Gen Con 2024 - Deep Madness

Click here for my Gen Con 2024 coverage table of contents. 

Being a huge Deep Madness fan and reviewer of Diemension Games' writer Byron Leavitt's work (link to many previous posts)... and having interviewed him and had him on panels at Gen Con and contributed to the Madness Reborn expansion (thanks to Phil Blake and Oscar Bok and others), I had to catch up with Byron and Sarah at their booth.

Madness Reborn! Deep Madness expands, but the KS closes Oct 25th

Diemension Games has their 3rd (and expected last) reprint of their hit cooperative-horror tabletop game. The Kickstarter is live now and lasts until Oct25th!  

• Deep Madness: Madness Reborn and Reprint!  Check it out now!

In short, the original game emerged in 2016 and its success spawned lots of extra Epic Monsters to defeat, but there was so much content being generated, many of these bonus "Epic Monsters" did not receive dedicated scenarios (of course, they could be played/inserted into any other scenario, but most every scenario was designed with different Epic Monsters as the default enemy).

My involvement (corruption?) began with creating a tour guide that identified the chronology of the scenarios and the epic monsters associated with them. Check it out (also listed in Board Game Geek):

• Deep Madness Board Game - Tour Guide of scenarios, book, and campaigns

Meanwhile, uber-fan Phil Blake and his game-addicted friends (Sam Parsons, Fabio Faletti, and Oscar Bok) created playable scenarios with art provided by Diemension Games. This resulted in Exalted Blasphemies, a fan-made expansion

• Exalted Blasphemies Fan-Made Expansion 

For this I contrived two flavor-text stories for the (a) Omega Ravenous - Epic Monster and (b) Dimension Rift Epic Monster.

In Madness Reborn, this fan-made expansion was made real canon! It is being offered by Diemension Games with giant >100mm sized new sculpts of the Epic Monsters!

So, I repeat, check it out: Deep Madness: Madness Reborn and Reprint! 

BTW, I've been getting to know Byron Leavitt well over the years. I reviewed his Deep Madness Shattered Seas Book for Black Gate Magazine and also interviewed him there.  Recently, I hosted him on two author panels at the 2022 GenCon Writer's Symposium:

• Horror, S&S, and Gamifying-Story Panels - GenCon Writers Symposium 2022 - SE Moderated Panels
• A Maelstrom of Fun for Horror Adventure Fans: DEEP MADNESS: SHATTERED SEAS BY BYRON LEAVITT
• GOD, DARKNESS, & WONDER: AN INTERVIEW WITH BYRON LEAVITT

Dawn of Madness Gameplay and GenCon 2022 coverage

This is one of a series of reports on GenCon 2022; other links coming soon from this Table of Contents, to be posted in random order:

·                 Rogues in the House Podcast 

·                 Conan IP Owner and the Board Game - Playing with Rogues

·                 The Skull from Tales From the Magician's Skull roams the Exhibit Hall

·                 Dawn of Madness Gameplay with Byron Leavitt [You Are Here]

·                 Writer's Symposium Overview

·                 Moderating Sorcery & Sorcery, Horror, Pulp, and Game Panels

_______________________________________________________________________________

Dawn of Madness Gameplay and GenCon 2022 coverage

I'm a bit of Diemension Games nut, having (a) interviewed Byron Leavitt, (b) contributed stories with the "Sanguine Heretics" fan-group that made the Exhalted Blasphemies expansion, (c) created the Deep Madness Scenario Chronology (with Phil Blake), and (d) reviewed the Shattered Seas novel for Black Gate. 

God, Darkness, & Wonder: An Interview with Byron Leavitt

Exalted Blasphemies - Fan-Made Expansion for Deep Madness Boardgame 

Deep Madness Scenario Chronology

Shattered Seas Novel Review - Review by SE

As part of my Event Coordinator role at GenCon Writers Symposium I championed getting Byron on some panels and was able to hit the Exhibit Hall for some Dawn of Madness footage! 

