Divining Omens of the Blood Comet
A risograph-printed retrofuturist gothic horror RPG coming to Kickstarter October 22.
Studio Zosimos is crowdfunding Ephemeris: Omens of the Blood Comet, a risograph-printed retrofuturist RPG of vampire hunting, cosmic horror, and bloody fates as part of Witchstarter 2025.
Ephemeris features dozens of linocut and monoprint illustrations, 4 distinct areas to explore, 6 player character archetypes, and no fewer than 6 Blood Ink Vampires to encounter in a fast-paced investigative adventure of occult discovery. Ephemeris will be printed on risograph with a special edition featuring letterpress-printed covers.
Ephemeris begins with a classic gothic horror setup in a retrofuturist setting: landing on a desolate forest planet, the players travel to the manor-observatory of Chateau de la Bré to join their hosts in studying the Blood Comet, a celestial body brimming with occult power. Your host, Baroness Bela de la Bré, is a powerful Blood Ink Vampire with a desperate plan: change the fate of her family forever by forging a pact with the ethereal entity trapped within the Blood Comet. Freeing such a cosmic shard would unleash a horror the stars have not known for aeons.
Ephemeris employs the Retrograde System to simulate the mental, physical, and spiritual dangers such occult delving entails – witnessing too many impossible secrets might shatter your mind, ignite an unquenchable thirst for power, or turn you into a thrall of the Blood Comet itself. With a design philosophy inspired by OSR and focused on character-driven narrative play, Ephemeris builds upon the Retrograde System with new mechanics for magic, alchemy, and rituals and promises a high-stakes investigative adventure into the bloody secrets of a cosmos governed by occult mechanisms.
Chateau de la Bré is full of eldritch secrets to unravel: the halls sprawl with the arcane laboratories of the Blood Ink Vampires, the dead forests surrounding the manor abound with corrupted wildlife, and winding catacombs beneath the earth are the resting place of earth-shaking artifacts, ancient automata, and a long-slumbering lich and his grimoire of malefic prophecy.
You can play a free one-shot version of Ephemeris here to get a taste of the bloody night to come, follow the campaign’s pre-launch page here to be the first to gaze upon the eldritch secrets due to be revealed under the Blood Comet’s light, and read the Studio Zosimos blog to explore the dark magic at work in Ephemeris' creation.
