A solo/cooperative, narrative dungeon-crawl that turns your dice into doomed heroes!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
YOUR TORCH-SMOKE THICKENS THE AIR. Smoke test sent! Surveys soon! Updates and stuff!
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Dec 03, 2024 at 03:09:53 PM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
Just wanted to send out a quick update to let you know:
Kickstarter has sent me the initial funds! Yay! (This means I can get BackerKit and production proofs started!)
BackerKit surveys are ready to go, and the "smoke test" has been sent out. You may already have an email from BackerKit with a link pointing you towards your survey! If not, don't worry too much- only 5% of backers will receive the early surveys, and everyone else gets the version with all the kinks worked out. :D
Please fill out your survey as soon as possible when you get it. You'll be able to change your address (and your order) up until I lock the surveys, so don't worry if you're moving soon- just fill it out! If you don't fill out your survey, you can't get your rewards!
Shipping will be charged later, closer to actual fulfillment. This is to make sure shipping costs are accurate and fair.
I actually have more updates to share, but I'm going to do that later to emphasize the importance of -
PLEASE fill out your survey as soon as you get it!
(It helps the whole project go faster, so everyone gets their stuff faster!)
(As always, if you have any questions, feel free to bug me here or on the discord or in Kickstarter DMs - I read 'em all!)
See you again soon, - Rollin
THE UNMISTAKABLE GLINT OF COIN CATCHES YOUR EYE. Campaign complete!
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Nov 09, 2024 at 11:57:32 AM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
And another massive THANK YOU from me!
Getting to build this game in its most splendiferous form is a true dream for me, and you've helped enable my bizarro game design habit in a major way!
It appears Kickstarter now allows for built-in late pledges, so I'm leaving that open while they get their numbers in order. We got way closer to that last stretch goal than I ever imagined we would, so if it crosses the threshold while KS is figuring out the money side of things, I'll still honor it.
In the meantime, let's talk about
WHAT'S NEXT?
In short, there's plenty to do! First, Kickstarter is going to take a few weeks to charge backers' cards and give folks time to update their info if it's incorrect or outdated. (They say 2 weeks, but in my experience it's more like 4 before they send funds my way.)
While that's going on, I'm going to get to work:
Preparing the BackerKit surveys! (I'm going to skip the built-in KS survey this time, as BK has a much nicer back-end that allows you to tweak your final orders before you pay for shipping.)
Coordinating with the manufacturer! (They like it when I give them a heads-up that a large order is incoming, and this will let me call dibs on a nice time slot.)
Laying out the quick-start rulebook! (This part should be fun, as I've been empowered to get weird with it!)
Finalizing the digital version! (You asked for it, so I'm adding some cool stuff to it!)
While I'm doing that, all you need to do is:
Watch for an email from Kickstarter. It'll probably just say "We've collected your pledge for The DUNGENERATOR: DIE in a Dungeon," but if it says something else like "Your credit card is the wrong shape" or "It appears you are a ghost," you'll probably need to update your info and make sure it's current.
Watch for an email from BackerKit. This one will happen a while from now, and it'll be an invitation to finalize your order and confirm shipping details. I'll definitely send more updates to remind you of this, so don't worry about it too much yet.
Party! (You can do this while you do the other two.)
If you need a place to party, always feel free to come say Hi and hang out:
And now, I think I'll do a little partying myself!
Talk to you soon, Dungenerators! - Rollin
AN APPLE-SHAPED DOOR NEARLY RATTLES OFF ITS HINGES. Last day of the campaign!
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Nov 08, 2024 at 02:01:57 PM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
First off, $50k is insane to me. There's no way for me to summon the appropriate words, but thank you for making this (already) the most successful project I've ever done!
Just to reiterate and soothe any anxiety over the shipping unlock: I'll make sure to only put a responsible amount of my profits past the $50k point towards subsidizing physical backer shipping. I'll still save some to pay my landlord rent and my body food, as per usual!
But hey: The further past $50k we can go, the more I can chip in for folks in far away lands to afford getting my art in their hands, which is really, really neat (and kind of the whole point for me). And we still have a day left to do that!
