BackerKit Closing Nov 3rd, Referee's Screen Preview
10 months ago
– Wed, Nov 01, 2023 at 03:30:14 PM
Hey everyone,
BackerKit Closing Nov 3rd
A quick update to say we will be closing the BackerKit Pledge Manager this Friday and charging cards on Sunday. You will get an email notifying you that you will have 48 hours to make any adjustments to your pledge.
Addresses will not be locked until closer to delivery. We will send out an update later on about this.
If you have any questions for need assistance please reach out us at [email protected].
Referee's Screen Preview
With the pledge manager closing on Friday, now is your last chance to add on any extras that you might want. Extra copies of the Player's Book for your group, extra sets of minis or dice, the Dolmenwood soundtrack LP, the referee's screen, etc. In case anyone's undecided about adding the referee's screen to their pledge, here's a little advice: do it! In case you're still not sure, here's some more info about what you'll find on the screen.
Construction: This will be a deluxe 4-panel screen manufactured by the same company that will be printing the Dolmenwood books. The material will be a super robust 3mm cardstock (very similar to the cover of a hardcover book) with full colour printing on both sides.
Front side: The front side of the screen will feature 4-panel panorama art by Pauliina Hannuniemi. See this update for a preview of the art. We feel Pauliina's fantastic art alone makes the screen worth purchasing!
Back side: The back side of the screen will feature tables and rules summaries to aid the referee running Dolmenwood games. The screen panels are still in development, but here's what we have in mind. (Also see previews of panels 1-3 below.)
-
Left panel: Summaries of the procedures for wilderness travel, searching and finding food, camping, encounters, and combat. Tables of terrain types, getting lost, and sleeping in the wilds.
-
Middle left panel: Summary of the Dolmenwood calendar. Tables of weather by season, encounter types, common encounters, and encounter reactions.
-
Middle right panel: Tables of regional encounters and monster activities.
-
Right panel: Quick reference setting lore, including names, settlements, noble houses, etc.
All For Now
Exalted Funeral + Necrotic Gnome
Maps PDFs & Foraging Bag Sample!
11 months ago
– Fri, Oct 27, 2023 at 02:43:53 PM
Hey everyone,
We have a couple of fun updates to share today!
Referee and Player Map Files
We've just sent out a couple of ZIP files with maps of Dolmenwood via BackerKit! Download links have been emailed out, but you can also go directly to your survey in BackerKit to download the files as well. Here's what's included:
- The player's map of Dolmenwood, as seen in the Player's Book.
- A blank hex map of Dolmenwood, ready for players to fill in as they explore.
- The referee's map of Dolmenwood, showing loads of secret stuff like hidden bases, ley lines, and standing stones. (This map will be on the inside cover of the Campaign Book.)
- A VTT map of Dolmenwood, without the secret stuff.
These are all pretty high resolution files, so zoom right in and enjoy taking a wander around!
Fungal Foraging Dice Bag Sample
We also just got these photos from the manufacturer showing a prototype sample of the fungal foraging dice bag! Check out the grommeted, waxed canvas, fungal embroidered glory!
All For Now
Exalted Funeral + Necrotic Gnome
Monster Book Early-Access PDF!
11 months ago
– Tue, Oct 24, 2023 at 06:35:20 AM
Hey everyone,
Exciting news! The Monster Book early-access PDF has just been sent out via BackerKit! Download links have been emailed out to everyone, but you can also go directly to your survey in BackerKit to download it as well.
What's in the PDF?
This is the complete Dolmenwood Monster Book, the third of the 3 core books. The book is mostly complete, apart from:
- Some example encounters, lairs, and monster names.
- Some monster rumours.
- The Creating Monsters section.
- A few pieces of art. Almost all of the art is complete, but there are about a dozen illustration spaces remaining to be filled. We have a team of fantastic artists hard at work! Pauliina Hannuniemi, Jana Heidersdorf, Tom Kilian, Elliot Lang, Ellie Livingston, Kyle Patterson, Letty Wilson.
- A few minor to-dos. You'll notice some placeholder "TODO" notes throughout the book. These mark points where text needs to be added. This is just little things like some section heading text.
- We have done an initial, high-level editing pass on the book, but final copy editing and proofreading are still to come.
So, download and enjoy! (Optionally over a plate of foraged mushrooms or a pipeleaf of your choice.)
A note on minstrels: The eagle-eyed may notice that the Adventurers section of the Monster Book refers to the bard class instead of the minstrel class. We made the decision to change this class name to avoid the racist associations (especially in the US) with the word minstrel. This will also be changed in a future update of the Player's Book PDF. The term "bard" is already used in Dolmenwood (the Campaign Book mentions the "Bardic Guild"), so it seemed the natural replacement.
What's Next?
