What is this?

Salt Mystic is a powerful storytelling framework: a character, location, technology and concept setting designed for science fiction & fantasy dreamers to tell stories and to live them. It is an honest and heartfelt effort to bring something new and exciting into the world. What that looks like now is a terrain-based trading card wargame with storyline advanced in digital art, novels, and short fiction. And shirts and mugs, because that’s awesome too. 

“…the most mind-blowing part of this volume is the rich, robust worldbuilding lore and background. With hundreds of illustrations and art pieces and immersive and detailed entries, the distinctive machinery, people, places and history of the Salt Mystic world come gloriously alive!  The publishers call this volume an Immersive Storytelling Engine, and they mean it!” -SpikeyBits gaming site on the Sourcebook And Core Rules 

But what’s it about?

All of it shattered into a thousand pieces a generation ago in a terrifying and almost supernatural conflict called The War Of The Rupture. Now, roving bands of Naraia’s remnant fleets and gunslingers clash in monstrous battles of shrieking guided tornadoes, tanks the size of cities, vehicles that climb up vertical walls and men made of poisonous fog.

But there’s more power here than guns and fire. 

The Salt Mystic injected cunningly engineered stories into the folklore and myths people pass down, ones capable of possessing a person’s soul. Foreseeing the wars and injustice that could emerge from Naraia, she hid tripwires in these myths that inspire world-shaking Guardians when they’re needed the most. A Guardian arises maybe once in a generation. It changes everything. 

And it can arise in anyone at all. 

Wait, it’s a game?

There is a game, yes. While it’s not necessary to play it to experience the advancing storyline or to enjoy the immersive artwork, it’s a big part of what we’re doing. Why not give it a shot? 

The Salt Mystic core game is easy to learn, with the rules heavily illustrated on only ten pages. We wanted to avoid confusing and burdensome background lore, complicated rulebooks that drag on for hundreds of pages, and streams of nameless soldiers impossible to relate to.  

In fact, our original manifesto for the game was:

• A tabletop wargame based on trading cards that are placed on terrain like miniatures would be, with consequences for the orientation and placement of each
• Unique characters coming alive on cards with gorgeous artwork and card mechanics that affect gameplay in a way meaningful to the overall story
• An over-arching narrative that makes sense of the series of battles, who’s fighting and why, and what the consequences might be either way
• Every single character, weapon, and vehicle has a backstory. Nothing is given as plain vanilla fluff. Even the scratches on a cannon barrel came from somewhere.
• Adaptable narrative and game mechanics that allow for a continuing storyline that is easy to relate to and understand

What’s it like to play the game? 

“It’s like playing a beer-and-pizza wargame with Magic: The Gathering cards. Things heat up quickly!”

Imagine the rich narrative immersion of a roleplaying game’s dungeon or countryside, complete with backstories and characters and threats. In Salt Mystic, the terrain and its story take center stage like that. The bulk of the cards you play represent characters and their technology at play in the battle, but you can shatter the best-laid plans in a moment with exciting (and maddening) Breaker cards. 

Four key strategies form the backbone of any Salt Mystic game. You build a 30-card deck for each game from a wider set of cards depending on the terrain and scenario. Unlike a lot of other card-based games with deckbuilding components like this, with Salt Mystic, you don’t have to endlessly chase specific cards by randomly purchasing boxes with unknown cards inside. 

In Volume One, available now, you’ll meet wily War Marshal Segmond: The Loreblade of the salt flats cities of Tanith, a commander with such mastery of Salt Mystic lore that he can turn soldiers against their nations with only his words. 

And War Marshal Karak: Hammer Of The Red Witch, vanguard commander for the mighty mountain city of Alson. Intimidating in his own right on the battlefield, Karak leverages a secret pact with the terrifying Red Witch nation to call down fiends from the shadows to snatch away his enemies. 

Read more about Segmond, Karak, and the unique outlaws, renegades, snipers, and warriors they command in the Sourcebook And Core Rules. 

How can I get started?

Download the free Basic Rules to take a look inside this richly developed and expansive world, in what’s been called a “science fiction theme with a cowboy flair”.  Inside, you’ll find the basic rules to play both the classic 2-player game as well as the terrifying solo ruleset called “Wolfpack Mode”. A game of Salt Mystic requires two 30-card selections from War Marshal card decks, which are also available on DrivethruRPG. Starter decks are available as cut & folds inside the main rulebook to get you rolling. 

Sounds interesting…what all is in the Sourcebook And Core Rules? 