Byron Leavitt on GenCon Writer's Symposium Panels (to be loaded soon)

1) Repulsive Appeal  (SEM22214058); Thursday, 11:00 AM EDT Aug 4th 2022

How do we make horror appealing? Maurice Broaddus, Richard Dansky, Byron Leavitt, Jason Ray Carney, Steve Diamond, S.E. Lindberg (M) - link to recording coming soon

 2) Gamifying Stories and Storifying Games (SEM22214106) ; Friday, 2:00PM Aug 5th 

2022 Translating from one media to the other. Jennifer Brozek, Byron Leavitt, Matt John, Lucien Soulban, S.E. Lindberg (M) - link to recording coming soon

DAWN of Madness - Gameplay of Emily Hawkins (The Nurse) Story: "Bonds of the Twins"

The King of Average's Diemension Games Coverage

Deep Madness reprint with expansion coming this October?! 

Giant new mini's of the epic monsters!

Exalted Blasphemies - Fan Made Expansion for Deep Madness Boardgame

This is a portal page to a variety of other posts, all regarding my immersion into the Depp Madness universe. Phil Blake, an (the?) uber fan of Deep Madness (Diemension Games), painter of miniatures, and game addict had a vision: make playable scenarios for all the epic monsters" from the Kickstarter Campaign who did not get a proper one. 

For those not familiar, Kickstarter enables Diemension Games to crowdfund a cosmic-horror dungeon crawler; extra monsters (i.e. bosses) were designed as miniatures as stretch goals (bonuses). However, so many Epic Monsters were funded, they were birthed without scenarios to play them. Of course, the bosses could be inserted into existing scenarios, but they did get specific scenarios designed for them!

Phil Blake championed the fan community to get a team together, and I played a small part: writing intro stories for two Epic Monsters scenarios to fill the gap. Many others helped Phil Blake, and he has been gracious in communicating thanks to all. This post reveals how to access the entire expansion. My stories can be read in the other two posts revealed today:

Exalted Blasphemies Fan-Made Expansion for Deep Madness <-- You  are here
Hunger Pains (for Omega Ravenous Epic Monster) Story
Dimension Sickness (for Dimension Rift Epic Monster) Story

Deep Madness - Scenario Guide, Interview & Book Review

As it turns out, I have already worked with Phil Blake to create the Deep Madness scenario guide (Scenario Guides version 8, link): How many scenarios are there across all the official expansions? Where does one start? How does the story develop...and which ones feature your favorite epic monster? The guide has it all.

Alas, my OCD extended further in the past. I had already cornered Deep Madness writer Byron Leavitt for a Black Gate magazine interview.  This goes into his creative process, his cancer challenges, and his work with the Diemension Games team. Also, I reviewed his Deep Madness inspired novel Shattered Seas.

Here's how to access and print the entire Exalted Blasphemies Expansion

I'm simply reposting the instructions Phil Blake came up with. Generally, if you are a fan of the game (or plan to become one) you are invited to join the Deep Madness Fans on Facebook ... and secondarily the Board Game Geek community. In both places, you'll find all the scenario guides and expansions. 

Just want to print a PDF yourself at home? Grab the PDF here: 

• Facebook File Link to Expansion Info (link goes to Version 2.0 made Oct 16th, 2022)
• BGG Link to Expansion Info

Want to print a hardcover via Lulu?  Follow Phil's instructions (copy/pasted from his post):

This is the Interior content of Exalted Blasphemies, designed for use for professional printing in hardback. You will also require the separate cover file that can be found here:

link to cover on Facebook Files

Instructions on how to get it professionally printed are found further below:

Exalted Blasphemies is a fan-made expansion for Deep Madness, focussed around granting specific scenarios for the Epic monsters that where available as paid add-ons during the KS campaigns. I hope people in turn get more life out of these epic monsters and enjoy the selection of diverse scenarios and stories contained within this free expansion, and the greatest reward would be seeing photos of people playing the scenarios or commenting on the stories.

Hardcover Printing Instructions for Lulu

Since this is a free, fan-made book, I am not morally or legally allowed to set up a print on demand distribution. Which means you will need to set up an account with a print on demand company and upload files for printing (for personal use only). The directions I list below are for the company Lulu, but you are free to use any print on demand company you choose.

Go to lulu.com and create an account.

2. Under the CREATE tab, click the PRINT BOOKS option.

3. Click the button START YOUR PRINT BOOK

4. Enter your login credentials

5. In the START YOUR PROJECT section, choose PRINT BOOK

6. In the SELECT YOUR GOAL section, choose PRINT YOUR BOOK. (Do NOT select Publish your book for sale on Amazon. You will get sued. )

7. In the BOOK DETAILS section, enter a project title of your choice. I recommend Exalted Blasphemies. Enter a language and CATEGORY, which is required.

