Sickle & Torch

An interview with Mihailo Tešić

Mar 12, 2026

Sickle & Torch is currently over on Kickstarter. It’s a setting and set of adventures that focuses on the common rabble rising up against tyranny. This still need some help funding so perhaps that theme appeals to you, like it does me. Or perhaps you’re familiar with some of Mihailo’s previous work in The 2020 GFA (DCC), The Seige of Bonemoore Keep (DCC), The Three Wizard Conumdrum (5e). He’s got a great team together for this project and they’re producing all this stuff for 3 different systems: 5e, Shadowdark, and DCC. Mihailo was kind enough to answer some questions about the project and the passion comes through!

Tell me a bit about the adventures: Thrall Hold of the Blood Bailiff seems to get shown off the most (perhaps cause of the great art!). Does one of the adventures make you especially proud of what you’ve created?

Thank you, I can say that they (will) all have great art - but we have to succeed at the Kickstarter first, since most of the funds will go towards art!

To answer your question: each of the four adventures focuses on one aspect of a tyrannical evil empire, such as can be found in most fantasy settings, be they homebrewed or established. So the PCs are commoners who rise up against oppression, storming the evil stronghold that has been terrorizing them. Not waiting for heroes, but becoming heroes! The idea was to create a heroic on-ramp that is, for a lack of a better word, realistic and inspired by a defining event, to make your character’s backstory more meaningful, but also universal so it can be applied to most campaigns. And what’s more universal than wanting to topple tyrants and oppressors?

The adventures can be played in any order, but this is the order that I wrote them in:

Thrall Hold of the Blood Bailiff is the most grimdark of the four. It sees the players rising in a rebellion to release the slaves and destroy the slavers - and their chief, the Blood Bailiff, has various grotesque and deranged toys and pets at his disposal, created by the Genomancers he employs. He has grown so morbidly obese and crazed with wealth from his slave trade and usury, that he now literally wants to consume every living thing. And I will just say the players have a chance to destroy all debt records held by the Bailiff, so they can free their compatriots of unjust debts which result in poverty and slavery, but they will literally have to deal with the devil to do that.

Perilous Chapel of the Omni-Patriarch is the closest to a classic dungeon. It focuses on corrupt clergy of the Inner Church, which has become an instrument of tyranny, and has succumbed to unholy ways to keep its power and doctrine. The players breach the Temple of New Law, revolting against the unjust burnings by the Inquisition and the church’s complicity in the oppression. The Chief Inquisitor is the main villain, but a much more fundamental and terrifying goal will be revealed once they meet the Omni-Patriarch and stand in front of some of the holiest of relics in the world. Angelic prelates, child crusaders and un-dead servants await inside - and perhaps even a rogue inquisitor who has realized the darkest truth in the heart of the catacombs beneath the temple: the true, horrendous source of the clergy’s power. Let us only say that faith has triumphed over the greatest calamities known to man, but the price of keeping them imprisoned has corrupted the faith itself.

Forbidden Citadel of the Panopticon Overmind deals with supernatural surveillance. It is the most “science-fantasy” of the four. The PCs must find a way to breach the impenetrable citadel of the Panopticon which hides the Overmind, a vat-brain-thing in control of the Scry Eyes, flying spies that oversee all activity in the empire. Once in - and one way is to grab a flying Scry Eye by its dangling nerve and fly in, if you can hold on! - they can begin to unravel the mysteries of the Panopticon, the Quantumancer mages who created it, and confront the empire secret police: the reviled Blackguards and their magical flying eyehands. The adventure has three “factions” which can be identified and turned on each other if played right, or if the encounter rolls align. And the DCC version has a new patron, with a full write up, patron taint and all: The Overmind itself.

Roving Alcazar of the Golden Principal is a huge moving fortress, like Howl’s castle, but much more sinister. It is the home of the sovereign, the Golden Principal, who - as kings are wont to do - travels around the empire with his massive retinue and settles on some lord’s land for a while, leeching off its resources until its master chooses a new destination. It is rumored that the Golden Principal is deathless and that he and his court feed on the blood of the people that his Golden Guard and his flying guardinals abduct from the surrounding countryside. But now, the slaves have revolted and have lowered the rainbow bridge, so the angry mob can enter the castle. And inside it, there are wonders unimaginable - the PCs can enter the bodies of elementals, answer strange riddles, get lost in a maze, follow a crazed jester, build automatons or even try to pilot the Alcazar - and of course, they can go for the court itself and seek out the Golden Principal to end his rule. This is the most “fantastic” and carnival-like of the adventures, and my personal favorite because of how much stuff I crammed into it and how differently a “successful” run can play out with a bunch of dirty, angry, curious commoners exploring a place of ultimate fantasy opulence.

What’s a favorite moment from playtesting?

