A short video (about 9mins) of me talking through a copy of Crypts & Things
Pre-order still open – now 50% towards the goal with one and half months to go! If we reach the goal everyone who pre-orders gets the first module for the game free!
Its time to go to Furnace, my annual pilgrimage to this two day con in Sheffield UK.
Last year I started what I hope will become an annual tradition, the Saturday night Old School D&D game.
In 2010 I ran the Furnace, using Labyrinth Lord, which was a ton of gonzo fun in a “quick run over here, kill this and save the world” sort of way. A lot of the high spirited epic S&S action of that game inspired me to write C&T, and it should be one of the first things that gets written up and released for that game. It was however very linear, so for a complete change of pace I’ll be going all Sandbox this year with the following offering:
The Eternal City of Damnation
“Once the glorious capital of a world wide empire, betrayed to Demons by an arrogant Emperor who traded his citizens souls for immortality, the City of Eternal Damnation offers riches and secrets to those willing to risk their very soul in the pursuit of them in its ruined streets.Terror, Fear, Demons from the Otherworlds, Evil Sorcerers, Swashbuckling Fighters, Noble Barbarians, canny Rogues, all await you in this Swords and Sorcery adventure set in the decaying ruins of a once great city.”
This is going to be my ‘mega-dungeon’ which I’ll bring out at cons, or with my home group when when we are short of a game. A vast ruin of an ancient city,filled with weird encounters and mini-dungeons. Presently no plans to publish, just a scruffy pile of notes and head of ideas.
A full report when I get back from Furnace 🙂
Crypts and Things is now available to pre-order via IndieGoGo.com, in a variety of formats.
See the following link for more details.
Couple of notes
When will I get the game?
The pre-order ends on December 2nd, so print copies will start shipping shortly after that.
However every pre-order will get a Pdf copy as soon as the final proof is done, which is due to be mid-October.
NOTE: The game will not go on general release until I’ve shipped the last of the pre-orders.
T-shirt
If you like the front cover I’m doing a pre-order package which includes a limited edition T-shirt with it on it.
If the Goal is exceeded
Seeing as I’m using IndieGoGo.com for this, there’s a goal set for funds raised. One of the incentives to pre-order, rather than shamble along later and order when its on general release in Dec, is that if that goal is exceeded everyone effectively gets the first adventure module for the game, Blood of the Dragon, a sand box adventure for low levels.
First layout draft has gone to proof and final check.
Expect a preorder later this week/early next (details to follow) 🙂
The Dark God of Left is pleased 😀
Ok so the cover I’ve been showing for Crypts & Things has merely been a placeholder.
Here’s the real deal, drawn by the very talented Jon Hodgson
Bonus points if you can nail who the inspiration behind the axe wielding barbarian is (and no its not a certain Mr Conan 😉 ).
OK I’m thinking about doing away with the Max no of Languages column against Intelligence, and instead replacing it with a percentage called “Chance to understand other language”. Rather than the player picking from a long list of languages, with the max number being set by their Intelligence, every time they come across a language other than their mother tongue they roll against this percentage. I fell this would simplify play, make INT a bit more useful, and be in keeping with Crypts and Things setting Zarth which as an ancient dying world many millenia old has many dead or near dead languages of empires/cultures long gone to dust.
But I’m interested in your views.
So vote now!
[poll id=”2″]
Ok so the playtest for Crypts & Things finished a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to those who participated, I have taken your very useful feedback into consideration and it will be informing the updated and polished version that I’m working on.
Main areas I’m looking at;
Spells – I’ll be making some tweaks to spells such as Sleep and Charm Person, which playtesters felt where a bit over powered. I’m also going to be adding new spells.  C&T breaks spells into three lists; Black (Bad evil magic, spells that do damage, summon evil creatures), White (Healing spells, spells that protect you from harm and are generally) and Grey. It became clear to me that this is an area where I could spend a little bit more time for development for some great affect. So all three lists are getting filled out a bit more with around 20 new spells.
Magic Items – It was felt that the magic items list was a bit too damn short, so I went to my lair and came up with some more twisted and sick items to mess with your player characters. Such is the Crypt and Things way, muhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaa 🙂
Sanity rules & Damage Rules – Not so much a rewrite here, more making sure that these rules are clear and unambiguous.
New Cover – the cover I’ve been previous touting is not going to be the final cover. Instead I’ll use that for a future supplement I already have in mind. The overwhelmingly positive feedback I’ve had from people, which has been along the lines of “I WANT THIS GAME!” :), has convinced me that sticking my hands in my pockets and getting Jon Hodgson, awesome artist and good friend of D101 Games, to do a full cover for C&T. Remember this is the man who did the covers for OpenQuest and Life and Death, and he’s very excited about the art direction that I’ve given him 🙂
Until the Crypts and Things playtest ends that is. Already got some really good feedback about the game from a couple of the playtesters and once the playtest is over I’ll collate the ideas into a single doc, mull it over and tweak and amend where necessary. Overall C&T held water quite well, just a couple of areas where some clarity is needed in the text and a few spells (Sleep, Charm and Magic Missile I’m looking at you) which need tweaking.
Then its a weekend of polishing and care for C&T, then onwards for Sept/Oct release. Quite keen to get this one out the door and curious to see what people make of the final product.
Overall its been a Maximum Gaming Fun experience for all involved so far 🙂
Tell me where this quote comes from
“He has had a special suit of platemail forged that allows the molestation of females without its removal”
…and no its not Beavis and Butthead do D&D 😉