Fulfilment Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 02, 2022 at 08:29:27 PM

Hey everyone,

Just a very quick update to keep you all in the loop on where things stand with fulfilment.

• All the box sets, books, and other items are in the warehouses ready to go.
• We're now awaiting concrete fulfilment start dates from the warehouses. Each warehouse has its own queue of jobs (including this Kickstarter and jobs for many other companies), so unfortunately any dates they provide us for when fulfilment might start are only estimates.
• The US warehouse had informed us previously that they were aiming to start US and rest-of-world fulfilment in the last week of October (i.e. last week). It seems there must have been a delay on their side, though, so we're now waiting for an update from them.

Apologies that we can't provide any more concrete information right now. Everything is down to the warehouses now, so we're just waiting for updates from them. But rest assured that everything is ready to go and will start being shipped out to you all as soon as possible. We'll keep you posted when we get further news from the warehouses.

All For Now

Exalted Funeral / Necrotic Gnome

Fulfillment start dates and Mini Adventures progress!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Oct 07, 2022 at 12:27:56 AM

Hey everyone,

We are so excited for fulfillment to begin soon for this project! Here is the latest info on the products and the start dates for each warehouse. 

Fulfilment Update

Status of each project item:

•  Box sets + referee screens: Arrived in all warehouses.
•  T-shirts: Arrived in US warehouse. Shipment scheduled to arrive in EU and UK October 18th. 

•  Prints: Shipping to all warehouses next week and will arrive in time for fulfillment for all warehouses. 

•  Carcass Crawler zine issues: Arrived in all warehouses.
•  Adventures: Arrived in all warehouses.

US and Rest of World fulfilment: Start date is the last week of October.

EU fulfilment and UK fulfilment: Awaiting official start date from GamesQuest, but should begin shortly after US warehouse begins. Note, the distinction "Held For Additional Checks" on the GamesQuest blog just means that they are awaiting the arrival of the final items for fulfillment.

Mini-Adventures Progress

Development of the 8 mini-adventures that were unlocked as stretch goals is progressing well. As things have evolved, the term "mini-adventure" is now a little inaccurate. These would probably be better classified as "short adventures". They each have around 15-20 described areas and it's looking like they'll come in around 10-12 pages each, when laid out. They should each give a good 2-3 sessions of play.

Development Stages

We have a detailed and fairly involved development process for these adventures, in order to maximise the end quality. Each adventure goes through the following stages:

•  Writing: The author writes the adventure and submits the first draft.
•  Developmental feedback: The editing team gives detailed feedback on the draft, focusing on playability, thematic cohesion, and internal consistency as an adventuring location.
•  Revised draft: The author revises the text based on the editors' feedback and submits a revised draft.
•  Play testing: The adventure is sent out to a few referees, who run it and provide feedback on anything significant that arose during their reading or play of the adventure.
•  Play test revisions: The editing team collates feedback from the play test groups, looking for any major points noted, or any smaller points consistently noted by several play testers. The editors then make further revisions to the adventure as required.
•   Final editing: The editing team makes several editing passes over the adventure, focusing on information structure, rules mechanics, style, and language. This results in the final text of the adventure.
•  Layout: The final text is passed into layout, where the background info, maps, area descriptions, etc are formatted onto pages.
•  Cartography and art: Finally, a cartographer makes the final map and artists are commissioned for illustrations.

Current Status

Here's a little summary of each adventure and where it's currently at:

•  Barrow of the Bone Blaggards: Level 1-3 adventure by Chance Dudinack. Revised draft currently in progress.
•  Curse of the Maggot God: Level 2-3 adventure by Glynn Seal. Play tested, currently in final editing, entering layout shortly.
•  Fortress of the Oozing Serpent: Level 2-3 adventure by Nate Treme. (Previously titled Fortress of the Worm.) Draft written, currently in developmental feedback.
•  The Cathedral of Crimson Death: Level 3-5 adventure by Diogo Nogueira. (Previously titled The Scarlet Flame's Cathedral of Death.) Draft written, currently in developmental feedback.
•  The Comet That Time Forgot: Level 10-12 adventure by Sarah Brunt and Dan Wilson. (Previously titled Treasure of the Terrible Lizards.) Currently in play testing.
•  The Jeweler's Sanctum: Level 1-3 adventure by Giuseppe Rotondo. Currently in play testing.
•  The Ravener's Ghat: Level 6-8 adventure by Brian Yaksha. Revised draft currently in progress.
•  The Sunbathers: Level 3 adventure by Brad Kerr. Currently in play testing.

