The Adventure Is In Hand and An Announcement
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 01:10:58 PM
Hey folks! Just a quick update here.
Progress
While work progresses on the books, I have received the final MS for the bonus adventure The Tomb of X`ândra. I intend to have this off to editing in the month of August so it is ahead of and not holding up the core books when they are completed.
Backerkit
Being that this was an involved project, with many moving parts, we will be fulfilling via Backerkit. We are looking at opening Backerkit up sometime this fall. Target date will be late September to early October.
Another Discounted Project and A Statement About Post GTA Trilogy Projects
If you are not already aware, Appendix N Entertainment is celebrating 5 years in business this year! To celebrate we have a special Kickstarter campaign up to print the Gateway To Adventure as a special edition hardcover book! This will be printed in A5 format to fit the standard OSE book size! As has been with every campaign we have launched since GTA Trilogy began, there is a discount tier for those backers here! The best thing about the Octhorrorfest KS? It is already written, including our stretch goals! This is ready to go almost out the gate, less a few edits, so that we can make sure that, at least, U.S. backers have it before Halloween!
We want to let you all know that every KS we have launched this year was dual purpose. Firstly, the new Octhorrorfest KS, Demonology and Devilry were Kickstarted to fund a printing, but moreover, they were kicked so that we can make the GTA Trilogy better than what we funded for. In full transparency, there were a good amount of backers that did not pay for their rewards when we funded. This came in at about $2000 light! That is a significant amount of money missing from the expected funds. We are making an effort to make up for that money (and add more to the project) to make the Trilogy the best books that we possibly can. All of the funds above and beyond what has been needed to create the books in our 2023 Kickstarters is going into the pot with the funds for the GTA hardcovers to make them something we can really be proud of. We just thought you should all know that.
With that said here is the link to the Special Edition Octhorrorfest KIckstarter!
Thank you for your support!
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
"June" Update
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Jul 06, 2023 at 07:42:24 AM
Hey folks!
Sorry for missing June on the June update!
I've been fiddling around with the 3rd books "Caster's Codex" and think I may finally know how I am laying this one out. I believe we will go with Class Spell Lists first, followed by all of the new spells, broken down by class. Then we will introduce the new magic systems for the 2 classes that do not use a Vancian "fire & forget" system of spell (namely the Cunning Folk "Charm" system and the Rune Magic system.) After these we will. The book will close out with the new magic rules that may be applied across classes, Ritual Magic, Blood Magic and Blight Magic. I BELIEVE this is how the book is going to be laid out in it's final version.
In other news, I am beginning to work with cover artists to "recreate" the AI covers used in the KS promotions. The covers will have similar themes and color schemes to what you already have seen. That is to say Character Compendium will feature the fields of wheat against blue sky, but rather than blurred figures you will see a few of the new classes presented in the book walking through the field. Similarly, Combat Conspectus will feature a fight at dawn with the color scheme present etc.
I will keep you posted as we know more about final layout and cover art!
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
2nd Book
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, May 19, 2023 at 01:44:31 PM
Sorry for the month long wait on this one. Putting together the rough of book 2 took a bit longer than expected, as I have been weighed down with a couple real life tragedies and the absolute travesty that has been the printings (read that as BAD PRINTINGS and MIS-PRINTINGS) that we had received for Creature Companion KS. Those how backed that will know exactly what I am talking about between the first 135 bad prints that had to be replaced, then a slew of other printing errors found across the remainder of that book. Checking the full print by hand AND issuing some new books to folks who received bad copies has been most of my last month, away for the day job. ANYWAY, on to the next book here. Combat Conspectus (name may change as other things are being added on that are not combat focussed) will contain the following as I have written and/or laid out to date:
The Combat Sequence: Presents a series of rules for running combat differently than the core rules suggest. Alternate methods for initiative. Modifiers when using these alternate methods. Simplified speed factors and casting time rules, for those who want more Advanced Genre options added to the game.
Combat Options: Presents alternate options for 2 weapon fighting, two-handed weapons, melee from a mount, unarmed fighting, parrying, simple BX feeling grappling and overbearing rules, making called shots, disarming opponents, parting strikes, ranged options: aiming, firing into melee, ranged mounted combat, attacking a prone or helpless opponent, combat formations (shield walls, hedgehogs and phalanx in the dungeon and the field) and critical hits.
Stamina: Simple rules for using a Stamina score in the game.
Death and Dying: Optional rules for dealing with death and dying in the game.
Combat Styles, Specialization and Mastery: Various combat styles such as Sword & Board, Marksman etc and optional rules for implementing them into the game. Some options may present a solution for those who feel that fighters are underpowered.
Competitive Combat: Rule for running jousts, tilting at rings, melee competitions, archery contests and duels.
Skills and Profieciency: Presents optional rules for running simplified skillsets and non-weapon proficiencies with alternative rules for Advanced genre secondary skills.
And there you have it. That is the gist of what you will be seeing in volume 2!
In case you have not seen it...
We have a new Kickstarter running right now that goes hand in hand with the one we ran for Zinequest! What's more is that if you are a backer of THIS KS, you can back the KS for Devilry at a discount! You can check it out here:
Thank you all for your support on this project!
Ryan Thompson
Whew!
almost 3 years ago
– Mon, Apr 17, 2023 at 07:00:13 AM
Hey folks! I wanted to drop a progress report here so you know where things currently stand. Below you will see what I am doing with each book based upon current layout and writing. A little is changing regarding titles based upon the material in each book. Here is the information found in Book 1.
Class Compendium will be renamed Character Compendium due to character creation material not specifically related to classes being included. Note, new NON-MAGIC rules specific to classes will be presented in this book with the classes they correspond to. MAGIC rules and spells are all in the third book.
The book will contain:
Ability Scores: alternate ability score generation methods and optional ability scores: Power (a rating of magical power and the character's "aura") and Luck a measure of the characters Luck.
Peoples of the Mid Realm: Advanced races for the game and new "Kin" rules, being specific types of each. Dwarves: Derro, Hill Dwarf, Mountain Dwarf; Ducks; Elves: Dark, Ghost, Grey (Faerie), High, Wild, Wood; Gnomes; Half-Elf; Half-Orc; Halflings: Hairfoot, Tallfellows; Iftari; Insectoids; Leprechauns; Zirans
Classes of the Mid Realm: All promised class information, including variants on the traditional "Advanced" classes. These will be divided into 5 categories: Adept; Demi-Humans/Humanoids, Priests, Rogues, Warriors, Wizards.
Demi-Humans/Humanoids will contain Race As Class for all of the peoples discussed in Peoples of the Mid-Realm.
Adept: Bard, Cunning Folk, Sage
Priests: Cleric, Druid, Rune Caster
Rogue: Acrobat, Assassin, Merchant, Thief
Warrior: Dwarven Berserker; Fighter; Paladin; Ranger
Wizard: Illusionist, Magic-User, Mirror Mage, Necromancer, Sorcerer, Witch
Next update I will share the format and information for Book 2.
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
Fantastic News
about 3 years ago
– Wed, Mar 01, 2023 at 09:00:23 AM
Shortly after the last update was released, I spoke with Gavin. He was doing a new update/article himself at the time. If you have not seen the news from Monday you can read it here:
Another Update on Old-School Essentials and the OGL
OSE will be remaining the same as it ever was! What does that mean for us? FULL STEAM AHEAD! That said, there are things that some who have played at my table over the years have mentioned a few things to me that were not in the KS that probably should be in this initial set of books. SO, you will be getting more content than originally planned!
That is all for now!
Thanks for backing
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
