On The Way! and What's Next!

A Portal

OLD SUBSCRIBERS

Print copies have shipped to all faithful subscribers that have replied to either my email, seen this post, or otherwise contacted me directly. PDF codes have also been sent to the same people. If you didn't contact me, assume your zines were not sent. My subscriber list is seven years old, and I don't trust to blindly ship to those addresses that haven't been confirmed or otherwise verified. If you're not sure, just send me an email [rev.dak_AT_straycouches_DOT_com] or hit me up on a social platform [reverenddak or reverend_dak]. 

ITCH_DOT_IO

You may have noticed that I have opened shop over at itch.io. I like the gaming community they're creating there, and I like the way the store operates. If you're interested in "transferring" your PDF collection over to there, let me know. Itch is great because you can interact with your fans and comrades really well. Their dev_log feature is really good. You should check it out. I have a few dev logs already posted for Crawl! no.13: https://straycouches.itch.io/crawl-no13-deathmatch

NEXT UP

Strategicon/GATEWAY 2023. I plan to be at Gateway this weekend, but it'll depend on how I feel. I got a bug, and it's possibly COVID, but so far I'm testing negative. We'll see. I want to run some DCC After Dark style sessions, either off the book or as a demo at the Goodman Games booth. 

Deathmatch Cards. If you visit the dev log, you'll see I mention these "deathmatch cards". I plan to make a whole set that coincides with the Deathmatch dungeon in Crawl 13, CRAWL DM1. If you missed it, check it out: https://straycouches.itch.io/crawl-no13-deathmatch/devlog/579998/more-cards. My prototype deck is very cool. It consists of 63 cards, and will make running my deathmatches easier. My plan is to finalize the Print & Play version of the deck, and then get a set printed out professionally. Maybe, hopefully, have the set available, possibly throw them up on DriveThruCards.

Crawl! no.14! The actual title hasn't been settled yet, but it may be Domains and Downtime!, or just Downtime!, or even Dominion! I'm leaning towards Dominion! because it sound bigger and badder. I'm sure you can tell what it's about. It's my take on how to handle downtime and a domain, this includes followers, hirelings, and mercenaries, and the problems and responsibilities that follow high-level characters. It'll feature two new mechanics. One of them will be built on the gambling game Rat Snake called the Downtime Gambit. The other will be a Domain Die, which will be based again on a loaded encounter die, i.e., the Hazard die. I'll be posting more on this soon. 

That's it for the near future. I laid out other future plans on this post, go check it out: 

https://crawlfanzine.blogspot.com/2023/01/crawl-to-future.html. 

Crawl! no.13 is Now Available!

PREPARE TO FIGHT!

The really, really, long awaited return of Crawl! 

Crawl! no.13: Deathmatch!

An adventure and toolkit for running a DEATHMATCH!—A deadly game that will test the mind and bodies of unwilling (or willing?) adventurers trapped in some mad power's twisted realm. 

Includes: 

• Running a DEATHMATCH — rules, tips, and how-to.
• Introduction to a POINTCRAWL — modular and quick-reference style maps.
• and the DANGER DIE — a loaded encounter die to determine room states and other conditions.
• CRAWL DM1: Beyond the Doomed Gates — a pointcrawl adventure location where it will all go down. The dungeon features: Portals! Traps! Hazards! Powerful Weapons! Runes of Power! and more!
• Plus! a bunch of random tables to help stock deathmatch dungeons of your own design.

VTT friendly maps, icons, and printable artifact cards also included.