Estimated Schedule

Each adventure will be sent out to backers once it's reached the layout stage (see above). The PDFs will then be updated as final art comes in. We're hoping to have the first few adventures at this stage by the end of the year, with the rest following early 2023.

Layout Examples

We've been doing some initial layout design experiments in anticipation of starting final layout on Curse of the Maggot God very soon. Here's a couple of examples, for your delectation. (Apologies for the awful image compression here on Kickstarter!) Note that text isn't final and all artwork is placeholder. Map by Glynn Seal. Layout by Vasili Kaliman.

All For Now

Necrotic Gnome / Exalted Funeral

Addresses Locking This Weekend. Box Sets and CC3 Have Arrived!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 09:33:13 AM

Hello Everyone!

Address Lock Notifications Going Out Friday

In anticipation for the nearing fulfillment and to give our warehouses time to adequately integrate the backer data, we will be locking addresses this weekend! 

Look out for an email tomorrow, Friday Sept 2, informing you that you will have 48 hours to make any changes to your address before it is locked.  

If you find that you need to make a change to your address after it is locked, no sweat! Just email us at [email protected] and we will be happy to help you make any necessary changes. 

Game Sets and Carcass Crawler #3 at US Warehouse

Just short of TWO FULL SHIPPING CONTAINERS (!) arrived at our US warehouse this week carrying the beautiful Advanced Fantasy Game Sets and Classic Fantasy Game Sets! 

Here are some quick shots of the games sets:

Carcass Crawler #3 also arrived at the warehouse this week! Check out that cover!

Look out for more updates to come as we near fulfillment, where we will share start dates. 

Thank you! :)

-Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome

On Schedule for October, Third-Party Kickstarters
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 05:44:00 AM

Hey everyone,

We just wanted to give a quick update on the project. We're basically in the "waiting for products to arrive" stage of things now, so there's not really much specific news to share.

On Schedule for October

Here's the current progress of the items that we need in place for fulfilment. Remember that we need all of these items in place before fulfilment can begin. Everything is currently progressing according to plan, so we're looking good for fulfilment to begin in October, as scheduled. (If anything changes we will of course keep you posted in updates here.)

•  Box sets + referee screens: As mentioned in the previous update, manufacturing of the Classic Game Sets and Advanced Expansion Sets is complete and the containers were shipped off. The referee screens were also included in this shipment. The box sets + screens have arrived in the EU and UK warehouses, and the container for the US has docked in Philadelphia and is going through customs.
•  T-shirts: All t-shirts are printed.  All of the Enchanter Shirts have arrived at the US warehouse and the color cover shirts will ship in the next week or two to the US warehouse. The EU and UK Enchanter Shirts and color cover shirts will ship in the next week or so to the EU and UK warehouses. 
•  Prints: Production being finalized, will ship in the next few weeks.
•  Carcass Crawler zine issues: Currently being printed.
•  Adventures: Reprints of the out of stock Adventures and the Classic Fantasy Rules Tome have arrived at all 3 warehouses!

Third-Party OSE Kickstarters

There are loads of fantastic third-party Kickstarters on the go for Old-School Essentials right now, many as part of Kickstarter's annual ZineQuest! Here are the ones we know of.

