Choir of Flesh, Useful Tables 4

 I’ve decided to automate the tables I made for Choir of Flesh.

Random Table Roller

Pick a table and hit Roll to generate a result.

Choir of Flesh, Useful Tables 3

 

By the incredible Penny Melgarejo

In the supernaturally tainted millennium of 1000 AD of the game Choir of Flesh, players desperately seek resources to build up a base to survive the religious post-Apocalypse for just one more day.  Seeking out Incursions, a high-risk/high-reward area of resources, is one such action that can be undertaken.  Incursions are unlocked and found when 10 Rumors are gathered. 

Now, what are Rumors?  Rumors are a metacurrency in the main game loop that allows the Unbroken (player character) to find an Incursion during The Endless Travail exploration phase, once 10 Rumors are accrued. Rumors are defined on page 110 of the Choir of Flesh book. In the core book Rumors are abstracted and not detailed. My objective is to describe 30 Rumors in a way that are congruent with the CoF world.   

Example of Pareidolia. “Face on Mars” by NASA’s Viking 1 orbiter, 1976 (left) and Mars Global Surveyor, 2001 (right).

In a number of entries, I invoke the idea of pareidolia, or seeing patterns in random images, as a driver for the player to write in what landmark for an Incursion they have found.  Alternatively, one could use the Descriptive Rumors Table as a list of spooky and supernaturally tainted environments for other mediaeval horror games. Special thanks to Splizwarf and Spookum on the Night at the Opera discord for discussion on the Acquiring Rumors Table.

Using the Descriptive Rumors Table

The entries on the Descriptive Rumors Table all describe an event or situation that directs the Unbroken towards the Incursion.  I suggest rolling once after gathering 10 Rumors to find what event leads your character towards the Incursion. Alternatively, one could roll twice upon accruing 10 Rumors and synthesizing both Descriptive Rumors entries into one roleplaying experience. 

For example, I rolled entries number 11 and 14 on the table.  I’ve decided to use the entries sequentially. My Unbroken, Malik the survivor who was once a healer, scans the skies upon hearing a grotesque croaking.  He sees a flock of birds, remade by the Flesh with bony exoskeletons, flying in a “v” over a nearby hill (entry 14). I rule that a small pot carried in one of the Flesh bird’s claws falls to the ground, shattering into a thousand shards.  The pointed shards of shattered pottery glow with a fierce red phosphorescence even in the daylight, creating a directional path (entry 11) that lead to the Incursion.     

Using the Acquiring Rumors Table with the Descriptive Rumors Table

Alternatively, you may want to have the information from the Rumor conveyed to your character in a method other than direct experience.  This is where the Acquiring Rumors Table comes in. Say Malik the once healer rolls a 1 on the Acquiring Rumors Table.  This prompts a roll a 04 on the Survivor table.  Malik encounters The Story Trader, and in a conversation, they convey to Malik the story of the Flesh-birds dropping a pot that created phosphorescent shards that lead to a supernatural Incursion. Using the Acquiring Rumors Table is an optional step as it adds complication. 

Acquiring Rumors Table [Optional] 1d6

1) You find the Rumor through conversation with a Survivor.  Roll on the Survivor table in the core book on page 106 to determine whom you are chatting with.

2) You directly encounter the Rumor.

3) You had a vison of the Rumor. This may be a holy vision, a hallucination after a bout of drinking, a waking dream while travelling, or something else.

4) You hear a description of the Rumor in a song.

5) You hear the description of the Rumor from an animal speaking to you directly or by overhearing two animals in conversation. 

6) You read a description of the Rumor in a book, on a scrap of parchment or graffiti on a wall. 

By the incredible Penny Melgarejo

Descriptive Rumors Table 1d30

1) A crude map has been scratched on the side of a wall in blood. Images of treasure and danger are salient.

2) Tens of mandrake-shaped flesh-roots stand outside their holes, like soldiers standing at attention, flanking a path that leads off to somewhere deviating from the main road. 

3) A bone harp with tendon strings growing from the ribcage of a violated knight vibrate musically as you move in the direction of the Incursion. 

4) Bloodstained pages from a Purifier’s journal depict a center of Divine corruption. 

5) Steaming blood from fresh corpses flows upstream and climbs walls in crimson rivulets in the direction of warping supernatural influences.

6) Etheric paeans of joy in cherubic voices rise in volume and clarity as you move in the direction of the Choir’s influence. 

7) Shattered steel and jagged shards of armor form the unmistakable outline of a finger pointing into the wilderness. 

8) Corpses bloated from eating infested grain have been entangled into one another, forming a line to another part of the corrupted land. 

9) Bulbous black flies gather in a buzzing cloud here, lazily leading you to a direction stinking of raw meat. 

