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Old-School Essentials

Created by Necrotic Gnome

A modular adventure game in the tradition of the beloved 1980s role-playing rules. 100% old-school rules, 100% modern design.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

BackerKit open! Early release PDFs sent out!
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Jun 08, 2019 at 03:03:27 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

More art coming in, BackerKit smoke test!
almost 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 05, 2019 at 11:59:19 PM

Hi everyone,

It's Wednesday again, and time for some updates on what's happening in Old-School Essentials land!

Colour Art Plates

First up, I've got a couple of new colour art pieces in!

In the last update, I showed a compositional sketch  by Per Gradin. That piece is now complete!

Painting by Per Gradin, from Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells
Painting by Per Gradin, from Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells

And here's a new piece by Andrew Walter!

Painting by Andrew Walter, for Core Rules and the Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome
Painting by Andrew Walter, for Core Rules and the Classic Fantasy: Rules Tome

Black & White Art

Joan Ochoa has been at it again! Get a load of this purple worm!!

Illustration by Juan Ochoa, for Classic Fantasy: Monsters
Illustration by Juan Ochoa, for Classic Fantasy: Monsters

BackerKit Smoke Test Starting Shortly!

Following a few small complications with setting up the pledge manager for the campaign over at BackerKit, I have some fantastic news:

As soon as I've hit "Publish" on this update, I'm going to start the BackerKit "smoke test"!

"What in Crom's name is a smoke test?", you may ask. Allow me to elucidate:

  • When I start the smoke test, 5% of people who backed the Kickstarter will receive an email with the pledge survey.
  • This first (randomly selected) 5% of backers will be able to go through the complete process of answering the survey questions, selecting add-ons, and paying any remaining money that's due (e.g. shipping costs or add-on costs).
  • This allows us to iron out any issues that might have snuck into the survey or add-ons process, before I send out the survey to all 2,900+ backers.

What does this mean for those of you who are not in the lucky 5%? It means you'll be receiving the survey really soon! If all goes smoothly with the smoke test, I'd anticipate opening BackerKit to all backers at the weekend.

The BackerKit Survey

The survey consists of two simple questions:

  • Firstly, I ask for the email address associated with your DriveThruRPG account so that I can send you download codes for the early release PDFs. If you don't have an account, just provide the email address that you'd like to use to create one.
  • Secondly, I ask you to confirm that you understand that the items due to you from the pledge level that you selected are already in your cart at BackerKit. This is just a small step to reduce the number of people who might be confused and end up ordering double of everything. Though of course you are most welcome to add extra books at the add-ons stage!

Add-Ons

After answering the questions in the BackerKit survey, you'll see a wondrous selection of add-ons, including:

  • The ability to purchase extra copies of the Rules Tome (at a reduced price for backers!) and the Black Box.
  • The hotly anticipated Advanced Fantasy books.
  • Individual books from the Black Box. This is a great option if you want to have extra copies of certain books for use at the table. For example, it's super handy to have extra copies of Core Rules, Classic Fantasy: Genre Rules, and Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells to share around the table.
  • Additional stuff like the Dolmenwood adventure Winter's Daughter and Necrotic Gnome tshirts.

A Few Notes on Add-Ons

  • Kickstarter exclusive Rules Tome: The foil-stamped, leatherette Rules Tome is only available to backers! If you want a copy but didn't back one of the pledge levels that includes it (i.e. Dwarf, Cleric, or Thief), you will be able to change your pledge level in BackerKit. The limited edition Rules Tome is not available as an add-on, so each backer is limited to a single copy.
  • Empty boxes: A couple of people asked about the possibility of purchasing extra game boxes without any books in them. This turned out to add too much logistical complication, so unfortunately isn't being offered as an option.
  • Older Necrotic Gnome products: Several people also asked whether older Necrotic Gnome products (e.g. the Wormskin zine) will be available as add-ons. Again, we decided against this in the end, as it would complicate logistics on our side. This Kickstarter is already pretty complex, with 10 different books being printed, some of them in boxes, so we decided against complicating things further. All of our older books are available in PDF and print form at DriveThruRPG (and are produced as print-on-demand, so will most likely be printed in your locality, rather than having to be shipped across the world).

The Chaos Gods Come to Meatlandia!

One final piece of news this week: Knight Owl's Worm Witch Kickstarter just unlocked a stretch goal to produce a second Old-School Essentials compatible book! This supplement details the weird country of Meatlandia, ruled by a sect of wizards who practice the grotesque arts of meat magic. Like the Worm Witch book, this new book contains setting information, faction info, and new classes and spells.

So backers of that Kickstarter will now get two new Old-School Essentials books! Check it out:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonstabber/worm-witch-the-life-and-death-of-belinda-blood

All For Now

I'll keep you posted with further developments! For cutting edge news and vigorous old-school chat, join our MeWe community!

Gavin / Moss Master at Necrotic Gnome

The gathering of names commences
almost 5 years ago – Thu, May 30, 2019 at 12:55:29 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Advanced Fantasy layout finished, art previews by Per Gradin and Peter Saga
almost 5 years ago – Thu, May 30, 2019 at 12:37:58 AM

Hey everyone,

It's Wednesday again, and time for some updates on what's happening in Old-School Essentials land!

