A perilous adventure unearthing the dark arcana behind Sword & Sorcery’s iconic tabletop roleplaying game
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Project Updates + a promise not to blow up your cost
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Jul 19, 2023 at 09:58:26 AM
Hey All,
I had planned on writing an update around July 4th but that weekend I got hit with a terrible (I mean really TERRIBLE) chest cold. It wasn't COVID, but I was laid-out for almost two weeks. I've finally started feeling better over the last few days and am getting caught up. Before we get into the project updates, I just wanted to address a concern one backer expressed—which is worth clarifying for all: despite all the upgrades and additions we have been announcing post-campaign, this will not change the price we charge you during pledge management for your rewards.
When I first read that question it seemed a little absurd to me because of course we would never do that ... but then I remembered a very high profile board game creator on Kickstarter who has done almost exactly that: asking backers for a lot more money post-campaign (after they already raised a tremendous amount) just to make good on the promise to create and deliver rewards. Well rest-assured: you will be getting what you pledged for, at the price you pledged, and anything more (hardcover upgrades, DCC compatibility, free minis, etc.) is our gift to you!
And now...
Project Updates
We are almost done with layout on the 'Gambit' book and will have it wrapped this week.
Gameplay music and ambiences are now being mastered.
The writing team is working on mapping all the monsters and NPCs in the core book and Hellsgarde module across the three systems: 5e, OSE, and DCC. I say "mapping" because converting isn't really accurate. Each system has a different style of gameplay so we are working to make these creations feel true to each.
Also, here's another one of Saprophial's finished illustrations from the core book: what we're calling the Larval Queen, which—much like a rat king—is a tangled mass of the Black Larvae (referenced in the last updated), acting as a single hive mind / body for a little interstitial boss fight.
The Larval Queen in her lair
Pledge Manager Update
We still don't have an updated box weight from the manufacturer based on the upgrades we have announced, which impacts shipping cost. Rather than overestimate and charge you too much, we are trying to be as exact as possible. I am bugging them for that again this week, and we will make a dedicated update about the Pledge Manager when it is ready and opened up.
What's Next?
In a couple of weeks I'm going to Minneapolis for the entire month of August, which means Max Moon and I will be co-located in the same city! We'll try to use that time to accelerate some of the development on this project (if we can fit it in between the excessive amount of gaming). Expect another project update in 2-3 weeks from now. In the meantime, we are always eager to hear your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Please feel free to reach out to us here, or via one of the channels below.
Progress Report + Hardcover Upgrade + ... Dungeon Crawl Classics!?
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Jun 16, 2023 at 02:15:18 PM
Hey All,
First, apologies for being a couple weeks slow in providing a project update. As some of you know, I was touring behind my new album for the month of May and fell behind on pretty much everything else in life... And now for the good news:
Project Updates
The standalone game, Black God's Gambit, ended up going through *another* round of playtesting but is now in a really solid state. Two rounds of copyediting and proofing wrapped this week—and allthe art is done—so now it is now going to layout.
Speaking of copyediting, we have brought in a new member of the project team: RPG copyeditor extraordinaire, Walton Wood! Walt has worked on over 30 TTRPG projects across a variety of systems. He also has two degrees in English and a Doctorate in Philosophy—which feels especially suited for this project. We're excited to have him on board!
Preliminary writing on the Hellsgarde adventure module wrapped this week, and all of the concept art for it is now complete. Moving into polishing both elements next week.
The Core Book writing is almost done, and the Black God's Shadow supplement book writing is also in progress. Saprophial has also begun concept art on the Black God's Shadow supplement (reminder that all the art on the Core Book is already complete).
Here's another one of Saprophial's finished illustrations from the core book; one of the "ravening ... small, slavering, blind things ... with clashing teeth," that we have dubbed the Black Larvae—which are ubiquitous throughout the setting and modules.
Two New Exciting Developments!
First, we have decided to upgrade the Core Book from a paperback, stapled booklet to a smyth sewn hardcover! The material in the Core Book has become more expansive than we anticipated and as the page count has grown it became clear that a sadlle stitch binding no longer served the purpose well. Rather than move to a glue-based perfect bind we decided to go all-out on a hardcover sewn binding. This of course adds to the production cost but we feel like it's worth it in the final product.
Second ... *drum roll* ... we are adding compatibility with the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG system (DCC)across all the books! After some wonderful encouragement from Joseph Goodman at Goodman Games, and discussion with Max Moon (our in-house DCC expert), we decided to layer in the necessary elements to make all these materials eminently playable with DCC. We're all really excited about this development.
This means that you will be able to run Black God's Kiss in 5e, OSE, *and* DCC.! Each system having different flavors of gameplay native to their individual spirit.
Pledge Manager Update
We still haven't opened up the pledge manager because the two new developments above have impacted on overall box weight, which impacts shipping cost. Rather than overestimate and charge you too much, we are trying to be as exact as possible. That said, these new developments have been locked in and gone through estimation—and the adjustments have been made in Backerkit. Max and I are going to do a final sanity check next week. We will make a dedicated update about the Pledge Manager when it is ready and opened up.
