His Majesty the Worm
A downloadable RPG
His Majesty the Worm
His Majesty the Worm is a new-school game with old-school sensibilities: a classic megadungeon experience given fresh life through a focus on the mundanities and small moments of daily life inside the dungeon. The Game Master is given tools to create a megadungeon called the Underworld. The players create adventurers to explore the Underworld in pursuit of their personal quests. Tarot cards are used as a randomizing element.
- Food, hunger, light, and inventory management are central to play and actually fun.
- Tarot cards are used to create an action-packed combat system that ensures that all players have interesting choices every minute of combat: no downtime!
- The game has robust procedures. Characters adventure in the Underworld, rest in roleplaying-driven camping scenes, and plot long-term schemes in the City at the center of the Wide World.
- The relationships between companions, called Bonds, powers the rest and recovery mechanic of the game. Roleplaying drives the game forward.
This product page is for the digital edition of the game. The physical edition may be purchased through Exalted Funeral.
Everything You Need to Play (Just Add a Tarot Deck!)
The game is intended for a traditional setup between a single GM and 3-6 players. It emphasizes long-term, Metroidvania-like play. The book is 404 pages long, split up over 10 chapters and 5 appendices. The print edition is silver foil stamped and has a ribbon bookmark. The digital edition is thoroughly cross-linked, with a robust index. It is a complete game with everything you need in one tome (just add a tarot deck).
| For Players | For GMs |
| Fully customizable “classes” | Procedures to create metropolitan and megadungeon complexes with tarot |
| Souls-esque combat system | Step-by-step guide to create your own megadungeon |
| A grimoire of spells and components | Bestiary |
| Alchemy subsystem to turn monsters into powers | Creature creation rules |
| Foldable character booklet and party character sheet | Example dungeon with designer’s commentary |
| Reference sheets and robust examples | Conversion guide for OSR games |
Want a preview?
His Majesty the Worm was Itchfunded! That means that people generously contributed to the development of the game, donating to view early drafts of the chapters. As thanks, these sample chapters are now free.
- Omphalos details the procedural generation of the ur-city at the center of the game's anticanon.
- Sorcery is a Sword Without a Hilt is a magic system with versatile, level-less spells designed specifically for the dungeon crawling milieu.
- Dungeon Seeds provides procedures and examples that simplify the daunting task of creating a mythic megadungeon.
- [Name This Alchemy Book] is a collection of alchemical subsystems that turns monsters and herbs into weird tools.
Third-party content
His Majesty the Worm was designed to be accessible and easily hackable. As such, it has a very permissive open license, letting anybody make content for the game, for free or commercially.
To help creators provide beautiful-looking His Majesty the Worm compatible content, we've put together the Creator Kit: an InDesign/Affinity template that has everything you need to get started.
Purchase
In order to download this RPG you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $40 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- A Collection of Worm Supplements27 days ago
- Worm Jam - September 1-30Aug 30, 2024
- Creator's KitAug 26, 2024
- Community-run DiscordAug 23, 2024
- Deep Dive - Adventurer's SheetNov 17, 2023
- Deep Dive - CharactersNov 08, 2023
- Deep Dive - TarotOct 14, 2023
- Into the Megadungeon! with BenOct 08, 2023
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Review from Questing Beast
A rules question: Can greater doom cards be used for Initiative by the GM? I can’t find a specific rule, but it seems implied by the Initiative counting system and the mulligan note on page 121. Thanks!
Howdy. Only if they have a specific greater doom to allow it. There’s an explanation of that on page 123 where greater dooms are introduced, and an example of that for monsters like dragons (p. 261)
Who did the artwork? The cover art is taken right from the logo of musical artist Mortiis.
Both Mortiis and I used the public domain art of a frontispiece by John Bauer. In my case, this art was created for print by Pete Borlace.
"Augury": if the guild decides not to take the action, the card is discarded but still applies if the action is tried again in the same circumstances. Does that mean that the PCs can cast Augury, ignore the parable, decide not to take the action, have the card discarded on the discard pile where they can see it, then immediately decide to take the action using that card if it's a success?
I gotta say, I'm only through the first bit of this book, and it is already one of my favorites. It's already addressed so many of the usual pain points of dungeon crawls and inventory management. It's so refreshing, and I am really excited to run this!
