DRS goes grimmer with Bloodpunk: a Victorian Setting and a Dark Adventure for D&D’s 5E

I know the Turkish RPG Studio Dream Realm Storytellers for some grim and gritty 5e settings. However, it seems they want to go darker. Just what sort of dreams are these?

Bloodpunk is a 5e game with a Victorian theme, with steampunk technology, except it’s not steam that powers the magitech; its blood! Kickstarter likes the pitch, trusts DRS, and the project is doing well. You can find out more and join the success from the campaign page.

[Back the Campaign]

The Kickstarter campaign, which is already well through the success gates, will fund two books. One is Bloodpunk: Heritage of the Damned, and the second A Guide to Tolia. Tolia is the setting, and the Heritage is a 1st to 7th level adventure.

There’s a free to download demo booklet to showcase some of those offerings.

The RPG introduces new mechanics as well as gore. Blood Damage and Blood Degeneration are fundamental to Bloodpunk and deal with how much effect the first vampire’s blood has on you.

Tolia is a dark, dystopic, ominous setting where blood has been used as the main source of energy since the discovery of a magical crystal; Angst. Wars and darkness ensued. Danger and atrocities now await Tolians, lurking behind every corner, infesting their lives like an epidemic. The people are forced to live under the tyrannical rule of one of the two cities; Kanrath or Cyherested, just to find a modicum of “peace” as they are literally drained to power the war machines of the dictatorial ruling class; the vampires and the sorcerers.
As blood engines power trains, zeppelins, radios, bloodwork weapons, boats, and factories, Tolians are forced in many ways to fuel the engines with their own flesh and blood.

You can support the project through social shares and cash, but if you can find £16 (about $20), you’ll be thanked with one of the two PDFs. You pick which.

Step up to £23, and you’ll get both, either in PDF or with a VTT alternative.

The hardcover of one book, with the PDF, unlocks at £38 and you’ll get both as thank yous at £61.

There’s a tier at £82, including a screen, region map, and box for your collection and one higher at £142 for other DRS goodies.

The publisher estimates fulfilment around March 2023.