Fiendish Friday: Stretch Goals and Add-ons for the Kickstarter

OK here it is the final FF before the Crypts and Things Kickstarter opens this Sunday March 1st.

Last time out I said that I would talk about the stretch goals.

Stretch 1. More Fiends
About 40 or so, depending how excited I get. This really was my favourite bit of the book last time round, so I’m revving my self up to do this 🙂 I’m looking to add a few more subtle horrors as well.  Things that once the players rush in to fight them, they wish they hadn’t afterwards.

Stretch 2. Spells and Magic items
I’ll still be keeping the familiar vanilla spells in there, since it’s a big design goal that if you are familiar with Old School D&D (or any D&D for that matter) you can easily pick up and play C&T. However there is room and scope to add more spells that really bring White and Black Magic into high-definition, without sacrificing this familiarity. I’ve also 25 or so magic items that didn’t make it into the final cut last time out. They aren’t bad by any means but I had run out of development time. So if we hit this Stretch goal I’ll finish this off. I also want to do intelligent weapons, the right way ! So we are talking Demon Swords and the like, the siblings of Stormbringer.

Stretch 3. Greater Others and their Cultists
These are the big bads of Zarth. These will be presented as a write-up of the warped and twisted religions that follow them, which if relevant will give stats not only of the Greater Other itself, but also the creatures and Cultists that follow it, and associated Magics that come from it.

Stretch 4. Zarth Revealed
I purposely kept the setting, Zarth, light in the original release. Its flavoursome enough to give enough inspiration, but I got a lot of feedback asking for more detail. If we reach this goal, I’ll add a layer of details, such as adventure seeds, important NPCS in a nice Gazeeter.

Addons
As well as the existing Adventures (Blood of the Dragon and Tomb of the Necromancers) I’m also offering up a conversion of the existing OpenQuest adventure Life and Death as an add-on in both pdf and print. This is a four-part epic where the adventurer’s actions decide the very fate of the world. It’s a bit more of a story driven experience than a standard Dungeon Crawl, but there’s lot in-built into the structure to prevent this from being a railroading experience.  Also its much bigger than the previous C&T adventures releases clocking in at just over 100 pages.

So that’s it until the Kickstarter starts this Sunday….

Oh except these two character pieces by David M. Wright, the Fighter and Barbarian respectively 🙂

C&TBarbFighter

Previous posts about Crypts & Things Remastered

Test Your Luck – A preview of a new mechanic that should be familiar to fans of Fighting Fantasy 🙂

Art Preview – I show off some of the awesome art already done for the new game by David Micheal Wright.

Why Crypts and Things Remastered?  –  a bit of the history of the game’s intial development and why I’m redoing it, the scope of the redevelopment and what’s going to be in the stretch goals.

Crypts and Things Remastered Kick Starter opens March 1st The cover in all its glory.

The Sorcerer The revised Magician class (because one of the biggest bits of feedback I got was that I should change the name to the Sorcerer). Look close and you’ll see some of the system changes in the class description.

Magicians of Zarth. Other types of magic users in the setting. Note these are non-player character types, and will be written up as monsters.

Life and Death for Crypts and Things

lifeanddeathZE_webQuick post…before I run off to do other things with the day.

As an add-on for the upcoming Crypts and Things Remaster Kickstarter (opens Sunday March 1st).  A Crypts & Things version of Life and Death.

NOTE: if you backed the IndieGoGo preorder back in 2011 for the first edition of C&T you’ll get this add-on automatically for free when you back Remastered as a thank you for backing the game the first time round and continuing your support 🙂

Fiendish Friday: Test your Luck!

Ok so it’s not actually Friday, but I’ve asked the Sorcerer to bend time and space so we can have another preview of Crypts and Things Remastered, this time of a new ruling: LUCK.

One thing that began to fall flat with me after a while was having a single Saving Throw Number (as per Swords & Wizardry which C&T is based off). When I was doing my ‘literature review’ for C&T remastered I reread some of the early Fighting Fantasy books, I suddenly remembered Testing Your Luck and how it was a very British way of doing Saving Throws. It also fits nicely with the whole Swords and Sorcery genre. So here’s my expanded version which also allows for Class Based Luck Tests, which gives yet another layer of things that the classes can do.