Advanced Fantasy Layout

I've been working hard on laying out the add-on books Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules and Advanced Fantasy: Druid and Illusionist Spells, and I'm delighted to report that I finished both a couple of days back!

Here's a little preview of one of the spreads — part of the optional rules section at the end of the book. (The grey squares are spaces awaiting illustrations — more on that below.)

Some optional rules from Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules
Some optional rules from Advanced Fantasy: Genre Rules

The reason for prioritising this layout work was that it needs to be complete before any illustration work on the Advanced books can commence. So I'm now in a position where I know what spaces for illustrations there are in these books, and will soon be able to start commissioning illustrations.

Advanced Fantasy Illustrators

Speaking of illustrations, I've been discussing the project with a couple of new artists who have both agreed to do some pieces for the Advanced Fantasy books:

  •  Del Teigeler: Del is a well-known name on the old-school scene, having worked extensively on  Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea and & Magazine, among lots of other stuff. http://delteigelerillustration.com 
  •  Johannes Stahl: Joe is an avid gamer and professional artist who's worked a lot with metal bands and skateboard companies in the past. This will be his first time doing RPG work, and he's very excited about it! Check out some of his gorgeous, wood-cut style illustrations:  https://www.instagram.com/joe_made_this. Super old-school!

Very exciting to have them both on board!

Colour Plate Sketch

Continuing the art theme, here's a peek at an initial sketch for one of the colour art plates for Classic Fantasy: Cleric and Magic-User Spells by Swedish artist Per Gradin. It's going to be a classic "wizard's lab" piece (a favourite theme of mine!), showing a magic-user studying in his laboratory, with an experiment at creating life (another favourite theme of mine!) under way, in the background.

Compositional sketch by Per Gradin
Compositional sketch by Per Gradin

Black & White Art Preview

I've got a few more pieces of finished art for Core Rules in since last week. Here's one from Peter Saga, on the Retainers page.

Core Rules illustration by Peter Saga
Core Rules illustration by Peter Saga

BackerKit Setup Continuing

We're nearly but not quite there with BackerKit. The current status is:

  • The funds from the Kickstarter have cleared, so I can start paying awesome people for the awesome stuff they're doing for this project!
  • We had a slight delayed as I wanted to discuss finalised shipping rates with the fulfillment company, Games Quest. I now have a list of locked-down shipping rates (as opposed to the estimates that were listed in the Kickstarter campaign description). This means that you'll be able to see the final shipping costs for your physical rewards in BackerKit right away, and will see the costs updated with any add-ons you select. My next step will be to enter all of the finalised shipping rates into BackerKit.
  • Once I'm done, BackerKit will check and hopefully approve everything. I'll then send out a survey to all of you, where you'll be able to select add-ons (e.g. the tasty Advanced Fantasy books or the Winter's Daughter adventure) and let me know the email address for your DriveThruRPG account, for receiving the digital rewards. (If you don't have an account at DriveThruRPG, you'll be able to create one to receive the digital rewards.)
  • I'm hoping to be ready to open BackerKit in about a week.

All For Now

I'll keep you posted with further developments!

Gavin / Moss Master at Necrotic Gnome

Art previews, BackerKit setup progress
almost 5 years ago – Wed, May 22, 2019 at 10:12:08 PM

Hey everyone,

It's Wednesday morning over here in Berlin, and time for some updates on what's happening in Old-School Essentials land!

Colour Art Preview

First up, I wanted to share a preview of the first completed colour art plate! This piece is by Jon Hodgson, and will feature in the Classic Fantasy: Monsters book and the Rules Tome. It will be placed in the layout on the spread following the dragons.

Black & White Art Preview

The first sketches for interior B&W illustrations have started coming in as well. Here's a preview of the first finished piece as it looks in the page layout. This is a piece by Juan Ochoa for the Magic section in Core Rules and the Rules Tome. Worshippers of the toad-faced god!

BackerKit Setup Progressing

I know you're all eagerly awaiting the opening of the BackerKit page, with the possibility of choosing those tasty add-ons and the sending out of the near-finished PDFs. The current status there is as follows:

  • The funds from the Kickstarter still haven't cleared. (I won't open BackerKit until that happens, so that it's 100% clear who pledged what amount of money in the end.)
  • In the background, I'm about half way through setting everything up in BackerKit. Setting up all the add-ons and the shipping rates to ... like every country in the world ... takes a while! Once that's done, BackerKit will check through everything and either approve or give me feedback if anything needs changing.
  • Hopefully, by the time everything is set up and approved, the Kickstarter funds will have cleared and we'll be ready to go.

Pre-Order Store

For anyone who didn't manage to get in on the Kickstarter, we'll also be opening a pre-order store at BackerKit. Everything that was available in the Kickstarter campaign will be available to pre-order, with the exception of the limited edition Rules Tome, which is only available to Kickstarter backers!

A nice feature of the pre-order store, by the way, is that it'll be possible to pay using PayPal (unlike Kickstarter, which only accepts credit cards).

All For Now

I'll keep you posted with further developments!

Gavin / Moss Master at Necrotic Gnome