What's Next?
Moving forward we will err on the side of more frequent, but smaller, updates—so you can expect to see the next one before July 4th. In the meantime, we are always eager to hear your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Please feel free to reach out to us here, or via one of the channels below.
APRIL UPDATE: Black God's Gambit standalone game
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Apr 18, 2023 at 08:08:11 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Progress Report + a very exciting development!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Mar 15, 2023 at 02:09:54 PM
Hey All,
The health hits just keep on coming for the Black God's Kiss Crew. Since the last update, across the team we had: another case of COVID, a hernia operation, and a pretty debilitating non-COVID respiratory infection. Not to beat around the bush, but we've got some good news and bad news... The bad news is that we're now probably running about 6-8 weeks behind schedule. We had planned to be done by the end of March, but realistically I don't see us being complete until mid-to-late May at this point. That said, I am pushing to have everything wrapped up by the start of May because I'm touring behind my forthcoming album starting in May, and don't want to be juggling two things at once. So, we'll see...
We won't know what the impact on shipping out the box sets is until we actually file everything in, so that 6-8 weekcontent delay might not translate to 6-8 weeks delayfor rewards delivery, but I want to be transparent as early in this process as possible.
Now for the good news:
Project Updates
The standalone game, Black God's Gambit, is now complete! Max has done additional rounds of playtesting and we are just tweaking the language, going into copyediting, etc.
All of the illustrations for the core book are now complete!
Saprophial has moved onto illustrations for the standalone game, and its punchboard tokens, which should wrap this week.
90% of the maps, across the entire box set are complete.
The album composition is underway.
Here's another one of Saprophial's finished illustrations from the core book to keep you sated...
A 'howling cyclone,' mindless with rage and grief, wanders the starlit realm...
Very Exciting Development!
And now for the really good news: this has been in the works for a while, but I didn't want to mention it until I was 100% sure... After going back and forth with our manufacturer for the past couple of months we were able to optimize the molds so that now everyone who backed for either the Core Set or the Deluxe Set will get a free *physical*Jirel miniature included inside the box!
If you recall, the Jirel mini was our $110K stretch goal, and the plan was to offer it only as an STL file, with a physical mini available as an add-on. While it does cost us more to include a physical Jirelmini for free to all our box set backers, we felt like it was worth doing—as another thank you to everyone who has made this project happen.
The physical Black God mini is still only included in the Deluxe Set, and will be available as an add-on if you didn't back the Deluxe Set,and don't want to upgrade to it.
Pledge Manager Update
Given the above development, we had to delay pledge management so that we could adjust add-ons, shipping weights, etc. We plan to open the pledge manager (and the pre-order store) sometime this month though.
What's Next?
We should have another project update when we open up the pledge manager—which will also include more content progress. In the meantime, we are always eager to hear your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Please feel free to reach out to us here, or via one of the channels below.
Progress Report + a New Project from Max Moon!
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Feb 07, 2023 at 06:49:55 AM
Hey All,
First off: do yourselves a favor and hustle on over to the campaign page for the Demon Lord Expansion for Twelve Years campaign page that just went live today!
Twelve Years is a solo or more GMless TTRPG from Max Moon, who is the designer behind the standalone game component for our Black God's Kiss box set. This expansion introduces a new quest, more variety of foes, more powerful magicks, and of course, a new BBEG now unleashed to terrorize the known world. The expansion features art by Justine Jones, Robin Harris, and Andy Webber.
And now on to...
Project Updates!
The day after the last update, COVID hit my own household—so progress on the writing for the core book definitely took a hit over the past couple of weeks. That said, progress was still made:
About 50% of the illustrations for the core book should be completed this week
All of the maps for the core book were completed last week
The style guides and design templates for all the books are in progress and should be completed by the end of this week
Max made a last-minute rule change for the standalone game, which has prompted a new round of playtesting. However, this should not have an impact on the overall project schedule.
Last update we shared some WIP shots from Saprophial, and now that those are done we wanted to share the final images (note: *not* the final scans) so you can see the quality and detail of line work that is going into the book's illustrations:
Salmina, a former sorceress who lost her humanity to the Black God and now resides as a corrupted NPC in the realm
Salmina's guardian golems, constructed from the warped hardwood growing in the swamp where she resides
Pledge Manager Update
We have finally locked-in our manufacturing specs, and partnered with an indie fulfillment service which has provided us with shipping estimates. The great news is that the estimates we put in the campaign page are pretty true to the ones we have received. That said, we plan to wait until the end of February before opening up the pledge manager, so we can tweak a few add-on images.
What's Next?
We should have another project update at the end of February with more content progress, and to announce the pledge manager opening. In the meantime, we are always eager to hear your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Please feel free to reach out to us here, or via one of the channels below.
