ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG complete! (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Retroclone)

By GrimAndPerilous.com, in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

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ZWEIHÄNDER fans! We have long stated that we refuse to go to Kickstarter until we had thoroughly play-tested final version of the rules. After 4 years, 8 months and 12 days, we are proud to announce that the final draft for ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG is complete!

ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG will be the first of its kind to market: an inspired version of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, adaptable for any “grim & perilous” campaign set in the familiar Old World, the politically-inspired intrigues of George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice and Fire , the racial tensions of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher , the criminal underworld of Scott Lynch’s Lies of Locke Lamora , the war-torn adventures set in Glen Cook’s The Black Company and other Renaissance-inspired adventures. Thoroughly play-tested by our internal team across nearly 240 game sessions and three major revisions, we are gearing up to bring it to the public by way of Kickstarter. We intend to use Kickstarter to help raise additional funds for artwork, editing and layout, along with providing you a way to get your hands on a Day One PDF release of the rules! Additionally, we’ll use Kickstarter to help drive pre-orders for print-on-demand softcover and hardcover options with our partners at Lulu.com. We’re aiming for a tentative Kickstarter launch date of July 25th. We are counting on your support to help bring this book to publication. Keep your eyes peeled, and if you haven’t already, please go over to our Facebook page and LIKE it ! You can also head over to our forum at Strike to Stun to tell us what you’d like to see in our Kickstarter.

In celebration, we’re releasing a massive 45 page unedited preview of Chapter 10: Grimoire to you. This includes a full narrative and mechanical overview of how Magick works in ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG . You can also peek at a full list of Generalist Petty Magicks, alongside Prayers of the God-Emperor, the Arcana of Pyromancy and their related Elite Professions. Finally, this preview also includes two new Rituals and mechanics for using mysterious Wytchstone to aid in casting spells.

Download the preview here: http://grimandperilous.com/?p=860

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Hey everyone, this is Tanner Yea, the co-author! I just got a new account, so it's barebones at the moment

But we have been fully funded in just under 5 hours! Not only that, we hit our first stretch goal, which adds 21 new images and 11 new Professions to the game! Next stretch goal is 8.2k, and is 21 more illustrations and the Slaves to Chaos appendix! Currently we are also #10 in the Games category of Kickstarter!

Thanks for all the support so far, we appreciate it so much

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We've just breach 8.2k! That means we add 21 more new illustrations, including some more in the Bestiary! We also now have the Slaves to Darkness Appendix, which adds the Skrzzak, Aztlan, Orx and Grendel races!

We'd also like to thank all the supporters for putting us on the second page of the What's Popular section on Kickstarter! This is beating our wildest expectations!

Stay tuned for more!

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Chia-like, we have grown past 8.7k, completing our final (current) content goal! This unlocks 21 more illustrations, as well as Dark Astral: rules for playing in a grimdark future where mankind in spread thin about the stars, set upon on all sides by aliens, demons and each other! Since we have busted past these stretch goals, me and Daniel are going to talk tonight about some more great goodies we can offer you all! As of the moment, though, our next goal is 11k, upon which all $50 backers get their softcover upgraded to a hardcover! Very exciting!


Stay tuned for more!

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The team seems to be doing a great job of social marketing. Best of wishes on your continuing success, and I personally look forward to my hardcover in Novembe-ish

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Just as I write this, the campaign has breached 16k! Wow wow wow, it's beyond our wildest dreams! We have a whole ton of new Stretch Goals listed (and even more secret ones in the works), and 16k unlocked the Reputation Point section and 37 illustrations for Abyssal and Animal monsters in the bestiary! Our ultimate goal is to get all 120 monsters illustrated individually! Our next goal is 17.2k, where we unlock the Custom Creature rules and 37 more monster illustrations, this time for Beasts and Humanoids!


As a reminder, backing at the $50 level will now get you a hardcover book! We also have two new tiers: 'Channel Power', which gives you the art complete PDF with no print, and 'ZWEIHANDER!' - which not only gets you five books, but you get a real, honest to goodness Zweihander sword! There is currently only one space in the Zweihander tier left! We also have an Add-On option for those who wish to add more books to their order!


Our final goal has been bumped to 33k, upon which we release the art-free PDF for the general public! We still have 28 days left, I know we can do it and make this book so dang amazing!

