More 2nd Edition Content!
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jul 21, 2018 at 02:14:04 AM

Hey All,

I hope everyone is having a good and happy summer.  Things have been tough for me lately personally but work on the game has been a small bright spot.  I was having a tough time deciding what to share in this update as I obviously can't post all the new rules here and I thought you all might get tired of hearing about what's "going to be" in there.  But in the end since that is what 90% of my time has been devoted to I chose to stick with it.

I also have some previews of the Master Storyteller cards.  Again I was conflicted about how many to show as I didn't want to spoil the fun of seeing them for the first time when you get them in the mail.  So I am not showing them all.  Just a selection of one or two to give you guys an idea of what I am doing.  I have really enjoyed working on these and still have two or three Master Storyteller Backers I am waiting for submissions from.  So far all of the concepts have been turned into "Encounter Cards" but what sets or supplements they will appear in I am undecided.  I am thinking of offering a separate set called the "Master Storyteller" set in the future but for now I know the fun of submitting concepts to the game is seeing them "in the game" and not as something to be sold separately so I am looking at incorporating them into as many of the products as I can.

Finally I am getting more art from Tenda Spencer and Mark Rodriguez albeit still slow.  But they are both doing very good work and not cutting any corners.

With that being said.  I want to give a "short" list of all the new content in the 2nd Edition with a few comments on some of them.

2nd Edition Hardcover Rulebook

• Warrior Skill (revised and expanded)
• Spy Skill (revised and expanded)
• Ranger Skill (revised and expanded)
• Thief Skill (revised and expanded)
• Alchemist Skill (revised and expanded)
• Cleric Skill (revised and expanded)
• Merchant Skill (revised and expanded)
• Barbarian Skill (revised and expanded)
• Fighter Skill (revised) - somewhat nerfed as the ability to ignore "all" modifiers in combat was a little too good.  So now fighter's ignore terrain and weather modifiers but not if they are wounded for example.
• Added "Evening Actions".  This is a very big change but one that I really like.  So now you can do more in the evening than just 'hunt'.  You can't do everything but it will allow your character more choices of what they want to do with their 'daily action' and then their 'evening action'.  It also allows me to create an element where now some things require both your "daily action' and your 'evening action'.
• Added "Halfling" race.  Still on the fence about adding "Gnome" race.  I have the outline for it but I feel it is not practical but I may playtest it.  I could see a Gnome alchemist or merchant being a very interesting character!
• Knighthood (slightly revised).  Just cleaned up the format so now it reads like an actual skill and modified the "lance" rule a bit.
• Added new Seek Audience with King Overlord and Seek An Audience with Lord of Dwarfhaven.  Initially the "audiences" were just for 'mayors' so I needed to add these.
• Added taverns for "Zafton",  "Wooddam" and "Dwarfhaven" and of course "Kings Harbor".  Now every town has a tavern except Morsh Monastery.
• Add Kings Harbor as a playable "town" now.  Including Seek An Audience, Seek News and Information, Study Magic.
• Every town has its own unique "News and Information" table now.  Oddly enough I don't know what to do with the old table now as I like some of the scenarios especially the King's son.
• Added "Lore" on the towns and castles and "principalities and powers" in the Overland.  This is totally not needed for game play but I wanted to flesh it out for reference and maybe some future scenarios or supplements.
• Created a completely new section called "Town Attributes".  This is essentially a guide to each of the towns and some unique events, skills or scenarios you can only do or learn in those towns.  So for example you can now go to Igloo to learn "Survival Skill" which will allow your character to do something like "forage" for food now instead of just hunting.
• New Sea Encounters (doubled the number from first edition)
• New rules for 'mutiny' aboard ship; fire aboard ship, crews for ships, and rules for the Pirates Guild based out of Kings Harbor
• New NPCs include "Sailors", "Marines" 
• Expanded all the town magic.
• Totally revised the "wizard" class into what are now called "Wardens" as was always intended.  Now it aligns with the actual lore.  Wardens can now create "scrolls"
• Added "property" rules for "homes", "towers" and "castles".
• Added optional Encumbrance Rules
• Added new "Traits"
• Totally revised combat.  This is perhaps my scariest change.  As it was combat was very easy to understand and implement.  Now it has gotten a bit more involved with more "phases".  This was to make it clearer when missile weapons can be used.  I have not tested these yet so I won't give details because if I don't like it they will be changed. It is possible to do "critical hits" now.
• Added new "Fright" table.  So I had to append a list to this to show those creatures that cause fright or are immune to it.  Again this is new and may change.
• Revised the Supplies List (expanded and explained).  So now there is a paragraph or two of text explaining how some of the more unique supplies and equipment work in the game like "traps" or "torches".
• Added new NPC Companions section (see last update)
• Added new Order of the Monks
• Added Paladin Skill (I think).  Need to test this but essentially it is an advancement from knight skill.
• Rules for 'Fire Castle' and what happens when you enter it
• New hunting tables for each terrain type where hunting is allowed so now you have separate tables for each terrain instead of just one.

