Gen Con Wrap-Up! And what are the next steps?
over 8 years ago
– Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 09:55:04 PM
We are back, recovered, and starting to get back into the swing of things. Gen Con was a fantastic time. We had over 7 playtests of 3 hours each and got some great feedback. Everyone had a lot of fun and there were some crazy experiences that happened in the sessions. Tells me a lot about what went right.
A HUGE thanks to all our DM's for running games at Gen Con. Mike Olson, Chris Hendrix, Scott Acker, WJ MacGuffin, Heather Wilson, Josh Flora and anyone else who may have ran the game since the Beta release. For those who want to playtest at home, there IS a survey you can fill out and send back to help us out. You can find that on the:
What is that status of the final book?
The book is about 70% complete. It's 100% written, but it's just formatting, editing, improved structure and clarity, and more art. We've taken a lot of notes from feedback as well as our own thoughts on usability. What does that mean for delivery dates? We are aiming to have a print file ready by early September. I know, this is pushing things out farther than we said in the Kickstarter. There have been many stumbling blocks and delays, but we are undeterred. Could there be more delays? Of course. And we'll telegraph those as we can. Good news is just about all the rewards save the book are in. Also, for those of you who are getting the Print on Demand version, that file will be uploaded as soon as the print file is ready. That means you would likely have that version before the deluxe is out.
Here's a sneak peak of one bit that's going on the back cover of the Print on Demand Hardcover:
For the time being however, here's an unedited sample from the Magic chapter, followed by one from the Mad Science chapter:
Magic
There's nothing special about mystics. Any trained monkey could do their job. The only thing different about them is that they know the proper rituals necessary to get the attention of the real magic-workers behind the curtain of reality.
It all comes down to sacrifice. These timeless, immortal-types thrive on the stuff. You give up something important, and in return, they'll do you a favor. The particular brand of sacrifice varies depending on which extradimensional bigwig you're calling on. It might be a sacrifice of wealth or comfort. Devotion. Happiness. Blood. Blood's a big one, especially with the darker types. If you're lucky, they'll just want a cat or a lamb or something. But the big stuff--the big, black, capital-E Evil stuff--that's when we're talking human sacrifice.
And in return for your sacrifice? Name it! Seriously, there's pretty much nothing off limits when it comes to magic as long as you're able to pay the sacrificial cost. Just remember that these guys are big on ritual, so be sure to save time for candles and chanting and dancing around naked. If you manage to screw things up--stutter through the incantations, knock over the sacramental goblet, swap out foxglove for wolfsbane because it was on sale--there's no telling what sort of hell you've got coming your way. Best case, your little magic trick just fizzles out with no effect. Worst case? Ever wonder what really causes spontaneous human combustion?
Mad Science
Mad Science and Magic are flip sides of the same fiercely competitive coin. Anything Magic can do, Mad Science can probably pull it off too given a big enough budget. We're talking about channeling lightning to reanimate corpses! Robots the size of sky scrapers stomping around in rampant violation of the square-cube law! Calculating the resonant frequency of the Earth and using it to build an Earthquake Machine! That last one was good ol' Nikola Tesla--one of ours, off and on. I think the Earthquake Machine happened somewhere between his "Free Energy for Everyone!" phase and his "Say, That's One Good Lookin' Pigeon!" phase.
That's the trick with Mad Science. You need to hit the sweet spot between mere eccentricity and full-blown psychosis. Right, dead in the middle of those is where the most amazing stuff can happen. It takes a special sort of mind to say, "Sure, I could treat that tumor with radiation and chemotherapy and all that nasty stuff. Or, I could stuff an elite squad of surgical soldiers into a custom-built submarine, shrink 'em down to blood-cell scale with my Atomic Sizeomotron, and squirt 'em into the patient's veins to tackle the problem head-on!"
The real problem with Mad Science is morality, in that most Mad Scientists are...let's call it "unburdened" by it. Their allegiance is to Science, and they're more than happy to do that science for whoever is willing to fund their work. Evil money spends just as well as Good money, and they're not such sticklers for the rules.
Player's Guide & Burnout Adventure
These are PDFs we're creating along side the main book. The Players Guide will have all of the pregenerated characters in it from our backers. We'll also include some new ideas for character gen, and some world info relevant to players.
Burnout! is going to be awesome. You're getting more than one scenario here. And don't expect like a full fledged module like other RPGs. These are shorter, but extremely useful scenarios/missions that have a bit of a MadLibs element to them so they can be different every time you play them. Burnout is the first one. I'm writing a few more to be included.
Easter Eggs
Like with most of our stuff, we're putting Easter Eggs all over the place. Some are just amusing, some are going to have function. We look forward to seeing how many you can find.
Shipment
Right now our expected shipping date is the first week of October. I'm hoping we can go sooner, but I also want this book to be right. I really appreciate everyone's patience and we'll keep throwing bones as we can.
Extras
Because we've raised so much more in BackerKit, everyone who's ordered dice is getting a second set at no cost. I've closed those items to ensure there's enough for everyone.
Gen Con Prerelease Beta Softcover
We have a few of these extra and so I'm going to open these up for the Preorder store. These are limited and we're not doing another print run. They'll be $25 and I will personally sign each book. For those of you who already ordered these at cost, I have already gotten all your signatures so no worries. Click on the image below to order your copy.
Thank you all for making this possible. It's turned out to be a SUPER fun game, and has helped shape ideas for how we take more Demon Hunters to the screen. FOR THE CAUSE!
-Don Early, Dead Gentlemen Productions