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It's been a while since our last update, but we are know sitting on 27k! We are so very excited and humbled by everyone who backed, and we are here working hard to give you the best product available! All Stretch Goals have been unlocked, save the final one at 33k - which allows us to release the art-free PDF to the public! Those who pledged for that level will get bumped up to a free art filled PDF, and we are just 6k short of making it happen!


We are at that phase in a Kickstarter where we tend to coast on our numbers, but we are still growing daily! Please spread the word to any who are interested, and let's make that general public release happen!

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Am I mistaken, this doesn't use the FFG dice/system?

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Amazing news! In just four days we raised nearly 6k more, and we have just hit our final stretch goal of 33k! This is so amazing you guys have no idea. We've all put a lot of hard work into this and it is massively humbling to see such support from the community!


So what does hitting 33k mean? It means the Early Access Edition, which is the entirety of the game minus the art by Dejan Mandic, will be released FOR FREE to the general public! That's right - taking cues from folks like Goblinoid Games and Posthuman Studios, we are releasing the whole game without art free of charge! This also means all those of the Basic and Intermediate Tier get their pledges auto-upgraded, meaning they will also get the final PDF with all the art!


We still have 19 days left on the campaign, and we do have some plans on what to do, but we need them to burble like a stone soup before we announce anything. But once again, thank you all for the support and spreading the news! It means so much, really.

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As we still go along down the path, we've developed two new Stretch Goals for you guys to really top out the campaign! The first is at 43k, upon which our resident artist Dejan Mandic will draw an exclusive Kickstarter-only cover! The cover can be chosen at the end of the campaign, and we for sure know it will be beautiful! Finally, at 53k, we will release Zweihander under the Creative Commons Liscense, meaning the public can hack and modify Zwei to their hearts content!


And one final thing: we are starting to slowly phase out the Channel Power Tier. Since all Kickstarter backers will now get the PDF with art, the Channel Power Tier no longer has a purpose. If you want to keep pledging 25 dollars that's great, but we recommend downgrading your pledge to Intermediate for $20.


That's all for now! Stay tuned as we keep breaking these goals!

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This is so awesome. I'm ecstatic and just ordered my kickstarter.

It will be good to have something new to write for again.

jh

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ZWEI fans!


Dejan has finished the front cover, and it looks spectacular! We wanted to evoke an "old school" feel here, a call-back to the first edition WFRP hardback. Below you'll see a few of our iconics: an ogre Pyromancer, dwarven Barber Surgeon, gnome Militiaman, human Godsworn and halfling Rat Catcher - with a small but vicious dog at her side. In the shadows, you can see the mysterious rat-like Skrzzak (as one of their swords has gone flying after having their face crushed by the Godsworn). Our back cover will be done later this week, but will illustrate an elven Slayer going toe-to-toe with the Skrzzak horde. We'll present both once they're ready.


Whenever we send out surveys at the end of Kickstarter, we'll ask you which cover you want for your hardback: the "grimdark" original cover by Jussi Alarauhio, or the old school cover by Dejan Mandic. Simple and easy!



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ZWEI fans!






We are closing in on the last 48 hours of our Kickstarter. We have received a ton of questions regarding additional hardcovers, Add-Ons and pledges. We'll try to address them here.






First things first: once the Kickstarter is over, it's over.






All pledges must be made in full during the Kickstarter campaign. One question we frequently are asked is "can I pledge $10 USD now at Basic Tier, and upgrade my rewards during pledge manager at the Kickstarter prices?"






Our answer to this is "no, we aren't intending to use a pledge manager, so all pledges must be made in full during the Kickstarter campaign."






Let me make this clear: this isn't a wrong question, and don't feel bad if you've asked it. We're not trying to be jerks here, but we need to make sure that our early backers are taken care of. We simply don't feel it's necessary to pay another third party money to handle our Kickstarter. We already worked out how we intend to use the surveys and will go smoothly. Should this change, you'll be the first to know.






Early bird catches the worm: The price for the book post-Kickstarter will be at a higher retail price. This means you can only get hardback copies of ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG at the least expensive price only during Kickstarter.






$40 USD Add-On for additional Hardcovers: There won't be an opportunity for you to upgrade or increase your pledge outside of the Kickstarter. This means that if you wish to order more than one hardback, you'll need to do it now. Anyone outside the "Measly Peasant Tier" needs to increase their Pledge by $40 USD for each additional hardcover they want. If you have pledged at a lower tier and are on the fence about upgrading, it must be done before the Kickstarter is over in 48 hours.






