Cryptdigger's Release + PDF Screenshots + Print Update
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 04, 2021 at 01:11:44 PM

You should have all received an email update via DriveThruRPG to let you know we've updated the Cryptdigger's Guide with the new version from the Deeper Kickstarter! Hurrah! 

We're hard at work getting you the new books. The Doomsayer's Guide is just about to move to proofing, and is hopefully a few weeks out. My favourite bit of the new book are the Duchy Tables, each Duchy making up it's own spread, all written by Brian Yaksha. Each one has enough ideas for hooks, locations and factions to spawn an entire campaign, and there's 13 of them in the book. Check out some of them below: Roche, Keene, Salver and Ilym, the Duchies that make up the the Western Isle. 

We're also hard at work on the Stretch Goal Zinis, and LoneArchivist had been laying out the finished manuscripts. Wanna see the rules for Heroic characters in BLB? 

We've got a team of 10 people on the case to get this project done: one project manager, two editors, two layout people, two writers, one artist and one cartographer, never mind the six stretch goal writers! We're working to bring you the books as fast as we can, but things are still going to take a bit of time to finish. 

I'm hoping to have all of the PDFs for the Doomsayer's and the Stretch Goal Zines ready this month or mid-next month, then move swiftly on to printing. 

Unfortunately, there are lots of issues with fulfillment currently that are outside our control. The world postal service is fraught with delays, missing deliveries and damages. Sometimes books get stopped at borders and not released for weeks. Sometimes boxes get thrown down hills or buried in snow or one of our packages derails a train (true story, happened to a Best Left Buried shipment to Exalted Funeral in the mid-west last year). 

We also need to navigate issues caused by Brexit and Coronavirus, including record high international shipping costs, cardboard shortages, and some frustrating 'country of origin' rules which means we might have to look for a new printer. 

We're working incredibly finish the project and get some amazing books to you, but it'll help if you stay patient with us so we can navigate these issues without creating extra costs for our customers. 

I'm hoping to have everything printed sometime in April, and customers to begin seeing their physical copies soon after. 

We've delivered projects of this size before during these exceptional times, like Stygian Library, and we're confident we can do so again, particularly if we continue to work with our great fulfilment partners: Kixto and Flying Cloud Fulfillment. 

Thanks for your continued, amazing support and let us know if you enjoy the new Cryptdigger's Guide, or any of the sneak previews. Let us know what stuff you want to see more of from the ongoing projects. 

Speak soon, 

Zach

New Zini Edition + Brexit
about 3 years ago – Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 04:13:08 AM

Hi all! 

Hope you enjoyed the holiday season and the New Year, despite the insanity the world insists on bringing every new day. 

The Cryptdigger's Guide is sadly still a week or so away, but we're blazing away on the Doomsayer's Guide, Adventures and Stretch Goal Zinis, with behind the scene work proceeding on all these! 

New Timelines:

• We're expecting the Crytpdigger's Guide to be available before the end of the month. 
• The Doomsayer's Guide should arrive in early-mid Feb. 
• Stretch Goal Zinis should also appear early-mid Feb. 
• Printing of the various components begins mid-late Feb. 
• BackerKit, and the chance to add various add-ons to your order, is mid-late Feb. 
• Fulfilment should then begin early March. 

We're scaling up, and working with new fulfilment partners to get everything to you as fast as possible. We'll keep you up to date in shipping figures (including the slightly increased complexity for EU backers from customs shipping). 

Zini Edition 

While you were waiting, we hired LoneArchivist (whose work you can find at https://lonearchivist.itch.io/), to make the new Best Left Buried: Zini Edition, which went live this evening. 

This product is the hyper-condensed version of PDF, shrunk down to 24 perfectly information designed pages. There is a double-size of A4 for each main set of rules: Character Creation, Archetypes, Advancements, Rules, Consequences and Monsters. We've managed to add art to a bunch of them where it wasn't before, upgrade the manuscript. 

This should already be in all your inboxes, but in case it isn't, head on over to DriveThruRPG or Itch to sample the new version! 

Speak soon, and we'll have more RPG goodies over the coming months. 

Thanks, 

Zach

Cryptdigger's Guide Incoming
over 3 years ago – Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 09:51:29 PM

It's all moving and shakin' at SoulMuppet HQ.