•  Whisper & Venom: ENDING SOON! Necromancer Games' acclaimed adventure and setting, revised and expanded for OSE. Whisper & Venom is a regional setting and multi-part adventure set in the Whisper Vale, an isolated community of insular villagers beset by an outside supernatural force that sows distrust and paranoia.
•  Delver Issue 5: The fifth instalment of this zine features tons of resources for your games, focusing on themed random tables and a ready-to-go adventure, complete with maps, room descriptions, random encounters, and more.
•  Inn to the Deep: A collection of four ready-to-run dungeon adventures, spread over five zines. The dungeons are all linked by The Bog Inn, a ramshackle establishment that caters to adventurers and hirelings.
•  The Beast of Borgenwold: An adventure for character levels 1-3. Includes 8 unique NPCs, random tables galore, 12 new monsters, and a dungeon with 14 keyed locations.
•  Zines With Class For Old-School Essentials: 5 new specialized classes, each encompassed in its own self-contained 12-20 page zine. Each zine will feature something extra in addition to the class itself, whether that is new spells, rules or cultural information on the class.
•  Gary's Appendix: The first in a series of zines inspired by the rules and guidance in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide.
•  The Scourge of Northland: A sandbox style adventure campaign from the writer and artist of the acclaimed In the Shadow of Tower of Silveraxe and Through the Valley of the Manticore. for Old-School Essentials.
•  Blackmore: a high fantasy Rock & Roll zine for 5E & OSE: Three connected adventures inspired by the 1970s hard rock band Rainbow's records Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Rising, and Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, as well as the vibes of the earliest D&D modules.
•  The Den of Nightmares and Sweets: A "spoopy" (funny and spooky!) adventure, available in English and French.
•  Worldbreaker / Dark Tides of Zaratos: Worldbreakeris a toolbox for worldbuilding, a series of new character options, and an unearthed and arcane grab-bag of new ideas woven together into a thematic, world-breaking whole. The Dark Tides of Zaratos is a classic sword & sorcery setting with a heavy sword & planet vibe.
•  Into the Space Worm: A dungeon adventure replete with demons, monsters, and treasure from space, suitable for character levels 3-4. A worm as big as a city fell to the earth three days ago. Already various factions vie for the right to plunder it, for it is full of valuable treasure.
•  Old-School Solo Adventures: A collection of four solo adventures for Old-School Essentials. If you are familiar with the Choose Your Own Adventure stories, released by Bantam Books between 1979-1998, these have a similar flavour. You won't need a referee, you follow the branching pathways as you make choices and resolve outcomes using the Old-School Essentials rules.
•  Secret of the Black Crag: An island hopping sandbox adventure module centered around a mysterious dungeon risen from the sea. Written by Chance Dudinack.
•  Black God's Kiss: A perilous adventure unearthing the dark arcana behind Sword & Sorcery’s iconic tabletop roleplaying game.

Old-School Essentials Newsletter

Just a reminder, in case you don't already subscribe: we send out a regular newsletter with all the latest Old-School Essentials news, including product announcements, highlighted third-party products, free resources, and more! The newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with the Old-School Essentials scene and keep track of all the exciting adventures, supplements, zines, etc. that are being developed for the game.

•  Sign up at the Necrotic Gnome website. 
•  You can also view an archive of past newsletters here. 

All For Now

Exalted Funeral + Necrotic Gnome

Box Sets Production Complete!
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jun 30, 2022 at 02:25:25 AM

Hey everyone,

We have some really exciting news (and photos!) to share today.

Production of the Box Sets is Complete!

Check out these photos from the manufacturer... (They only sent us photos of the Classic Game Set, but production of the Advanced Expansion Set is also complete.)

Shipping to the Warehouses Now Commencing!

Since those photos were taken, the manufacturer has shrink wrapped and packed all of the box sets, and is now starting to ship them out to the warehouses! The shipment to the US warehouse is already on its way, and the shipments to the EU and UK warehouses should be going off this week.

We'll keep you posted as other items (e.g. t-shirts, prints, zines, etc.) also start making their way to the warehouses. (Fulfilment will only begin once all the required items arrive in each warehouse.)

Mini-Adventures Progress

The 8 PDF mini-adventures that were unlocked as stretch goals are also coming along very nicely. The authors have submitted the first drafts, and the editors are doing an initial pass to iron out any issues they notice. We'll then be play testing the adventures, before moving on to final editing, layout, cartography, and illustration.

We'll keep you posted as things progress with the mini-adventures.

All For Now

Exalted Funeral / Necrotic Gnome