Welcome, Delver, to theWhispers of the Deep backroom event! We are thrilled to be launching our first new game of 2025.

At the core of these Backroom launches is one single goal: to launch new products and support an indie product by giving it a platform to get out into the world.

And this is where you come in! We often launch these games WITHOUT using kickstarter and wear all the costs ourselves. This is because we believe in making sure we deliver these products in a timely and efficient manner and keeping the overall scope of the project in check. Sustainable and achievable goals are the cornerstone for our game launches. By pre-ordering these amazing products, you are helping support indie content and making sure the future of tabletop gaming is looking bright!

Our sincere thanks,
BSS Team

Dive into the
sunken city of Tolkas

Welcome to Whispers of the Deep, a skirmish game set in the flooded ruins of Tolkas. In this game, you command a Delver—a mystic soul bound to a physical vessel—and a band of hired Fellows as you face off against another player in a head-to-head search for lost treasure.

Each game of Whispers of the Deep is played on a 2x2 tabletop with 2-3 miniatures per side. You’ll dive into ruined terrain, mine treasure, and survive encounters with spirits that emerge as the game’s danger level rises. Making use of a simple D8 dice system, each unit has a small range of stats. Move, Brains, Brawn and Armor. Your stat will tell you how many D8s to roll.

As you create more chaos, the spirits grow more aggressive, drawing random event cards and triggering unpredictable threats.

The Whispers of the Deep Core rulebook includes:

  • Full core rules with all the elements you need to play.  
  • Story and lore about the world of Tolkas.
  • Warband building rules.
  • Rules for building your own Delver.
  • Items and treasure lists
  • Full rules for running a campaign of linked games.

Simple D8 Dice Mechanics

Each unit has a small range of stats. Move, Brains, Brawn and Armor. Your stat will tell you how many dice to roll. Making actions and combat easy to learn and fast-paced.

Full Color Hardback Book

Featuring tons of amazing artwork and gorgeous layout, we have poured tons of passion and love into this project. All of this art was made with our own hands, no AI!

Grid-Based Stash System

Your inventory isn’t just a list, it’s a puzzle. Every unit has a stash grid, a physical representation of what they can carry. Treasure, weapons, and gear come in varied shapes and sizes, forcing you to make tough choices on what to carry. The core rules will come with tokens to represent all the items and treasure in the game!

Tracking Danger

Sound matters. Actions generate Noise, and Noise draws the Spirits closer. Every swing, shout, or splash might bring the Deep one step closer. A rising Danger Tracker will increase the power of your treasure, but beware, it will also grow the power of your enemies.

A large figure sits beside a smaller figure walking toward it.

Introducing the BSS Permapacks

In addition we have a small collection of Miniature and Terrain STLs, letting you print your own spirits, Delvers, and terrain straight from your own 3D printer. This is the first debut of our new PERMAPACKS. Core digital products that will receive additional updates over time.

Campaign Play

Full campaign rules (Written by Matt Burns) let you link games, upgrade your Delvers, manage your stash between expeditions, and uncover the deeper horrors of Tolkas one game at a time.

Launch Bundles

Single Products

STRETCH GOALS

We're keeping it pretty simple.

  • If a goal upgrades the book, all books will come with that upgrade
  • If a new sculpt is unlocked, this will be added to one of the 2 digital permapacks. These items will not be added to the physical print on demand set.
  • If enough sculpts are unlocked, we will unlock an additional physical print on demand set

Backroom FAQ

Nothing about pre-ordering this product should be scary or daunting. We are always available to answer any questions you may have via our Contact page. However, we've compiled a bit of info for you here of some questions we anticipate. If you don't see an answer, let us know, and we may add the response below as well as clarify anything we can to you directly!

WHAT IS A BACKROOM?

Black Site Backroom events are a launch event for some of our bigger products. While we have unlockable goals that will be added to tier I and II for during this event, all the products are in our scope for production regardless of the success. The main goal of a backroom is to build a solid foundation of sales and allow the community to push the product into an even greater state,  

 

WHEN WILL THIS BE SHIPPING?

FULFILMENT DATES

  • Beta PDF is set for summer 2025
  • Production is August 2025
  • This would put delivery at around September/October 2025

    DELAYS
    Delays can happen, and we want to be 100% transparent with you about them. We specifically tailor our launches to remove as many variables as possible and generally if delays happen they are counted in weeks and not multiple months/years. To give you an example of a delay timeframe, Yafsiga was slated to begin fulfillment in November but ended up shipping in early January.

IS THIS THE FINAL PRODUCT?

We have done our very best to make sure that the digital renders of these products are as close as possible to the final items. This is always based on conversations we have had with our factory partners and represent the most up-to-date information we have.  

There is always the chance that things may change slightly due to manufacturing constraints.

We'll make sure to keep folks updated during our weekly live streams on how the project is progressing.

WHAT ARE THE STRETCH GOALS?

Throughout the backroom event, we'll be unlocking a few free stretch goals. Check that section of this page for more info!

 

WILL I BE CHARGED IMMEDIATELY?

Yes. Our backroom projects do not rely on customer funding to actually come to fruition so any orders placed during this backroom event are considered preorders. Many of the components and products are already in production, with any unlocks or last minute additions added to the queue before the end of the event.


Refunds

We are generally more than happy to offer refunds after the backroom event closes. But, once products are in production and things are getting close to shipping we may choose, at our discretion, to deny refund requests.

How do I updated my address?

You can email us any time to update your address, it is your responsibility to maintain a current address with us.


HOW WILL I GET UPDATES?

We stream every Thursday around 2PM CST on our twitch channel, twitch.tv/bssterrain. We run through every single outstanding project and give folks comprehensive updates. They then get posted to our production updates page here.

We don't post production updates or any information about these things on our facebook, insta or in any groups. Once a backroom has concluded, this will be the sole source of info. (you can of course always email us or hit us up in the discord! https://discord.gg/7bJVF5GmPG