Note this is a prototype that is going through playtesting with external playtesters at the moment. While feedback so far is overwhelmingly positive, it may get tweaked for the final version.

LUCK
This is a measure of the character’s innate quality to avoid trouble, stumble across useful items and have just the right thing happen at the right time. It is tested over the course of the adventure and decreases as the character gets fatigued and tired. Eventually even the most Lucky character will run out of Luck. To generate Luck roll 1D6 and add six (giving starting range of a range of 7-12). Every three levels add one point of Luck.

TESTING LUCK
During an adventure a character may be asked to “Test their Luck” by the Referee by rolling a 2D6 and getting lower or equal than their current Luck score. If they do so they get Lucky, deduct 1 point from their Luck. If they fail their roll they suffer the consequences of being Unlucky, but do not lose any Luck.
Example situations for Testing Luck

  • Avoiding or reducing the effects of a spell.
  • Dodging falling masonry, sweeping blades and other traps.
  • Avoiding suffering the effects of Poisons or Disease.
  • Just happening to have an item that the character could reasonably have on their person due to wealth, class and skills.
  • Slipping away unnoticed from a fight involving multiple combatants unnoticed until the fight ends.

Luck can also be tested to avoid the adverse effects of a failed skill roll.

For example a character fails a Skill check while jumping a deep ravine. If they succeed a Luck Test they narrowly catch a nearby ledge. Or a Thief misses their Hide roll and is potentially spotted by a passing guard, but on a successful Luck Test the Guard grunts dismissively and moves on.

CLASS BASED LUCK TESTS
Each class has unique ways of using Luck. Unlike usual Luck tests if the character is Unlucky they do not suffer any consequences.

FIGHTER
Cleave. When a fighter kills an opponent in combat, they can attack an adjacent foe on a successful Luck Test the Fighter has hit the next target. The Fighter can carry on Testing Luck until they fail or run out of adjacent opponents.
Maximum Damage. On a successful hit and the Fighter may Test their Luck. If successful then they do Maximum possible damage with their weapon.

THIEF
Thieves are renowned for their lucky nature and they have a very powerful luck that can almost magically bend reality.
Improve their situation. Luck can be tested to improve the situation that the Thief is currently in. For example a Thief finds himself manacled in a dismal dungeon cell. On a successful Luck test the Thief finds that the jailer has accidentally forgotten to lock the manacles properly. A Thief can continue to test their luck to improve their situation until they fail.
Friends in low places. On a successful Luck test one of the Thieves contacts, either from previous jobs or the communities they work in, appears on the scene to help the Thief out.

SORCERER
Retain Spell. The character may test their Luck immediately after casting a Spell. If they are lucky then the character does not forget the spell.
Lucky Knowledge. Sorcerers are so steeped in learning lore from dusty old books and obscure sources, that on a successful Luck Test they just knows a fact pertinent to the current situation or can speak an unknown language with just enough linguistic phrases to quickly converse with a creature or decode a piece of writing.

BARBARIAN
Blood Rage. When a Barbarian takes damage they may Test their Luck. If succeed gain +1 to hit and damage. This bonus adds to other modifiers and can be taken more than once (I.e. each time the Barbarian gets hit they may Test their Luck and a get an additional +1). This means that if they are consistently Lucky a wounded Barbarian can quickly get a large bonus and become quite deadly when hurt.
One with the Wilderness. Barbarians are most at home when they are in the wilderness. If they successfully test their Luck they find their way (i.e. stop being lost) and find enough food and water to sustain themselves.

REGAINING LUCK
Luck potions/magical effects. Certain magics can restore Luck when activated.
For example: A Potion of Luck (a pale blue liquid in a small glass vial) restores 1D6 Luck when drunk. The Amulet of Skarlos the Slippery (an ancient bronze medallion that only works when worn over a bare chest) can be called to restore 1D4 Luck twice a day.

Through resting. Each full hour fully rested without any interruption restores 1 Luck Point.

After the end of the adventure, all Luck points are restored in time for the next hazardous exploration.