8.Click the DESIGN YOUR PROJECT button at the bottom of the page to proceed to the Design page

9. In the INTERIOR FILE UPLOAD section, upload the file named "Exalted Blasphemies Interior Final PDF"

10. Wait for the file to upload and normalize. This can take a few minutes. Be patient and get yourself a cold beverage.

11. When the upload finishes, you will see some warnings. Like most warnings in life, feel free to ignore these.

In the BOOK SPECIFICATIONS section, the BOOK SIZE AND PAGE COUNT should already be pre-filled at US letter and 34 pages, respectively.

12. In the INTERIOR COLOR section, choose COLOR PREMIUM for the best quality color.

13.In the PAPER TYPE section, choose 80# COATED WHITE for the best paper quality.

14. In the BOOK BINDING section, choose HARDCOVER. Feel free to choose a different binding if that floats your boat.

15. In the COVER FINISH section, choose GLOSSY or MATTE, your choice.

16. Wait a moment for the PRINT COST to load. For me it was almost £12. This is a printing fee for Lulu, and I do not receive a penny of this, nor does Diemension Games.

17.In the DESIGN YOUR COVER section, make sure the UPLOAD COVER FILE option is selected.

Upload the file named "Cover Exalted Blasphemies PDF"

After a minute, the PREVIEW will load. This preview will give you a basic idea of what the book will be like, but it is just a preview and not super-high quality. (note the final picture of Forsaken does not show on the preview but will still print.)

18.When you are ready, click the REVIEW BOOK link at the bottom.

19.This brings you to a page where you can review the final specifications. Click the checkbox next to CONFIRM BOOK SPECIFICATIONS AND FILES

20.Click the ADD TO CART button when it becomes enabled

21.Click the CART icon at the top of the page and make the purchase. The shipping for me was around £3.50, but of course that will vary depending where you are located. (Also keep an eye out for discount codes on the home page.)

22. Feel free to print a copy for yourself or your friends, but DO NOT PRINT COPIES FOR SALE.

Note: The hardback book you receive from Lulu will not be perfect. There might be alignment issues with the binding, scratches, the interior margins might be tight, and the endsheets will be a boring white. That being said, it will still kick ass!

A massive thanks goes to Fabio Faletti for his many, many hours (and so many edits) to make this document as graphically pleasing as possible. Just don't mention the Forsaken.

Seth Lindberg and Saamm Dean Dean for contributing their artistic talent to provide additional stories and share that burden as well as additional proof reading.

Oscar Bok and Mark Turner for their time in playtesting these horrific scenarios to make sure things played smoothly, made sense and asking all those great questions.

and also to Byron Leavitt and the rest of the DM team for generally providing support, sharing files and keeping the community engaged.

Lastly credit to Ken Meyri whom paved the way in organising fan made content to be professionally printed, and whose instructions to achieve this I shamelessly stole.

Dimension Sickness by S.E. Lindberg

Another introductory story for the Exalted Blasphemies - Fan-Made Expansion for Diemension Game's Deep Madness board game; designed for the Epic Monster: Dimension Rift. Phil Blake championed the Expansion set, and there will be another post for how to access/download/print that.  For now, enjoy a short dose of horror by S.E..... get lured into Deep Madness.

Overview: Exalted Blasphemies Fan-Made Expansion for Deep Madness
Hunger Pains (for Omega Ravenous Epic Monster) Story
Dimension Sickness (for Dimension Rift Epic Monster) Story   <-- You  are here

Game Overview for "Dimension Sickness" (featuring Epic Monster Dimension Rift)

Pressure fluctuations triggered alarms from the Lower Mining deck. You go to inspect for fissures inside Shaft-1, the tube designed for transporting fluidized minerals from the ocean floor to Kadath Facility’s underbelly. With the tube evacuated, the pressure readings should have equilibrated, but they vary erratically. Perhaps sensors needed replacing. Having donned protective gear, you open the inspection hatch. Corrupt dampness wafts out, somehow infiltrating your suit. Frost spawns on your eyebrows and noise hairs. The threshold sparkles, coated with angular crystals. Inserting your head, you see the interior appear like a split geode.