10) A faceless mound of flesh shudders and moans, becoming increasingly red and inflamed as you move in the direction of further corruption. 

11) Hundreds of pointed shards of shattered pottery glow with a fierce red phosphorescence even in the daylight, creating a directional path. 

12) A white bandage flaps in the wind, caught on a fence. The dried blood inside has coagulated into the shape of a nearby landmark. 

13) A blackened body, stiff with rigor mortis hangs from a crude gibbet.  Wind whistles, but the body does not turn from pointing a rotting arm firmly in one direction. 

14) A flock of birds, remade by the Flesh with bony exoskeletons and making wet gurgling noises, fly in a “v” pointing the way over a nearby hill. 

15) Crimson moss on rocks and walls grow in images of the Cross, the shaft of each pointing further down the road. 

16) A smeared trail of old black blood, as if left by a dying Titan, crosses hill and dale, leading to parts unknown.

17) A path of human teeth colored white, grey, or yellow extends as if scattered deliberately towards some hidden meeting place. 

18) A field of bones stand in the muddy ground: femurs, curving ribs and multiple humeri. Each is tilted in the same direction as if brushed by a giant’s hand. 

19) Broken wagons and once useful furniture have been maniacally chopped to pieces but there is a noticeable image in the pattern of the wreckage, that of a local landmark. 

20) Smoke floats gaily towards a nearby forest from an immolated forge with stones that will not stop burning. 

21) A pile of corpses is covered with black, fuzzy toadstools. The fungus continues to grow in a line in the Earth, describing a meandering path that winds out of sight. 

22) A cloud of parchment scraps, each inked with a musical note, billows over the road; the chill wind clearly directing it to a final destination. 

23) A red haze fills the air, emanating from a nearby exploded tannery. It grows dense and cloying as if herding wanderers like a sheepdog towards a desired place. 

24) A swarm of locusts, bleached white against the ground, hum with the sound of a Holy hymn. They hop in unison, deliberately migrating towards an unnatural location.

25) Crumbling stonework of a castle forms unsettling symbols on the ground. Nonetheless, the image of a nearby landmark is strikingly clear in the decaying stone. 

26) Swamp reeds rustle and whisper incoherent snatches of conversation. The chatter of voices begins to articulate secret sins of loved ones as an unholy destination is approached. 

27) The carcass of a hound lies silently in the road, having reached its final rest. An ossified skeletal arm juts from the dog’s mouth, pointing forlornly but nonetheless with purpose.

28) Disembodied maniac laughter and moans are heard on the wind.  They rise to a terrible crescendo, then drop into an eerie expectant silence when travelling a particular direction.

29) The rays of the sun turn black as pitch and illuminate a monochrome outline of the land, when wanderers step towards a destined lair. 

30) Blood seeps from thornbushes wrapped around trees.  The density of blood speckled thornbushes begins to grow in every direction, save one. 

Choir of Flesh, Useful Tables 2

 

By the incredible Penny Melgarejo 

History is a wonderful sandbox to play in and examine for games.  In Choir of Flesh, the Twin Apocalypses affect everyone worldwide in the Year of Our Lord 1000.  On page 24 there is a d10 table to determine your Unbroken’s former occupation before the supernatural incursion occurred. This former occupation table includes a description of your previous profession, list of skills available, and series of troubles that the character could be afflicted with.  

I wanted to expand this table with 20 entries from cultures surrounding the Mediterranean that could all feasibly have arrived in France in the year 1001 AD.  I have only included a description of these character’s backgrounds; their skills and troubles are left as an exercise for the player of Choir of Flesh to determine.  

In addition, these 20 character backgrounds could also describe interesting NPCs an Unbroken could find as a Notable Citizen as described on page 37 in the core book.  Some work to determine each character’s Settlement Benefit and Potential Problem is required however.  I heavily relied on the magazine Strategy and Tactics Quarterly Issue 33 Armies of the Dark Ages for historical inspiration for these character backgrounds; and I read a scattering of internet sources including Wikipedia when further development was required. 

1d20 Table for Character Backgrounds

1) Norman Holy Land Pilgrim turned Mercenary – In 999 AD, Norman pilgrims returning from the Holy Land stayed in Salerno, Italy and were attacked by and then repulsed Muslim raiders. You are one of the survivors of that encounter, and came to France to sell their sword to the highest bidder. Your faith is forefront in your mind.

2) Lombard Revolutionary Firebrand – The Lombard Revolt against the Byzantine governor in Italy took place from 1009 to 1018. In 1000 you are a fierce patriot of your people and have come to France to rally support and find resources and men for the coming conflict.

