More Stretch Goals!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Feb 26, 2022 at 03:21:38 AM

Hey everyone,

Thanks for your patience while we've been finalising the additional stretch goals. We're happy to announce that they're now live!

4 More Mini-Adventures!

We've got four more mini-adventures lined up by a further four fantastic authors. The mini-adventures should come in at around 15-20 adventure areas, so each will provide enough material for a good couple of sessions of play.

The Sunbathers. A mini-adventure by Brad Kerr, author of the acclaimed adventures Hideous Daylight and Temple of 1000 Swords. About the adventure: In a sundrenched Old World island, a beach of blissful amnesiacs are held prisoner by monstrous caretakers from a golden temple of healing.

The Jeweler's Sanctum. A mini-adventure by Giuseppe Rotondo, creator of the fantastic Axian Library. About the adventure: The secret workshop of a long dead jeweler magician is now open, as his grandson wants the place finally cleared of all dangers. What treasures might the jeweler have left behind?

Curse of the Maggot God. A mini-adventure by Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood Design, cartographer extraordinaire (you can see Glynn's maps in many of the official Old-School Essentials adventures!). About the adventure: Investigating a tunnel collapse in the sewers after a deluge, the Guild of Sewermen have lost a worker, but their fear of the Sewer Plague stops their search for him. Can the PCs find him, and uncover the source of the Sewer Plague in the rediscovered chambers beneath a long-demolished villa?

Mini-Adventure #8. We’re just ironing out the final details with the author on this one. More info to be revealed soon!

About the mini-adventures in print: A lot of people have been asking about this. We may include some or all of these adventures in a print compendium at some point in the future, but we don't envisage that being available as part of this Kickstarter. The reason is that the adventures likely won't be finished (writing, editing, layout, art) until August/September-ish, so to include printed versions of them in the rewards we'd have to extend the fulfilment timeline by another 3-4 months, which we obviously want to avoid.

Old-School Essentials Dice!

This is a big one. If we get all the way to $800K, we're going to manufacture fancy Old-School Essentials dice with the fabulous Q-Workshop. *All backers will get a complete set! 

And what's more, if we get to $850K, the dice will be upgraded to certified 100% necrotic glow-in-the dark! Perfect for all your delves into the Mythic Underworld.

We'll have some digital mockups of the dice coming from Q-Workshop soon and will share those with you all as soon as they land in our inbox.

(*Dungeon Dealer pledge level is excluded from receiving physical stretch goals, but retailers will be able to purchase the dice and other qualifying items at a wholesale discount via Backerkit.)

More Add-Ons to Be Revealed Soon!

As you probably know, following the campaign we'll send out links to the pledge manager (BackerKit), where you'll be able to select any extras that you want to add on to your pledge. In addition to the Erol Otus T-shirt and general Old-School Essentials products (see list below), we'll be revealing some awesome additional items very soon, including more T-shirt designs and an amazing black light poster!

• Additional copies of the box sets.
•  Carcass Crawler zine issues #1, #2, #3. (Early bird backers get a free copy of issue #2 and all backers get a free copy of issue #3, but you'll be able to add on extras of those in case you want to.)
• The referee's screen.
• Adventures: The Hole in the Oak, The Incandescent Grottoes, Halls of the Blood King, The Isle of the Plangent Mage, Holy Mountain Shaker, Winter's Daughter.
• Other Old-School Essentials products: Advanced Fantasy Reference Booklet, Advanced Fantasy Player's + Referee's Tomes, Classic Fantasy Rules Tome, Classic Fantasy Player's Rules Tome.

All For Now

Necrotic Gnome & Exalted Funeral

Carcass Crawler Issue #3, Four Mini-Adventures, and Gold Foil Unlocked!
about 2 years ago – Fri, Feb 25, 2022 at 12:34:48 AM

Hey everyone,

Thank you again for your fantastic day 1 support of our endeavour to bring Old-School Essentials box sets back into print! We knew there was a lot of demand for the game in box set form (who doesn't love RPG box sets?), but it's truly amazing to see just how much demand there is!

We wanted to take a minute to write a bit more about the early bird extras and the stretch goals that we've unlocked so far.

Day 1 Early Bird Extra: Enchanter T-Shirt

First up, here's a closer look at the amazing art by David Hoskins on the Day 1 Early Bird T-shirt!

Day 1-2 Early Bird Extra: Carcass Crawler Issue #2

Carcass Crawler is the official Old-School Essentials zine, packed with new material for your games, including new character classes and races, new spells and magic items, new monsters, optional and expanded rules, referee advice, previews of in-development products, short adventures, and more!

Day 1 and Day 2 Early Bird backers will receive a free copy (print + PDF) of issue #2 along with their rewards, with the following content:

•  New classes and races: Two new elf variants! The phase elf and the wood elf.
•  Item-based encumbrance system: A simple system for tracking characters' loads and movement rates, based on the number of items carried. (No more need to add up coins and weights!)
•  Town services: Guidelines and prices for inns, jewellers, money changers, and traders, including a simple optional rule for haggling!
•  Hiring retainers: Tables and extra guidelines for locating and hiring retainers.
•  Quick equipment: A set of tables for expediting character creation by randomly selecting starting gear.
•  Energy weapons: Complete rules for introducing high-tech energy blades and guns into your game, either as alien relics found in long lost treasure hoards or to accompany the sci-fi inspired classes in Carcass Crawler issue #1 (the hephaestan and kineticist).
•  Snake cult monsters: 8 brand new monsters: creepy undead, guardian constructs, and devious serpents.
•  The tomb of Aum-Pharath: A mini-adventure in the trap-filled ruins of a snake cult temple.
•  Adjudicating traps: Advice and optional guidelines for making traps a fun and engaging part of the game!