Kickstarter-exclusive Dejan Mandic cover: This will never be made available again outside of Kickstarter. In the survey, we'll ask you which hardcover you'd like for each book. This means if you want both covers, you need to Add-On an additional $40 for each additional book you want.






$5 USD Add-On for Games for Soldiers: As a part of our campaign, we wish to give a portion of our proceeds to Games for Soldiers, and organization that works to get games into the hands of US troops overseas. These proceeds will be used to print at-cost ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG. We encourage everyone to drop $5 into the bucket, so we can get a handful of these books out to our troops.






Surveys to those who pledged to receive the hardback won't be sent out until a few weeks before we go to print. Why? People move, postal addresses change and we want to make sure to have all the most recent information ready for you before we ship.






As stated before, hardcover shipping is entirely free for those in CA, US, and EU. We are subsidizing shipping out of pocket. However, all other countries will need to include a $20 USD surcharge for shipping before the end of the campaign. Even if you order multiple hardbacks, it's a flat $20 USD. If for some reason you move into the CA US or EU regions before shipping begins later this year, we will refund in full your shipping cost.






If you have any questions about pledge management, shipping or otherwise, please let us know in the comments below.






-d.fx





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ZWEI fans,






WOW! 1k backers and we're not even to the end of our Kickstarter campaign. We are so thankful for your support and pledges. Without you, we couldn't present ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG in all its hardback glory to the world.






In celebration, you can now download Chapter 8: Combat in its entirety! Let us know what you think in the comments below.





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Hey gang,


Congratulations! You unlocked the final Stretch Goal for ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG! This means we're releasing the work under the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. You will be free to copy, share, and remix the text within the book under the following conditions:


* you do so only for noncommercial purposes;

* you attribute Grim & Perilous Studios;

* you license any derivatives under the same license.


This means you can create your own version of ZWEIHÄNDER, and share it with the public for non-commercial purposes. We're going to talk internally about how we can finesse this model to make it completely "community-forward". One idea was to have a wiki on our home website where new rules can be collected and saved. Another was to help new writers publish their work underneath the Grim & Perilous Studios banner. More details will be revealed in the coming months.


Do you have ideas on how you'd like to see this play out? Let us know in the comments below!



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We've received a few questions about shipping costs. Remember, if you are purchasing at a minimum one hardback book, shipping is zero cost if you want it shipped in the United States, Canada or EU/Britain regions. All other countries need to add on $20 USD for shipping.


Also, it looks like our PDF is coming in at a meaty 500+ pages! With your feedback, we've addressed layout issues by making it easier to read while optimizing it for tablets. It's absolutely chocked full of content! I am working closely with Milena to get this prepared, which should be ready before the end of the month. We're also working on shoring up our PDF-only release of the GM screen and preparing our introductory adventure "A Bitter Harvest" for you. Note that all digital releases are unillustrated and will be released in concert with one another.


However, we have made the decision to include the fully-illustrated "A Bitter Harvest" in our hardback for print in November 2016. This will result in a ton of savings for everyone, so you don't have to purchase a separate print copy later on. Happy days!


Stay tuned for more details, as the countdown is officially on!



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So we have only about an hour left on the campaign, so it is now your last chance to pledge! This will be the cheapest time the PDF and book will be available, not to mention the only time the Kickstarter exclusive cover will be provided! So if you've been himming and hawing, now is the time. We are at nearly 61k, which is mind blowing considering our starting goal of 7k. Thank you so much for the support, we can't wait to get this game to you guys!

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ZWEI fans!






Congratulations everyone! 1,265 backers pledged $61,743 to help bring this project to life.