More next Friday…when I preview some of the stretch goal material.

Previous posts about Crypts & Things Remastered

Art Preview – I show off some of the awesome art already done for the new game by David Micheal Wright.

Why Crypts and Things Remastered?  –  a bit of the history of the game’s intial development and why I’m redoing it, the scope of the redevelopment and what’s going to be in the stretch goals.

Crypts and Things Remastered Kick Starter opens March 1st The cover in all its glory.

The Sorcerer The revised Magician class (because one of the biggest bits of feedback I got was that I should change the name to the Sorcerer). Look close and you’ll see some of the system changes in the class description.

Magicians of Zarth. Other types of magic users in the setting. Note these are non-player character types, and will be written up as monsters.

Empires of Ys

Crypts and Things is not the only OSR game D101 is working on/releasing this year.

Ladies and Gentlemen may I introduce you to The Empires of Ys.

Empire of Ys is a roleplaying game of worlds-spanning fantasy. The rules are built up from an Old School core based on loosely on the world’s first fantasy roleplaying game, but heavily tailored to fit the setting.

At the centre is the city of Ys, a corrupt and baroque fantasy city occupying a folded dimension of its own. Magical gateways created by the Guild of the Arcane link Ys to other worlds. On some these worlds the city has set up permanent colonies. Ysian raiders, traders and explorers reach further afield. The heart of Ys is rotten. Its overlord, the Autarch, is literally a monster. His immediate underlings, his Agents, sow discord in the city, and can hunt and feed on the city’s less prominent citizens with no fear of punishment. He leaves the apparatus of government and the rule of law to crumble and divides the power structures in the city among conflicted guilds, ensuring that no-one can depose him.

Yet to the adventurous and unscrupulous, Ys presents opportunities as well as dangers. Perhaps a few heroes can even make a difference to the city and its empire as a whole. Welcome to Ys!

By Paul Mitchener, co-Author of the Crucible of the Dragons, Age of Arthur and author of the Drowned Lands. Visit his Imaginarium.

Fiendish Friday: Art preview

So its week 2 of 4 of the Crypts and Things Remastered previews and here’s a sneak peak of the art.

First off here’s two flavors of Sorcerers (the revised Magician class)

Grey Sorcerer by D.M.Wright

Grey Sorcerer by D.M.Wright

Sorcerer by David Micheal Wright

Sorcerer by David Micheal Wright

These typical of the black and white pieces that will be the majority of the internal art.

But every once in a while there’s going to be a full page grey scale scene, like this…

crypts-and-things-scrolls-Web

Section page for Player’s Section of Crypts and Things by David M. Wright

More next week…

Previous posts about Crypts & Things Remastered
Why Crypts and Things Remastered?  –  a bit of the history of the game’s intial development and why I’m redoing it, the scope of the redevelopment and what’s going to be in the stretch goals.

Crypts and Things Remastered Kick Starter opens March 1st The cover in all its glory.

The Sorcerer The revised Magician class (because one of the biggest bits of feedback I got was that I should change the name to the Sorcerer). Look close and you’ll see some of the system changes in the class description.

Magicians of Zarth. Other types of magic users in the setting. Note these are non-player character types, and will be written up as monsters.

Fiendish Friday: Why Crypts and Things Remastered?

Well the Kick starter for Crypts and Things Remastered kicks off 1st March. Each Friday before the KS starts, traditionally known as Fiendish Friday in these parts, I’ll be publishing a small article about the upcoming game, previewing new rules, teasing you with bits of art etc.  But first off I’m going to explain why a new version.