Check out the fantastic cover art by Kyle Patterson!

Unlocked: Carcass Crawler Issue #3

Having passed $350,000 funding, we've now also unlocked Carcass Crawler issue #3! All backers (except "No reward" and retailer tiers) will receive a free copy (print + PDF) of issue #3  along with their rewards, with the following content:

•  New classes and races: Beast master, dragonborn, mutoid, mycelian, tiefling.
•  Expanded adventuring gear: 40 new adventuring gear items to increase adventuring options and character customisation.
•  Expanded armour and weapons: 7 new weapons and 5 new types of armour, inspired by types available in the 1970s Advanced 1st Edition rules and the 1984 Companion rules.
•  Woodland monsters: 8 brand new monsters that lurk in the deep, shadowed glades and sacred groves of ancient forests beyond civilized lands.
•  Monster creation guidelines: A 4-page referee advice article providing guidelines for creating brand new Old-School Essentials monsters to keep your players on their toes!

Check out the fantastic cover art by Jacob Fleming!

Unlocked: Mini-Adventures

Having also passed $450,000 funding, we've also unlocked a series of four mini-adventure PDFs written for Old-School Essentials by a team of talented authors. These adventures are currently being written and will be sent out to backers when they're finished (estimated around September/October). Some of these mini-adventures may appear in print in a future compilation book, but that's further in the future and beyond the scope of this Kickstarter.

Here's what we have in store...

Barrow of the Bone Blaggards. A mini-adventure  by Chance Dudinak, author of the acclaimed The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford. About the adventure: A barrow mound turned bandit hideout in which a necromancer is held captive by the skeletal warriors he sought to control, inhabited by rambunctious skeleton brigands, a self-hating undead tree, and a very annoyed fairy squatter.

Treasure of the Terrible Lizards. A mini-adventure by Dan Wilson and Sarah Brunt, creators of the cosmic Old-School Essentials zine Planar Compass. About the adventure: Pass through the portal to a comet of fire and ice—will you find the tempting treasure within, or be thrashed by monsters that time forgot?

The Ravener's Ghat. A mini-adventure by Brian Yaksha of Goatman's Goblet, creator of Rakehell zine and contributor to Necrotic Gnome's Dolmenwood campaign setting. About the adventure: The shattered stepwell of a once tyrannical rakshasa; now a profane temple tank whose sunken idols beckon treasure-hunters to a most indignant doom.

The Scarlet Flame's Cathedral of Death. A mini-adventure by Diogo Nogueira of Old Skull Publishing, author of the ENNIE award winning Old-School Essentials adventure Halls of the Blood King! About the adventure: In a forgotten cathedral in the wild, a sect of fanatics terrorize the living, and hide a terrible secret, as well as great treasure.

Unlocked: Gold Foil Details on Boxes

Having also passed $500,000 funding, we've also unlocked the enhancement of the Classic Game Set and Advanced Expansion Set boxes with fancy gold foil details! We've printed books with similar gold foil detailing before and were really happy with the way it looks, so we're sure it's going to look fantastic on the boxes!

The gold foil is a semi Kickstarter exclusive as well. The entire print run of boxes following the Kickstarter will have gold foil (that includes copies that go out to backers and copies that are sold at retail later on), but future print runs of the box sets will not.

More Stretch Goals Coming Up

We have some more exciting stretch goals planned beyond $500K to announce over the next few days once we've had a chance to convene and discuss what's feasible with the funding levels we might reach. We'll keep you posted in an update once the new stretch goals are announced!

Erol Otus T-Shirt Add-On!

We also wanted to draw your attention way down in the Kickstarter text to the add-ons section, which explains the extras you'll be able to purchase in the pledge manager (BackerKit) following the campaign. We'll be announcing some more tasty add-ons soon, but for now check this one out! We have the honour of being able to offer officially licensed T-shirts featuring the art of the legendary Erol Otus (artist of the 1980s Basic/Expert box sets) — don't miss out! (The Erol Otus shirts will also be available from exaltedfuneral.com following this Kickstarter.)

All For Now

We're excited to announce the next wave of stretch goals soon!

Necrotic Gnome & Exalted Funeral

Thank You!
about 2 years ago – Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 09:06:31 PM

Hello Everyone! 

FUNDED!!!! 

We wanted to stop and take a moment to thank you for all of the love and support for the project! It means the world to us to have everyone enjoy this so much!!!! We look forward to all of the awesome stretch goals being unlocked for the new and returning fans. 

Have questions? We have answers!

• We have a living FAQ at the top of the campaign that will answer many of the questions we are getting in comments and in messages. We will regularly update that with new info! 
• If you have shipping questions be sure to first check out the shipping costs estimate table at the bottom of the campaign story! 

MOAR Stretch Goals??

We have currently surpassed 5, that's right FIVE of the stretch goals already!

Are there more stretch goals planned? Oh yes!!!!! Stay Tuned for more! The Creator Gavin will be bringing us some exciting news here in the next couple of updates!

Thanks again for all of the support!

-The Exalted Funeral Team 

(or as some sweet backer commented, The Exhausted Funeral, ha!)