Huzzah! Thanks for the kind words!
I'd really like to buy the Physical + PDF version, but I'd also like to start using the PDF before the (unknown future date) where the next round of physical copies are available. Is there a way to preorder the physical book and get a PDF now?
Thanks!
Hi there. Sorry, there’s not a mechanism to make this possible. Apologies!
That makes sense, thank you! Is there a way other than Twitter to find out when it's back in stock? (You mention Twitter in an earlier comment- I don't have a Twitter account so I can't see.) Someone else in the comments ordered a copy a couple weeks ago but I didn't see it go in stock, and the Exalted Funeral signup didn't send anything. Is there any expectation of another printing, and the timing?
I appreciate you taking the time to reply.
The Exalted Funeral sign up worked for me, sorry it didn’t work for you. You can also sign up for my mailing list at http://hismajestytheworm.games/. I’ll also send out a restock notification.
Unfortunately, the timing of things on their side is pretty opaque to me and has lots of variables, so I don’t have a firm timeline of where the second printing is at right now.
Thank you again for replying! I'm looking forward to it!
Hey friend,
I'm from South America and my money is worth little, every dollar costs 6 of my money. The PDF is too expensive for me. Would it be possible to get a discount?
Have you considered partnering with some of the artists from the book to make a tarot deck for the game? I'd snap that up as quickly as the book.
I don’t have any immediate plans for that. Tarot decks are expensive to create - 78 unique pieces of art. Very hard to produce on a budget that can make that investment back. And there’s many tarot decks already! Maybe you’d like the Dungeon Solitaire cards?
A fair reply and a lovely recommendation! Thank you.
Session 0 went incredibly well, everyone is super excited to play next week!!! I am wondering though, is there a place to grab any of the dungeon seed maps?
They are all by Dyson Logos. I got them from one of the commercial art packs, but cannot say with certainty at this point which one. Hope that helps, though!
JUST ORDERED MY PHYSICAL COPY LET'S GOOO.
Oh, I am going to like it here.
any tips/advice for how to run this game virtually? Trying to figure out how to handle the cards
Perhaps this would be helpful: https://www.hismajestytheworm.games/playing-online
this is extremely helpful! thank you so much!!
FYI, it looks like the image link for The Lovers card isn't good anymore. If you could update this, that'd help new folks.
Thanks for the note, didn’t know that
Hi! I think the physical copy sign-up reminders aren't showing up because the digital copy is still "in stock" on the other link! Would love to pick up the physical copy!
Dang! Sorry about that. I’ll make an announcement on Twitter and my blog when the physical edition is back in stock.
Gosh guess I better just follow ya then! 😊
Aboslutely LOVE the book!! Btw, any tips for coming up with some custom kin/kith cause i got a friend that wants to play a kobold for this
Excited to see what you come up with. Two main pieces of advice: One: Don’t trivialize the dungeon with abilities. Nobody has darkvision! Two: Make the abilities active. Don’t have abilities that you set and forget.
Just wanted to chime in and say this game has THE BEST take on "Humans" in the "multiple types of sentient people" fantasy milieu. I love how the Human abilities provide a laser-focus on the good (and bad!) of our species' focus on community and culture instead of just being like "we're adaptable, unlike the other kith which are stereotypes" and calling it a day.
I concur! It's so good.
If this was eligible for the Ennies this year and was not nominated, then its the biggest snub of the year. A magisterial symphony of art, design, and writing. Truly the modern "dungeon game"
Kind of you to say. It was not yet eligible. Perhaps 2025!
You have my vote for next year!
Oh dang, these orcs are the best in the business. I love every one of the kith and kin, but the orcs are glorious. Very well done on this book!
Thanks so much! I think the orcs are fun - especially their arete.
Are there any published adventures you'd recommend that fit the vibe of His Majesty the Worm?
It provides a wonderfully complete and easy to use set of tools to generate a unique dungeon and its denizens. I haven't had to pair it with any adventures, rather I supplement the content therein with Skerples "the monster overhaul"
Skerp’s Monster Overhaul for sure is one of those resources you can like, convert on the fly from OSR to His Majesty the Worm with a little squinting and the guidelines for conversion! I use it almost every session while running it.
