Hello, old-school and pinball fans! (and fans of both!)
The really important part of this update is Joe Goodman getting back into the top scores on his favorite pinball machine, which we'll discuss below. But in more mundane matters, we are progressing well through the layout stage. Actually, that is the most important part, so we'll cover the layout progress first! Just kidding about the pinball scores... but we will cover that below, too!
In this previous update we showed you layouts of Old-School Adventures #1. It's 95% done; we are in final proofreading, adding a few pages at the end to get to the correct page multiples, and a few other minor tweaks.
In today's update, we will show you layout pages from various Pinball Crawl Classics adventures. Each adventure is in layout, and the artists are furiously working to finalize the remaining images.
Here, then, are a bunch of pinball layout pages!
Once all the layout is complete for Pinball Crawl Classics, we anticipate sending this job to the printer. We're very close now. Hopefully before the next update!
Castle Whiterock is Nearing $500k!
Probably worth mentioning that Castle Whiterock is live and closing in on $500k. We've cleared literally all the stretch goals, so we went back and added more. Backers also get a free book! The Book of Bonus Adventures is yours if you support it. More details here!
High Score on Bride of Pinbot
Now, on to important matters! In the previous update, I discussed how some guy named Ethan turned out to be a pinball wizard and wiped me off the Bride of Pinbot high scores. At that time I had #1 at a score of just under 13 million. Well, the good news is I've clawed my way back to #3 and achieved a high score of 17 million, my personal best. It's still a long way back to #1 (Ethan set a high bar) but I'm slowly getting there!
This update has some details on layout, and art, and other such topics. But more importantly, some dude named Ethan came in outta nowhere and wiped my high score off Bride of Pinbot! Grrr. We'll deal with that at the end. For now, here's the real substance of this update...
Layout For Old-School Adventures #1
OSA #1 is through first-pass layout. We're currently proofreading, fixing text/image overlaps, and so on. Here are a few previews of select page spreads...
Interior Art for Pinball Crawl Classics
The PCC adventures are written and edited. Now they are all in various stages of art commission. In previous updates / livestreams we showed you a number of images and maps from Gorgar. Here are a few images that just came in for Swords of Fury...
...and here are a few recent additions to Cosmic Gunfight...
Dude Named Ethan is Good at Pinball
Now, on to the important part. Joe Goodman here. I hit a couple local pinball places with some frequency. Research, you know. All a tax writeoff, of course, at least as long as this project is current.
Anyway, I had the high score on Bride of Pinbot at one machine for quite some time. Just under 13 million. Of course, if you know the machine, I never made the Billionaire's Club (haven't gotten that shot) but 13 million ain't too shabby. Photograph evidence below... and yes, JEG is me...
So the other day I walk in, and some guy is playing the machine and he's absolutely killing it. After watching him for a while, I realize he's good. REALLY good.
We get talking. Turns out he used to manage the location, and he's good at virtually every machine there. He teaches me a specific move on Bride of Pinbot: backhand flip off the left flipper gets it up the left ramp almost every time, and even catches it easy on a miss. Amazing move.
My game immediately improves... but it doesn't matter. Cuz dude's name is Ethan and he literally wiped my #1 score off the top 10, and proceeded to fill the ranks with his own name.
A day or two later I got 10 million and didn't even make the top 10.
I think I met a real-life Pinball Wizard. Now the challenge is on to get my name back on the top 10! Practice, practice, practice!
Just wanted to say "thanks" for a really fun campaign.
It was great seeing all the enthusiasm around old-school RPGs, pinball, classic art, and everything in between.
This morning, the product development team assigned out writers for the new magic items developed on the countdown show. Everything else for this project is written and in various stages of editing, layout, or proofing already. We'll keep you apprised as things get finalized and sent to the printer.
In the meantime, we'll keep mulling over that poll on which RPG adventure would make the best pinball game. So many great ideas in there. We've attached it here for reference, but it's not even just about the votes; the comments were fantastic and really showed an appreciation for certain adventures. If we ever do need to spice up the Gen Con booth quite a bit, maybe this is something we commission as a one-off...
Anyway, dreams of D&D pinball aside - thanks everyone, more to come!
What was that 80's song, "Final Countdown"? Well, we're there folks! Last few hours! Let's put that on the playlist to write the rest of this update...
If you want the crowdfunding exclusives - and if you want the stretch goal booklet that only goes to backers, or the returning backer stickers - jump in now.
Countdown Show Today!
We'll be counting down the final hour live on our YouTube channel. Join us at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern. Joseph, Mike, Chris L, Matt, plus special guests - Brendan to discuss his "Cosmic Gunfight" adventure, artists Will McAusland and Stefan Poag to discuss their illustrations for the project - it will be a fun show.
Bonus Magic Items for OT Mode!
If we hit overtime mode, we'll be creating new magic items for backers! All with a pinball theme, all part of the stretch goal booklet. Let's see how long we last and how many magic items we come up with!
Help us create pinball-themed magic items!
Thanks everyone for a fun campaign. See you at the countdown show!
Stretch goals and exclusives for Old-School Adventures and Pinball Crawl Classics!
Hello everyone! This project ends tomorrow and we're so excited with all the enthusiasm. It's been awesome seeing the community form around old-school RPGs, classic art, and pinball.
If you're new to the project, make sure you check out the prior updates that showcased old-school art, design diaries, and pinball playfields!
If you haven't pledged yet, act fast for the exclusive clamshell and foil editions, the stretch goal booklet, the art folio and more!
Today we have a very, very important question for you:
What magic item would you make using pinball themes?
Pinball has so many catchphrases and lore items. Extra life! Multi ball! Jackpot! Match! Drop target! And of course - pinball wizard!
Tell us in the comments what old-school DCC or D&D magic item YOU would make with a pinball theme!
Why do we ask? Well, the project ends tomorrow. We're doing a countdown show starting at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern on Wednesday. And it occurs to us... if we get to OT mode, it might be fun to stack the stretch goal booklet with some bonus magic items...
Tell us your ideas for pinball themed magic items in the comments! And see you for the final countdown tomorrow!
P.S. Forgot to mention, 2 hours left in the poll if you still need to vote! See below!