Thank you all so much for your support and pledges! We said in the beginning we want to be THE go-to for all grim & gritty tabletop RPG gameplay. And we mean it. Here's how we intend to do it:






In the following days, we are releasing Early Access PDF to everyone; backers and the general public






In concert with the release of the Early Access PDF, we're releasing our digital release only adventure A Bitter Harvest and the GM screen exclusively to our backers






In the coming weeks, we are going to work alongside you to address issues you see before we go to print on our web forums at grimandperilous.com






In the coming weeks, we're going to detail the Creative Commons License to the public






In November 2016, we're going to deliver the granddaddy of all gritty RPGs: ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG in all its fully illustrated, 450+ page hardback B&W glory






We're going to include A Bitter Harvest into the hardback to save you all from purchasing a separate physical copy






In the coming months, we're going to show you our next expansion tentatively titled Liber Abyssia






We're going to donate a portion of our proceeds to produce hardbacks to the organization Games For Soldiers






While you all celebrate, we are going to go dark for the next few days to wrap up the Early Access PDF layout. Milena, our Mother of Dragons, is heads down until we get the PDF read for you all. We don't intend to leave our holes until we've got the Early Access PDF in-hand, ready for distribution to you. In the meantime, please be patient with us as we roll everything out. We'll provide details to all our backers, including instructions for each pledge Tier, digital download items, virtual game sessions and the Kickstarter-exclusive cover here on Kickstarter, our home page at GrimAndPerilous.com and on our Facebook page. We'll also talk more about the sword... don't forget about the gunmetal finish ZWEIHÄNDER sword!









As a reminder, we won't be sending out surveys to backers until we intend to ship. However, each Tier can expect a special update via Kickstarter with links where to download your digital content before the end of August.






We're very excited and thrilled to provide you with the world's first open source grim & perilous tabletop RPG system, complete for you to remix, reduce and reuse to your heart's content. Enjoy, and we'll speak with you all in a few days!






Best,



Daniel Fox, Tanner Yea and team



Grim & Perilous Studios





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And a huge congratulations to you and all your team for a job well done. Looking forward to seeing the finished article and of course the open source aspect sounds very exciting. Pour yourselves a large bugmans best to celebrate! :)

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Where will non-backers be able to purchase the PDF?

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We’re closing in on final layout for Early Access. It’s coming in at a whopping 636 pages!


The team made a second pass over the PDF over the weekend. Although we have layout changes to make, we are on track to release it this week. Should anything change, we’ll let you know.


Dejan finished both the front and back of the Kickstarter-exclusive book cover! Due to popular demand, we have made the decision to include it on the gatefold cover of the GM screen, too! For now, we’re heading back to our caves to finish out Early Access PDF.


Stay tuned!



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Late pledges are now accepted!

Following the success of our Kickstarter, we have received no less than 45 inquiries regarding late pledges. This is something we cannot ignore.

It wasn’t an easy decision. However, after deliberating with the team over the pros and cons, we have decided to open up late pledges over at CrowdOx. This affords us several benefits for pledge management to our Kickstarter backers, while giving folks the chance to get a copy of ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG before it goes out to the general public in December 2016. However, this puts us in a tough situation: we can’t burn our early backers on Kickstarter, as we owe our initial success to them. To balance this out, we’re going to implement fair shipping charges for those who come through as a late pledge and bump up the price a touch. This is only fair; it gives new backers a way to get their hands on a pre-order, while allowing our early Kickstarter backers to take advantage of the free shipping in CA, US & EU with cheaper pricing on the hardback.

https://app.crowdox.com/projects/grimandperilous/zweihander-grim-and-perilous-rpg

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Hey gang,


What a great way to start an early Labor Day holiday!


As of a few moments ago, CrowdOx begun sending out surveys for Kickstarter backers only. In the survey, you can confirm your pledge, have the opportunity to upgrade, handle add-ons, reconcile shipping charges, choose the cover for hardback books and download digital content. This means the Early Access PDF, along with the adventure "A Bitter Harvest" and a few special surprises are available to download right now! The GM screen is not quite ready, but you should have everything you need to create characters and run adventures using ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG.


Remember, this is the Early Access release. The game is fully playable, and we will do our best to answer any questions you may have about ZWEIHÄNDER and its mechanics both here and on our forums over at GrimAndPerilous.com. We've set up sticky topics on our forum, broken down by chapter. Please post any issues you may see or questions about the chapter within the topic. Feel free to pose more generic questions in our general forum. Our play test lead Adam Rose, co-author Tanner Yea and I will do our best to get to your questions in a timely manner.


We can't wait to hear feedback. Happy gaming, and we'll speak with you all soon!


-d.fx


ps if you didn't get a chance to participate in the Kickstarter, we are in fact accepting late pledges over at our CrowdOx page: https://app.crowdox.com/projects/grimandperilous/zweihander-grim-and-perilous-rpg