Hi all,
So. Turns out the idea of a regular newsletter was really a pipe dream. (Who could have seen that one coming?) But I have a couple of really important announcements to communicate to you all, so please read to the end.
First and most importantly, I have a new kickstarter launching on Thursday (that’s in three days) and I’m really excited for it.
Hieronymus: Garden of Earthly Delights is a hexcrawl game based on the the work of medieval arttist Hieronymus Bosch. Here’s the pitch.
In Hieronymus, you play a group of refugees fleeing an astral terror known only as the Follower. As it pursues you, you rip your way through reality into strange worldscapes inspired by the paintings of Bosch, the Follower only a few steps behind.
It’s a game designed to help players and GMs experience and reinterpret some of the most fascinating and intricate paintings around. It’s very RP heavy, but provides enough inspiration to give those less experiences in role play plenty to work with. It’s possibly a metaphor for the death-agony of feudalism. And if any of that strikes a cord with you, you can follow the kickstarter here, to prepare for when it launches in three days time.
As with all my games, there will be early bird copies available for the first backers, so if you want to snag a discounted copy, it’s definitely in your interests to follow the page pre-launch!
Those of you who have been following my work for a while will know that a first edition of Hieronymus has been available for a while, but almost since release I’ve been hoping to create a new edition, with higher quality print and layout, and so much additional bonus content to really elevate the game to the next level.
To new subscribers worried about getting kickstarter spam, don’t panic: as with all my crowdfunds, I only send two emails out to my list about them (after this one): one on launch day, and one when the campaign is about to close.
Whilst you guys get excited for the new project, I have a couple other announcements which I also want to shout about now I have the chance.
Stolen Crown
Sleeping Above A Stolen Crown, my three part starter module for Lancer which was crowdfunded last November, has finally been published and is available for purchase from itch.io: in both digital and physical format.
If you haven’t heard about it yet, you can have a look at the launch website here. I’m so glad it’s out and couldn’t be prouder of all the hard work everyone on the team put in. If you’d like a sneak peak, take a look at one of the beautiful maps made by the fantastic Saga Mackenzie for use with the game:
And one of my favourite (spoiler free) spreads from the adventure:
I hope those of you who already have the adventure enjoy it, and while I can announce anything concrete yet, I’m definitely going to plan more Lancer content in the future.
Odd Jobs
This is more a ‘I’m proud of my friends’ work’ announcement than anything else, but I’m really happy to say that Odd Jobs, a setting anthology that I wrote some bonus content for last year, won Best Adventure at UK Games Expo this year. It’s a fantastic collection of system-neutral settings written by the wonderful Jonny and Sasha over at MacGuffin and Co. — and if you’d like to pick up a copy, you can get it here.
That’s all for the newsletter for now (though I promise I have those other projects bubbling away in the background).
If you read to the end, here’s a riddle to keep you entertained another five months until next update:
A man is 20 years old in 1990, but in 1995, he is only 15 years old. How is this possible?
Until next time,
Laurie