A bit about the origins of C&T . It was written in late 2011/early 2012, a time of my life when I was very pessimistic about the way that world was going and very ill on a lot of levels. Life was crap and the bleak harsh world of Zarth reflects that. I remember reading Grognardia and a lot of the US OSR blogs and reading again and again the sheer reverence for the Swords and Sorcery worlds of Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E Howard and Micheal Moorcock, with a dollop of HP Lovecraft. “Oh why doesn’t someone do a OSR OD&D Swords and Sorcery game?” came the cry from the blog sphere. Well I was off work ill with a wonderful skin infection that had turned my leg an angry shade of red. I was ill and I was pissed off and I had just discovered the simple joys of Swords and Wizardry and its System Resource Document. So I used my time off work and channeled my anger (in a positive way) into hacking out the first version of Crypts and Things from the Swords & Wizardry SRD, adding to it from my particular vision of Swords & Sorcery, which is more British Grimdark,  drawing from very early 80s  UK OSR (first handful of Fighting Fantasy books and early White Dwarf, the period up to the mid eighties ). Within six months I had my prototype game and after a short period of play testing it was up for pre-order via IndieGoGo.com, with it finally being in general release a year after I had started to hammer it out.  Which is insanely fast for me (OQ 1 took about two years and Monkey took 15 years!).

Then it was a hit. A slow burning one, but its D101’s best seller by a long way (although pleasingly for personal reasons Monkey is not far behind), so I started working on follow up material. Distracted by other projects, I’ve only managed to knuckle under and release two modules (Blood of the Dragon in 2012 & Tomb of the Necromancers in 2013) to date. So early last year I took stock of what I was doing with the Crypts and Things line. It became clear that I’ve moved on greatly as a publisher since C&T came out back in early 2012. The OpenQuest 2 crowdfunding campaign was the watershed for raising the bar of what was possible for me to publish (so if you contributed to that campaign you’ll always have a special place in my heart). River of Heaven pushed that forward even further. Also about a year after C&T was released I came across the work of David M. Wright, who for me is my dream artist for C&T. I immediately bought the cover that graces Tomb of the Necromancers and started talking to him about the possibility of doing more work for the game. With the success of the River of Heaven on Kickstarter it slowly dawned on me I could fund a complete remaster of C&T via that platform.

Which is where we are now. So what is the current draft (which all KS funders will get immediately) like?

Art. The art in C&T is a mixed bag. Its basically stock-art bought from the now defunct Illodeli.com (a collective of UK artists that was headed up by Cubicle Severn supremo Jon Hodgson) with my mate John Ossoway & Steven Austin (who I discovered via a quick search through Redbubble.com) filling in the gaps. I stand by everything I put in the book, and if nothing else I’ll be hanging on to my 1st ed copy as an Art book, but the overall tone is eclectic and a bit disconnected, which I kinda dug at the time.  David M.Wright is going to do the entire book, so it will have a delicious dark consistency and tone throughout.

Words. A full edit of the book, and streamlining of the rules. Personally there’s a few rules in C&T that I never use in my home game, the Sanity/Corruption rules for example, because they involve a bit too much bean counting rather than simple Roll and Effect which I prefer (OpenQuest for example is built around this concept). They have been recast into something more straightforward. Also the mash up of my words with Swords & Wizardry’s was far far from harmonious, so a full edit (at least two passes) is on the cards.

Mega Gaming Fun. This is the overall effect of the above changes. Over the years there have been some kind words said about Crypts & Things which have made me painfully aware of some of its shortcomings. With the basic goal I’m seeking to address these issues and make it a much more fun game to play.

So where could go we with the Kickstarter if it funds?

Ok if we get the basic funding goal I’m planning the following stretch goals.

More Fiends. David was hospitalised for a brief spell last year and bashed thirty or so sketches of monsters that are just begging to be finished and made into C&T fiends.  The C&T Compendium of Fiends was one of my favorite sections of the book to write so I’m really hoping this funds.

More Spells & magic items. I’m kinda happy with the Spell Lists as they are, but if we reach this stretch goal I get to revisit the Spell lists and add some more twisted and dark magic into the mix.

The Great Others and their Cultists. I hinted at the presence of these terrifying demons/gods but never detailed them in the 1st edition.  If we reach this stretch goal I’ll detail them in all their gory glory and David will illustrate them. If you remember Dealing with Demons by Dave Morris from White Dwarf this is what I’m aiming at 😉

Zarth Revealed. The current Continent of Terror chapter would go into the Players Section and I write a new world guide for the Crypt Keeper’s section. This will focus on the secrets and provide more adventure ideas for each location, as well as encounter tables.

I have more ideas , but they are rather vague at the moment and I want to keep some surprises for the campaign 😉

More next Friday…