When I saw Midnight Tower’s latest Kickstarter, A Mystery Adventure Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe for 5e, I knew I wanted to to talk D&D and Poe with them. In the course of the interview, they manage to share the works of Edgar Allan Poe that inspired them without giving away the plot.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Thanks for taking the time to talk about this project. What is Before the Stroke of Midnight Kickstarter?
TOVE LUND JORGENSEN (TOVE): The Before the Stroke of Midnight Kickstarter is a campaign to raise funding for a new Dungeons and Dragons mystery adventure, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe. The characters will travel to a gloomy, isolated castle and take part in the reading of the will of Duchess Rose Blackraven, who has passed away. Before long, the characters find themselves entangled in the Blackraven family’s dark secrets – and then, a murder occurs. We hope to give the adventure an eerie tone similar to that in Curse of Strahd, but with a stronger focus on mystery, intrigue, and ghosts.
EGG: Why Edgar Allan Poe? What about his works inspired you at the gaming table?
ERIK JORGENSEN (ERIK): Edgar Allan Poe’s works have always had a place in bookshelves and hearts. We stayed in New York City a few years ago and had the chance to visit Poe’s old cottage in the Bronx, which was an amazing experience. For this reason, Poe was a natural source of inspiration when we decided to write a mystery adventure for D&D. He obviously used many different themes for his stories, but several of his tales and poems have a dark atmosphere filled with secrets and emotions, and those are the ones that really influenced this adventure.
EGG: Why Edgar Allan Poe for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition. Why Poe and D&D instead of, say, Poe and Call of Cthulhu, or a World of Darkness project?
TOVE: Dungeons & Dragons is the system that we have played the longest and are most familiar with, so all of our adventures that we create are designed for those rules. We thought it would be fun to bring in some mystery into the world of Dungeons & Dragons as a break from chopping down goblins.
EGG: Can you share which of Poe’s writings inspired this project?
ERIK: We went back and re-read some of his more famous shorts stories, such as The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Black Cat. We also turned to some of Poe’s poems for inspiration, including Lenore, The Haunted Palace, and – obviously – The Raven.
We’re drawing on these texts to infuse the adventure with a sense of isolation, secrecy, madness, suspicion, and betrayal. However, it won’t be all bleakness and despair! As the natural spirit of Dungeons & Dragons is quite upbeat and whimsical, the adventure will be aligned with that, too.
EGG: Since Poe is in the public domain, will any of his works be reprinted in these books?
TOVE: We’re including a few select phrases by Poe, but no longer texts. But eagle-eyed (raven-eyed?) players will spot familiar themes and symbols borrowed from Poe’s works – including a number of easter eggs!
EGG: Are you creating two books?
ERIK: The printed book will contain both Before the Stroke of Midnight and The Black Raven’s Compendium, as well as character sheets with a gothic design.
EGG: Since it’s two sections, let me ask about those. What contents are in Before the Stroke of Midnight?
ERIK: The adventure Before the Stroke of Midnight will feature the backstory, maps of the castle and its grounds, nine detailed NPCs, the Dusk Wolf (a new monster), Ring of the Serpent’s Tongue (a new magic item), and legend and lore about Shieldsborg Castle. There’ll also be a section on how to scale encounters so that the adventure can be played by characters of all levels, and we’ll create digital VTT files to make the adventure easy to play online.
EGG: What will the Black Raven’s Compendium contain? Can you share some of the Poe-inspired elements?
TOVE: The compendium will contain new monsters, Gothic spells and items, mystery plot hooks, legend and lore about ravens in Eastern Farraway, etc. Much of the content draws heavily on Poe’s stories, such as the Ghostly Cat and the Vengeful Bride, or magic items such as the Veil of the Afterlife.
EGG: The adventure offers both a violent version and a non-violent option. It’s great that you’re leaving it to the GM to decide the tone of the story. What made you decide to go that route?
ERIK: We started to introduce these options for some encounters when we wrote our first mystery adventure, Murder at the Old Wolf Inn. The idea is to make the adventure accessible to those who want a greater focus on investigation, finding clues, and intrigue.
It also makes the adventure more straightforward to play for groups that include players who are very young, dislike blood and gore, or aren’t familiar with the rules for combat.
EGG: You’re offering a number of backer rewards through this campaign, but the one that caught my eye was the “Digital Copy (Low Income)”. What inspired you to make that offer?
TOVE: At times, we have been on a low income (e.g. when we were young parents and students) and were unable to afford expensive rulebooks and adventures, so we want to support other players who struggle financially. The “Digital Copy (Low Income)” tier is also for medical staff, carers, first responders, and veterans, as they’re doing amazing work and we would like to support them.
EGG: Beyond this campaign, what else is coming from Midnight Tower?
ERIK: We have much more planned for next year, including more Kickstarter campaigns! (Mooar!) One campaign will be a trilogy that picks up after Rise of the Ice Dragons, and we’re also plotting and planning another murder mystery. We’re also hoping to get our act together and make our earlier D&D adventure trilogies Hunter’s Full Moon and Secrets of the Drow available in print, something that’s long overdue (which many of our backers – quite correctly! – have pointed out 🙂 ).
EGG: Thanks for talking with me. For fans interested in following you, where can they keep up with you online?
TOVE AND ERIK: Thank you so much for interviewing us! 🙂 Our website is [here], and one can sign up for our newsletter [here]. You can follow our crazy journey on social media [on] Twitter, Instagram, [and] Facebook.
A Mystery Adventure Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe for 5e from Midnight Tower
End Date: Thu, December 3 2020 10:05 AM EST.
“‘Before the Stroke of Midnight’ is a Gothic Fantasy RPG Book for Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition (Dnd/D&D).”
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