24 Hours Left!! + Hunter's Guide Flipthrough
over 3 years ago – Wed, Oct 14, 2020 at 10:22:39 PM

We hit our £27.5 goal and we're getting pretty close to the £30k target. There's just 24 or so hours left for the project to fund, so share widely!

The main exciting thing that happened today is that I started a YOUTUBE channel. I recorded a 27 minute video today where I walked through the entire Hunter's Guide to Monsters, page by page, monster by monster. 

Check it out here! 

Let's keep the project going strong so we can smash the £30k goal for Evey Lockheart's zini adventure and keep going until the final minutes of the campaign. 

Thanks 

Zach

The Player Facing Rules
over 3 years ago – Fri, Oct 09, 2020 at 06:49:42 AM

We pride Best Left Buried on its simplicity and how easy it is for new players to learn. One of the innovations we wanted for the new Cryptdigger's Guide was a simple section that governed all the rules you needed to get started as a player. In our ideal world, you could be handed a character sheet, read these rules and get started playing right away. 

We have a few questions about what these look like, so here's the whole section in full: 

Making Characters

Characters have three stats: Brawn, Wit and Will. Higher is better. A character selects an Archetype determining their pre-cryptdigging experiences, an Advancement determining their character’s skills and some equipment and weapons. Through play, characters gain Experience. When they reach 8 Experience, they reset it to zero, gain new Advancement and add 1 to their pools of Vigour and Grip.

Stat Checks

When a character tries something difficult or risky, the Doomsayer may request a Stat Check of Brawn, Wit or Will to see if they succeed. The player rolls 2D6 adding the Stat. A result of 9+ is a success, anything lower is a failure.

If the Doomsayer decides a Check is easier than normal, it is made with the Upper Hand. Roll an extra die and discard the lowest.

If the Doomsayer decides a Check is harder than normal, it is Against The Odds. Roll an extra die and discard the highest.

The Doomsayer may request an Observation Check to discern details in a character’s surroundings. Roll 2D6. A result of 9+ is a success, otherwise they fail. Observation Checks may also have the Upper Hand or be Against The Odds.

Resources and Consequences

Characters have Vigour, a measure of health and resilience, and Grip, a measure of sanity, stamina and mana. Vigour is lost due to attacks and other dangers and gained resting away from danger. Grip is lost due to exertion, character Advancements, Grip Checks, and regained by accepting Consequences—like Injuries or Afflictions.

The Doomsayer may request a Grip Check if the character sees something that would damage their Grip. Roll 2D6 adding Will. If the result is 9+ they succeed, gaining a point of Experience. Otherwise, they fail and lose 1 Grip. Grip Checks may have the Upper Hand or be Against The Odds.

If a character hits zero Vigour, flip a coin. Heads they die. Tails they are wounded and Unconscious, making them vulnerable to being finished off by an enemy, unless an ally performs a Heroic Rescue to prevent it.

A character that hits zero Grip is removed from the player’s control.

Characters regain Grip by accepting Consequences. When they are hurt or suffer damage, they can reset their Grip to 5 by accepting an Injury, risking death or dismemberment in the process. Alternatively, as long as they are not in combat, they can reset their Grip to 10 by accepting an Affliction, causing their character to suffer from a potentially debilitating mental condition.

Combat

During combat, time is divided into rounds and turns. During each 10 second round, each combatant takes a 10 second turn. On their turn a character can move a short distance and take one other action like making an Attack, using an Advancement, moving additional distance or any other quick action.