So those are the broad stokes!  There is a lot in there that I hope to break out later when I do a review of the rulebook.  As it stands now I still have some more content not listed there to complete and then I can begin the layout and formatting.  I am concerned that as it stands now the 'word' file is 500 pages.  The previous rulebook was about 225 pages so that is double.  Which could double the cost especially in hardcover.  So layout is going to very important to keeping everything I want in there or else I am going to have do a lot of editing or pull some things for something like a "Player's Handbook".  

Master Storyteller Cards

Below is a selection of some of the cards I have completed.  None of these are 100% final as I am always looking for better art and when I get something in I like better I swap it out.  Also as I create new rules I tend to go through the cards and see if any of them would be appropriate for the cards.  

So there you go.  Comments as always are welcome.  Also if you still have not gotten me your submissions and you are a Master Storyteller Backer then please email me at: [email protected].  If you are interested in upgrading your pledge now you can also email me and I can help you with that up until these go to print!

New Art

This month for new art.  We have a 'campground' scene from Tenda Spencer.  Camping and hunting are large part of travel in the Overland so I asked for this scene to show what a typical character's campground would look like in the Overland.

 Ok all that is it for this month.  Like I said not a "sexy" update but nonetheless a lot.  Right now if I can get the 2nd Edition rulebook finished some of the first shipping can start for those who ordered the Core Game only as I have supply of everything else in the Core Game on hand.  So once I have a working copy of the 2nd Edition Rulebook I will begin contacting those Backers about shipping and I expect those to go out before the year is out.  Most of the supplements are pretty far along as well.  I will need a print run of cards for them but the rules for The Bounty Hunters, Overland Arena, Town of Misery (about 90%), Pre-Generated Characters and Scenario Book are all done.  I will start writing The Urban Expansion sometime after GenCon and shortly after that The Wooddam Forest.  The Two Player Expansion is in draft form and I will give it some more attention while I am waiting for the rulebook to get laid out and printed.

Salud and God Bless!

D.C. Ware, Overland Games

P.S. Those few of you who ordered digital files of the miniatures and towns.  I have a few more to get printed just to make sure there are no issues with using Shapeways as I indicated then I will be uploading those to your Backerkit Digital files section.  I am also working on painting my set of Town Mayors just to show when they are done.

Progress Report - June 2018
almost 6 years ago – Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 10:16:41 PM

Hail Journeymen and fellow Backers!

I wanted to take time out from the extremely enjoyable work of perfecting Journey To The Overland to give all of you valued supporters an update on the progress of the game.

BackerKit

First of all, only two Backers have still not completed their Backerkit and I will be messaging them again this weekend.  Thank you to everyone else.  By all measures the Backerkit was another unqualified success.

Revised Rulebook

The ever expanding 2nd Edition Revised and Expanded Rulebook is proceeding along immeasurably well.  The more content I update the more ideas I get to update other content.  At this point and time there is simply far too much to detail in way of what has been updated and what has changed.  When I have finished all of the updates and revisions and get the prototype hardback in my hands I will definitely do several videos going over all the changes/revisions.

