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Welcome to Apocalyptica Arcanum

“The world is not ending—it ended. It just hasn’t stopped twitching yet.”

Apocalyptica Arcanum is a high-fantasy, post-industrial campaign setting where history split from our own on January 18th, 1886—the day a meteor fell to Earth.

The world that followed is not one of progress, but of transformation. Magic surged across the globe like a plague, reshaping the natural order and blurring the line between myth and reality. Ancient prophecies awaken. Forgotten gods whisper from the shadows. Science and sorcery clash in soot-choked cities, and monsters walk in daylight.

From shattered metropoles to wild frontiers, the Earth is no longer ruled by nations, but by those who wield Shardisite—the crystalized remains of the fallen star. This volatile substance powers machines, mutates the flesh, and corrupts the soul.

Time is now measured Anno Meteorum (A.M.), from the year after the fall. And whether you are born to it or broken by it, this new world does not care what you once were.

What matters is what you will become.

A World Where Legends Live

In Apocalyptica Arcanum, real-world folklore and forgotten myth are not only true—they're alive.

The stories whispered around campfires, the monsters feared in old country tales, the symbols etched into the bones of ancient peoples—these are the threads of reality now. From Lakota prophecy and Norse omens to Biblical signs and Victorian occultism, every superstition is a doorway to something terrible and powerful. Angels and demons, once metaphor, now walk the world—some seen, many not.

The meteor changed more than minds. It shattered Earth’s axis, reshaped continents, and left behind veins of a crystalline substance known as Shardisite—the arcane heart of the new world. Shardisite powers machines, fuels enchantments, mutates the flesh, and fractures the soul.

This is a world where belief fuels magic and doubt is deadly. Those who survive do so not because they understand what’s happening, but because they adapt—or are changed.

Campaigns in the Setting

Five campaigns have explored the world of Apocalyptica Arcanum, each shedding new light on its twisted, evolving history:

Apocalyptica Arcanum (First Modern Campaign)

Set more than a millennium after the fall, this campaign explores a world where nations have reformed, magic has stabilized, and the scars of apocalypse have hardened into ambition. The age of survival is over—this is the age of conquest.

In the devastated ruins of East America, the continent has become the battleground of the American Foreverwar. Two foreign superpowers—Amazonia and Cordoba—fight a proxy war across shattered cities and poisoned skies, reducing the land to blood-soaked ash.

Caught in the crossfire, the players navigate shifting allegiances, criminal espionage, and arcane warfare. Airships rule the skies, and the engines of war are fueled by Shardisite and greed.

This campaign blends high-altitude dogfights with political intrigue and serves as a grim reflection of what becomes of a world that mistook power for purpose.

Session Recordings

All play sessions of Apocalyptica Arcanum (First Modern Campaign) are available here.

Origins: Black Dog and the Two-Faced Woman

Set in the bleak winter of 1886, less than a year after the meteor shattered the world, this campaign painted a world where hope froze solid and faith bled in the snow. Civilization had collapsed, magic surged wild and untamed, and nightmares walked the land—mutated beasts, haunted towns, and legends made real.

The story began in the Dakota Territory, where a group of human mutants—soldiers, con artists, missionaries, and mystics—found themselves entwined in a Lakota prophecy that foretold the end of all things. They were marked by destiny and hunted by a nightmare spirit: Black Dog, guardian to the grandmother spirit I-hkų́, who grew too weak to keep him from unraveling her sacred work. As the world turned cold, he devoured her garments, her stew—and the hearts of the people.

The party forged fragile alliances with Lakota elders and disillusioned U.S. soldiers, building trust through shared struggle and firelit truths. Along the way, they sought out seven sacred ceremonial pipes, artifacts imbued with spiritual power—each one a step closer to survival and to a final confrontation.

The Hanbleceya trials pushed them into the Spirit World, where they endured visions of grief, madness, and temptation at the hands of Anúŋg Ité, the Two-Faced Woman. All the while, Iktómi, the Trickster, watched and whispered—taunting their every move, always one lie ahead.

In the end, the party succeeded. Black Dog was defeated—but not without cost. Regrets became scars. Magic changed them. And the story they walked away with was a funeral dirge wrapped in sacred smoke—a grim warning etched into the soul of a broken world.