Characters can attack a target using a weapon. Roll 3D6 adding the attacking Stat (determined by the weapon,but normally Brawn or Wit). If the sum of any two dice equals or exceeds the target’s Armour, the attack deals Vigour damage equal to the third die. If it isn't possible to equal or beat the target's Armour by adding two dice together, the attack misses and deals no damage. Rolling a 6 as damage with an attack inflicts an Injury. Advancements and Weapons can modify this damage. Attacks may have the Upper Hand or be Against The Odds.

~~~

There it is! Everything you need to play Best Left Buried, in just 500 words and two double A5 spread!

Please continuing sharing the project on social media as we enter our final week. We're just 100 pounds of Pam's adventure, Fairest of them All, then we're onto our finally announced stretch goal, featuring Grant Howitt's adventure, A Taste of the Goods.

Speak to you soon, 

Zach

£20k / Illustrator's Guide to Illustration
over 3 years ago – Wed, Oct 07, 2020 at 04:59:58 PM

Zach (@JellyMuppet) is away at the moment, so I am stepping in to provide an update to all you (soon-to-be) backers of Best Left Buried: Deeper.

At the time of writing we are hovering, maddeningly, around that £20k stretch goal; we have actually exceeded and then dipped below it on at least three occasions. I think that technically counts as clearing it (or do we now have to honour the stretch goal three times, in three different ways? Somebody who knows the law help me out here); here’s a recap of the goodies that have been triggered:

Chris McDowell - Bad Apples

In the hamlet of Brubearn, a cursed apple harvest has resulted in rampant mutation, and a coven of hags is being held responsible. Let the cursed apple carnage and witchmania begin! A double-sided A4 adventure from the Manchester-based creator of rules-light, flavour heavy games like Into the Odd and Electric Bastionland.

Our next stretch goal, at £22.5k, is Pam Punzalan’s Fairest of them All - see Update #6 for details.

The Illustration Process

The main part of this update, I will run you through the process of creating one of the many illustrations that will fill the pages of Best Left Buried: Deeper. I’ll salt it with tips for any illustrators reading this; indeed, feel free to tweet your constructive/horrified criticism at @IllustratorBB.

For this example, I have chosen to depict a Druid, one of the new archetypes that feature in the Heroic Zine (along with the Marshal, the Bard and the Artificer), a stretch goal that thanks to your support we cleared a fair way back at £12.5k (see Update #2 for a preview of the Marshall, including art).

1. First, before I do much in the way of research, I have a pose in mind for this character, so I sketch out a basic humanoid form in pencil. I use a small wooden artist mannequin for reference as in times of Covid it is difficult for me to get any of my many elite model friends to pop round for a posing session.

1. Once this is done I do some research. I tend to do my research on the hoof, when the art is partially underway, rather than beginning with it as you might do for any other project. This is partly because of time constraints/disorganisation but partly because I genuinely want to start with something, a composition, pose or expression for example, that has come from nothing, a vague image in my mind that I work out on paper and draw in external sources on my own terms.
   In this case, I looked up both the history of druidism (not actually of much use here) and then druid art from DnD. A ‘spark’, as it were, came from seeing a rather twee picture of a halfling druid accompanied by a pigeon, in perfect harmony with nature. I decided to invert this and have the druid looking like he’d just bitten the head off of a pigeon, which I felt was more in keeping with Best Left Buried’s vibes.
   

1. I filled in the remainder of the broad features of the picture in pencil. In my earlier work I tended to leap straight into pen, but as I have done more illustration I’ve found that sketching in pencil first produces much better results. This may seem banal, because it is, but having the opportunity to work out your composition and correct mistakes before finalising in pen is extremely beneficial and it took me a while to realise this, possibly because of my above-mentioned preference for getting a pure idea down on paper before pausing for research or reflection.

1. Filling in the face is the fun part. Sometimes I just invent them, sometimes I plunder them from paintings; sometimes I use the faces of celebrities with enough alteration to be difficult to recognise. Viggo Mortensen features in a SoulMuppet production, as does the columnist Janice Turner of The Times, which happened to be open on the kitchen table when I was working.

