Foreword

Welcome to Obscured.

You are about to dive into the culmination of a exciting but heavily caffeinated chapter of my life. I started this project fresh out of university, standing on the edge of the "real world," and decided to take a leap and pour my heart into building something of my own.

Honestly? I think I really wanted to justify all the late nights I spent falling down the rabbit hole of niche cryptids and reading through second edition campaigns. The detail that stood out to me during my "research" was that the stories that stuck with me weren't the ones about great heroes with improbable muscles (sorry Conan) facing off against creatures of legend. I remembered the ones where ordinary people saw the darkness of the world and bravely, or stupidly, refused to blink.

In this book you'll be one of those people: a brave soul that decided to stand against the darkness. You and your friends will face a world where the only thing standing between humanity and oblivion is... well, you.

But don't let that deter you. While Obscured is dangerous, it can also take you to amazing places, let you live out your heroic fantasies, and help you tell incredible stories with your friends. Besides, when you and your crew are staring down a tentacled horror from beyond the stars, sometimes the only answer is a perfectly timed joke.

Whether you are a veteran of a hundred campaigns or rolling dice for the very first time, I think there will be something in Obscured for you.

Happy hunting,

- Hendro Smit