Category Archives: Crypts & Things

Fiendish Friday: New stretch goals for C&T Remastered

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We are currently 65% towards the Stretch Goal of More Fiends on the Crypts and Things Remastered Kickstarter.

As promised here are some of the stretch goals if the Kickstarter continues to go up and up 🙂

NEW! Stretch Goal 2: The Haunted Lands (ÂŁ5000)
Visit the mysterious village of Wimble on the edge of the Haunted Lands, then explore this small section of Weirdlands, inhabited by scheming witches, undead horrors and other sinister fiends best left alone. What is the secret of Windy Mildark’s Windmill? What happens if you touch the Black Stone Monolith that stands on the edge of Wimble? Are those White Pyramids I can see in the distance and who was Ef and why does he get a statue? All this awaits you in this example Weirdlands crawl.

If we reach this stretch goal I will write up this short Weirdlands adventure to show how you can run adventures beyond the crypt.

NEW! Stretch Goal 3: Port Blackmire (ÂŁ5500)
“This is an ancient and vile city, ruled by the Pirate King Xanos. Corruption is rife, murder is common, and only Xanos’ blood chilling pacts with Demons keep the numerous gangs under his total control. It is surrounded by “The Black Mire”. This vast and festering swamp is choked with the ruins of a civilisation that predates even that of Myrindor. It is said the gods choked it with its own bile for some slight against them. It is home to pirates and gangs of cutthroats, who use the swamps to mount raids against the rest of the Free Territories.”

Every Swords and Sorcery setting needs a city, where adventurers can rest easy and squander their ill begotten gains between adventures, or perhaps get  dragged into unexpected capers in their home town. If we reach this goal, I will detail and map a living city that can be used for city based adventures and as somewhere for the adventurers to call home.

Crypts and Things now with EXPANDED CONTENT

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So I was having a bit of a tidy up on the Crypts and Things Kickstarter, it suddenly stuck me that my stretch goals where not big chunks of work (as I’ve done a fair bit on them any way) and they’d be better off folded into the Basic Goal to give those people who want the Remastered version to have more expanded/new content.

So all this will now be included in the Basic Goal (as well as the streamlined/new rules).

Expanded Life paths. C&T currently has a small twenty entry table that you roll on three times to give your character’s previous experience. Both fans of the current game and play testers of the current Beta say this is not enough, so I’m expanding this idea.

More Spells & Magic Items. I’ll be to revisit the Spell lists and Magic Items chapters 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. I’ll detail them in all their gory glory and David will illustrate them.

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

This leaves only More Fiends as a current stretch goal, but I’ve now lowered the goal to ÂŁ4500, because we’ve had such a positive take up of the Patrons of the Art backer level.

To replace the stretch goals I’ve now folded into the Basic Goal I’ve got a couple of ideas, but I’m going to keep them under my hat until I’ve thought them out properly.

I’ve also added a Add-On for extra copies at low cost, and if you are a Retailer or know a retailer who’d be interested in stocking C&T I’ve added free copies of Blood of the Dragon adventure to the Retail reward level.

Please let others know about this, especially those who’ve looked at the campaign before.

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

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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

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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!

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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.