We're currently working on the remaining core book—the Dolmenwood Campaign Book—getting it in a tidy, internally consistent, near-finished state to match the Player's Book and the Monster Book. The first high-level editing pass is under way, but due to the sheer size of the book is taking a little longer than initially estimated. We'll send out the early-access PDF as soon as it's ready. (Estimate: 3 weeks from now.)
We'll also send out updated version of the Player's Book and Monster Book as final illustration, writing, and editing happen. PDFs of other materials (e.g. the adventures, the referee's screen, etc.) will be sent out individually when they're ready.
Want to Talk Dolmenwood?
We hope you enjoy exploring the pages of the Monster Book! We're sure lots of you will be very keen to chat about the PDF with other backers and Dolmenwood fans. The Necrotic Gnome fan Discord server and the Dolmenwood fan Facebook Group are great places to discuss all things Dolmenwood, and are peopled with all sorts of friendly woodgrues, Drunes, breggles, and fairy merchants.
BackerKit Lock and Charge Date
The Pledge Manager will close and cards will be charged on November 3rd. The addresses will not lock until closer to fulfillment next year, so you can update your address at anytime before then. The Pre-order store will remain open for several months as well.
If you need to make an alteration to your order after this date, no sweat, just reach out to us at [email protected].
All For Now
Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome
Player's Book Early-Access PDF!
11 months ago
– Tue, Oct 10, 2023 at 07:39:50 AM
Hey everyone,
Exciting news! The Player's Book early-access PDF has just been sent out via BackerKit! Download links have been emailed out to everyone, but you can also go directly to your survey in BackerKit to download it as well.
What's in the PDF?
This is the complete Dolmenwood Player's Book, the first of the 3 core books. The book is virtually complete, apart from:
- A couple of pages of examples of play and intro to RPGs.
- Some art. There's already a lot of art in the book, but there are about 60 illustration spaces remaining to be filled. We have a team of fantastic artists hard at work! Pauliina Hannuniemi, Jana Heidersdorf, Tom Kilian, Elliot Lang, Ellie Livingston, Kyle Patterson, Letty Wilson.
- A few minor to-dos. You'll notice some placeholder "TODO" notes throughout the book. These mark points where text needs to be added. This is just little things like some section heading text. Aside from the pages mentioned above, no gameable content is missing from the Player's Book.
- We have done an initial, high-level editing pass on the book, but final copy editing and proofreading are still to come.
So, download and enjoy! (Optionally over a pipeleaf or spirituous beverage of your choice.)
Rough Character Sheet
We've also sent out a PDF with a rough Dolmenwood character sheet. Some notes on that:
- Functionally everything you need to record characters is there, but the visual design is placeholder. The final sheet design is in progress currently.
- The equipment section of the sheet (on the reverse side) is currently set up for the slot encumbrance option (see p148-149 of the Player's Book). The final sheet will have an option for weight encumbrance.
- The rough PDF character sheet isn't form-fillable, but the final sheet will be.
What's Next?
We're currently working on the other two core books—the Dolmenwood Campaign Book and the Dolmenwood Monster Book—getting them in a tidy, internally consistent, near-finished state to match the Player's Book. The first high-level editing pass is under way, but due to the sheer size of the books is taking a little longer than initially estimated. We'll send out early-access PDFs as soon as they're ready. (Estimate: 2-3 weeks from now.)
We'll also send out updated version of the Player's Book as final illustration, writing, and editing happen. PDFs of other materials (e.g. the adventures, the referee's screen, etc.) will be sent out individually when they're ready.
Want to Talk Dolmenwood?
We hope you enjoy exploring the pages of the Player's Book! We're sure lots of you will be very keen to chat about the PDF with other backers and Dolmenwood fans. The Necrotic Gnome fan Discord server is a fantastic place to discuss all things Dolmenwood, and is peopled with all sorts of friendly woodgrues, Drunes, breggles, and fairy merchants.
BackerKit Lock and Charge Date
The Pledge Manager will close and cards will be charged on November 3rd.The addresses will not lock until closer to fulfillment next year, so you can update your address at anytime before then. The Pre-order store will remain open for several months as well.
If you need to make an alteration to your order after this date, no sweat, just reach out to us at [email protected].
All For Now
Exalted Funeral and Necrotic Gnome
Smoke Test going out today, rest of surveys sent tomorrow
11 months ago
– Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 03:03:54 PM
Hey Everyone!
Just a super quick update to say that the Smoke Test will go out to 5% of backer in a few hours. The rest of the surveys will be sent out starting tomorrow. More information about BackerKit and the survey in the previous update.
If you do not receive your survey by the end of the day on Monday October 2nd, please reach out to us at [email protected].
Thank you!
Exalted Funeral and Necotic Gnome