3) Administrator of the Emirate of Sicily – The Emirate of Sicily (831–1091) was an Islamic state based in Palermo (Sicily). A hardworking Muslim member of the state overseeing the jizya tax system and other bureaucratic endeavors, you were forced to land in France in 1000 due to a naval travel accident.

4) Vatican Assassin – Secretly sanctioned by a Cardinal, you are the epitome of a religious zealot; a killer who has been forgiven a priori for the deeds you must undertake to protect Mother Church. This idea is just straight fiction from the movies Elizabeth (1998) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).

5) Danish Raider – A raider of Anglo-Saxon England prior to the turn of the century (1000 AD), you’ve seen war and taken from it while on your longship. You’ve stopped to lick your wounds and count your plunder in France.

6) Norse Ulfheonar – A berserker assault warrior who draws strength from the wolf skin he wears, you harbor no religious fear for the Songs of the Choir, nor the creeping mutation of the Flesh. No, these are the end time prophesized by your people, and you are here for them. By Odin and the Wolves, it is better to die in battle and go to Valhalla than to live sniveling in the dirt behind wooden walls!

The battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, 1299. depicting Mongol archers and Mamluk cavalry; 14th-century illustration from a manuscript of the History of the Tatars. Unknown Author

7) Berber Fighter – Across the strait of Gibraltar, you were raised as a proud Berber tribesman, comfortable in the saddle as well as on foot in harsh desert environments.  Seeking a better opportunity for your clan and family you joined the Fatimid Caliphate as a soldier, one of many in the core of their army. Hearing monstrous and unholy tales about post-apocalyptic France, you were part of a regiment to push back the horrors, until your unit was shattered by supernatural forces.  Now you are alone, and will carve your way to survival through the skill of your spear-arm.

8) Christian Mercenary of the Fatimid Caliphate – Hailing from the Levant, you stand with one foot firmly in two worlds.  Of a mixed heritage, you were raised devoutly Christian and have seen those places of pilgrimage.  Puissant at arms, you have sold your sword to the Fatimid Caliphate, and they have paid you well.  On a mission to the Iberian Peninsula, you have found yourself in France in the midst of the apocalypses, much to your regret.

9) Mamluk Logistics Officer – Literate and intelligent, you occupied an honored position in the Fatimid Caliphate yet still had the status of a slave.  When the armies marched, you joined them, serving in the background as a quartermaster of supplies and weapons. What the Franks were up to that spawned Twin Apocalypses, you will never understand. But what you do know is how to survive, and make a settlement thrive, even under deprived conditions.

10) Egyptian Coptic Christian Accountant – A Coptic Christian, born as an Egyptian into the Fatimid Caliphate, you have worked hand and glove with the Muslim government to see that your merchant patron’s taxes are paid appropriately and on time.  Travel to the strange land of the Franks for trading opportunities landed you alone and adrift into the existential madness that is the Twin Apocalypses of the Choir and the Flesh.

11) Byzantine Veteran Under Emperor Basil II – You were lucky some say. Other say you are blessed; as you have survived and fought in the civil wars of Byzantium, in the war against Bulgaria and as a campaigner against the Fatimids.  Blood, mud, and the screams of the dying are your food and drink as you have cut a merciless swath through men and horses alike. Now however, you question your lack of faith in man and gods as a crack razed the sky, and the Song of the Choir radiated from the East. You are here now, in France, seeking the source of the madness, or perhaps resolution and redemption for your own dead soul.

12) Anglo-Saxon Silver Miner and Thief – Silver. It goes to the Danegeld to entice the Vikings to leave England.  But they always want more.  Angered that your back-breaking sweat in the mines only goes to enrich someone else, you organized a theft and escaped with some of your fellows from England and made it to the coast of France with silver ingots.  Then the Twin Apocalypses hit, scattering everyone. Was that a sign from the divine about your crimes? That question squirms in your gut late at night when you cannot find a cleric or mug of ale to assuage your guilt. 

13) French Low-Born Maniac – Once the low-born soldier of one of the grasping French castellans (lord of a castle) in the south of France, you prosecuted violence against church property, clerics and the poor at the behest of your lord. And you loved it.  The Council of Charroux in 989 and the Pax Dei (Peace of God) movement was established in reaction to your vicious predations but you laughed, certain that the Apocalypse would come at the turn of millennia and wipe all morality clean and establish a new social order.  Yours.  To an extent, you were right. 

14) Apocalyptic Tongued Cleric – Struck down, robbed and left for dead while traveling unarmed by a local constabulary; your life changed to one preaching fire and brimstone and revenge for social plights.  Now an eager amateur at wielding any piece of metal you can get your hands on, you preached about the overthrow of the nobles, the castellans and the social order in a wave of divine vengeance to anyone who would hear.  Much to your surprise, you were right. But you have the grit and the vision to make this new world a better one. 