Despite all this beauty, you feel nauseous. Nor do you trust what you see. Kadath’s lead engineer, Edgar Kayce, had warned you about Dimension Sickness that spawned from Dimension Rifts. All those working the Lower Levels succumbed to hallucinations eventually. Unearthing strange minerals from nature’s hidden depths threatened to uncover sentient earth. Edgar claimed to have repaired invasive rifts before and created traps to ensnare the octopian creatures responsible. You have yet to employ those. The cyclopean hoarfrost coating this umbilical tube has you considering Edgar’s words and traps. In any event, inspecting this channel would be treacherous. The sharp crystals may pierce your gear. The scents toxic. Perhaps you should retrieve a trap out of precaution.

Yet you are pulled inside before you do so, lured into the darkness by a mysterious attractor. You stumble into the tube. Crushing the crystals emits dissipating vapours. Your eyes dilate as the doses of gas snake through your sinuses. By design, this mine shaft should be linear and clear of fouling. It was twisted now, curled like an intestine, and the crystals seemed to grow before your eyes. Dizzy, but drawn downward, you begin crawling. Your light dims as your lighting frosts over. Your face-shield blurs with glistening fog. You struggle to discern the chaos in front of you.

Suddenly, the crisp vision of a tentacled mass jolts your senses. Adrenaline races through your veins. Your heart races. Frantically back-pedaling, constantly relying on the walls for support, you arrive back at the hatch. Someone extends a hand into Shaft-1 to tug you out. Curses, Edgar was right!

Slapping sounds compel you to look back. A whipping tentacle breaching the hatch gropes the chamber. Wherever it contacts, crystals nucleate. Some part of you wants to help it, to pull it into the chamber as someone helped you. You crave the comforting embrace of mystery. You long to be bejewelled in cosmic crystals. Then, your partner grabs your shoulder and drags you to safety, and shoves one of Edgar’s traps into your hands. Time to act.

A Dimension Rift has occurred, threatening to engulf the whole facility, as reality itself is torn asunder. Can you disrupt the rift long enough to slay the creature behind it or will you all be dragged into an eternal darkness of twisted worlds? Combat the mental sickness and utilize Edgar Kayce’s traps to repel the horror of the deep, combat and seal the Dimension Rift.

Hunger Pains - By S.E. Lindberg

Introductory story for the Exalted Blasphemies - Fan-Made Expansion for Diemension Game's Deep Madness board game; designed for the Epic Monster: Omega Ravenous. Phil Blake championed the Expansion set, and there will be another post for how to access/download/print that.  For now, enjoy a short dose of horror by S.E..... get lured into Deep Madness.

Overview Exalted Blasphemies Fan-Made Expansion for Deep Madness

Hunger Pains (for Omega Ravenous Epic Monster) Story <-- You  are here

Dimension Sickness (for Dimension Rift Epic Monster) Story  

Game Overview for "Hunger Pains" (featuring Epic Monster Omega Ravenous)

Dome Three Mess Hall closed at 10 p.m.. It will not open to employees again until 4 a.m.. That is hours from now! Stomach growling, mouth salivating, head aching, you are starving. Who has hours to wait? In minutes, hunger promises to spark some desperate, preternatural urge to hunt. Recalling the Mess Hall has vending machines, you stride there boldly in pajamas. Slippers beat the vacated corridors, footsteps echoing over buzzing fluorescent lights.

The vaulted chamber of the Mess Hall rivals a gymnasium. Three trains of tables run parallel across the greater length. Each line has ten tables positioned end-to-end, and each table spans six feet. White linens adorn them. The Hall is devoid of life, as empty as your stomach. Where are those vending machines?

What’s this? The tabletops are not flat. Gossamer veils cover amorphous heaps. Perhaps the staff has prepared a special breakfast—the cloths must cover hundreds of chafing dishes. Who needs vending machines if there is a buffet available? Sudden abdominal cramps compel you to collapse. Crawling, while cradling a roiling tummy, you approach a table. Grasping for support, the cloth gets in the way. It’s not linen. Tugging on it more, a blanket-sized gauze pad spills onto the floor. Red gore streaks the shroud.

