Mark of Wayward Studios is back again with Dark Dwelling on the Prairie! I did an interview a while back for From Out of Gnollwhere, and he’s also one of the cowpokes who handled the Wayward Gazetteer which has new classes and a myriad of other content with Weird Frontiers. It’s just funded on over on Backerkit and they’re hoping they reach a stretch goal so yours truly can add in an extra encounter. I got a spooky one outlined that’s inspired by the Robert’s Chambers short story The Yellow Sign. So go back now if that’s tantalizing enough, or keep on reading here if you wanna know more!

Tell us a little more about the adventure! Weird Frontiers can really be pulpy action or be creepy mythos horror, or a great mix of both. Where does this one fall?

Dark Dwelling on the Prairie brings a little bit of both wild west action as well as some straight up horror. I kind of compare it to the movie, From Dusk Till Dawn. The adventure starts out as a classic western trope of a posse on the trail of some desperados. From there, things turn weird and before they know it, the players are trying to survive a haunted house. So, I'd say while this one has both elements, this one leans heavily on the creepy horror.

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Don't spoil too much, but what's your favorite encounter in the adventure?

Great question! There are a couple definite creepy encounters in this one, but I've always been a little freaked out with corn fields. I think I'll just leave it at that.

You've shared with me that one of the main points of inspiration is the film Dead Birds. I've also heard Baity mention this movie in the context of it being of the few existing weird west movies. What about that movie kept you coming back to it and what other inspirations did you have?

Dead Birds was definitely a source of inspiration for this adventure. This movie as well as other movies like the Hateful Eight, The Thing, and Ravenous, all have a similar theme of isolation. I wanted to try and capture that sense of being isolated with no means of escape and no means of getting help. In this adventure, the party seeks shelter from a lightning storm. The farmstead, that takes center stage, is in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by the aforementioned creepy corn field. On top of that, the characters are low on food, water, and ammo. I was hoping to create a sense of desperation, where every shot has to count.

Thanks for sharing! Anything else that you'd like people to know about?

My pleasure, Stefan! We at Wayward Studios have a lot of pokers in the fire this year. We just got our second installment of our From Out of Gnollwhere series, Gnolledge is Power, back from the printer, so backers should be receiving that very soon. Our third and final chapter of the From Out of Gnollwhere series, Gnollman's Land, has begun playtesting. We received a lot of positive feedback from the playtests at Gary Con and will be bringing that to Kickstarter very soon. And, of course, our big project, Horror Cinema Classics, has been getting a lot of love during playtests. We continue to take the notes from our players and are fine tuning the mechanics to make it a really special game. We are so excited to be working on this project. We intend on bringing it to crowdfunding this September and put the Quickstart Guide in our backer's hands on Halloween!

What kind of Weird Frontiers adventure do you yearn for? You better tell me if you want me to write another one!

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The journey takes the PCs from their homes in Sawtooth through treacherous wilderness to the mountain vault where the Wormfather conducts his twisted rituals. Inside a terrible revelation awaits them and the PCs must make an impossible choice: destroy the Wormfather and risk unleashing something that could destroy their village, or become complicit in a cycle of sacrifice that preserves a terrible status quo.