15) Procurer of Ancient Manuscripts – One part ruins explorer, one part linguist, and one part thief; you filled the desire of the court of Theophanu Skleraina in the emerging German Empire for tomes in Latin and Greek on engineering, law and medicine.  It paid well, exercised your many talents, and took you across Italy and France in exciting adventures for moldering old folios and transcriptions.  Then the Twin Apocalypses hit and you wonder if some of the more curious manuscripts you have trafficked hold the key to survival for you and the people you have thrown in your lot with. 

16) Scottish Border Raider of England – Purely for profit or to solidify royal Scottish power, you are a Celtic raider with much blood-soaked experience in the English Northumbria and Galloway lands.  Used to planning ambushes, rallying peasant men to fight in your warband, absconding with useful livestock, and immolating recalcitrant villages; you are none the less a devout man, seeing no contradiction between your actions and your faith. That is why when you received instruction from the Scottish Church to make a journey far south to France to investigate a holy vision, you obeyed without hesitation.  You arrived on the mainland of Europe just in time for the Twin Apocalypses to erupt. 

17) Grasping Burgundian Noble– Duke Henry I of Burgandy is weak and dying and you will reap the spoils of your ambition. Distantly related to the Carolingian Dynasty, you are filled with pride over your heritage and honed your sword arm fighting off enemies as diverse as the Duke of Francia and Saracen raiders.  Your plans for placing the ducal coronet upon your brow have been turned to ash with the coming of the Choir and the Flesh; but it is a bright shining ambition you cling to with a death-grip. You must. 

Varangian Runestone U 153. Picture by I, Berig, CC BY 2.5 

18) Varangian Guard- A member of the Byzantine military elite, you are a Rus mercenary who fights for the Basileus (Emperor) with a mighty Scandinavian two-handed battle axe and sword as a sidearm. Campaigning against pirates from the Aegean to the Tyrrhenian Sea, you excelled at naval warfare until an unlucky engagement landed you a slave of your opponents.  Your recent conversion as an Orthodox Christian kept your spirits up as you suffered in the galley of a ship.  That was until the shipwreck that left you off the southern coast of France in a new world twisted by the Choir and the Flesh. 

19) Magyar Merchant and Nomad- A middle aged man now, you spent your youth as a nomadic horse archer and sometimes hit and run raider.  Capitalizing on the goods you captured by your military endeavors, you turned to safer mercantile activities as you grew wiser; interacting with Jewish, Italian and Byzantine traders to exchange silks and wool. Indifferent to religion, you viewed your fellow Magyars adopting Christianity in the Kingdom of Hungary with some concern. Concern that appears to be validated as the sky ruptured at the new millennium, heralding the advent of the Choir and the Flesh. 

20) Arabic Mathematician and Numerologist- A fierce zealot of the adoption of the Hindu-Arabic positional numeral system (numbers 0-9), you fled the Levant due to your obstinate nature and borderline heretical ideas. Finding a place in the Frankish court of Theophanu and Otto II, you taught decimals, mathematics and astrology.  You began seeing strange signs in the numbers of the conjunction of the spheres prior to the millennium, and following your intuition, you quietly packed your bags and traveled to France, where the Twin Apocalypses awaited you with welcoming arms. 

Additional Thoughts

Alex T, author of Choir of Flesh, has a created a playlist of music inspirational for the game.

Choir of Flesh, Useful Tables

 Choir of Flesh has many evocative descriptions in its tables. I wanted to add to them. On pages 100 and 101 of the core book there are d20 tables for Ruined Landmark and Natural Feature descriptions, respectively.  Here are my 10 additions for each table, with day and night variations for each entry.

Environmental Storytelling

There are stories behind a handful of the entries. I hope my intent of what has happened in the locations comes across in the descriptions. 

Ruined Chimney - A family was immolated in their house by Purifiers here 

Chalk Mound - The Choir turned a parent protecting his two children into chalk statues. Now they erode into dust when the wind blows. 

Chapel of the Dancing Plague – The Dancing Plague was a real event! Most famously it occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace (modern France) in 1518. However, I got my hands on a paper in the Lancet (medical journal) called “A forgotten plague: making sense of dancing mania” by John Waller.

Waller’s article describes the dancing mania as being recorded as early as Christmas Eve in 1021. Since the twin apocalypses of Choir of Flesh occur in 1001 AD, I thought I could include a nod to this odd event in medieval history as the dates are close enough.  

Lancet article on the dancing plague found here.

Abandoned Suit of Armor- This references the biblical story of Lot’s wife being turned into a pillar of salt. Lay the blame at the feet of the Choir for turning the Norman warrior into salt.  

Eerie Farmstead- The peasants were assumed into heaven in a Rapture. 