From the opposite end of the chamber, wet slaps demand attention. Peering around the endcap, a humanoid creature can be seen in the distance, its ribcage split open like a turned mouth, a tentacle-like tongue flapping from a malformed head. Red gore splatters as it mounts a table. It pays no attention to you. Whatever it is, it is hungry; and it has a carcass to eat.

Food! Swelling organs push against your ribcage, buckling the sternum. Pain lances through each rib as they strain. Rolling in the fetal position fails to alleviate the pressure. Your heart rate plummets abruptly. An aura of peace stills any panic. Four more beasts have joined the first. As the pack grows, any reluctance to rise wanes. Pain and mental resistance recedes.

Standing, the tabletop comes into view. Food is not on the menu. A splayed deceased miner lies supine and naked. A recent, unfinished autopsy left its raw internals exposed. This not a cafeteria table. This is a gurney. This is no Mess Hall, but a mortuary. How did you get here?

The ravenous creatures across the Mess Hall do not radiate fear now. Dozens feed in a cluster, focused and frenzied. As they aggregate, fear lessens. They do not appear like grotesque demons anymore. They are familiar and share a common hunger, an urge to consume. Succulent, human meat beckons. It looks delicious! You lean into the offerings. A cannibal is born.

“Intrusion Alert!” the intercom sounds as emergency lights strobe. “Dome Three, Level Two, Mess Hall. Alert!” A band of investigators armed with crowbars, axes, and utility knives breach the chamber interrupting the feast to attack…

Shattered Seas Review AND Deep Madness Tour Guide - Review by S.E.

This post was simulcast on Black Gate.com on Nov-28-2020

Cover art by Christopher Shy / Cover design by Byron Leavitt.

Shattered Seas is a toxic dose of Lovecraftian mythos, psychedelic team-exploration (reminiscent of Stark Trek voyages), and survival-horror melee (mutant creatures replacing zombies). It’s a maelstrom of fun if you enjoy horror adventure, losing your mind, and drowning.

Ever want to crack open the gateway into an Otherworld with a few friends? Perhaps you are ambitious and naively want to gain dominion of cosmic powers. Will you be comfortable with mutating forces transforming you into a tentacled mass? Start the madness by searching for the mystical Sphere buried in the ocean near the submerged Kadath Mining facility. Lucas Kane, a marine biologist, is one of your tour guides. Here he observes Kadath, a mining facility with organic qualities (excerpt):

Kadath lit up below them drew his attention and caught his breath. The facility sprawled across the seabed like a sunken metropolis from another world, its illuminated structures pushing defiantly upward into the inky abyss. The station’s domes and towers seemed like the last bastions of light and reason still standing in an endless Stygian wasteland. It was hypnotic, dreamlike, and yet somehow inexplicably solid. Lucas could make out the shuttle tubes running between the three main domes, as well as to the smaller, squarer outposts and middle structures. He could even see the primary enclosed drilling site not far off from the main facility, connected to Dome Three by long, spacious tubes.

This novel was inspired by Diemension Games' Deep Madness, a cooperative sci-fi/horror board game. The novel serves as a stand-alone book as much as it does a gateway into the game narrative. Non-gamers will enjoy it all the same since the key protagonists (Lucas Kane and Connor Durham) are freshly introduced, plus the story is a prequel to the story presented in the game. At the end of this article, there is an embedded movie overviewing the board game. 

Deep Madness Board Game - Tour Guide of scenarios, book, campaigns

Deep Madness Scenario Chronology v8

UPDATED Aug 2021

21 total scenarios (canon) 

+ 1 fan campaign (4 scenarios)  + 1 fan-made expansion set (7 scenarios)

Seth (S.E) Lindberg and Phil Blake

Starting place for Deep Madness:

·       (optional) Read the Shattered Seas novel by Byron Leavitt

o   Many key characters (People of Interest) in the novel are colored purple in the table

·       Note: the Chronology Table below is not necessarily the suggested order of play

·       For newcomers, the suggested playthrough order of Expansions is:

o   Drowning in the Depths (tutorial scenario, provided in Faces of the Sphere/Profundum)

o   Core Box (scenarios 1-8)

o   Endless Nightmares (3 scenarios, any order) & Uncounted Horrors (1 scenario)

o   Other scenarios/campaigns

 

Chronology Table Scope:

The original intent of the table was to organize the chronology of the canon scenarios to further narrative gameplay.

