The Mithril Mine emblem

The Mithril Mine

Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Worlds of adventure, horror, and imagination

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The Mine

What we've unearthed

The Mithril Mine is an independent collective of game designers, artists, and writers. We’ve come together to pull forth our dark imaginings and bring them into the light. Our visions take us to desolate alien worlds, blood-soaked battlegrounds, lands of lost, secret history, and parts unknown. What brings us together is a shared passion for old-fashioned storytelling, inspiring imagery, and innovation in game design.

Come join us, won’t you? Safety and sanity are not guaranteed. But the adventures are sure to be memorable.

Supernatual Investigations · Pulp Action · Pre-War Intrigue · Forged in the Dark
League of Light
and Shadows
League of Light and Shadows League of Light and Shadows — recurring contacts and characters of 1934 Europe and North Africa League of Light and Shadows — dossier page, the Vatican and fascist Rome League of Light and Shadows — Stakes on a Train League of Light and Shadows — Adventure 2: Part of Their World, Stockholm

Step into a world of intrigue, action, and exploration of the unknown.

In 1934, the great powers prepare for war. Behind the scenes, on dark streets, in frozen fields, and in silent catacombs, the conflict has already begun. Those who dare to consider such things know of supernatural entities, ancient and eternal, with capabilities beyond mortal understanding. Whoever can capture or control these beings or find their powerful artifacts could emerge triumphant in the war to come. But some secrets are best left alone.

The League of Light and Shadows is a group of academics, occultists, rogues, and misfits tasked with these explorations into the mysterious and arcane. They are not alone. The League will need to contend with the sinister Order of Salmandra and the deadly Brotherhood of the Grey Wolf. The race is on, and the fate of the world is at stake.

League of Light and Shadows is a game of pulp action, pre-war intrigue, and supernatural investigation set in Europe and North Africa. The system is based on Forged in the Dark, streamlined to support high-stakes action, deadly consequences, daring escapes, compelling characters, and thrilling storytelling.

Ben Swainbank Ben Swainbank Designer & Writer Marcel Mercado Marcel Mercado Art & Layout
Warring states · duty · brutal combat · samsara
IKON logo
Ikon遺恨 · Jidaigeki Role-Playing
Ikon - ukiyo-e style woodblock print - open source, not final

Okamasu is a land at war.

IKON [ee-kohn] is an upcoming low fantasy role-playing game set in a world inspired by ancient and medieval Japanese history and culture. Players will navigate complex social webs in their role as retainers to their lord and craft their characters into powerful machines of war, all whilst attempting to walk the true path to enlightenment. It is a game of struggle and poetry in a land of infinite change and duality. The project is the result of many months of in-depth research with an eye towards accuracy and discovery. Even loyal servants must fall one day – let your death be a good one.

F. Killian F. Killian Designer & Artist
Survival · post-apocalypse · sword and sorcery · weird
Malice: Burning Skies logo
Malice: Burning Skies — the Warrior Malice: Burning Skies — the Gladiator Malice: Burning Skies — the Envoy Malice: Burning Skies — the Thief Malice: Burning Skies — the Trust-Eater

Oximaar is a dead world.

A desert planet destroyed millenia ago by the violent hubris of sorcerers. A godless realm, and a place which seems to hate all life. In MALICE: Burning Skies players must carefully balance their scant resources to survive in a brutal post-apocalyptic fantasy world, where mighty sorcerers, strange technology, and the heat of the black sun itself could slay you at any moment and even your closest allies can never be fully trusted. MALICE is a game of desperate survival in an unforgiving world with flexible character advancement and an emphasis on ensemble stories. Inspired by works such as TSR’s Dark Sun and the art of Brom, Beksiński, and Moebius, MALICE is weird, vicious, and one Hell of a good time.

F. Killian F. Killian Designer & Artist
Hard Sci-Fi · Exploration · Survival
The Sundered Void
The Sundered Void — Energetic (Vulgar)

The Sundered Void is a hard sci-fi fantasy setting located in The Fringe, a set of frontier star systems connected by wormholes, existing between the inaccessible utopian Core and the nightmare filled Depths. Here, characters strive for something greater, be it adventure, community, fame, or simply safety, all while facing entities who would sell them as biomass rather than be inconvenienced by their existence. For them, The Sundered Void is a cold, karmically dead place, and hope is a short-term luxury.

The Manifold RPG System uses a percentile, roll-under method for conflict resolution while allowing for numerous degrees of success or failure. With a vast number of optional rules, the system is massively scalable, both in mechanical granularity and setting realism, from a cinematic one-off to the crunchiest campaign.

Robert Dudock Robert Dudock Designer

Who Digs Here

The Crew

Ben Swainbank
Ben Swainbank
Designer & Writer — League of Light and Shadows

Ben Swainbank is a writer and game designer with a passion for exploring the frontiers of board and role-playing game design. With each of his projects he strives to create fast, fun, systems and adventures that empower players and game masters — where choices matter, the stakes are high, and imagination is rewarded.

Ben’s previous works include Tales of the Deadly and Damned, a series of innovative adventures for Monster of the Week, the Villains and Vigilantes Card Game, a highly-customizable, action-packed card game based on the classic RPG, and as a strategy guide author and storyline coordinator for White Wolf and Vampire: The Eternal Struggle.

F. Killian
F. Killian
Designer & Artist — Ikon, Malice: Burning Skies

F. Killian is an illustrator, weird fiction author, and tabletop game designer who believes strongly that tabletop gaming is a form of storytelling, and that each project deserves a unique approach. Over twenty years ago, he first picked up the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual, and from there he began a journey acrost scores of individual games in many different genres and traditions, and has lent his work as writer and editor (and illustrator) to a number of smaller projects. His fiction can be found in the anthologies A Boke of Gests and A Boke of Swordes and he is the designer of the weird west role-playing game Bone Orchard Gospel.

Robert Dudock
Robert Dudock
Designer — The Sundered Void

Robert Dudock aka RobbaYaga is a storyteller (some would say bullshit artist) who comes from a long line of the same. He started GMing over 40 years ago and has been involved in games old and new, crunchy and cinematic. He was even a Storyteller for the White Wolf Digichats of New Bremen and New Orleans for 3 years. Throughout his life, he has created endless characters, written short stories, and designed adventures and house rules. In the last five years he’s begun using his skills professionally. Previous work includes Trouble in Rethem (Harnmaster), Sanctum of Sarkath Han (Runequest), and Draconicus (stand-alone fantasy RPG).

Contributing Artist Marcel Mercado
Marcel Mercado
Art & Layout — League of Light and Shadows

Marcel Mercado is an accomplished fantasy illustrator with over 20 years of experience working in the video game and table-top gaming industries. He worked on popular games such as, Gearbox’s Borderlands, D&D’s Tyranny of Dragons, and Kobold Press’ Deep Magic. Marcel’s work was nominated for the Chesley Award, and featured in “Infected by Art”, Imagine FX, and Io9. Marcel is passionate about storytelling, fantasy, and myths. When not working on a new illustration Marcel reads comic books and ancient history. His latest art book is Keepers of the Seal: Orubas. See more on his artist website or his Artstation page.