Copse of the Watchful Squirrels - I attempted to make squirrels scary without making them homicidal flesh eaters.

Ring of Burning Toadstools – This references the Burning Bush that Moses encountered in the Old Testament story. 

Additional Thoughts

I would like some advice from you, the reader, about software or techniques to improve the layout of my tables. Currently I make them in word or excel and frankly I would like to present them in a more aesthetically pleasing manner.  Please post ideas in the comments below. 

In the core Choir of Flesh book, the brutal Purifiers are described on page 98 in a single dramatic paragraph and in the NPC stat block on page 198.  But what we know about them is limited.  

Frankly, I want more. It is stated that they act as general antagonists; fighting the Choir, the Flesh and anyone else they feel like. There has got to be more detail and interesting nuance BlackOath Entertainment has in store for us. 

Also, we know that the Purifiers have taken over the city of Tours and use it as home base. What does the city look like after the twin apocalypses?  Are there conflicts in the city between factions in the Purifiers?  Are citizens huddled inside locked doors praying for salvation, or is there trade between neighborhoods and some semblance of civilization continuing?  The Choir and the Flesh are omnipresent.  Do they subtly influence encounters and terrain inside the city?  

What would that look like, for example, in a random table? 

These are some of the questions that go through my mind when reading and playing this game of medieval and cosmic horror.  

Choir of Flesh, Apocrypha Early Access

 The medieval post-apocalypse horror rpg Choir of Flesh has been released after a successful kickstarter. It can now be found on DriveThruRPG here and itch.io here!  Full disclosure, the DTRPG link is the affiliate link for my blog. 

I have written a partial review of Choir of Flesh and completed character creation for a solo game here.

The kickstarter for Choir of Flesh also had a number of stretch goals.  These stretch goals for additional mechanics, backstory and tables are coming in the form of a zine called Apocrypha.  I have had the opportunity to read a beta version of Apocrypha that contains some of the art, and I can say with full conviction that it is really good with more Choir of Flesh eye-popping art, and equally top-tier writing.  

My book review of the 33 pages of Apocrypha will follow. You can get your hands on Apocrypha if you are a kickstarter backer likely next month, once it is fully complete, according to Blackoath Entertainment.  Public release is expected to come in January 2026.  At that point Apocrypha will be available for purchase via DTRPG, itch.io and Amazon.

Onward to the book review!

The Nephilim

Apocrypha opens with the last stretch goal: The Nephilim’s Arrival. Now what is a Nephilim? In the Hebrew Bible Nephilim are supposedly beings of great size and strength or possibly great power and authority which some sources claim are offspring of rebellious angels and humans.  

Apocrypha has a unique really interesting take on Nephilim that further builds out the world of Choir of Flesh.  Nephilim are alchemical amalgams of a Choir’s Angel stripped down and fused with human body parts and elements of the Flesh so that the giant monstrosity functions as one unit from disparate parts. This giant, Frankensteinian creature was made as a weapon against both the Choir and the Flesh by gnostics with alchemical techniques. As the book says, with a chilling line, “This [Nephilim] was a weapon of war. It did not need to stay sane.” 

This is great worldbuilding. We already know that members of the Roman Catholic Church are terrorized by the Choir in Italy and pagans are competing or just trying to survive the Flesh when it has been summoned in their lands. Now we know what a new group of people, the gnostics, are doing in the twin apocalypse of 1001 AD.  

Frankly this is exactly what I wanted from an expansion of Choir of Flesh. It provides more information about what other peoples are doing in this blasted post-apocalyptic medieval world and how they are coping, or seizing on the opportunity for change. 

The chapter continues, describing how the Nephilim are a threat to the settlement you have built in the base game. Ultimately the Nephilim will be inexorably drawn to your lands to wreak havoc unless you and your party charge into a new Incursion written for Apocrypha, find the Nephilim’s spoor, and destroy it. 

One of the many things I like about this chapter is the use of color symbolism in the Omens that herald the Nephilim’s coming; and the same symbolism is sprinkled throughout the encounters in the new Incursion.  The Choir and Flesh are well defined in the core book, so how is the Nephilim, this amalgam between the two, made distinct?

The author uses the colors red and crimson in natural and unnatural phenomena to signify the Nephilim’s encroaching violence.  One quote I can give from the book is “Grasshoppers and butterflies turn bright crimson in the fields and die midflight.”  There are other Omens that describe red ants pouring forth from the ground and swarming in the air; and crimson clovers releasing choking pollen.  In addition, in the Incursion an exploration is described that progresses through a ruined gnostic laboratory. During this delve, the color red is featured in various descriptions and progressively as the player’s reaches the Incursion’s dark climax. 

