with “5.5E”). This includes the Mists of Akuma campaign setting book, Beyond the Great Divide adventure path, 2099 Wasteland campaign setting generator, and two volumes of encounters for 1st–20th level called Soburin Vignettes.
EGG: Let’s talk about each of the books. First up is Mists of Akuma. What is the book about and what are you changing with this campaign?
MIKE: An eastern fantasy noir steampunk campaign setting where foreign occupiers were overthrown by a rebellion a decade ago only for ancient magical mists to appear that transform people into monsters. To keep order as the prefectures are stymied by the wounds of the past and corruption spread by the primordial fog, Emperor Hitoshi has appointed special government officials (bengoshi) able to deputize citizens to perform tasks on behalf of the empire. This book was first written 8 years ago and has been thoroughly re-tooled with snappier trade dressing, cleaner layout, expanded with hundreds of pages of additional content (especially for Sanbaoshi, the capital of Soburin), and is now in full color! Over 200 monsters and NPCs, scores of feats, more than two dozen class archetypes, equipment, magic items, spells—it’s got some of everything (it is a hefty 420 pages).
EGG: Beyond the Great Divide is an adventure path. What’s the hook, and what character levels is the adventure designed for?
MIKE: At the far edges of the seas around Soburin the water drops into an abyss and in the distance is a furious maelstrom: the Great Divide. Because of a decree from Emperor Hitoshi a king’s ransom waits for whoever can cross it and return with artifacts of medical technology from Ceramia or Ropaeo. Adventurers that seek to pass this barrier of antimagic and elemental power in search of glory or wealth can undertake the Beyond the Great Divide adventure path! This enormous tome takes PCs from 3rd to 16th level on adventures all across the realm from the skies of Uso to an accursed ritual in the forests of Shinko, the doings of ne’er-do-wells all over Hofuku, a scientist’s dungeon in Uragi, a frame-up and crime spree by a cadre of unforgettable villains in Rimono, an homage to Seven Samurai in Satsujin, and defeating an oni warlord in Namida. Along the way the party gathers the seven sacred grains and earn their way across the impossible wall of energy surrounding Soburin—entering the Wasteland that remains of their defeated oppressors. The adventurers have to negotiate the paranoid town of Garstahn, overcome a host of mascot cannibals, and outrun gigantic mutants in order to survive and return home as heroes! Although not as weighty as the campaign setting, this book cruises in at over 360 pages so it’s also chock full of excellent stuff (over 100 monsters and NPCs, 19 magic items, class archetypes). It’s also definitely a useful GM resource with 44 maps to cover the adventure path’s battles and cities, and I think the first adventure path with a 5.5E version.
EGG: Soburin Vignettes Volumes #1 and #2 offers what type of encounters?
MIKE: Each of these books uses ukiyo-e style artwork and Dyson Logos’ black and white cartography to map out an encounter for every level from 1st to 20th. As far as type goes that varies wildly; sometimes it’s the mystery of a murderous ghost hound, or an onsen where customers are dying in strange ways, helping the struggle of a cursed hero, escaping the rampage of a bamboo giant, defending a noble’s keep from a siege, or surviving the Sea of Skulls. They really run the gamut! These encounter books could easily be used to provide the framework for any original campaign in Soburin, but they’re also great for one shots or to supplement one of the adventure paths (either Trade War or Beyond the Great Divide).
EGG: 2099 Wasteland provides a campaign setting generator. Talk to me about this setting?
MIKE: We first made this book not long after Mists of Akuma as an answer to people who wanted to know what was beyond the Great Divide around Soburin. On one side of the coin it’s a campaign setting all its own, an alternate-reality version of the world envisioned in Hypercorps 2099 where instead of cyberpunk superheroes the world suffered nuclear apocalypse. The other side of the coin: it doesn’t provide a static place (like a map with kingdoms on it), it’s dynamic. Every group’s Wasteland is generated by the GM and party as they explore further and further. When the PCs reach a new area of the world the GM rolls up what regions adjoin it and the resources that can be found there, then the adventurers collect what they can to invest in settlements they build (and ultimately rely upon). The basic idea was that if you’re running a Mists of Akuma game where the party is trying to escape Soburin (like I did! Props to the On Turbine Wings playtesters! ♥) that you could pick up the 2099 Wasteland book and roll out the ruins of Ceramia or Ropaeo. This is right in the middle of the pack in terms of size (just shy of 200 pages) but if you like a little Fallout or Tank Girl in your 5E it’s the place to be. New heritages, feats, archetypes, backgrounds, conditions, longer rests (short rest 1 day, long rest 1 week; cackle as you watch them weep), and even rules for building custom melee or ranged weaponry!
EGG: Five books retuned for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition 2014 (5e) and 2024 (5.5e), that’s a mountain of content, more than most campaigns offer. How do you plan to deliver that much material?
MIKE: I’ve been working ahead. The 5E versions of these books were actually ready in July (after half a year of treatment, extra playtesting, and development) but after getting a look at the new format for monsters in 5.5E I hit the brakes and put my nose to the grindstone. Much of the past month and my next month are all about converting the layout files for the smaller books in this project over to 5.5E (thankfully the biggest one is done already).
EGG: Based on the titles, these books don’t seem related. Are they connected?
MIKE: They are! The best way to use them is to run a Mists of Akuma campaign using Beyond the Great Divide, supplementing it with encounters and scenarios from Soburin Vignettes #1–2, and at the end extending the party’s time in the Wasteland using the world generation rules in 2099 Wasteland before bringing the game to a close.
EGG: If you’re a backer from the original Kickstarter campaigns for either 2099 Wasteland or Mists of Akuma, what can they expect?
MIKE: They should check their DriveThruRPG account libraries to find the PDFs for the 5E versions of those books already available to them! Statistics have been retuned, each has received another round of editing, a whole new layout treatment, and development to bring the balance of class features or monster attacks better into the bounds of the 5E ruleset. Plus they each have a new (low level) introductory adventure in the back.
EGG: That’s cool that you’re taking care of the original backers. Who is publishing these books?
MIKE: After Kickstarter rewards are delivered two of my licensees are ultimately publishing these books—Storm Bunny Studios is publishing the Mists of Akuma books and Legendary Games is publishing 2099 Wasteland.
EGG: Beyond this campaign, what else are you working on?
MIKE: Sometime soon RPG Writer Workshop is releasing my third course (5E Class and Archetype Design) and EN5ider is consistently putting out great articles (with the occasional adventure by me
). Otherwise I’ve been developing Hundred Acre Hell, a corrupted and warped supplement where Winnie the Pooh’s endless honeypot suddenly stops refilling itself. It’s up to him and the rest of the gang to find more honey! Folks can check out its original iteration (which is a bit rough around the edges and features some less than amazing artwork; sorry Roo) on my website, and early next year pledge to get it for Level Up 5E, original D&D 5E, or D&D 5.5E. I am VERY stoked to write the art orders for that! Managed to answer all of those questions without once mentioning that there's a 90-page preview PDF on the Kickstarter page (for both 5E and 5.5E).Mists of Akuma: 5E+ Eastern Fantasy Noir Steampunk Bonanza from Mike Myler
- End Date: Fri, October 18 2024 11:59 PM EDT.
- “Retuned 420 page campaign setting, 2 encounter books for levels 1–20, and an adventure path to escape the realm of Soburin!”