• Hundreds of illustrations and art pieces either set in the Salt Mystic universe or clearly explaining the game rules  
• A rich lore and background section explaining the history, people, machines, and places of the Salt Mystic universe
  • History: The Age Of Fables, The Brewing, The Merchant Wars, Philosophers’ Parade, Naraia: The Infinite Republic, War Of The Rupture, and The Guardian Age
  • People: The Augur, Blinkstrikers, Codeswarm Officers, Fog Men, Golems, Interrogators, The Malthus, Questforged, Rauchka, Recorders, The Red Witch, Tomb Trappers, and Watchmen
  • Machines: Arsenal Ship, Ball Lightning Carbines, Black Fire, Cablesword, Computronium, The Datastream, Gas Lance, Inflation Engines, Mogs, Morphium, Ramships, Tornado Launchers, Wraith Technology
  • Places:  Alson: The Mountain City, The Augur Temple, Candesca & The Fallen Giant, The Fountain City, Oriels, The Rauchka Sniper’s Cave, The Red Witch Annex, The Salt Flats, The Stonewisp Wastelands, and The Tethered Cities
• Clear, intuitive instructions on gameplay for the Salt Mystic tabletop wargame in 10 easy pages with examples
• Bonus ruleset for the solo dungeon crawler, Salt Mystic: Protector played with the same game cards as the core game:
  • Game table illustrations and six encounter tables 
  • Gorgeous game map with multiple encounter locations
  • Three potential final battle challenges and advanced variations rules for enhanced replayability
• Eight papercraft terrain options that you can tear out and place on the table:
  • Rocky ground, wetlands, 3D grassy hill
  • Malthus Tower, Oriel Terminus, temple building, masonry wall
  • Fog
• Detailed graphical listing of all Volume One game cards and actual cut & play gaming elements:
  • 30-card starter deck for Karak: Hammer Of The Red Witch, War Marshal of the Mountains
  • 30-card starter deck for Segmond: The Loreblade, War Marshal of the Salt Flats
  • Six dice cards to use in place of dice (if desired)
  • A scaled ruler for table placement and movements

Gunslinging adventurers and plasma weapons. Nice. Where can I see more of this?

 

 

The fusion of art and storytelling happens on what we call the Salt Mystic Lore Cards, and they’re free! Tour the full deck available now by entering The Story Arcade. Each card is a one-sided depiction of a flash fiction and its related artwork. Consider them bricks building the Salt Mystic world. 

By the way, the artwork isn’t just something we’re piling on, but rather a key mechanism whereby this incredible new world is explored! Sometimes what began as only a vague idea or intentionally cryptic reference in a story, book, or game card transforms and opens like a flower once we sit down to craft an image. It’s an incredible process, and we hope you enjoy experiencing it with us!

 

Shirts and mugs, you say? Where can I get some Salt Mystic merchandise?

Awesome. Head to the merch store. The shirts are super comfortable, and we’re particularly fond of the Skull & Carbines decal sticker. Looks fantastic on a laptop. We’ve also added our first fantasy art print tied to an upcoming development in the Salt Mystic setting, so head on over and see what’s cooking!

You said the story advances in novels and short fiction. Where can I find that?

Read the first book in the Salt Mystic series, TEARING DOWN THE STATUES. It’s the electrifying story of this generation’s true Guardian. Maybe. Anyway, it’s funny and scary and has great dialogue with characters that pop. And cool machines. What else do you want?

Got anything exciting coming out next?

Our upcoming adventure module for Salt Mystic called Ruinwalker is a culmination of the collision of art, fiction, and game mechanics that has continually surprised us along the way. We’ve described Salt Mystic as a place where the terrain and its story take center stage, and Ruinwalker will showcase the power of that. 

In this module, we visit a new location called Eleusis, which once was a majestic city of floating buildings and airships but was ultimately destroyed in an unimaginable war crime. Players will smash their forces into each other on a battlefield literally overrun with deadly non-player entities, in desperate hopes of capturing a vile artificial intelligence. There’s even a stampede of massive armored rhinos that you have to experience to believe! 

Secondly, we’re also hard at work on a standalone novel set in the Salt Mystic universe highlighting a new War Marshal and showcasing exciting airships and vortex technology. It’s called Mazewater: Master Of Airships, and will be primarily set in a tumbledown jumbled mess of a city called The Jagganatheum. We finished the detailed map a while back, and it turned out fantastic!

The idea is these novels (and the Lore Cards) introduce important characters and developments in the overall story that bring new cards and mechanics as we go. You should join us in this – it’s fascinating!

And finally, we’re hard at work on the first roleplaying game supplement for the Salt Mystic setting, which is especially intriguing as an experimental and completely novel approach to RPGs. The core idea was begun in the article here, when it became obvious we were missing an entire class of people (like me, actually) who relate best to themes of exploration in their games.

The idea here isn’t to design our own RPG, but to provide dice oracles and an innovative bibliomancy text to drive plot and  outcomes in roleplaying in the Salt Mystic setting. We’re still building out the texts and playtesting, but so far it feels incredibly different and intriguing. You never know where it will take you!

 

 

Visit us often here for updates!

What about submissions – can I submit fiction or art for publication?

Submissions:

We do periodically accept short fiction and art pieces set in the Salt Mystic world on the Grailrunner website and on our social media, as well as on the Lore Cards. If you’re interested in participating, pick up a copy of the Salt Mystic Core Rules And Sourcebook for inspiration and contact us here:  brian (at) grailrunner.com. (Anything you submit should tie to something in the Sourcebook.)

Art:  Generally, we don’t pay royalties or purchase art pieces unless specially commissioned, but feel free to contact us for consideration. By submitted your work to us, you’re granting electronic-display rights on the Grailrunner website and its associated social media pages (Twitter and Facebook). 

Short fiction: Short works of fiction must include at least one element from the Sourcebook, be original work with rights owned by the submitter, and must not include anything resembling pornography or hate speech. No overtly political works will be considered. This is escapism and science fantasy. Lengths welcomed as high as 500 words, but not much longer. Contact at email above for more details. Even if we don’t purchase your work, you may still wish to have it posted on the sites. 

(c)2023 All rights reserved. Salt Mystic and all likenesses and concepts contained within are the property of Grailrunner Publishing.