This style of writing is literary and not often seen in tabletop rpgs. As I said before, the writing in this book it top-notch. 

In addition, there are elements of the design of the new Incursion to find the Nephilim’s spoor that stand out to me as being well crafted.  In the core book, an Incursion is randomly generated from a table of 100 points of interest.  These points of interest are all thematic, graphic, and dangerous; but they are mostly self-contained.  The points of interest in the new Nephilim Incursion are steps in a journey the lead to the climax of a story.  

There is foreshadowing in the early points of interest.  Features of the Flesh and the Choir are seen in the same setting; casually side by side as seams of meat in the earth along with wildflowers that sing the Choir’s song when wind passes them by.  Or more grotesquely in a stone circle where one hemisphere has been infested by the Flesh and the other half is consecrated to the Choir. In that supernaturally charged locale the players are forced to make a choice between the two sides or navigate a third more dangerous middle path.  

The themes of alchemy are slowly revealed in the nine points of interest.  A terrible implied alchemical accident has created a morbid watchtower that may test the player’s humanity.  A dormitory is found before the ruined gnostic workshop that birthed the horrid Nephilim is encountered.  Abhorrent alchemical experiments can be found in both locations and the subsequent one in which there is a particular flower. I will not discuss the final area. It is for you to discover. 

New Notable Citizens

Moving along in Apocrypha, we come to the new Notable Citizens chapter.  All the new Notable Citizens are great and would be vibrant characters to interact with, but four stand out to me as having deeper roleplay potential.  Brother Gregor the Anatomist, Bastian the Reeve, Luc the Lookout, and Isolier the Sin Eater are characters that frankly I want to plop down in a multiplayer game and have my players interact with them. 

Take Bastian the Reeve for example. A reeve is an administrative official serving a king or lesser lord in a variety of roles in Anglo-Saxon England. In Apocrypha, Bastian can act as your settlement’s judge, jury and enforcer of the law.  And Bastian clings to the “Old Law” as fervently as your Unbroken character clings to their Sin to keep them going through the horrors of the apocalypse.  In a multiplayer game, you could spend a couple hours with this character debating the morality of Old World Law, if it even applies in this post-apocalyptic world, if it should be revised, or even based on a more religious or humanistic world view. Isolier the Sin Eater has similar interaction potential on the themes of Sin and redemption.

New Settlement Options

Next up, we have the new settlement options chapter. This is full of random tables to flesh out your settlement, including tables for the surrounding environment, weather, the central structure of the settlement, quirks for your population as a whole with mechanical effects, downtime events, and the notorious Celebration and Carousing table. Someone had a fun time writing this because entries such as It Is Vital That We Go Into The Fields And Knock Over The Cows and Absolute Blowout are quite fun.  This re-centers the idea in Choir of Flesh that the player is trying to maintain their humanity in this grim-dark horrific apocalypse. 

New Character Options

In the new character options chapter, there are 16 new Feats and 8 new Drawbacks. I'll have to spend some time theory crafting to really have an opinion on those.  The new Drive and Revelation mechanics look good. Drive is a new resource for player to spend to enhance their rolls to be heroic or survive by just squeaking by. It does make players more powerful or resilient but I do not think it makes them overpowered, since Choir of Flesh’s encounters can be punishing.  I do think that Drive is more useful for a game master than it is in solo play because the Drive resource is replenished by roleplaying their Passions (Sin, Doom or Anchor), their Drawbacks and just by participating in a session.  That is not to say that one cannot use Drive in solo play. Far from it, the mechanics are there and simple to fulfill. I just think that giving points of Drive is a nice reward that is not experience, treasure or settlement resource related that encourages players to explore their Passions in the Choir of Flesh world with a game master present. 

Final Thoughts

Apocrypha is 33 pages with no space wasted. Either there is excellent art, interesting new mechanics, or compelling story present.  Having said that, what more would I like to see in the future? Well, there is a line on page 7 that has fired my imagination. "The pagans who summoned the Flesh were immediately subsumed into its ranks, becoming undifferentiated gristle at the heart of something ancient."

What is going on with the pagans? Which pagans? How are they coping with members of their population turning to the Flesh or the Choir?  Is it possible that a fraction of a pagan tribe got trapped inland and now may interact with your settlement because they were on a boat when the Seas turned to Flesh and they are displaced? 

There is a lot of fertile history to be mined in the vibrant world of Choir of Flesh and I want to see more of it. 

Choir of Flesh Part 1: Early Access and Character Creation

“And when the Lamb opened the seventh seal,/Silence covered the sky.” 

-Enigma, Rivers of Belief. A description of Revelation 8:1-5. 