1. Next I fill out the work in fineline pen. Drawing over pencil can ruin pens pretty quickly, so it is best to first lightly go over with an eraser to get rid of the bulk of the graphite whilst leaving enough of an impression to work from.
   

1. For a finish, I outline the work with a somewhat thicker pen. It goes against everything my sixth-form art teacher taught me, but it does make these line illustrations pop off the page a bit more.
   

There you go: now you know how a SoulMuppet illustration is made. There will be a lot more of them coming, so follow the Soulmuppet instagram if this is your thing. And don’t forget to back and/or share this Kickstarter: back now, and you’ll get a PDF of the Hunter’s Guide to Monsters in time for Halloween.

Signing off,

Ben

@IllustratorBB

New Advancements and Archetypes in the Cryptdigger's Guide
over 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 06, 2020 at 05:59:33 AM

Hi everyone! 

It's Zach again, back from my time away! 

One of the things we realised after releasing Best Left Buried: Deeper, was that we had a slightly weird number of Advancements (30) and Archetypes (10). We decided to fix this in Best Left Buried: Deeper, so everything as a neat multiple of 6 for random D6 character generation. 

Archetpyes

We've added two new Archetypes to round out the list to 12. The Farlander is a deep-cut rereleased from Zach's oft-ignored Patreon, but the Physiker is a new creation unique to Deeper. Let's take a look at a few of their abilities. 

First, here's one from the Farlander: 

They Were Lucky To Get This Far: Travelling halfway around the world only to die in a Crypt is an awful shame. Up to twice per Adventuring Day, while the character is at less than half their Maximum Vigour, re-roll one die used in a Stat Check or Attack.

This neat ability is not only a handy way to keep your Farlander alive, but also a good chance to talk about a neat little rules change. Some Archetype abilities used to let character's 'spend a free point of Grip to re-roll a XXX'. That was needlessly complicated wording, so now these abilities just say 're-roll one die used in a XXX'. Hopefully a little bit clearer! 

Now for the Physiker, a frankly game breaking move: 

Field Surgery: Physikers know how to stitch people back together even in a Crypt’s terrible conditions. With 4 hours of uninterrupted work, the Physiker may make one attempt to heal another character’s recent Injury. If the Physiker passes a Wit Check and the patient passes a Brawn Check, the Injury is healed. If both fail, the Patient rolls a second Injury. Regardless of outcome, both characters lose 1 Grip.

Fancy getting rid of those Injuries once and for all? Grab your bone saws and get to work! 

Advancements

We've added 6 new Advancements. They all rock. 

Apart from Fire and Lightning Strange, we were told Best Left Buried didn't include enough offensive spells. Here's one that is useful in a fight: 

Witch's Curse (Arcane, Holy)

‘Darrell squeezed her fist, contorting and twisting realspace around the Ogre. Its fell blows were lessened as if wading through swamp water, not naked air. Her companions climbed the restrained Ogre and cut it apart with their knives.’

Spend Grip (minimum 1) equal to any Stat of a creature within short range to curse it. The target is Against The Odds on their next 3 Stat Checks or Attacks using that Stat.

Fancy making sure a big monster doesn't hit as hard as it might otherwise? Spend some Grip and sling a curse on it. 

Chemiker's Charges let's a Cryptdigger make bombs. They amazingly useful and free to create, but they might explode on you if you get hit while holding too many! 

Chemiker’s Charges (Devious/Technical)

‘There was never a Cryptdigger less suited to the deeps than Yoberc, but he was a dab hand with explosives, always carrying just the tool for the job. Incendiaries, smokeshields, bogbombs, all in that bandolier of his!’

With a few hours’ work in a surface camp and access to appropriate equipment, the character can fashion one of the following Chemiker’s Charges:

• Jerrodine Fire: Popularized by Jerrodians clearing out giant rat nests. Fills the Zone with flames, setting every creature and flammable object aflame for D3 damage at the start of each turn per turn until doused.
  
• Dupontiane Gloop: Fashioned from gelatinous pine sap, this coats a Zone in sticky residue to slow movement, forcing creatures that try to move through or out of that Zone to make a Brawn Check or remain stationary.
  
