Download the Salt Mystic Basic Rules for free.
Contains everything you need to get going, including core rules, starter decks, even papercraft terrain, a ruler and dice cards. Now also includes a bonus adventure scenario with short fiction and game setup instructions!
What is this?
Welcome to the thrilling world of Salt Mystic – a unique blend of western grit and fantastical science! Step into a far future world where artificial pocket dimensions hide untold mysteries, gunslingers duel with ball lightning, and colossal armies fight for their very survival. Get ready to embark on a boneshaking adventure that will test your courage and set fire to your imagination!
Salt Mystic is an immersive experience that seamlessly weaves together the rugged allure of a wild western tale but with the boundless wonders of science fantasy.
Stunning visuals, unique and dazzling technology and locations, and larger-than-life characters are the hallmarks of Salt Mystic. For the explorers at heart, for the wild renegades who just want to ride fast, for the warrior who dreams of fantastical armies smashing into each other, for the storyteller at home by a crackling fire and an oak table, this one’s for you!
But what’s it about?
Two thousand years ago, the Salt Mystic stumbled from the salt flats declaring her vision of the forces of history and how to harness them to shape human events. Naraia: The Infinite Republic was the name they gave to the wondrous, sprawling society that arose from her teachings, encompassing countless thriving civilizations on land, sea, and tucked into pockets of artificial space called oriels.
All of it shattered into a thousand pieces a generation ago in a world-shattering conflict called The War of the Rupture.
As many oriel gates and towns were lost as there are stars in the sky, and roving gunslingers brave those lost worlds and AI-haunted ruins for fortune and adventure. As the broken nations reassert themselves, Naraia’s remnant fleets and generals 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.
It takes a mad and volatile dreamer to step into one of those lost worlds. Tucked into jungles and forests, at the bases of mountains and hidden away inside mighty cities, what were long ago sparkling gates into pocket dimensions where civilizations of the Republic thrived, now lie abandoned concealing lost worlds and unimaginable treasures and knowledge.
Yet foreseeing the wars and injustice that could emerge from such a collective of people, the Salt Mystic injected cunningly engineered stories into the folklore and myths the people pass down, ones capable of possessing a person’s soul. When it happens, it can change everything and shake the world.
And it can happen to anyone at all. That’s how it is here. Gather stories or live them.
Welcome to the world of the Salt Mystic!
Tell me about the game!
The Salt Mystic core game is a terrain-based tabletop wargame that 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.
What’s it like to play?
“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 by setting the context and objectives for the battle and restructuring the game mechanics (the example scenario in the free Basic Rules, for example, is fought on a vertical rock face so combat rules adjust accordingly). 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.
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
“Games are fast and dynamic. There isn’t a lot of sitting around watching the other guy make his moves!”
Each card deck represents a commander (called a war marshal), the people under their command, and the weaponry and vehicles available to them. Dice are used to determine outcomes (mostly).
But it’s the thrilling fusion of terrain effects, specific card rules, game-altering Breaker cards, and the daring boldness of the players that bring a Salt Mystic game to heart-pounding life!
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.
War Marshal Karak: Hammer of the Red Witch is 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.
More war marshals will become available as the world expands.
How can I get started?
Download the free Basic Rules to take a look inside this richly developed and expansive world. 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.
“…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
The Salt Mystic Sourcebook And Core Rules deluxe volume available here.
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?
You can also head over to the art museum on Artstation to peruse the art directly and see some other pieces that don’t appear on lore cards. Smash the button below to check that out!
Where can I get some Salt Mystic merchandise?
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?
Occasionally, we share short fiction and art pieces set in the Salt Mystic world here on this site and on the Grailrunner Facebook page, as well as in the Lore Cards .
You don’t have to catch all them to know what’s going on, but it enriches the experience big time!
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!
Apologies on the lack of progress on this project. The two projects below have turned out to interact with each other, and some of that is affecting Eleusis, the location and in fact the whole point of this one. The illustrated history of Eleusis is super important here to set the stage for everything happening, but it has to be perfect. It isn’t yet. A lot of the art is done, which is nice, as it will contain scores of rich and glorious Images throughout. The backstory of the site has really surprised us, blossoming into what feels like an old and very real place now. 15 out of 20 new game cards have been designed, adding new threats and assets into gameplay.
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!
Apr 7, 2023
Word count is about 29k words out of a targeted 80k or so. My day job got incredibly busy, and I’ve had virtually zero time to work on this. Breaks my heart, honestly. I didn’t like the climax I had in mind, the more I thought about it. There are some wild and adrenalin-fueled possibilities inherent in some of the core concepts here that I wasn’t pushing to their natural limits.
I’m reworking the plot to tell a better, more original and (hopefully) intriguing story. Gonna take time though, and more focus than I’ve been able to give it in 2024 so far!
Anyway, the climactic battle now is cinematic to me; I can almost hear the battle roaring. And more day-giants, obviously! Need more day-giants!
Apr 7, 2024
Check out the half-way celebration here.
This guy will be awesome once it’s done! I honestly can’t wait to sit down with a character sheet and use this bad-boy to step into the rich world of the Salt Mystic. Much like the note above on Mazewater, my day job is slowing everything down. Hopefully, this Spring I can get back into a faster rhythm.
What has really struck me about this project, more so than with the Mazewater novel, is the various mechanisms I’m using to unlock my imagination and let the ideas flow without boundaries. I watch a lot of artists on Youtube talk about their creative process, and some of the same mechanisms they use work well for me.
Anyway, enjoy the warming weather, and check back with us over the coming weeks as things pick back up on our active projects!
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)2024 All rights reserved. Salt Mystic and all likenesses and concepts contained within are the property of Grailrunner Publishing.
Grailrunner Publishing 