It is the year of our Lord 1000.  There is a crack in Heaven.  Light and Song erupt from the spiritual wound in the sky.  Seven Trumpets sound, breaking the Seven Seals, which pour out the Seven Bowls of God's wrath.  The eschaton has come.

Revelation is at hand!

But not Salvation. Oh no.

The Celestial Choir descend from above and their Song reshapes the flesh of those who hear it. New mouths sprout from mortal flesh, gasping in eternal prayers and psalms. Bones resonate in synchrony with the Song and those humans who bow to the Will of their Celestial masters become remade into fleshy abominations called Penitents.

But that is not the worst. Oh no.

Something ancient, Evil and Silent climbs from the abyssal spaces of the Earth. Flooding from the once proud city of Toledo, now engulfed by the Earth; The Flesh That Feeds has come and it unmakes all, human, and Nature alike.  Forests are converted to flesh, mankind is respun into the Unmade; all touched with a terrible unstoppable hunger. 

These two unnatural eldritch forces clash and the survivors of the last civilization of humanity must eke out a meager existence, stuck between twin apocalyptic forces.  

This is the world of the Choir of Flesh, the latest brainchild of Alex T. from Blackoath Entertainment.

I am a Patreon member of Blackoath Entertainment (Order of the Black Oath) at the Evocatus level, and as lovely consequence I have obtained the Beta 1 release of the Choir of Flesh solo focused RPG game. As of the time of this writing, the Beta 1 of Choir of Flesh was released about 20 hours ago.  In addition, for full disclosure, I am a member of Alex T’s discord and have corresponded with him. 

At the moment, early access to the Choir of Flesh Beta is only available through Patreon membership to the Order of the Black Oath. The full public release of the game is expected to occur at the end of September 2025. 

The current Beta document is a hefty 221 pages. I have read the first 45 pages. And yes, I am starstruck. Along with the evocative introduction, the first section includes: a description of the Core Themes, Character Creation, base-building mechanics called Your Settlement (options are included for playing Lone Wolf, or without a community to protect), description of mechanics for the core d20 Checks, and rules for the Humanity stat and the Anguish stat.

I find it interested that each character has to balance Anguish (which increases upon significant physical mental or spiritual shock) and Humanity (which decreases as the character is subjected to otherworldly forces of the Choir or The Flesh).  It creates this sort of push-pull claustrophobic feeling to the mechanics.  As an old Call of Cthulhu Game Master (Keeper), I think this is better than just a Sanity score that erodes over time. I can’t wait to try it out in game.  

Inspired by History

Historical research is a wonderful rabbit hole to dive into. Doubly so when one can adapt fascinating historical events, ideas and characters for use in a fictional world like Choir of Flesh.

Since I do not know too much about world history, and specifically Western Europe, in the run up to 1000 AD, I found this lovely Oxford Reference Timeline of the 10th century. 

The following are some choice historical excerpts and my speculation on how they may fit into the world of the Choir of Flesh.

“911, The Vikings settle in France, as Normans, when Rollo the Ganger is granted feudal rights over the region round Rouen.

Circa 981, Eric Thorvaldsson, or Eric the Red, sails to Greenland when he is exiled from Iceland.

Circa 1000, Leif Ericsson claims to have made landfall at three places in north America, one of which he names Vinland - the land of wine”

Choir of Flesh is focused on Spain in the Middle Ages but with the above data, one has an excuse for including Norse explorers into the apocalyptic world as Player Characters or NPCs.  Yes I am angling for an excuse to shoehorn Vikings into this setting! In particular I see Norse explorers as working in Choir of Flesh because the very seas have been taken over by The Flesh That Feeds and perhaps, they are tirelessly traveling to the epicenter, Toledo, to fix the problem.

“Circa 950, Medieval Europe's first institute of higher education is established, with the founding of the medical school at Salerno.”

Universities are filled with myth and legends.  Perhaps with 50 years of medieval medical research, where spirituality, religion, science and alchemy really did not have defined boundaries, some unspeakable cosmic secret was reveled at Salerno and caused either the opening of the Seals by the Choir or the quickening of The Flesh to plague the world.  

“Circa 900, With the end of iconoclasm, the screen between the nave and the altar sanctuary becomes covered in icons in Orthodox churches.

929, Wenceslas, a prince of the Premsylid family, is murdered on his way into church - and becomes Bohemia's patron saint.

Circa 960, Harald Bluetooth is baptized a Christian and unites the whole of Denmark as a single kingdom.

965, Mieszko, pagan chieftain of the Poles, marries a Christian Czech princess and brings all his people into the Roman Catholic fold.

975, The Hungarian king Gezá and his family are baptized as Roman Catholics, beginning a long link between Hungary and Rome.”

