YOUR SWORD'S POMMEL BLINKS AT YOU. Mimic and Chemistry unlocked! More stretch goals! A BGG page!
2 months ago
– Tue, Oct 22, 2024 at 03:03:47 PM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
The Stretch Goal Dungeon continues to fall to your mighty boots! You've unlocked a pair of them, and I've got a couple new ones to reveal:
The Mimic is a weird crustacean disguised as a treasure chest (or some other everyday dungeon furniture), it interacts with the Loot deck in a unique way, and now every copy of DIE in a Dungeon will include it as a Monster!
I'm glad this crabby little weirdo will get its change to shine. Huzzah!
At $27k we unlocked The Chemist, a Village Building that puts a variety of powerful Potions within easy reach of your adventuring crew, plus a pack of 5 alchemical Gear cards that interact with it. +6 more cards added to the final game!
We've now made the game as big as my manufacturer will reasonably allow, card-count-wise, so we're moving on to other types of improvements:
We already know that this level of funding will not only let me upgrade the materials of the printed rulebook, but give me some time to spend on making it a beautiful work of art. And we're already almost there!
If we can get to $35k, I'm going to upgrade the digital version of DIE in a Dungeon, fully incorporating the Series 2 deck and building a lovely new digital playmat for it, so you can really feel like you're questing through the wilds!
This is a big one! If we reach here, building this game officially moves from a "survivable" idea to a "good, sustainable" idea for me- I'll get to fully pay myself for the year of full-time work it took to finish. To celebrate, all backers will get the digital version of The DUNGENERATOR: Series 3 as soon as it's released!
Series 3 is fully planned, it'll be the next thing I work on, and I hope to release it next year. It'll have a "dark fantasy city" theme, as decided upon by the Series 2 backers!
A BoardGameGeek PAGE? SURE, WHY NOT
As DIE in a Dungeon straddles the board game and solo tabletop RPG space, but certainly counts as a board game, I've put together a BoardGameGeek page for it:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/430809/the-dungenerator-die-in-a-dungeon
(For those unaware, BGG is the de facto hub of the board game industry. It's a great place to get a pretty good sense of whether that game you're looking at in the brick-and-mortar store is going to fit your tastes.)
This is my first time getting to add a page for a full game I've made to BGG, so that's special to me, but it'll also be (hopefully, eventually) a nice place to ask rules questions and swap war stories from your DIE in a Dungeon campaigns.
The other good place for that, of course, is the DUNGENERATORS Discord server. I'm posting my entire narrative campaign playthrough logs on there, and you can too!
So there's that!
SOME NEAT STUFF I FOUND THAT YOU, TOO, MAY ENJOY:
Do you like video-games? I like 'em. There are a couple worth mentioning running on KS right now. (Note: These aren't paid ads, by the way. I just think they're neat and want to share!)
One of the first point-and-click adventures I ever played, on an ancient DOS-based PC, was the Gobliiins series. Even at an incredibly crunchy resolution, the games were gorgeous - filled with intricate, obviously lovingly detailed art and brimming with weird and silly surprises. "Formative" is the word I'd use to describe their effect on me.
Their creator, Pierre Gilhodes, continues to make these things against all odds (as a solo developer!), is on the sixth installment (a standalone sequel to Gobliins 2), and more than deserves all the support he gets for them:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pierregilhodes/gobliins6
You're probably unsurprised to learn that MÖRK BORG is one of my favorite tabletop RPGs (it has grungy vibes and killer art). It continues to be made into every object under the sun, and has finally launched a video game adaptation, Heresy Supreme.
While it looks like it'll fund without any help, it's still worth visiting the page just to see Johan Nohr's art style in motion (plus, there are a bunch of interesting stretch goals to hopefully hit):
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1358662172/mork-borg-heresy-supreme
I think that's all for now! I'll talk to you again when we (hopefully) hit our next stretch goal.
Happy Dungeoneering,
-Rollin
HAMMER RINGS AGAINST STEEL. The Smithy is unlocked! More stretch goals and deep-dives!
2 months ago
– Thu, Oct 17, 2024 at 05:40:44 PM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
It's only been a week, and we've unlocked our seventh stretch goal! Here's what that means, and a preview of the next few:
Every physical and digital copy of DIE in a Dungeon will now include the Smithy, a new unlockable Village Building!
