Matt John S

On 9/21/2018 at 10:20 AM, Ken said:

 

@Matt John S @Primeval @Neil Amswych 

 

What do you all think of this idea?

I think the way you have it on the cards is great. 

@Ken Excellent work! 

@Ken, awesome work. I'll have a look soon as I can! 

On 9/6/2018 at 2:18 PM, Primeval said:

I would love to see Monolith package this and release a nice print run of it, we need to promote the game more and get new content out there. Of course part of that is personal interest - I am proud to be part of this creation and hope there will be more opportunities for creators to get "endorsed" or some kind of backing from Monolith to help keep things going!

 

EDIT: The idea of a periodic fan-made pdf magazine came to me, it could have some scenarios, maybe painting advice, new skills/equipment, a gallery of fan painted miniatures... @Matt John S, do  you think Monolith might be ok with something like this? The content creators./contributors would get some exposure of course, but it would also help keep the game relevant and perhaps reach new users.

It would be totally cool if fans created pdf magazine. If it's not being sold, there are no issues and you can post it here. I love the idea. 

On 9/5/2018 at 1:36 PM, Epaka said:

I do not believe that this is an ‘official’ product. Frankly, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Monolith wanted nothing more to do with printing or promoting fan made scenarios. After the last effort, they received a LOT of backlash from a select few fans who paid a small shipping fee to receive the last printed version of fan made scenarios, but never received them due to shipping issues. 

I thought it was an awesome gesture on the part of Monolith, and I got mine in the mail with no issues. But blurring the lines of ‘official product’ has definitely led to at least a few disgruntled people accusing Monolith of cheating them out of shipping fees.  

We have indeed been reflective of how the Compendium distribution was handled and are absolute re-thinking how we handle it in the future. We don't want to abandon it, but we recognize our last method did not work for everyone. We have some ideas that may make it reliable. We kind of do want it to be like White Dwarf, but we are a small team and need to manage or slate carefully. Once we have this figured out we will plan what's next for fan compendiums. I think it's a very real and interesting idea that this community campaign could be compiled into a future Compendium like the others. but we have things to figure out first. 

On 9/3/2018 at 6:18 PM, Neil Amswych said:

 

So, is this actually an official Monolith campaign? Or is it a fan-made campaign that Monolith allow to happen? It would be nice if Monolith could say, "Hey everyone, here's our new campaign, and the awesome thing is that it was fan-made, so here it is." Is that possible?

Neil, I wouldn't say it's an official Monolith product. I mean, it's not being sold, but it is endorsed and was launched by one of its employees (me). But I'm not sure it matters. If we promote it via Monolith channels people will see it and see that Monolith wants to promote it. The key message, for me at least, is that this is what the fans have created and really spotlights the original desire that this game be embraced by the community. This whole site is about that very thing. I'm not sure if I've answered your question, but that's sort of how I see it. 

@Epaka, thanks for the mention. I wrote the board game campaign (with much help and patience from my gaming group), the RPG chapter (except for a few polishes), the solo/co-op rules and campaign, and the how-to write scenario section. The how-to section is kind of a chronicling of my process writing the book. Some will lament that the guidelines aren't specific enough, I'm sure, but the fact is there are no true templates or points system to assign the design process for this game. It's interesting to note that I wrote many of these scenarios long before the board game even shipped! So many of the scenarios presented here are without the influence of any other existing scenarios as I only played the original Pict village scenario before sitting down to work. I learned the 'engine' and went from there. My hope is they are a little distinct as a result. The RPG stats for the Monolith components was done by Jason Durall. That was a late addition, but I think it was a cool way to sort of complete the crossover. 

The draft that was previewed has a bunch of tile errors, so be mindful of that. They have since been fixed and we are still adding other corrections people spotted. There are a ton of moving parts with this book, as you can imagine! I'm digging the layout and the overall look of the book. 