Written by Rev Dak J Ultimak

Art and Icons by Mario T

Edited by Brad Littman

The new issue is now available to purchase from the following sites:

PDF at Itch.io:

• PDF only:
  https://straycouches.itch.io/crawl-no13-deathmatch

PRINT+PDF at Gumroad:

• PRINT+PDF:
  https://straycouchespress.gumroad.com/l/scf1013
• or PDF only: 
  https://straycouchespress.gumroad.com/l/cdo13

PRINT+PDF at the Goodman Games Online Store: 

• PRINT+PDF:
  https://goodman-games.com/store/product/crawl-fanzine-no-13-deathmatch-print-pdf/
• or PDF only:
  https://goodman-games.com/store/product/crawl-fanzine-no-13-deathmatch-pdf/

PDF at DrivethruRPG:

• PDF only: 
  https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/450690/Crawl-fanzine-no13

Sale on Itch and Deathmatch Cards!

It's Creator's Day at Itch.io, and to celebrate I put all the original zines on sale, and if you buy the bundle you'll save even more. Go check it out:

https://itch.io/s/101450/august-2023-creator-day-and-sale only a few hours left!

One of the things that you're going to get when Crawl! no.13 is released are printable and VTT friendly assets, which include all the maps and icons. You'll be able to play online with the official maps, and they're player facing, so there won't be spoilers. Also then the icons can be placed separately. You can also print out the maps if you desire. The icons are also available so you can make your own custom maps with icons representing all the nifty deathmatch toys. 

But that's not all! Brad had the idea of making tokens or cards for the items. Which makes sense with the fickle nature of artifacts in the deathmatch. They'll be handy to give out, or take away if you roll a 3 on the Danger die. They look good.

Artifact Cards

After making those Artifact cards, I got obsessed and made cards for almost every random thing, including hazards and traps. The idea is that I can randomly stock a room or deathmatch arena on the fly. There is a "d666" table in the zine that can do this for you, but the cards are so cool. I have a 63 card deck designed with a nice ratio of traps, hazards, weapons, and power-ups. I tried to get to 54 or 55, but it wasn't quite right. I could separate the "artifacts" and that'd get me to 51 or 52 but the deck ratio is wrong. Which might mean I have to bump the deck up to 72 cards. Not sure what those extra 9 cards are gonna be. Of course I have ideas, but it's looking like a whole expansion set. 

Deathmatch Cards and Notes

I hope to have a print-play version available soon. It'll have a bonus item, but I have to get a few icons made. Right now I'm looking at The Game Crafter and DriveThruCards to get them printed. If you have other suggestions, let me know. But I really want to get a nice set of cards made, even if they're just for me. I'm stoked about them.

That's all the news I have for now, I hoping for a general release of Crawl! no.13: Deathmatch! next week. 

Now available on Itch.io

Crawl! fanzine is now available on Itch.io. I spent a couple days fudging pixels and stuff getting the site ready for the release of no.13.

Visit https://straycouches.itch.io/ to join the scene.

Crawl! no.1 is PWYW. The other 11 issues are available as a bundle for the price of 10 zines. 

Crawl! no.13 will be available soon!

Calling all former subscribers! Check your email.

As previously promised subscribers are next to get their copies of Crawl! no.13: Deathmatch!. 

I sent an email today to everyone that I owe zines to. I have a list, but it's old. Please check your email, your spam, or old accounts, etc. If you think you should have gotten one, but didn't, email me. If you know you have a subscription or you know I have an old address, also email me. If you're not sure, just email me. 

You can skip some steps and help by just emailing me your name, preferred email address, current snail-mail address, and your DriveThruRPG info if it's different than the account you're emailing me from. I'll be able to confirm and update your info.

Email me at: crawl@straycouches.com 

You can also "AT" me at @reverenddak on most platforms and social media (for sure, twitter and discord). Although, I recommend email because it'll have a better e-trail. 

If you have any questions, email me. :)

The Making of Crawl! no. 13: Part 4

I kind of got caught up finishing up the editing for XCrawl Classics RPG, some modules and other Goodman Games stuff. [Kickstarter Live Now!] Sorry about that. 

Crawl! no.13 is sort of compatible with XCC RPG, sort of.

