Greeting backers, Chris here. In the true holiday spirit, the old Troll has allowed me a 15 minute break to give you all an update. And there is much to discuss, including Pax Unplugged, book progress Updates, and a sneak peak at another Stretch Goal Trap!
A few weeks ago, 30,000+ (!) gamers descended on downtown Philadelphia for Pax Unplugged. If you have never been, you should consider Pax next year. They have a first rate Exhibitor Hall, amazing panels, a massive open game library, and host lots of game tourneys. And if you have non-gamers in your midst, acclaimed museums, sightseeing, and the amazing Reading Terminal Market are all within walking distance.
I was invited to host a two-hour demo at the Backerkit booth on Saturday. I decided to playtest the first few encounters of FEF 26 Against the Thieves' Guild, one of the add-on adventures with this campaign. Folks were lined up to play, and we had a steady stream of onlookers the whole time. No delvers met a grisly end, although one came close. And that was at the entrance to the dungeon! Shout out to the whole Backerkit crew for hosting us!
At Pax Unplugged, three delvers all ponder their next move in Against the Thieves' Guild
Updates on the Books We are making excellent progress on all of the books! Here are a few notes:
The last few traps have been converted to 5E and DCC. They are off to development and editing.
The Bonus Trap has been converted to DCC RPG.
Steve Crompton has submitted the text for the last few Stretch Goal Traps. He is busy at work finishing up the artwork for these. Once complete these go to the 5E and DCC RPG teams for stat conversions.
All of the essays have been submitted and are off to the editor.
The 5E draft of FEF #26 Against the Thieves' Guild has been play-tested, submitted, and is through development. The author is making a few tweaks to make it even better, I mean deadlier. Once that goes off to the editor, the author will jump into the DCC version.
The draft of DCC funnel DCC #106 Trials of the Trapmaster has been written, play-tested, and submitted. Up next is development and editing. I had the pleasure to be one of those play-testers, and I can report that this funnel is everything promised. Grimtooth is pleased with the lethality. Don't get attached to those characters!
Another all-new Stretch Goal Trap from TrapMaster Steve Crompton!
The Stalactites of Death Trap
Many have said that some of my traps are like Rube Goldberg machines. So, in honor of this long-gone cartoonist and his weird devices, I shall pay tribute to him with a convoluted conTRAPtion of my own: The Stalactites of Death Trap. This is takes place in a corridor although it could just be in a large cavern.
The Delvers enter the cavern and must brush away a giant spider web (A) which has a trigger wire that goes to the container of Acid (B) in the cave ceiling. The acid flows through the upper ceiling which starts to dissolve the layer just above the stalactites (C). Delvers see a bag of gold (D) and pick it up, pulling string (E) which releases the cage filled with bats (F). As the bats fly out of the cage, a weight in the cage is released, pulling the string (G) and releasing the battering ram (H). The ram hits the large brass bell (I) causing it to create a bellowing BONG, which causes the stalactites to fall from the ceiling onto the delvers. The bell ringing also awakens the kraken (J) which will emerge from the water to attack any remaining delvers.
It will be fun to watch the confusion as bats fly into the delvers, followed by a huge ringing “BONG!” Then hundreds of spike-like stalactites fall from the ceiling followed by a large slimy tentacled creature surging forth to pick up the pieces! You know, that Rube Goldberg WAS a genius in his own way... (At least with a bit of help from me!)
Rough Concept Art for the Stalactites of Death by Steve Crompton