I've gotta say I'm a bit nervous of the book finally coming out. it's been gestating so long I'm afraid the hype and anticipation has ballooned. I really hope people dig it. I poured a lot of love, time, and attention into the project. It will be available at retail as far as I know, but not until backers receive their copies. It may be available to all in PDF once backers have the finals of those. 

If I find that people enjoy the solo/co-op mode I've sketched out, I'll see what I can do about generating more content for it. I'd like to recruit others in a similar way I did for the community campaign (which should be in its final form very soon). I'd very interested to see what others could come up with and share via the-overlord.net.  Though the rules and campaign are complete, I feel like there are many places we can take it, should the desire and will be there. I keep coming up with new ideas for the solo/co-op rules and would very much like to add to it. You'll see that as you progress through the campaign, the scenarios get a bit more complex and dynamic as I didn't want to overwhelm people with new rules in the early scenarios. I also designed it so that you could play 2 or 3 scenarios in a sitting. This one is more of a super-lite RPG in that you accumulate gear and Boons (Xp lite) and have some choice of the scenarios you play. There is also a fun ranking system to track how well you did throughout the campaign. You don't want to be a 'perfumed fopp.' Anyways, we'll see where things go. 

Big thanks for caring! 

Matt 

On 8/19/2018 at 10:40 PM, Strijdparel said:

Thanks for charing. Althoug I won't be buying Claustrophobia because I am not interested in the IP, I would like to ask, are you going to also do this with Mytic Battles Ragnarok? It is not that I have any problems with the new concept, but I do like the rush of waking up in the morning and having unlocked a new strechgoal.

 We haven't made any decisions regarding that. We will see how this goes. It is something of an experiment and the results may inform our future approach. 

This does not prevent us from continuing with work on our game. I can't say too much about it other than these two things can both exist. 

Hey all, sorry for being absent. I have been up to my eyeballs in work (when I wasn't in Hawaii), but have finished my edits on Dreams of Atali. I believe @Ken can now access it via the link? Let me know if not. I think we've done some great work here. Once Ken has it compiled in a beautiful little package we'll upload it on this site and I'll advertise it via offical Monolith channels. I'm also talking with the team about what other form this campaign may take. I'll get into details when/if I have them 😉

Hey guys, so sorry I have been absent. I literally just finished with the Mythic Battles campaign and knew I needed to pop in. @Ken, the pdf looks awesome. I saw a few typos in mine. What's the easiest way to fix those? As for the changing of weapons and characters-- I don't think we need to get stuck on this. It's just how this game goes. We want continuity, but we also want the individual designers to be able to to do their thing. Conan doesn't have the same sword from story to story. So, personally, I see this as a non-issue. We are assigning XP to the side, not the individual, anyway. 

I let Monolith know about the pdf. They even mentioned perhaps having their own team doing some play testing. I'm not sure how realistic that is considering their schedule, but if that's something you guys would like, I could push for it. Otherwise, I'm going to see that we get this shared via their official channels. So, let me know when we've got the version absolutely where we think we want it, and then I'll promote it for further play testing. 

Thanks for keeping the standard raised! 

@drmauric @Primeval @Neil Amswych

The spellbook really doesn't matter. If it's at all an issue, keep it out the Neil's scenario. It most definitely doesn't warrant any of the flavor text changing. 

For consistency sake, if the spellbook CAN stay in your scenario, @Neil Amswych, as @drmauric suggests, then I say it stays. It would be better to maintain that consistency. As a player, I would probably resent the one scenario that removed my favorite item. But that's just me. You have the say on that, ultimately. 

I've been very busy working my multiple jobs and my gameplay time has been focused on Imaginarium as I'll be running that campaign as well. Not to mention I've been editing the next compendium volumes for English and also have to tackle the Batman rulebook. So Conan is on the backburner for me only because it has to be. 

That looks solid to me, @drmauric. Good job! 

@Ken @drmauric @Neil Amswych @Primeval

I finally have my draft up. Sorry for the lateness. I've been busy as hell. I already noticed a few typos, but it should all be pretty clear and ready for testing. 