That being said the "core mechanic" of Journey To The Overland has not and will not change.  Instead I hope I have added rules for things that were somewhat 'intuitive' to begin with.  A peak at some of what I am talking about is as follows:

• Evening Actions - I have finally formalized evening actions like 'hunting' and 'visting taverns'.  While they have always existed in some form there was never any formal rules explaining them and how they differ from Daily Action.  I've also taken advantage of this opportunity to add a few more 'Evening Actions' you can do.
• Town Attributes - this is a new section in the rules that will outline specific benefits or actions you can do in specific towns.  I wanted to do this to give players more of a reason to go to towns further away or simply visit a town more than once.  For example, you can now go to "igloo" to take 'Survival Training' that will allow your character to ignore or minimize the terrain effects of traveling in certain terrain like desert, swamps or ice.  In addition characters with 'Survival Training' can 'forage' which will allow them to gather food as a 'Daily Action' without having to hunt. Each town will now have its own unique attributes that will make visiting it and spending time there worth your while
• Traits - I have mentioned this before but 'traits' are now additional mini-skills you can purchase for your character using XP's To Spend.  For example you can get the 'Sense of Direction' trait that allows you to re-roll failed 'Getting Lost' checks.
• New Skill Features - almost all of the skills/advanced skills have been updated and revised to make each skill much more useful in game.  For example the Thief Skill now includes the OSR Classics - 'Hide In Shadows' and "Back Stab'; while the Warrior Skill now allows you to 'buff' your party to a certain extent in combat' and the Alchemist now has a 'herb table' that will allow her to prepare herbs to deal with a large number of maladies; speaking of herbs the Ranger can now access certain herbs on the Alchemist table and can even do basic 'first aid' after a combat.  And a lot more.  All spells are now called 'wards' as I originally intended when I created the game although I kept the term 'Wizard' instead of 'Wardens' as I may use "Warden" later as an advanced Wizard.  All magic tricks are now called 'cantrips' the meaning of which is much more self-evident to most RPG players.
• Fatigue - the final thing I will mention is the new 'fatigue' rule.  Characters will now be able to use 'fatigue' to press themselves a little further when they really have to.  So for example when traveling you can move 'one' additional hex if you 'fatigue' yourself.  Something that may mean the difference between getting into a town or not when you are starving.  Fatigue can also be used to perform two 'Daily Actions' in one day instead of one.  However you will only be able to 'fatigue' yourself intentionally once without having to rest to remove the fatigue.  When fatigued however your character will fall unconscious sooner than if they were not.  So a character with one 'fatigue' would fall unconscious when his Endurance reached '15' instead of '10' and a character with two 'fatigue' would fall unconscious when his Endurance reached '20' instead of '10'.  You can never have more than two fatigue and resting one day removes all fatigue.

As I said there are FAR too many revisions and changes and especially additions like this to go over in an update. Almost all the 'tables' have been extended to some degree or in most cases entirely new tables have been created so now there will be separate "News and Information" Tables for each town and castle with their own unique results.

The Supplements

Work on all the supplements is going extremely well also.  The basic versions have been ordered in bulk and once I get the cards ordered I will begin the first shipment of stretch goals to the original Backers who did not upgrade.

The Upgraded Supplements are all being getting new layouts from a professional graphic designer.  A small example of her work on The Town of Misery Supplement is shown below:

 In addition to that as I have said many times before Backer Josh has helped me clean up and revise all the cards and I am getting the cleaner versions loaded on the printer's dashboard for production runs this month.  This has been a huge benefit and I am planning on letting Josh look at the final draft of the rules to help me catch any omissions or typos.  

Odds and Ends

Other odds and ends are also proceeding as planned.  The Wooddam Forest map is done as shown in a previous update.  The new boxes are great (though costly) and will be used for all 2nd Edition fulfillment that include a copy of the Core Game.  The digital rewards are all done.  I have reworked the Game Counters to get more of the image on the counters.  And the World Map and Overland Arena are both done and printed.

Art

Last but not least I am still waiting on a 'lot' of art.  I had a few hiccups with a couple of artist that have hopefully been worked out but I have also started buying non-exclusive pieces of art to use in some of the supplements and modules.  For the most part I have found pieces of art to match up with all the "Master Storyteller" submissions most of which I think are in.  I had a few come in after the last update they appeared in and I am appending those to the end of this update.  That being said if you have backed at the Master Storyteller level either in the campaign or the Backerkit please email with your concepts at: [email protected].  

I do have another piece of art to show from Tenda Spencer.  Again this is a piece of art exclusive to JTO called 'The Nemesis Knight'.  Nemesis Knights are knights in the Overland who have broken their vows to the king and the land and now serve The Wizard Morcai. 