So, the big piece of advice is: Create an Underworld by using all the modules you like and then smashing them together. This is the big brain way to create a megadungeon.
I ran Snow’s Sun King’s Palace in my games.
I cobbled together a Zelda-esque game using Silent Titans.
I ran Dolmenwood.
Lastly and most importantly, here’s a great introductory dungeon to pair with the adventure in the book by the incomparable Ty Pitre of Mindstorm Press: House of the Revelers
Are there any plans for tarot card VTT asset files?
You might be interested in my resources for playing online.
where can we find a character sheet for this?
There is one in the endpages of the pdf, but you can also find them here: https://www.hismajestytheworm.games/#h.pfuql57d5pt9
The physical copies went quick on EF, are you going to restock at all?
Yes! More books should - even now - be moving towards Exalted Funeral HQ.
Excellent! I got the email yesterday, but got distracted by my toddler last night. I went to grab it today and they were gone, glad there more on the way :)
Glad to hear! I joked to a coworker “Oh I have to spend money when I get home” and then it was gone, glad there’s a restock coming!
Ouch. $40 for the PDF? I really like the looks of this one, but that is just too much, sorry. :(
Having the PDF be so expensive also feels prohibitive for buying the physical book. If I want to buy the PDF now for $40, I could not justify spending $x MORE when the book comes back in stock.
Yeah, it's a shame. I was looking forward to this for years but it seems like I'm gonna have to wait for a big discount or some community copies.
also very sad The Worm was sold out before I even got home from work...I crave that worm.....
Sorry about that! The physical copies for the launch were only a subset of the total, and did sell out super quickly. It’s a good problem to have, but there will be more copies soon.
Checked this morning and wasn't released, checked after the day's routine and sold out. Ah, beans.
Sorry about that! The physical copies for the launch were only a subset of the total, and did sell out super quickly. It’s a good problem to have, but there will be more copies soon.
Super bummed physical was already sold out when I got off work and was able to try and purchase. Are there going to be any more physical copies made?
Sorry about that! The physical copies for the launch were only a subset of the total, and did sell out super quickly. It’s a good problem to have, but there will be more copies soon.
Congrats on the launch! Ordered my hardcopy and already enjoying the PDF greatly. Definitely gonna run a Fear and Hunger themed campaign and have my players face T H E W O R M.
Congratulations on the launch! Hardcover ordered!!
By the way, is there any discord for The Worm or potential for one? :)
I don’t know that I have the right head bumps to run a Discord. I hang out in the NSR server, though. I’m sure they’d be proud to have ya.
Whooo! Congratulations on launch, can't wait for my sweet sweet hardcover to cross the Atlantic!
I got my hands on that worm!
Congratulations on release!
Thanks so much!
His Majesty the Worm actual play with the +1XP Crew!
Congrats on the release!
ITS HERE ITS HERE YAAAAY
Does the Worm rise when the Funeral Mania begins?
I have not been more afraid of a text selling out beforeYes, that’s right. 7/17/24, at 5 PM EST! And digital copies here and on DTRPG.
I need WORM
It stirs in the deeps!
Excellent! Tarot deck ordered in anticipation
I'm so excited to get into the nitty gritty of the combat mechanics so I can run this game. I feel like I've got a decent grasp after the actual play and Dev logs, but I'm ready to get more confident.
Comus, I know you've already got years of play-testing under your belt, but are there any specific places or ways that you'd like play-testing type stuff, such as reviews on itch or even old-school actual play type text logs?
Just curious <3
Hey cheers! I’m excited for you to see it.
Obviously, reviews help spread the word of the game a lot. I’m a big fan of blog post reviews myself (being forever a blogger at heart), but anything helps. I’d appreciate anything you have to say!
How's that worm coming?
IT RISES FROM THE DEPTHS
wen dat worm?
SOON
I'm soooo sad that it sold out...
That’s just how Exalted Funeral marks books that are yet-to-be sold! Fear not.
What that worm do though?
Is there a way to sign up to get updates? Specifically, to be notified when this is officially coming out.
Absolutely! I’ll email you when it’s available if you sign up for the mailing list at: https://www.hismajestytheworm.games/