We include a representative fan made campaign (Premonitions of Despair led by Phil Blake and Fabio Faletti) to highlight the community involvement which included feedback/support from Diemension Game (Byron Leavitt sourced PDFs from their master files, DG gave permissions to use their art, and DG encouraged them). Check out the Facebook group, link below.

Exalted Blasphemies: Fans created expansions focused on the Epic monsters (colored red in the table) that did not have scenarios. (Phil Blake championed this and played a role everywhere; graphic design by Fabio Faletti, includes cover art by Chang Yuan, several stories by Seth (S.E.) Lindberg and Sam Parsons to complement Phil Blake’s writing; Oscar Bok and Mark Turner got kudus for playtesting. This was made available for the public Aug 2021.

 Versions of this will be posted in:

·       Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DeepMadnessFans/

·       BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/202077/deep-madness/files

Chronology	Expansion Game Title	Chapter/Scenario Epic Monster  Person of Interest	Character Focus (or those come with the expansion)  Person of Interest
Prequel	Shattered Seas (complements novel of same name)	1: Shattered Worlds  (requires a game tile from Uncounted Horrors)	Lucas Kane (marine biologist)
Pre-Core Story	Rise of Dagon	1: Rite of Bile	Ward Phillips (novelist) Regan Waite (cultist) Meredith Waite (executive)
		2: Virulent Whispers
		3: Dagon Rising
	Premonitions of Despair Fan-Generated Campaign	1: Malfunction	Christopher Dalton (mystic) Lisbeth Gibson (hacker) Charles Ryan (heavy miner) Jacob Clarke (relief expert) Dakota Johnson (officer) Sophie Brigman (diver)
		2: Mutilation
		3: Hallucination
		4: Exit Wounds (Cthulhu sculpture)
	Profundum/The Faces of the Sphere	1: Drowning in the Depths (tutorial)	Same as core story
Core Story	Core Box of Deep Madness	1: Crawling Asphyxia	Arthur Weyland (engineer) Felicia Armitage (doctor) Jared Drake (soldier) Randi Carter (researcher) Roman Asimov (biochemist) Samuel Smith (captain)   Oracles Betrayal: Hannah Cobb (little girl) John Murdock (detective) Dr. Clarence Branom (psychiatrist)
		2: Last Shuttle to Hell
		3: Bathphobia
		4: Through the Looking Glass (William West)
	Oracle’s Betrayal	1: Trimming Victims (William West)
		2: Collecting Tissue (William West)
		3: Lobotomy (William West)
	Core Box of Deep Madness	5: Madness Within
		6: Lost in the Mist
		7: The Horror Beneath (Edgar Kayce)
		8: The Substance of Terror
“True Ending” to Core Story	Uncounted Horrors	1: Another Dawn	Core story characters, plus: David (pilot) Pris (secretary) Dakota Johnson (officer) Stephen Cooper (physicist) Charles Ryan (heavy miner) Jacob Clarke (relief expert) Amanda Weaver (quartermaster) Sophie Brigman (diver) Jon (cat)
Post Core Story	Profundum/The Faces of the Sphere (cross-over to Dawn of Madness board game)	1: Faces of the Sphere	Same as core story + Hannah + Ward Phillips + Jacob Clarke (Visages of them!)
No fixed timeframe   Play at anytime	Endless Nightmares	1: Fathoms Dark (Unbound)	Christopher Dalton (mystic) Emma Kruger (special agent) Franklyn Christie (navigator) Amanda Weaver (quartermaster) Isaiah Wiesenthal (prophet) Lisbeth Gibson (hacker) Sophie Brigman (diver) Scarlet Romanov (special agent)
		2: Fevered Dreams (Obscure)
		3: Expectant Terror (Nest)
	Exalted Blasphemies Fan Made Expansions	1: Dimension Sickness (Dimension Rift)	Edgar Kayce (Dimension Sickness)
		2: Wisdom of the Mad King (Drifter King)
		3: Hunger Pains (Omega Ravenous)
		4: Devoured (Devourer of Worlds)
		5: Infected Memories (Insidious)
		6: The Dreamlands (Spawn of the Sleeper)
		7: Purgatory (Penitent and Forsaken)