Hang in there, our update is a bit all over the place.
The cover
First, Rick and I have been batting around ideas for the cover. I feel the rough sketch gives you the vibe for the action-filled cover, so I thought I would share.
Cover concept
I feel for whoever Wyatt is aiming at.
Memes
I've also had fans sending me truffalo memes, thus I wanted to share.
Truffling
TWW?
Some have also asked how the new Cypher can impact the Underflow setting and I had some thoughts.
Which Mega Dungeon is yours?
The second edition of Cypher has arrived! It has plenty of surprises for old and new fans. The biggest change is how Types are now deeply tied to the genre of a campaign. For example, we now have three favors of fantasy to play with.
There is dungeon fantasy for those who want grand stories with powerful characters who hail from anywhere in the cosmos. There is Epic Fantasy which lets PCs go from humble to heroic like a classic novel while Sword and Sorcery brings back the picaresque hero who lives as much on their wits as they do their prowess.
Each of these genres, though, can help make your Hobgoblin Market and the Underflow different and uniquely your own!
Dungeon Fantasy
This genre has Cypher and Fantasy both turned up to 11. All the rules are in play, types, focuses, manifest cyphers, and artifacts. But perhaps the biggest meta rule to consider is the “rule of cool.”
For the Underflow and Hobgoblin Market, this rule of cool turns the weird western more into an anime western with ponchos as capes and duster coats as robes. GM intrusions provide both hob bows malfunctions and ammo depletion.
For NPCs in both dungeon fantasy and Epic Fantasy, Sheriff Wyatt tries to keep the peace. If there’s corruption, he’s probably unaware of it.
Epic Fantasy
This is a world where the eventual stakes are high and you fought hard to get here. Deciding between trying to heal or use a non-rest 10 hour recovery to be rid of a curse is a really tough choice at the lower tiers - especially if your GM allows you online one chance to restore a major wound.
Just as artifacts are more rare in epic fantasy, hob bows should be as well. Perhaps there's no special custom ammo and they now have a 1 in d10 depletion roll. Those PCs wanting to embrace the gunslinger life, the Carries a Gun focus should be available.
In these more dangerous worlds, The hob bow already has a challenger as the Ironhold dwarves have developed a more fearsome weapon. The maticore crank crossbow fires multiple bolts at ridiculous speeds. A devastating weapon despite being so cumbersome it needs a wheeled tripod for transport. For PCs, it Gatling gun Heavy weapon, rapid‑fire, long range, mounted on large‑wheeled carriage; enough ammunition to fire the crossbow for 1 minute is a very expensive cost a
The GM can decide to ignore the Weird West aspects but they can add more flavor and uniqueness to their setting. It also gives a GM a chance to show off their funny voices.
Sword and Sorcery
The rough and tumble nature of a classic Western boom town fits right in with the Sword and sorcery genre. It’s no surprise that stories for both genres both appeared in the same old pulp magazines.
Much like Epic Fantasy, hob bows are different. They should be even more unreliable with a 1 in d6 depletion roll to represent both malfunctions and running out of ammo.They are also one category more expensive.
This sort of mashup embraces all the dangers of both worlds. Truffalo are walking money and food the PCs will have to protect from claim jumpers, handits, and hungry monsters.
For NPCs, life is made harder thanks to shifty merchants and lackadaisical law enforcement. In such a campaign, Sheriff Wyatt can be either corrupt, overwhelmed, or habitually turns a blind eye to Vigilante justice.
Seasoning your campaign
The beauty of the new edition is not only can you signpost to your players your expectations for the game, the genre you pick adds a whole new flavor to the campaign. A GM could use the same content and run two very different games, something that seems pretty tempting right now.
If that tempts you, let me know. You can also tell me what your plans are for the Cypher ttrpg.
Let me introduce you to Sir Lucius Atilius spying for the Sunless Kingdom as Drake Havermore. Mr. Havermore has many connections within the Hobgoblin Market and sometimes needs his “gentleman” troll, Brackrip, to facilitate communication - especially physical communication. You just know these two are cunning and bad news for anyone who crosses them.
Next update we’ll introduce Bash Wyatt, the orc sheriff.
Otherwise, we are commissioning more art, squaring up our word count, and doing some early-stage layouts.
This was my first Backerkit project and it was a great ride. A special thank you goes to the supporters who came in during the crazy overtime period. Of course the main engine to this was MCG's Jewel in the Sky, but every bit helped!
Now that we have an art budget, I'm reaching out artists and writing briefs. I'll try to get the Pledge Manager up this weekend if possible for those who missed out. After that, Hobgoblin goes into the more writing and editing phase. After that, I plan to showcase new art next month!
Tonight, on April 30th, 9pm EST, the Cypher Unlimited crew will be interviewing me on Twitch! I will be talking about the Hobgoblin Market and other Cypher projects in the pipeline! Get the deets! https://www.twitch.tv/cypherunlimitedlive
If you are a Cypher fan and haven't joined the CU, you are missing out. There has been a long discussion about C2 (their nickname for Cypher second edition) and a channel to post typos and questions. Even better MCG designers have popped in and offered a deeper look into the game! https://discord.gg/cypherunlimited
Thanks to you, we have lined up Rick again to do more art! Check out the poll below and let us know who's next? Will it be the ghoul with secrets or the straight shooting orc sheriff?
In his most famous book series, The First Law, Joe Abercrombie does something genius. Even though his series is set in the same fantasy setting, not every novel in the same genre. His novel, Red Country, is a Western novel inside a fantasy world. There's cattle drives and boom towns. It is a fantasy story but also very much a Western tale. I highly recommend it!
It inspired me to bring a similar mashup to a fantasy ttrpg. I had developed a place with loud saloons and lonely desert boom towns but this was all for D&D. And over the years, I had seen other D&D "westerns" come and go as one-shot products, so I put it all away. As a side note, I love Deadlands, but that's whole different thing than what I was trying to pull off.
I even commissioned art a while back.
Blame it on the truffalo Monte Cook Games reached out to a lot of folks to see if we wanted to join Megadungeon month. I was flattered as I was also part of the group MCG called on for the Cypher OGL project that birthed Mystery Flesh Pit National Park ttrpg.
I was trying to find an inspiration for what to do as a dungeon when it hit me, I could do an underdark western boom town! You couldn’t get more fantasy western ttrpg than that! The same day, I came up with the truffalo and it all clicked. It cemented for me after I came up with some factions more appropriate to an underdark area as compared to a surface world setting.
Don't like westerns, don't worry I realize many fantasy GMs are buying things for the parts, not the whole. It something I do myself. So while this dungeon has weird west elements, it is also right what it says on the tin, a giant Hobgoblin Market fleshed out with random tables, NPCs and locations adventurers can visit to buy gear or find work. This way, GMs who aren't as attracted to the weird west parts can just ignore them and use what they want!
Pass on the word! Thank you again for all of you who have supported the backerkit so far! If you love what I'm doing, spread the word! Let make this PDF look sweet and inspiring!
