And then, your eye rests on something new. Two tiny sigils, neatly hewn into the rock, barely visible in the orange glow of your torch.

Waving greasy smoke aside, you peer closer. Two runes: Yila and Toloss . . . But what do they mean? You try to remember what the wizard Vordret taught you of rune-lore. "To the Dwarves," he said, "Yila is the rune of power, just as it is for us . . . But to dwarves, power is the fire of the forge, and the gold drawn from the mountains." The Dwarvish word for fire, he told you, is the same as the dwarvish word for gold. And Toloss . . . that's the rune of secrecy . . . but it's also a rune of death.

Secret gold? Or death by fire? Are the runes a warning, or a promise? And what's that sudden snapping noise when you step on the loose flagstone . . ?

• TrueType Fonts: You get the Temphis Runes in eight distinct visual styles, ranging from traditional rough-hewn "runic" through handwritten and calligraphic styles, and even the "printed" styles of Temphis Watermark and Temphis Astrologer. There are nine TrueType fonts in all, one for each of the eight styles, plus a bonus "fixed-width" version of Temphis Sans for special graphic-design needs.
• Magic and Folklore: The runes aren't just an alphabet, they're an ancient series of glyphs rich in symbolic meaning. The humans associate each glyph with personality traits; the dwarves carve them into weapons, crowns and stonework to awaken specific elements and forces. Nobody sees the runes in quite the same way, but everybody knows they have power. The set includes an entertaining seven-page guide to the runes that describes rune groupings, the legends behind them (like the tales of Flori the Thief and Baggod the Warrior, each symbolized in the glyphs) as well as specific interpretations for each symbol.
• Rune Cards: You get a PDF file of "Rune-Cards" that you can print on your own printer. We don't all have time to carve our own runestones - but with these handy cards, you can perform in-game fortuntelling, leave subtle clues, or even randomly generate adventure plots!
• Uresian Secrets: The Temphis Runes are for any fantasy campaign, but it's by the author of Uresia: Grave of Heaven! The histories and folklore included in this set are 100% compatible with Uresia, and include new insights into the cultures and history not found in the worldbook.
• And More! The Rune Guide includes everything you need to know to use the runes as your campaign's fantasy alphabet, as well as GMing advice to help you get the most from your runes.

The Temphis Runes is sold as a set including all eight fonts (Windows TrueType format) and both PDFs (the Rune Cards and Rune Guide), but if you want to make sure the quality is up to your standards as well as ours, download the Free Sampler, first. It contains a special rune-sample font with glyphs from every design in the set, as well as pages from each of the PDF files. You can find it right now on the Free Downloads Page. For more fun freebies, explore the rest of the Cumberland Games website, including the Free Stuff of the Moment page. And if you like Uresia stuff, don't forget to snag the Uresia Arcana sampler, and take a look at Caravel, a new "chapter" of Uresian lore!

If you like what you see, you can buy The Temphis Runes online via DriveThruRPG.