The Smithy is exciting because it actually comes with its own deck of 5 special Gear cards. Unlike magickal Gear, you don't find these in the Dungeon amongst the Loot; instead, you can use Loot in the Village to buy these outright and add them to your deck. Additionally, the Smithy will allow you to pay Loot to flip these to their upgraded sides, becoming even more useful!
In the spirit of the game, I'm not going to spoil what all of these Gear cards are, but buying and upgrading them is one steady path towards upgrading your deck and defeating the Boss Monster!
What's Next?
We're actually already so, so very close to unlocking this as I'm writing this update! This will add the Mimic to the every physical and digital copy of DIE in a Dungeon. The Mimic is a special Monster that interacts with the Loot deck in a unique way!
This is actually the last of the "make the deck bigger" stretch goals. The better this campaign goes, the larger of an initial print run I'll be able to afford, and if it crosses certain thresholds I get to add more cards to each copy of the game!
This will add a final 5 magickal Gear cards to the deck alongside another unlockable Village Building (which will be revealed if we get here).
New stretch goal revealed!
An excellent game should have an excellent rulebook! If we make it to this level of funding, I'm going to upgrade the quickstart rulebook that will come with every physical copy to be printed on the fanciest materials available to my manufacturer, but more excitingly (for me), I'll be able to devote more time to the graphic design of the rulebook and truly make it into a work of art in its own right (hopefully).
Thanks again for your support and your help spreading the word! I'm doing my best to tell everyone I can about this game. :D
Speaking of which:
Some Nifty Shout-Outs:
Dave Thaumavore put together a nifty interview that goes a bit deeper into the design process of DIE in a Dungeon. If you're curious about that sort of thing, you can read it here:
Is Today the Day you DIE in a Dungeon?
Also, Patrick from The Soloist was kind enough to give DIE in a Dungeon a shout-out on his excellent newsletter. If you're a fan of solo TTRPGs (and I suspect you may be), go give it a read!
Some More Cool Stuff I Found:
My homies over at Rowan, Rook & Decard have just launched a campaign for Royal Blood, a tarot-based tabletop RPG about wizard heists!
From the Kickstarter:
"If you want to steal the power from a demigod you’ll have to be clever about it. You can’t go in all guns blazing: Royal Blood deals in heists. Using a spread of tarot cards, you’ll determine what stands in the way of the player characters and what they can subvert to their own ends. No preparation is required, and you can go from zero to game in about half an hour.
Then it’s a simple matter of stealing power from the most dangerous people in the world - but they’re old, and complacent, and set in their ways. They’ve been in charge for too long.
Time to get to work."
So, obviously that's dope as hell, and Grant Howitt wrote it, so you know it's full of clever ideas and dripping with incredible prose, but the thing that actually has me so very excited about this edition is that they're also teaming up with Mana Project Studio to produce it. I'm guessing not too many folks reading this saw the Italian physical edition of ORC BORG, but Mana Project produced that too, and they made it freaking. Gorgeous. So, you know. Buckle up.
Over in the wilds of BackerKit, my other homies at SoulMuppet Publishing have unleashed Paint the Town Red, a succulent TTRPG about the drama and emotional turmoil of being a vampire!
They've got Johan Nohr (of MÖRK BORG fame) on art, the rules are an evolution of excellent sad space cowboy game Orbital Blues... What more can you ask for? Go feast!
Okay, that's all for now. Hopefully the next time I write, it'll be from the belly of a mimic!
See you soon, Dungenerators!
--Rollin
YOU SPRINT THROUGH THE DUNGEON HALLS, KICKING DOWN DOOR AFTER DOOR. We are funded! Stretch goals unlocked!
2 months ago
– Sun, Oct 13, 2024 at 06:53:23 PM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
First of all:
Holy crap! Wow. You not only funded the print run of DIE in a Dungeon in 10 minutes; we are sitting at $20k funding in 3 days. To put that in perspective, the first two DUNGENERATOR Series' campaigns took 2 weeks to get to this point. I am, how you say, "shook." (In a positive way.)
So, with all the humility and gratitude I can summon, from the depths of my very soul,
THANK YOU!
I don't think I can really even approach properly expressing what your support means to me.