1081 (2).pdf

2 minutes ago, Ken said:

 

Sweet. Now I can update them as we get feedback from play-testers (if we get feedback from play-testers).

 

(I have to admit the preview formatting for The Streets of Khemi (compared to the basic links for the other scenarios) is messing with my OCD, though.)  

It messed with mine too, but I left it because I could get it to switch back and am now busy trying to finish up this scenario ;) 

21 minutes ago, Ken said:

 

Here the links. They are in Draft Scenarios.

 

 

 

I added them. Let me know if that's what you wanted. 

On 4/22/2018 at 8:50 PM, Ken said:

@Matt John S 

 

I created two posts in Draft Scenarios. Can you update the links in this post to point those new posts? That way, I can make changes as needed without having to bug you.

 

Speaking of bugging you, did you ever write up your scenario?

Sorry, @Ken, where are the new posts you want linked? 

And, I still need to complete my intro text write up. If I don't get it done by the end of this weekend, I'll post it without the intro text, just so it's playable. 

On 2018-04-06 at 10:52 AM, drmauric said:

To summarize the Xuthal Crowns conversation:

@Ken is using the Crowns in his final scenarios to give the Heroes some protection against Thoth Amon's sorcery.

Could these crowns be easily added into other scenarios?

I can easily add one into mine, so the Heroes will have at least one.

Could the other one be added in somewhere? In a side chest? In the asset deck for your scenario? Swapped out with a non essential item? The Heroes would be aware of its usefulness in the final scenario but may or may not decide to go after it?

Based on @Primeval's thoughts, there is no reason to over complicate things by requiring the crowns to be carried over in each sceanrio. We would just assume the Heroes carried them along with other out of game campaign related gear.

 

No need to come up with special rules or benefits for the Crowns, what Ken has in mind will be THE benefit and make them worth going after. Really kind of just need a chest to put them in.

Ken already mentioned that he could simply write them in his but could this be an opportunity to enhance our story by providing a substantial choice/sub-goal with in the overall campaign?

 

Hopefully I'm not coming across as pushy. I just don't want this conversation to get buried. :)

 

@Neil Amswych @Matt John S

We could fit the crown in mine without much fuss. The other thing to consider is this: players don't actually have to pick it up in a scenario. We could just write it in some end game conditions. "If the heroes win, they may add x to the starting equipment of one of their heroes in the subsequent scenario" or something...

Another reason I think some are turning a blind eye to this campaign is that they are not down for playtesting. They may view this as work and are waiting for us to do the heavy lifting so they may enjoy a campaign. 

On 3/12/2018 at 1:35 AM, Neil Amswych said:

I have to ask a difficult question here.... does the community want this? I ask because apart from @Footballzs there aren't other playtesters coming forward. I know some people are excited about Batman but nonetheless wouldn't we by now expect more people to be demonstrating some kind of excitement about this campaign?

When this is done and we're happy with it, I'll push to have Monolith publish a Kickstarter update informing people that it's available with links. That will get their attention. 

Hey team, 

I actually got back to this for a bit tonight. Just about have my scenario composed for your viewing. I will hopefully have it up on the weekend. Just letting you know I haven't forgotten about this! Looks like you've all been keeping the ship afloat. Excellent work! @drmauric @Primeval @Ken @Neil Amswych

@Ken, I'll make that switch, but yes, you could totally just create a post underneath it. Sorry again for my absence. The Batman KS has a total lock on my efforts, but my time will free up by the end of Saturday. 

22 minutes ago, Epaka said:

Received my copy yesterday in the Midwestern US. Great stuff! Some innovative and fun looking scenarios. After my initial read through I can say that it seems these scenarios have been well written and edited, with possibly fewer ambiguities than many of the ‘official’ scenarios. 

Epaka, I'm very happy to hear that. I tried my best to turn the French translations into reader-friendly English but had to rush on a few of them. I'm hoping there aren't too many errors. I pointed out anything that didn't seem clear to my eyes and @Doucefeuille seems to have done a fantastic job with this. Mind you, I haven't received mine yet.