This is just a sampling of interesting historical religious changes and evolutions that occurred prior to 1000 AD.  For your Choir of Flesh game, your GM (or yourself if you are playing solo) could make any of these inciting incidents relevant for the development of the coming apocalypse. 

Alternatively, each of these events of religious significance could have revelations surrounding these events, that when pieced together, offer some sort of hope to defeat the Choir, The Flesh or seal the hole in Heaven.  Also, perhaps one has Unbroken who come from Hungary, Denmark, Poland, Bohemia or even from as far away as the Orthodox churches.

Character Creation

Without further ado, let’s make a character, called an Unbroken.  I rolled 4d6 for each Attribute (six times), dropped the lowest die and summed the remaining numbers on the three dice. Got the following numbers: 10,11, 9, 9, 14, 7.

I then assigned these numbers to my six Attributes, resulting in:

• STR 10
• DEX 9
• CON 11
• INT 14
• WIL 9
• PRE 7

So, this character has a +1 modifier to Intelligence rolls and a -1 modifier to Presence rolls.

With this Attribute profile a story begins to take shape. A mostly average gent who is sharper than normal uses his observational skills to stay one step ahead of the scourge of the Choir and The Flesh.  Shy by nature, this has only been exacerbated in the apocalypse where community ties and interpersonal communication are that much more important to survival. Will he learn how to navigate this new landscape or will he rot?

Next up this gent’s Defense Rating is +0 (currently), his Carrying Capacity is 10 and Initiative bonus is +0.

I am tired of calling him a gent at this point so I roll on the Random Name table on page 26 and get Malik.  Maybe Malik has a bit of an Arabic background.  I also settled on the idea that he came from a city (and wisely ran away when The Flesh came calling) and has an interest in medicine, but a bedside manner that leaves a lot to be desired.

Weapon and armor proficiencies are Spear and Gambeson. I figure his first spear was a makeshift thing that was his trusty dagger tied to a washerwoman’s pole. I’m getting the sense of a lucky survivor from this character.

Malik’s Feat is Lucky. It just has to be based on the story that is emerging from this character. Lucky allows one reroll of any check once per session.

Jumping ahead in the sequence of events for Character creation, I am choosing Malik’s Occupation as a Healer.  His skill from being a Healer is Healing (INT), gain +2 Mastery to checks related to healing, which makes sense. His Burden will tie into his shyness.  His craft as a Healer is now seen as witchcraft by the desperate.  A fact he does not correct because he is too embarrassed to admit he did not adequately pursue his medical studies before the apocalypse hit, and he is unsure about how effective he really is.  

Malik’s four other skills are: Brace (STR), once per combat, you can make a Hard STR check to ignore all damage from a single source; this is a Reaction. Perception (INT), gain +2 Mastery to checks related to general perception and awareness. Disease Resistance (CON), gain +2 Mastery to checks against disease. Quick Feet (DEX), Malik has two Move Actions each round.

Yes, Malik is shaping up to be a canny survivor.  I imagine him like a wary scavenger looting the outskirts of supernatural incursions…and the less lucky bodies of Unbroken who tried to be heroic. Perhaps he made some of those Unbroken into bodies himself. Time will tell.

For Malik’s Sin, or core of his character, I rolled randomly and came up with Wrath. This is fascinating given the somewhat scavenger, almost cowardly bone picker I was envisioning.  I imagine that Malik keeps this secret close to his core and is more of a silent calculating fuming monster than an explosive berserker.  As to the focus of his Wrath and the inciting incident that caused the deep insult that wounded him in this world of cosmic horror, I am going to leave that for another time.

The Shard of the Old World that Malik carries to remind himself of the world that was is A Shard of Stained Glass.  I’ll say this is a fragment of a golden saint’s halo and an edge of a cerulean blue sky. A reminder of better days when the world was not turned upside down by insanity.  Perhaps Malik keeps it to remind him that beauty was once labored over and possibly could be created again? Or perhaps Malik used this shard of glass as the blade for his first makeshift spear that was used to escape from a city in the grip of terror.  In any case, he has an almost totemic obsession with it.

Malik’s Doom is the hope that he holds close to keep from bowing to the Choir’s song or accepting dissolution in the Flesh’s embrace. Rolling randomly, I get 10, The Divine Conductor.  Malik is somewhat educated and experienced religious music.  He is smart enough to realize that a song requires organization or else it becomes nothing but a cacophony. He believes the Choir has some sort of conductor, physical or supernatural, or maybe some sort of written musical plan. If Malik can find that plan and destroy it, maybe, just maybe the Choir will dissolve. Hope springs Eternal. 

Afterword

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and exploring the development of the character Malik in this unique apocalyptic world of cosmic horror made by Alex T of Blackoath Entertainment.   I want to thank Clay TN on the Blackoath discord and link to their blog for inspiring me to write this.