When I first put the original DUNGENERATOR decks up on Kickstarter, it was on a lark. I wasn't confident I could convince folks to back a whole new game, so I pulled my designs for the dungeon-generating cards out of the game design I was working on, made some nice art for them, and attempted to sell them as an accessory. Thanks to the support I received for that, I was able to start a proper (modest) career as an illustrator, and I've lucked out a few times since then by landing cool collaborations with more popular creators, getting to add my art and graphic design to some brilliant game designers' work.
But the dream was always to get one of my own, full game designs, with my own art, out into the world. This campaign was a risk; I've been working full-time for a year to bring this game fully to life. This was the dream. You made it happen. Thank you so, so much.
Anyway. Enough of this emotional vulnerability.
On to the fun stuff! STRETCH GOALS!
I've traditionally posted these updates as soon as a funding level is met, but you didn't really give me time to do that - you just kept blasting through these stretch goals! You've already unlocked fully half of what I had planned.
Here's what you've already added to the game, as well as what's (hopefully) on the horizon:
A bounty of hidden rewards, physical, digital, and metaphysical, has been uncovered!
Keep watching the campaign for more surprises.
METAPHYSICAL REWARD:
My brother will be paid the rest of the coins I owe him for putting together such a killer campaign video.
This is nice both because I like paying people fairly for their work and because he won't have to pull me into the extradimensional no-space within which he dwells! :D
PHYSICAL UPGRADE:
DIE in a Dungeon will be printed on the finest, thickest stock of cardboard my manufacturer can produce.
Not only will you be able to play the game for years while wandering the wastes, you will also be able to use the cards as makeshift throwing weapons!
PHYSICAL + DIGITAL UPGRADE:
A new Heroic Quest and associated feat will be added for each Hero archetype (+6 cards) to all versions of DIE in a Dungeon!
Even more variety for your party builds!
PHYSICAL UPGRADE:
A beautiful linen finish will be added to the DIE in a Dungeon cards!
They shall be a delight to both hold and behold.
PHYSICAL + DIGITAL UPGRADE:
Yet another new Heroic Quest and associated feat will be added for each Hero archetype (+6 cards) to all versions of DIE in a Dungeon!
Thanks to combinatorial magicks, you'll never run out of weird new ways to build your adventuring party!
PHYSICAL UPGRADE:
I can afford to print really nice 2-part boxes for each copy of DIE in a Dungeon to rest in. And so it shall be!
They'll be so much comfier in there!
PHYSICAL + DIGITAL UPGRADE:
Here, I'll add 5 pieces of non-magickal Gear and a special unlockable Village Building to the game!
It's dangerous down there. Take this.
PHYSICAL + DIGITAL UPGRADE:
If we reach this level, I'll add a special Mimic monster to the game.
Add some extra danger to your looting!
PHYSICAL + DIGITAL UPGRADE:
If we get here, I'll add 5 more magickal items and another special unlockable Village Building to the game.
Careful with those! They're sharp.
More stretch goals will be revealed once these are unlocked!
I hope these are exciting for you! Please let me know if you have any questions about stretch goals, DIE in a Dungeon rules, or the campaign itself. I've updated the FAQ with a few common questions, but I try to be around as much as possible to answer stuff!
SOME COOL STUFF YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEE:
JP Coovert is an awesome illustrator and designer that also happens to be a really positive, nice fellow, championing smaller creators on his excellent YouTube channel. He's put together a new, system-agnostic setting that promises to be stuffed with enough weirdness to please any tastebuds. You might think it's a bit too wholesome-looking at first glance, but... goat-headed raiders? A delve through "the slimy guts of the Emperor of Worms?" I'll be running this for my MÖRK BORG crew and killing them with cuteness. :D
A few folks have mentioned using DIE in a Dungeon to resolve what happens in the "overworld hub" of a traditional TTRPG campaign, and Dragon Town would be a great way to fill that campaign out. Check it out!
I'm guessing if you're aware of my campaign and art, you've already seen Limithron's PIRATE BORG. He's got a new expansion for it called Down Among the Dead, and the production values for this thing look incredible. If you're into inky art and a healthy amount of PC-death (and I'm pretty sure you are), give it a peek!
Also, thank you for all the work you've done already sharing the campaign!
Even showing it to one buddy that you think might enjoy it helps so, so much. I'm always competing with a lot of much larger creators and companies for attention, and the fact that this game is already doing so well is all thanks to you (and is actually pretty bonkers)!
Okay. Whew. That's all for now.
See you soon, Dungenerators!
- ROLLINKUNZ!
