The Black Ballad Draws Inspiration from DiAmorte for New Dungeons & Dragons Campaign

A new Dungeons & Dragons campaign draws inspiration from the heavy metal band DiAmorte. Storyteller's Forge has launched the crowdfunding campaign for The Black Ballad, a new 10-chapter Dungeons & Dragons campaign inspired by the DiAmorte album of the same name. Unlike usual D&D campaigns, The Black Ballad is a campaign meant to be kicked off after the party has experienced a TPK during their normal session. Instead of dying, the party instead will go on a full campaign to explore the afterlife and the concepts of death and resurrection within a fantasy world. You can check out a trailer for The Black Ballad down below: 

The new campaign book is over 300 pages long, with a full story campaign and new mechanics. The campaign is set in The Sunless Crossing, a new realm of "waiting for the dead," which explores the impact of resurrection in a fantasy setting. The Black Ballad also includes a full orchestral soundtrack by DiAmorte, which was composed by Drake Mafessta, Mike Pitman (Riot Games), and Michael Romeo (Symphony X). The campaign also includes an audio introduction by Carlos Ferro, voice of Dom from Gears of War and Leonardo DaVinci from Assassins Creed.

This marks the second time that a DiAmorte album has inspired a D&D campaign. The Red Opera was the inspiration for a D&D campaign of the same name, which was published by scandal-plagued Apotheosis Studios back in 2021. While some of the creative team for The Red Opera is collaborating on The Black Ballad, the new campaign is being published by Storyteller's Forge, a studio with no connection to Apotheosis Studios. 

Backers can get a PDF of The Black Ballad with a $40 pledge. A physical copy is also available with an $80 pledge. Both pledges come with the soundtrack by DiAmorte. As of press time, the project has already generated over $33,000 of its $65,000 goal on the first day. You can check out the full crowdfunding campaign here.