We've just about to move on to proofing the Cryptdigger's Guide, so Zach did another flipthrough video on youtube where he talks through all the amendments and improvements to the book, including new systems, new structures and the graphic design overhaul. 

We've partnered with Lone Archivist to create a new Best Left Buried character sheet, which we use a lot throughout the book. Here's the new design:

We liked his work so much, we've hired him to work on the three Stretch Goal Zines, so we can speed up delivery and maybe do both sets of printing/distro at the same time! 

The zini stretch goal adventures are rolling in, we're starting layout on the Doomsayer's Guide this weekend and we're expecting to have a finalised version of the Cryptdigger's Guide ready before Christmas. 

Pop any questions in the comments below, and I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable holiday season! 

Thanks, 

Zach

48 Hours to Go - New Stretch Goals and the Hunter's Guide
over 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 19, 2020 at 10:11:32 AM

The Hunter's Guide to Monster's is done! Here's a couple of fancy screenshots. 

It lives! It'll be in the inboxes of all you Best Left Buried fans a few days after the project funds. 

48 hours left! 

So the Kickstarter finished Thursday afternoon in just a few short hours. 

We recently smashed past Grant Howitt's stretch goal, so A Taste of the Goods is on it's way to your tabletops. 

It's time for two more zines: 

First up, a £27.5 we will employ James Hewitt to great a new zini. James is one half of Needy Cat Games, and an alumni of Games Workshop, where he worked on games such as Adeptus Titanicus, Necromunda and Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower. He now designs boardgames, such as Devil May Cry and Hellboy. He also did a rules review for Best Left Buried as part of our remastering process, and is a massive RPG fan. 

Here's his adventure pitch: 

The Great Beast of Dupont: Legend has it that a mighty beast used to stalk the breathtaking bone-lined catacombs beneath Dupont. Now, after nearly a century of inactivity, it's been sighted again...

Seems pretty good, no? 

Next up, at £30k we'll hire  Evey Lockheart to make another zini. Evey has written such weird works as Wet Grandpa and Very Pretty Paleozoic Pals: Permian Nations. We don't know what she is making yet, but I know it'll great. 

I have a £32.5k Kickstarter stretch goal lined up. Do not make me unveil it. You will regret. 

I am warning you all. 

Stygian Library 

A few months ago, SoulMuppet partnered up with Emmy Allen to make a lil book calle Stygian Library. This extraplanar library megadungeon released today, and the PDF is for sale now. You should buy it. It's pretty good. 

That's all from us for tonight. Keep sharing and do NOT make me reveal the £32.5k stretchgoal. 

Thanks 

Zach

5 hours to go! + New Stretch Goals
over 3 years ago – Fri, Oct 16, 2020 at 05:23:10 PM

The finishing line is in sight!!

We've got 5 hours or so left on the project. Get tweeting and sharing and talking, cos we've got two stretch goals left. 

As I write, we're on the cusp of £31k. 

At £32.5k, Gav Thorpe will pen a new Best Left Buried zini adventure. 

Gav Thorpe has a long history with the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes, and has written many novels for the same. He is a New York Times best-selling author with his novella The Lion, and winner of the 2017 David Gemmell Legend Award for his novel Warbeast. Gav has worked on numerous tabletop and video games as designer, writer and world creation consultant.  

I've been a fan of Gav's books since I was a Warhammer obsessed teen, so being able to work with him on a games project is a real dream of mine!  Make it happen folx!

A Doom To Speak Vol 2???

At the lofty goal of £35k, we will do the unthinkable.  I will pen not 1, not 2, not 3 but FOUR more zinis by my own hand.

If you get us to that level, you will have access to these as PDFS and you will be helping me towards creating  A Doom To Speak Vol 2 using the stretch goal zinis we released so far and maybe a few others. 

Regrettably, we won't be able to include physicals of this as part of the project in the pledge manager, as it would push back the project delivery dates too far. That said, if we do hit the goal I'll make sure that every backer over £25 gets a PDF copy of these FOUR zinis of mine when the book releases. 

With only a few hours left to do the impossible, we'll need all of our backers to go wild on social media and find backers in the far flung corners of the TTRPG internet. 

Thanks for your continued support. I can't wait for this project to finish and to get the books in the hand of all our backers. 

Thanks, 

Zach