So. Freakin'. Close.
over 5 years ago – Sun, Dec 23, 2018 at 05:01:29 AM

We enter the final 24 hours of the Kickstarter with:

• $219 to go until the first "high quality print" goal
• $400 per day for the last two days as a trend
• 136 people following this Kickstarter who have not yet pledged
• 200 backers of Dragon Heresy with no support in their hands who also don't have Lost Hall 1e or Hall of Judgment

So much potential . . . please come on board!

Gaming Ballistic on the Web!
over 5 years ago – Sat, Dec 22, 2018 at 07:29:57 PM

Forgive the link post, but if you're looking to chat with me real time, ask questions, or brainstorm or speculate about future products, or current ones, I'm all over the place on social media . . . if you know where to look.

Gaming Ballistic on the Web

Come chat, join the mailing list (I use it only sporadically, mostly around Kickstarter time), or chat me up on Discord.

It's been a great 24 hours
over 5 years ago – Sat, Dec 22, 2018 at 07:26:37 PM

While counting your chickens is famously unwise, we just passed $3,000, having picked up roughly $500 in the last day. We've also got something like 140 folks who are following the campaign but haven't yet pledged.

We'll hit the digital print run goal at $3500, which requires about 40 PDF pledges or only 16 people to come in at the print plus PDF level.

The $3500 level will turn it into a very nice book - same quality as Hall of Judgment.

The Big Offset Print Run isn't out of reach, though a lot would have to happen in the next 24-36 hours. But if ALL 140 folks came in and went for a print and PDF book, well, that actually gets us the hardcover.

The number of backers required for "victory" here is quite small. 250 at the current average pledge of $30 gets us the hardcover. Can't do it without you. Spread the word, and let's make it happen.

Foreword - by Matt Finch (author of Swords & Wizardry)
over 5 years ago – Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 11:10:26 PM

I got back into D&D after a long, long time with GURPS (though I did not, and will not, stop creating for that system) by joining Erik Tenkar, Peter Dell'Orto, Tim Shorts, Joe the Lawyer (I never actually got his whole name), and several others in Erik's "B-Team."

We played once a month, and compressed a whole lot of gaming into 2-3 hours. We used the Swords & Wizardry system, a retro-clone that showed me how much fun rules-light gaming can be, and helped me appreciate Fifth Edition a bit more when it came out.

S&W taught me to think simple, think fast, and think light. It helped me shape my grappling rules into something anyone would want to pick up, and could either "play easy" or add as much modular awesome as they could.

I got to know Matt Finch through Erik, and I believe other than the Wednesday night Tavern Chats, we started to get to know each other when he started "ambush interviewing" me for his D&D Neighborhood YouTube shows. While the first interview was me chatting with him about Dragon Heresy and related stuff, he tapped me for a few other shows like "How to write a player's guide." He's a good guy, drives a good interview (maybe the legal training), and runs a good game, which I got to experience at GameHole Con in November of 2018 (this past year).

When it came time to introduce this second edition of Lost Hall, I asked him if he would be willing to contribute a Foreword, and he agreed.

Here's the laid-out Foreword for your image perusal, followed by the text and a link to a PDF as well.

Foreword to Lost Hall of Tyr (2nd Edition)

by Matt Finch

Some longish time ago, I was talking with Doug Cole via Google Hangout. As the conversation went on, it started to dawn on me that he was sitting in the middle of what looked like a small armory of blades, axes, and shields—all of them made of wood. So after a while, of course, I had to ask about this clutter of weaponry piled up all around him. Now, anyone who knows Doug already knows that “enthusiastic” only vaguely succeeds in capturing the essence of Doug. Seconds later, I was looking through my computer screen at a sword-wielding, shieldbearing warrior in fighting stance, delivering an energetic lecture on the proper way to use a Viking-type shield. As the lecture evolved into methods of using the sword in concert with the shield, I started to realize why there’s no furniture anywhere near his computer. Or, at least, what happened to it if there once was. As I’ve said, “enthusiastic” doesn’t quite capture it.

Doug manages to infuse his writing with the same effervescent energy, making for a wild ride through his game world and the adventures to be found in it. Since I’m no expert on Vikings or Norse mythology I can’t speak to how much of Doug’s exploration into the wyrd, wild world of Viking adventure is based on history and how much of it is just a sheer, fantastic Norseplosion of adventure. It doesn’t really matter, of course —this book is a mix of pure mystery and adrenaline for RPG gaming, and that’s what counts in the long run.

One is always tempted to write a long foreword to a good book, sprinkling spoilers here and there in an effort to tell the reader how to enjoy what they’re about to encounter in it. But I don’t think that’s the purpose of a foreword. A foreword is for setting the mood: giving the reader that last deep breath before the plunge into strange worlds and vivid imagery. I can assure you, even though the world of Norse adventuring might seem familiar on the surface, what lies beneath that surface is strange and mythic indeed. And so, consider that last, deep breath to have now been drawn—it’s time to turn the page and let yourself go a-Viking in the rich sea of ideas you’ll find beyond!

 LINK TO PDF FILE

54 Hours and Counting; S&W Support
over 5 years ago – Fri, Dec 21, 2018 at 11:08:45 PM

The Lost Hall of Tyr Kickstarter has funded and is striving to achieve its “high quality printing” stretch goals. It won’t take much, but I still need your help.

Funded. Closing in on Stretch Goals

This is where it happens – the last two days of the Kickstarter are where it takes off and assumes its final form.

We’ve got the new maps. We’ve got a new cover (and I hope to be able to show you an improved version before the campaign ends!) and a lot more gameable material than the first edition. Now it’s time to make the physical product awesome.

If you’re a Dragon Heresy fan. This is your chance to support a fantastic adventure in Dragon Heresy’s native setting. The $3500 stretch goal is still a fine book: heavy paper (about 85# paper, a tetch heavier than what Lulu prints on) and quality printing, but I know we can do more. If we hit the $6,000 stretch goal, that will allow me to get adventure support alongside the hardback book into stores, so you can see them, point to them, and pick them up and play. It will also print on 105# paper and have a lay-flat binding, even in softcover.

If you're a Swords & Wizardry/OSR Fan. You won't be left out. The conversion notes will be revised and expanded and included at the end of the book, including monster stats. I need a conversion section anyway for Dragon Heresy-->5e, and LHoT2e is not designed to take content AWAY from 1e, but to make it better in all ways.

This is the time

For everyone who has been interested in Gaming Ballistic material, I’d ask that you share out the Kickstarter link and make folks aware of it. This will be my fifth (of five) funded projects. Each was on time or early, and a high-quality affair. Help me do more by spreading the word if you can’t pledge, and pledging if you can.

For everyone who has been interested in Gaming Ballistic material, I’d ask that you share out the Kickstarter link and make folks aware of it. This will be my fifth (of five) funded projects. Each was on time or early, and a high-quality affair. Help me do more by spreading the word if you can’t pledge, and pledging if you can.

About 50 hours to go!