• Calmyne Smoke Bombs: A grenade beloved by Calmyn’s crime families. Fills a Zone with thick smoke, rendering Observation Checks and Attacks made through or in it Against The Odds.

A character with Chemiker’s Charges can either set a Charge with a fuse up to a minute long or throw it with an action to a Zone in short range. Either way, the effects last 1 minute. Charges expire 3 days after creation.

Charges are volatile and may interact poorly with each other. When a character takes damage while carrying a charge, roll a D6. If the result is equal to or less than the number of Charges, they all explode.

Finally for today, we added a helpful Devious/Martial Advancement to help those characters who like to focus on ranged attacks. 

Marksman’s Aim (Martial/Devious)

‘Gelthas was a dab hand with a longbow and often scouted ahead, lining up improbable shots with incredible precision.’

The character can take an action to line up a shot, examining their target and its movement. The following turn, they can make an Attack againsttheir target with the Upper Hand using a Ranged Weapon, andignoring any penalties of cover or obscuration.

The Doomsayer may allow the use of Marksman’s Aim before combat starts, provided the character has time to do so, granting the Upper Hand on their first Attack.

We're getting close to Pammu's stretch goal so keep backing and sharing, the only way you know how. 

Thanks, 

Zach

The Thirteen Duchies: Procedural Generators
over 3 years ago – Sun, Oct 04, 2020 at 12:02:03 AM

. We're well on our way to £20k, so let's talk about some of the new content for Deeper. 

In the original Doomsayer's Guide, we added a couple of pages of information for our setting, the Thirteen Duchies of Lendal. Our readers liked this, and several games have been set in the Thirteen Duchies, but we definitely struggled to make it usable for our players. 

Instead, I called on my old pal Brian Yaksha, author of Rakehell and Best Left Buried book, Spoilers of the Gorgon Coast. He bashed out a set of tables for each Duchy, including Factions, Urban Locations, Wilderness Locations, Crypt Locations and Rumours/Hooks. The idea was to make a high density crib sheet for each area of the setting, each of which can fit on a random page. This could be used to prepare your content before each session, or to provide short imaginative prompts for hexcrawls or rumours, if they are set in Lendal or not. 

I wanted to show off these new tables, so I put a vote on Twitter. The winner was Roche, home of Lendalian aristocracy and center of renaissance attitudes in the Duchies.

Roche

The cultural center of modern Lendal, the people of Roche struggle more than anywhere else to support the hedonism of their nobility and their patience grows thinner by the minute. The Grand Duchy is bloated with rot, its aristocracy fosters war to distract its peoples and to forestall debts to the Great Banks abroad. Only fool nobles and deluded patriots believe it will survive the century, let alone the decade. It hides from the inevitable like petulant children, behind gilded menageries, sprawling gardens, and endless parades

Factions

1. The Societe-Memorial: Celebrants of Roche's storied history, the Societe-Memorial worships the false ghosts of history and the dead of ancient regimes. They will sponsor any atrocity if it may lead to glory.

2. The Grand Bureaucracy: The ten hundred bureaucratic offices ensure no one is held responsible for the Duchy's failings and no peasant may gain the means to rise or challenge their noble betters.

3. The Schola Augustus: Adherents to the philosophy of hierarchical dignity, the Schola Augustus seek to unveil new depths of human potential and reap the benefits of such power.

4. The Harvest Court: Holy fools and indulgent clergymen, the Harvest Court dwell in decadence for sake of vanity and to beckon forth a blessed eschaton within Roche.

5. Sans-Egale: Led by charismatic peasant preachers and veteran militants of the middle class, the Sans-Egale perfect new methods of execution in the hopes of beheading the Duke of Roche and the rot of the nobility.
 6. The Supremes: An esoteric order held in esteem by the Duke. Psionic soothsayers, they feed into the ego of the wealthy and powerful. They hope to cleave open a gateway into the mindscape of cosmic sovereignty.

Urban Locations

1. Roche: The sprawling jewel of the West. Towering baroque architecture and brutal iron-wrought spires. Roses creep along trellises and their thorns clog alleyways. The people here are bitter and haughty, divided deeply by wealth and disenfranchisement.
 2. Isiode: The bridge to the isle of Isiode is often inaccessible, and the folk here like it that way. A fortified abbey turned isolated commune. The Harvest Court read baleful auguries in the grotesque fish pulled up from the wharfs.
