Rogue · Investigator
Nyx
Find the exits. Count the lies. Save the idiots.
The Flagship Realm
Commonly Known as
The Rusty Tankard
A fantasy mystery-comedy series where the same party tackles systems that work too well, and every escape costs something.
Every inn has a rumour. Every village has a rule. Every rule is about to become their problem.
The Quest Board
Choose your next disaster
Each mystery stands on its own. Start at the beginning for every bad decision, recurring grievance, and goat-related vote.
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A broke adventuring party, a furious mountain of a man, and a snowbound tavern full of terrible alibis—this free prequel mystery gives the Rusty Tankards one very bad night.
View book →Fantasy Mystery Book 1 -
A comedic fantasy mystery about a village that is impossibly welcoming—where every path is swept, every smile is warm, and every invitation to stay feels a little too sincere.
View book →Fantasy Mystery Book 2 -
A grand dinner at Babbington Manor ends in an impossible locked-room murder. With every guest guarding a secret, Nyx and her misfit companions must untangle the evidence before the household chooses its own culprit.
View book →Fantasy Mystery Book 3 -
Recently ReleasedThey traded a fortune for a leaking boat, two jobs, and the worst deal anyone has ever called a good deal. On Venara, every beach is perfect, every smile is constant, and Nyx does not trust a single thing.
View book →Fantasy Mystery Book 4
Meet the Company
Four adventurers.
One goat. No good plan.
They rarely agree on the plan, the name of the party, or whether the goat gets a vote. They do agree that leaving each other behind would be rude.
Open the party journal 
Paladin · Paperwork Pending
Rolan
Sandy-blond, sincere, and already halfway into a speech.
Pyromancer · Hazard
Fizzle
Every fire is educational if you stand far enough back.
Barbarian · Poet
Bash
Carries the gear. Writes the haiku. Breaks the door.
Goat · Deciding Vote
Gerald
Eats the evidence. Rejects the grass. Usually knows first.
Other Realms
Step through another doorway
Different worlds. The same fondness for institutions that are functioning exactly as designed—and should not be.
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Dante wanted to be somebody. He should have been more specific. Now he owns the worst bar in Asura, employs a workforce that does not strictly qualify as living, and owes a debt that cannot be settled in money.
View book →Comic Fantasy -
In a hidden retirement community for defeated dark lords and mad scientists, a newly deposed emperor refuses to retire and triggers a crisis that could collapse the only place built to contain them.
View book →Comic Fantasy -
Six wiseguys. One medieval city. Zero questions asked. When six New York mobsters walk out of a Hell's Kitchen basement into a city of knights and guilds, they do not look for a way home. They look for the angles.
View book →Comic Fantasy
A Letter from Beyond the Map
Free stories for fellow travellers
Receive lost adventures, new-release announcements, and occasional news from the Rusty Tankard crew. The first short stories are being prepared now.
No daily ravens. Leave the list whenever you like.
About the Author
Julian Herschel
Darkly comic fantasy mysteries where strange systems look polite on the surface and rotten underneath.
Julian Herschel writes fantasy-mystery adventures centered on isolated places that seem to work too well—until the cracks show.