Origins: The Wendigo (4ShameNotHonor Live Stream)

Set in the bitter heart of a magical winter, this campaign followed three survivors wandering the ravaged Great Lakes frontier in the wake of the apocalypse. One year had passed since the meteor impact—and the world had not stopped dying.

Each party member had already lost everything. Their stories were soaked in grief, betrayal, and blood, and magic had awakened in them like a curse. Every spell came with risk. Every blessing had teeth.

Drawn by hunger and fate, they uncovered a settlement consumed by cannibalism and madness. There, they learned of the Wendigo, a creature of unspeakable hunger spreading its curse across the land. As they fought through the remains of a world that devoured its own, they experienced vivid spiritual visions, encountered shard-twisted monstrosities, and began to grasp the cost of survival.

The Wendigo was not just a monster—it was a sickness. A madness that whispered in moments of weakness and grew stronger in the cold. To destroy it, they followed a trail of ash, blood, and legend under green auroras. Along the way, John Wilson’s communion with the dead, Josiah’s pact with a forgotten god, and Katya’s bond with her spectral dog Reginald marked them as something more than mortal.

The final confrontation was harrowing. Reginald gave his life, returning to the Spirit World, and each character was left permanently changed—marked by the divine and the damned.

Session Recordings

All play sessions of Origins: The Wendigo (4ShameNotHonor Live Stream) are available here.

Apocalyptica Arcanum (Second Modern Campaign)

Set primarily in the haunted waters of the Sea of Ghosts and across the fractured continent of Europa, this campaign followed a crew of unlikely heroes as they navigated political collapse, divine allegiances, and ancient horror.

The story began aboard a submarine bound for Dresden, a hub of Europan industry steeped in divine legend and unrest. Their arrival set off a chain reaction—a coup by the insurgent Nightingales, the fall of the old regime, and a city overrun by criminal factions jockeying for control.

Amid this chaos, the players encountered Tristessa, a demon of sorrow and longing, and in defiance of the Legion's reach, forged a bold allegiance with Jasiri, an angel of justice.

From the ashes of a ruined cathedral to the birth of a new faith, a player-founded government rose within Dresden’s shattered streets. But their journey led further still—to the cursed isle of Eire, where they confronted the ancient vampire Abhartach in a final reckoning with death and desire.

This campaign asked not just what the Angels wants from mortals—but what mortals are willing to become in the face of it—and what they'll leave behind when they do.

Apocalyptica Arcanum: Genesis (Current Campaign)

The world stands on the edge of an arcanotech revolution. A thousand years after the fall, Shardisite fuels invention, ambition—and disaster. Faith simultaneously withers and blooms. Smog chokes the skies. But legends have not yet faded.

In an age of rail barons, mining booms, polluted frontiers, and arcane discovery, new myths are being written in filth and blood.

This is an age of miracles and machines.

And something lies in wait...

Veterans of Apocalyptica Arcanum

• Adam Nesvold – Raylan Marston, John Holliday, Lusat Valthorne
• Curtis Renner – Victor Pucovskivich, Bludarious De'Tempoon, Chow Yun-Phat, Mozaddha Theriska
• Jason Saylor – Silas Casketwalker
• Matt Skarie – Thorun Darkstone, Horace Grimm
• Mike Ohren – Meek Storm
• Nathan Gade – Bogdan Moravec, Jedidiah Smith, Muddy Mittens, Nebish
• Luke Brendemuhl – Barkevius Frumpymelon, Grildis Drummy
• Dustin Hinrichs – Chegglin Chinbeard, Grundel
• Jordan Buermann – John Wilson
• Kayla Guth – Katya Blackheart
• Chris Zabel – Sikro
• Adam Brendemuhl – 4032 "Kolg"
• Michael Leyland – Lofta, Mickle
• Noah St. Michael – Aurora, Draven
• Cody Stanley – Stanley the Seer
• Bjorn Pederson – Vladimir Vladislav
• Scott Keeney – Sodster
• Joshua Hoffer – Xilleth
• Todd – Ark
• Brian Klinnert – Professor Clank
• Jason Edwards – Bruenor Silverhammer
• Colin Guare – Garbajio
• Gibb Sheets – Drathus, the Arisen

The Dungeon Master

André Palmier