It is from the Panopticon, played in Shadowdark. The players succeeded in breaching the front door with a huge log; and the door after that; and with some incredible rolls, and Luck spent to avoid encounters, blasted through the first three rooms before stopping. Then, the first encounter check they failed was the one legendary encounter (there is one in every adventure) - The Monitor, one of the “factions” leaders. His random reaction to them was neutral, so they roleplayed the encounter and he took them as their patron of sorts and led them through the Panopticon. And their second failed encounter was the leader of the other faction! So as the two leaders duked it out, the PCs helped the Monitor and killed the other guy - and they rolled a max loot check results (there are loot roll rules, too!) to get the unique adventure artefact (did I mention each adventure has one? Also, there are secrets you can collect throughout adventures that reveal the “larger story” but also a side quest about a tournament with figurines of wondrous power that runs through all four adventures).

But my favorite single moment comes from Roving Alcazar played in DCC, when the mob, well, mobbed the Golden Principal in the finale, after a grand and exciting race against the sunset. One of the last standing characters, a lamplighter, fittingly landed the final blow: he bashed his Sovereign’s head in with his lamp that he had just lit as the last rays of the dying sun bathed the scene! Epic stuff, worthy of truly high level adventures, but played with 0-levels!

So tell me about the DCC specifics! I see some rules for level-0 improvement, but also “torch patrons”, and “guiding spirits” listed on the campagn. Can you share some details on what that means for folks?

The Torch is a spirit of a person who has died an unjust death at the hands of the Empire. A kind herbalist accused of being a witch and burned. A priest who preached against usury and was burned as a heretic. A soldier who refused to kill innocents, executed as an example to the troops. The Torch in effect serves as the totem for your mob of characters: they have decided to join the uprising when they witnessed the burning. One of them picked up a burning piece of wood from the pyre and went forward into revolution, summoning their Torch into existence.

Each Torch represents one of the four “human” DCC character classes. Mechanically, The Torch provides some of the abilities of the class to the 0-level carrying it. For example, the Revenant Torch is the Warrior archetype, and the 0-level character who is carrying it - the game term is “possessed by” it - can use all warrior weapons and armor and apply their Luck modifier (if any) to the weapon used while possessed. But each Torch archetype has some things it abhors. Revenant torches detest cowardice, so if your character runs away while possessed by the Revenant, the Torch leaves them for another character under your control. In order to make tracking this easier, the Torch can only change characters after an encounter or if an abhorrent action happens. And a Torch token is recommended.

Finally, Torches are a way to have a “0 level campaign”. If you like playing 0 levels, you can roll up a new mob for every adventure, but keep the Torch and level it up after each adventure. Now the Torch bestows all abilities of a Level 1 (or 2 or 3) character to the 0-level character carrying it. Sort of like a template applied to your 0-level, but temporarily, until you as the player transfer it to another PC or it leaves for another PC because it is displeased by that PCs actions.

How much of that content is replicated for the Shadowdark version? Does Shadowdark get anything that’s unique to that system?

In the Shadowdark version, your Torch bestows you with the non-talent ability of one of the four basic classes. But light sources in Shadowdark have a 1-hour timer. In Sickle & Torch, this means that if your 0-level character succeeds in surviving until the Torch burns out, they also get the talent roll, in effect becoming that class (but not gaining the HP and any spells until the end of the adventure). Then you can continue the adventure with another character and also change the Torch archetype. So the game becomes about choosing the right Torch for the character and which character I want to level up to 1, and into what? And if they survive the hour, should I switch or keep playing them to perhaps harvest more Potential to increase Ability Scores? Or just because I like that character?

Doing an abhorrent action means you have to change the Torch archetype and reset the timer, but keep playing the character. But if the character dies while carrying the Torch you can’t change the Torch archetype - a new character has to keep the flame going. And maybe now you have to play that runt 0-level with worst ability scores, who you didn’t really want to become a wizard. But maybe he gets stat improvements and becomes a memorable character! Who knows? And that is where fun is, in my book. You have to balance time, character choice and Torch choice and play it right and have some luck if you want to end up with that cool character you see as being a really good wizard.

Thanks for sharing! Anything else that you’d like people to know about?

There are also short and sweet rules for inventory, loot and easy theatre of the mind play, since running around with four PCs per player can be complicated logistically with miniatures. Also, most of what was said about DCC applies to the 5(.5) version of the rules - but the concept of the funnel and creating 0-levels the old school, 3d6 down the line way, is in itself “what’s new” for 5e.

We are a small team from Serbia and this is our first attempt to make something of our own, and we put our heart into it. In effect, we are level zero and hoping to get to level 1, our first published product! We hope that it shows and that you like Sickle & Torch enough to support it or spread the word about it!

Ready to overthrow tyranny? Which of those adventures piques your interest the most?