Kaz-Kaz/Myrth.... My Whatcha Ma Call it!

About a year ago (2025), in May, I started collecting ideas and creating art for a new D&D setting: Kaz-Kaz. The goal is simple, yet fourfold.

1. Return to Fairytales

At the turn of the last century (going from the 20th to the 21st), our collective Western culture lost something. I think it was our soul; our voice. Something still present in the great works of the 20th Century: The Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Earthsea, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

My goal is to return to the fairytale; the stories that inspired the great stories of the 20th Century. Because I’m a bit eccentric, I’ve decided I’m going to stick to a specific subset of fairytales that are often overlooked: Slavic fairytales.

Simply because I think they’re neat.

They are familiar yet exotic, which is the feeling I want to capture when exploring the worlds we create when we play D&D.

2. Capture the Principles of My Three Favorite OSR Books

I want to take the principles of my three favorite OSR books and boil them down into something distillable.

Monster Overhaul by Skerples

From Monster Overhaul, I want the idea of an endlessly useful bestiary. I want omens. I want monster-specific treasure. I want names and behaviors for my monsters. I want my monsters to feel new and unique each time they appear at the table.

Yoon-Suin by Noisms (David McGrogan)

From Yoon-Suin, I want the idea of a setting toolkit and a multitude of structured random tables. I want this setting to be as low-prep or zero-prep as possible, while still being something that is truly owned by the table at play.

Kaz-Kaz should evoke the ethos of a fairytale for everyone who plays it. It should feel familiar to each table, but also entirely unique.

Like for instance, did you know the Russians had their own version of Beauty and the Beast? Because, I didn’t!

The Folklore Bestiary by the Merry Mushmen

From The Folklore Bestiary, I’ve learned how to preserve the wonder and whimsy of fairytales in a functional stat block. This book is ultimately going to be a guiding light; a star in the night sky.

3. Use Appendix N as a Principle

Part of what made AD&D so impressionable; and what still makes Yoon-Suin so impressionable to this day, was Appendix N.

So why not follow in the footsteps of Yoon-Suin and create my own Appendix N? One based almost exclusively on Slavic fairytales, with some textbooks on medieval culture and a bit of Robert E. Howard’s Conan for good measure.

Fairytales were the original fantasy stories, yet they were grounded and felt real. They captured the same feeling I get when I read Tolkien.

4. Code-ify the Magic of 1:1 Time

They knew about it in the 80s: Rick Stump, Glenn Pulsipher, and Rients. Now it’s a big deal again. The BROSR, Questing Beast, Rick Stump (again lol); all of these public figures are talking about this principle of play.

So why not take all these important dates (festivals, good days, bad days, day when hunting is good or bad, date of the harvest) I’m learning about from reading fairytales and medieval history textbooks, and turn them into fully referenceable calendars that you and I can use in real time at the table? Days that effect how the game is played.

This is probably my loftiest goal; but it’s also the one I’m most excited about.

So, What’s Next?

So yeah; that’s what I’ve been up to.

The road for this setting is long and drawn out. I don’t see even a private playtest on the horizon yet. But I’m way too deep to stop now. I’ve spent too much time reading, drawing, and doing a small bit of writing to give up. BUT, I’m also at a point where I can’t keep quiet about this anymore.

Going forward, I plan to post weekly. Each post will either cover what I’m currently working on, what I’m finding most interesting, or things I’ve already completed: art I’ve made, stat blocks I’ve written, the Appendix N of Kaz-Kaz, spin-off projects, or even my struggles with AI and it's use in this project (Something I started with but have decided I no longer want to use).

Who knows?

The goal is one blog post a week, always tying back to Kaz-Kaz and/or Myrth (the world which I've set Kaz-Kaz and its Mountians, Rivers, Forests, and Steppes within).

I hope you enjoy reading :)
-RH