LET'S ALL FLY TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN:
Can we make it this far? It seemed highly unlikely to me when I launched that I would actually have to concern myself with opening this demon-door. Just to be clear, this isn't one of those situations where I'm gonna chip in the last $1k myself just to reach this goal, because I know the horrors that await us were we to cross this terrible threshold. So if we get close, I hope you've got a cool grand lying around, my friend Greg.
While I consider the fact that only someone deep into the KS updates lore will remember what I'm going on about with the Greg thing, let me mention something that I really should have and completely forgot to on the main project page: All the stuff you get when you buy a DUNGENERATOR deck!
DUNGENERATOR Series 1 and Series 2 digital versions each include:
PNG versions of each room card, for Virtual TableTop play
PDF print-and-play versions of the deck, in both black-and-white and color
1" square gridded battlemaps of each room, in both black-and-white and color (so you can zoom in and use your standard-based miniatures)
A table of 2d6 room detail prompts for each card / dungeon room in the deck
A Roll20-native version of the deck (with built-in room detail prompt tables)
That is indeed a ton of stuff, and most of the reward tiers include it!
Many thanks to those backers who helped me realize that I should have mentioned it all (by being surprised and excited by it in the comments and on the discord). I had a lot to mention about the game, and kind of forgot to devote space to the decks!
I DID, IN FACT, FIND EVEN MORE COOL STUFF:
And I will now present it to you as a friendly penguin would present a pebble.
Continuing the grand tradition of showing you Kickstarters that truly do not need my help:
Illustrator Wizard of Barge has a new set of Magic: the Gathering token cards out! I love his art and hope to include a few of these in my collection of goblins. That's all! It's just neat!
Also, there's a Discworld TTRPG currently making more money than all the gods combined! It's pretty pricey, but it's an easy sell if you're a silly fantasy geek like me.
Okay! Last day!Woooooo!
Take it easy, Dungenerators!
-Rollin
YOUR BLADE GLOWS HOT. EVIL LOOMS. Secret stretch goal unlocked!
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Nov 06, 2024 at 04:19:53 PM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
Though my own enthusiasm for this project is nigh-unlimited, sometimes current events can make it difficult to imagine putting fingers to keys to talk about my silly games and pictures. (I fear it might come across a bit tone-deaf.)
However, I have chosen my purpose in life: to be a salve for weary brains, bring a bit of joy, do no harm, and thus leave the world a bit cheerier than I found it. And so: be silly I shall!
First, to business:
SECRET STRETCH GOAL: UNLOCKED!
The last of our secret stretch goals is, I think, quite cool:
Once Series 3 is ready, I'll incorporate it into the digital DIE in a Dungeon (with its own, unique, grim-fantasy-city-themed digital playmat and unique mechanics), and everyone that owns the digital DIE in a Dungeon will get that expansion for free. (That includes all physical and digital backers of the game!)
It'll be another (rather different-feeling, I imagine) way to play DIE in a Dungeon, where your party is trudging through foggy city streets, and you'll just get to have that for free when it's done!
Your support and enthusiasm for this weird thing fills my heart and pushes me to press on. I can't make any of this stuff without you, and I'm so happy that I'm going to get to make it absolutely worth it for you.
I can't say it enough: Thank you!
Here's how the Stretch Goal Dungeon is looking now:
HEY, DON'T WORRY, THE CHEAPER SHIPPING WILL BE SUSTAINABLE
We're pretty close to unlocking Cheaper Shipping, and a few folks have expressed concerns about it. So here's a clarification on how it'll work:
Once we hit $50k, I'll be in a pretty good place. I'll definitely have enough to print DIE in a Dungeon (and any DUNGENERATOR reprints we need) in a large enough amount to be cost effective; I'll be able to pay for rent and food to get through the next project, and I should even have a little cushion in case anything catastrophic happens (as it always does).
But: I don't like how much it costs to ship my silly dungeon pictures and games overseas, and I want as many folks as possible to be able to afford to access them. So! I'll be taking a responsible percentage of my profits from the $50k point onwards and applying that to subsidizing shipping, with the goal of making it affordable for everyone that's interested in the physical version.
That means the further over $50k we get, the more I can apply to this goal. If you have someone to share this project with in the last 48 hours of the campaign, please do!
And now, to lighten the mood with a word about mortality! Feel free to skim this next bit:
WHY MAKE GAMES ABOUT DEATH?