With that done, I was able to turn all my attention to Crawl! no.13: Deathmatch! When I left off (part 3) I was talking about maps, and 3rd or 4th drafts. It was confusing because I'm not really sure. I think 3rd draft is when I started re-writing. There was lots of cutting and pasting with the stuff I was keeping. What I'm calling 4th now, is really the 3rd with the final map design. In part 3 I shared remnants of when no.13 was more of an arena room toolkit. The reasoning behind the simple, bullet-point-heavy area descriptions, was that the adventure was really about a bunch of adventurers running around in a hazard filled dungeon trying to kill each other, and the map pieces were designed to be quickly referenced, modular so you can switch up the map quickly, and make random rooms and corridors easily, possibly create a whole dungeon on the fly. So the original map design made a lot of sense (to me). When I changed the random deathmatch arena toolkit to a more conventional adventure, I never stopped leaning into the "your adventurers have been sucked into a realm where the hosts want you to kill each other" story. I elaborated on the story more. I wrote a standard Introduction, Adventure Background, and Ending the Adventure sections like your standard DCC RPG adventure. That, to be honest, was the easy part (and also easier when you have a good editor, thanks Brad!). But I really liked the modular maps, and the use of a pointcrawl maps design. So I kept it, but also wrote the areas in a more traditional manner, but really hybrid of the bullet points with some box text---basically I did both. The dungeon map became fixed (for the most part).

Here's over half of the adventure on one half-letter page:

 

Here's a full write-up of the first room, R-1: The Gates, p. 19:

[Forgive me for the maps. I didn't have time to make better ones for this release. I plan to improve them. I also plan to have full-scale maps for tabletops (and vtt, duh).] 

The writing the updated maps took me the most time to finish. I used a public tool to make the conventional maps (honestly there weren't even going to be traditional maps). We only had a few weeks, and I was settled on the text, it just needed some fine tuning and helpful editing from an English major. Just waited for some art from Mario (the artist for the past few issues), he was onboard to crank out a few pieces, and Brad was ready for the final draft. I got started on the layout while they did their parts. Several days of full of pixel fudging and eyestrain it was done, approved, and sent to the printers.

In the end I was able to squeeze in 99% of the original random tables (the toolkit stuff) AND have a complete stand-alone adventure. I'm proud of it. Is it perfect, haha, no. 

I'll have some final thoughts for Part 5, and I'll elaborate on the stuff I eluded to in Part 2, the Hazard die, which I renamed to the Danger die and what became of all the Cosmic Pressure/Stress/Tension stuff (I simply simplified it). 

Until then, see you at Gen Con.

  

Crawl! no. 13: Release schedule

 

It's real. It's been approved by the Dark Master. It's currently at the printer, and I will pick them up this Friday. I'll be hand delivering them to Gen Con next week. Yes, I'm going to Gen Con 2023, it's been way too long. Brad, our editor, will be joining me too! You can find us slinging books at the Goodman Games booth #109--where you'll find the only true zine stand in the whole hall. Say hi, and please forgive me if I forget your face and your name. 

Initial Release: Gen Con 2023, limited to 100 copies.

That's it. I've committed 50+ to the Goodman Games booth. There will be 30 on day one, 20 the next, and then we'll see. About 20+ copies are reserved for original remaining subscribers, trades, and gifts. Joseph will be the first to get one. Whatever I have left after Sunday will go to Goodman Games for sale on their site, I doubt there will be any though.

Subscribers First: When I get back I will prepare for the next round. I have a list of people that I still owe zines to through #18. I'll be reaching out and sending them theirs first. So if you're a former subscriber, and I still owe you zines, feel free to hit me up. Not sure? I have a list, and I will be contacting you soon regardless. If you're going to Gen Con, you have a subscription, and you want to grab one of these Gen Con editions, find me. I'm with the band. 

General Release: Once I send subscribers their copies, I'll be prepping all my sites and contacting my resellers. If you're a reseller, feel free to get a head start and contact us at crawl@straycouches.com. So plan for an August release. 

I'll be at the LA's Strategicon Gateway 2023 in September. I'm sure to have copies there.