 3. Gavrolte: Settled upon a confluence of rivers and surrounded by leagues of farmland, the village of Gavrolte is broken by the demands put upon it by its neighbors. They control the flow of goods and produce but see little profit from it.
 4. Carticete: Village of Exiles, formerly a penal manse for children of nobility who could not be so easily killed. A center for the arts, courted by the scandal of its origins, and a birth place for truly risque fashion.
 5. Ronsinde: Known for its rival churches, Rosinde has long been the site of reformation, schism and heresy. Its people contend with zealots of all bitter beliefs, engaging in burnings under the cacophony of church bells.

6. Vadiell: A citadel built upon forest-shrouded hills, Vadiell wishes only to endure the corruption of Roche and the revolution to come. Its people are insular, deeply duty-bound to hospitality, but fearful of outsiders.

Wilderness Locations

1. The Promenade Botanica: The once cultivated gardens of Roche have long overtaken the roads beyond the city. Flora from the dark corners of the globe creep over brass fences, as if seeking their way home.
 2. Meadow of the Lilies: Burial mounds of the ancient regime of the Rochenne Clan. At dawn, they say ghosts dance upon the hills, offering sacrificial crowns of braided wildflowers.
 3. Sommerfield: A grand vale once sacred to the Harvest Court, where sunflowers grow tall enough to choke away the sky. Old churches and stone ruins linger in its depths.
 4. Velue-Lac: The great freshwater lake of Roche, surrounded by petty hamlets and the vineyards of wealthy nobility. It carries the smell of cold stones upon its breeze.
 5. Fexelwode: The woods here are rich with thistles and pollen, a blinding travail to navigate for outsiders. Mushrooms and truffles exist in abundance, a bounty to those who've inherited knowledge of the sites.
 6. Trecouche Rock: An errant mountain, like a horn impaling the whole of Roche. Plentiful mountain crabs scuttle about in rocky grottos, though their taste is bitter.

Crypt Locations

1. Haven: A temple city lusted for by the Wizard of the White Tower, but otherwise forgotten by modern humanity. Peasant folktales claim the temple is ruled by cats which walk like mortal folk.
 2. Fallow’s Pageant: The parade works of the Harvest Court are held within the Fallow's Pageant. Spectres of sin and spite are drawn to the mocking displays, seeking to possess the woodwork and walk the world anew.
 3. Castle of the Mist: Only visible upon the seas after a storm is the Castle of the Mist, where the courts of antediluvian giants seek release from their prison of sea green stone.
 4. Gastonbeurre: Cursed is Gastonbeurre, for Roche failed to save it. Its people ground to a slurry of ravaged, weeping meat by dread spells. A wailing rage on the winds cries vengeance.
 5. Hemlock Hall: Many would court the Lord of Hemlock Hall, for the Dread Poisoner could see a revolution quelled or won if properly enticed. But he is a hateful man, cursed to watch all things wither away.
 6. The Illuminated Realm: The failure of the Supremes, a dimensional space of imagination held within the paintings of the Societe-Memorial's grand museums.

Rumours/Hooks

1. The Sans-Egale calls for the barricades to rise and for the roses of Roche to be fed by the blood of nobles! The revolution is come!
 2. Peasants report of a horrid beast lurking the edges of Velue-Lac, a great shaggy behemoth with teeth like daggers and a thirst for bride's blood.
 3. Socialites and dilettantes have gone missing within the great gallery of the Societe-Memorial. Their noble parents will pay greatly for their return.
 4. Military aggression from neighboring Keene invokes memory of the atrocities at Gastonbeurre. The Supremes wonder if they can weaponize such memories.
 5. The Schola Augustus posture for power, stuffing the grand Bureaucracy with students and agents in the hopes of unseating the Supremes for their "practical philosophies."
 6. A small collective of preachers from the Harvest Court are gathering in Ronsinde; they worry the whimsy of their faction causes great strife as the poor of Roche starve.
---

I hope you enjoyed this short showcase of the procedural toolkits that are going in the Doomsayer's Guide. To clarify, this is but one of the Thirteen Duchies, so this forms just a fraction of the powerful, anti-canonic content we've put together to both aid and inspire our Doomsayers. 

Keep sharing and speak soon, 

Zach

PS: Kickstarter wasn't letting me upload any art today, so you'll get double the amount in the next update.