Working as an independent artist in the tabletop space (besides the poverty) means that I get to be a bit self-indulgent and make my games be about stuff. Whatever I like, really!
"So then," I am sometimes asked, "why are all your games about death?"
FRAGNAROK is about laser-Vikings seeking glorious deaths.
ORC BORG is about big, beefy, cyborg bastards shouting jubilantly while eagerly crashing themselves into a planet.
ODD GOBS, while largely demise-free, is about the crushing heel of capitalism, cyber-culture, and the gig economy.
Even the room prompts included in the DUNGENERATOR PDFs are full of grim-dark subject matter.
And, of course, DIE in a Dungeon is a game that involves plenty of death as a matter of course.
On the surface, one might look at my illustration (all of it gritty, shadowy, and dark) and the deathly thematic through-line of these games and come to the conclusion that I'm glorifying death, or minimizing it, or taking away its "teeth."
Actually, though, there's a considered reason why each of these games (even the ones I didn't write) have a strong streak of humor throughout. Why my grotesque drawings are juxtaposed with Grant or John's wacky premises:
"The world is dark sometimes," I want these games to say, "but there is still beauty and humor and hope."
That's what I want DIE in a Dungeon to mean. It's a challenging game, but not a punishing one; it encourages you to continue on, gently and joyfully. It is a game about overcoming adversity with cleverness and grit; about falling and getting back up.
(And now, to climb back out of my own highfalutin butthole.)
SOME FOLKS I THINK ARE COOL LIKE MY GAME, AND I'M HAPPY ABOUT IT:
One of my favorite tabletop-centric magazines is Wyrd Science, and I'm quite pleased with the lovely write-up DIE in a Dungeon was given in this recent newsletter.
If ever I could say I was "chuffed," it is now!
Also, DIAD does have a little mention in the latest Questing Beast video! Now, I realize I did have to pay for this one, but I'm honored to have a tiny corner of a review of Josh McCrowell's His Majesty the Worm, a game and creator who I much admire.
I ACTUALLY DIDN'T FIND ANY NEW STUFF THIS TIME (SORRY):
Usually I try to find another cool crowdfunding project to shout out down here, but it just hasn't been a very long time since you busted down the previous stretch goal. Maybe share one in the comments, if you've found one?
I think that's all for now, Dungenerators! Keep your boots dry and your wits sharp, and I'll talk to you again soon. - Rollin
A GRIM SKYLINE LOOMS THROUGH THE FOG. Series 3 unlocked!
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Nov 02, 2024 at 04:06:38 PM
Greetings, Dungenerators!
No, this weekend update is not meant to poke wry fun at current events; it is instead to jubilantly declare that you have unlocked Series 3 and another secret stretch goal!
As a token (see what I did there?) of my appreciation, all backers will receive a digital pack of VTT tokens made of the various DIE in a Dungeon monsters' art, for free!
This will pair nicely with the hero tokens. You can run a whole little DIAD-themed campaign in the TTRPG system(s) of your choice!
Perhaps more excitingly, all backers will also receive the digital version of The DUNGENERATOR: Series 3 as soon as it's ready!
It's already planned out, it's going to have a "dark fantasy city" theme (thanks to the suggestions and votes of the Series 2 backers), and I'm going to start on the illustration for it as soon as I have a break from producing and fulfilling the DIE in a Dungeon campaign!
And if you liked that, I have a feeling you're going to enjoy what's hiding behind our last secret room:
You've almost already uncovered the whole dang dungeon! That's wild, honestly. You folks are crazy
YES, I DID INDEED FIND MORE COOL STUFF:
Philip Reed has been producing a heroic amount of cool tabletop RPG supplements and putting them up on KS for extremely reasonable prices. His FATHOMLESS DESPAIR module for MÖRK BORG was printed on a double-sided travel map (like those ones you definitely used to be able to get at interstate visitor rest-stops here in the US, but cool because it's for a TTRPG) and was one of the direct inspirations for ODD GOBS!
I don't have a personal connection to MÖRK ORG, but you know I love a wild MÖRK BORGian swing and a killer graphic design sensibility and a silly premise, and MÖRK ORG seems to have all that and then some!
It's kind of got "The Office" meets "The end of the world" vibes. I can't wait to run my table through a goblin-y corporate takeover. :D