In conclusion I am attaching the latest Master Storyteller concept I have received as well as another page from the The Town of Misery Supplement layout!

Have a good and safe weekend everyone!

Salud!

SNORI  

Fralo: Very stealthy but heartily halfling, who will gladly join. Unfortunately he's mumbling a lot regarding his lost precious & has then also a very moody phase. In these phases he is more hindrance then helpful. But if you finally find with him his precious he's from that point on a competent companion (at least for stealthy business). fellow: very competent stealth & hiding "expert" by nature -Rogue-type- Hindrance: 1/6 of time gives a minus to actions (again 1/6 heavy) lost precious: silver collar/necklace with a golden ring & brooch (to open with a picture of lost first love) atached to it .  

MacBeorn: A loner Bear-Shapeshifter (type fighter) of outstanding height, who transforms every time he's badly wounded into a raging bear. In this status he can't decide between friend & foe. .  

Goldhead: A quite stubborn but also very charming small -7 inches- fey, who loves to do pranks. In encounters, where it's very likely that her side will win, she's so overconfident, that she does some annoying tricks on own "group" first. She's a very capable Sorceress, but only with hindering & annoying spells (like web, slow, glittering dust) .  

Annabell: A female knight in shiny plate armor on a white stallion, who has very high standards regarding protecting the poor & helpless. Very competent Warrior. Will leave group very quick, when they don't honour the same "oath & meaure" (e.g. do burglary, refuse to help even against superior forces). Also sacrificing an animal companion is something she takes very personally. 

Moffin: A cute & frisky shepdherd dog, who is more than willing to help "group" when he get's attention & enough food. May work in combat as a light distraction to enemy (or in case group may also take a loss be a last stance for escape or killing blow)

The Designer's Journal #1 - The Jester
almost 6 years ago – Tue, May 29, 2018 at 09:35:42 PM

One of the most enjoyable aspects of working on the 2nd Edition of Journey To The Overland to date has been adding and revising content in the 2nd Edition Rule book.  You see when I first created Journey To The Overland while I was aware of role-playing games I had very little experience playing any of them.  As a result Journey To The Overland had more design aspects of what I was familiar with - board games.

Some thirty years later having become quite familiar with role-playing (though still doing very little of it comparatively speaking) I have taken advantage of the occasion to do a 2nd Edition of the game to give it many more of the trappings of a traditional role playing system.

One of the things I have noticed Backers hinting at that they would like to see in the game are 'Jesters'.  

In looking at the Jester in role-playing it is not a "class" that player characters typically play.  Instead it is something more akin to a feat or trait of certain 'Bards' or 'Minstrels' or to a lesser degree 'Thieves'.  

As a result when looking at how to introduce this very unique NPC type into Journey To The Overland I decided early on that it would not be a "Skill" or class as I could not see a player character getting enough mileage out of it and on those slim occasions when one did I was afraid they would get too much mileage out of it!  

This then led me to come up with a new category of NPCs called "Companions".  NPC Companions will be a new section in the rule book that will allow certain player characters who possess specific Skills or Advanced Skills to 'purchase' an NPC Companion.  Not all skills will have a 'companion' and right off the bat there will be no familiars for wizards.  A popular trope but one I have chosen to omit as familiars being forms of 'demons' or 'spirits' it does not fit with the idea of 'wizards' or 'wardens' in Journey To The Overland who more closely resemble the 'Maiar' or Wizards of Lord of the Rings than the Dumbledore's of Harry Potter.

However one type of companion will be the 'Jester'.  This NPC available only to players with the Minstrel skill will have the following aspects:

• a Jester must be a Dwarf, Halfling or Gnome
• Jester's are pranksters and bringing one may result in unexpected pranks (i.e. Prankster Table)
• Jester's are shrewd (Wisdom buff)
• Jester's defy kings and lords so they cannot be charged with a crime or have a warrant issued for their arrest 
• Jester's may simply refuse to participate in any combat and when they do they cannot be attacked or targeted by an attack
• Jester's may ignore the result of any audience rolled on the Audience Table (don't like what you rolled, you and your Jester just walk away!)
• Jester's cannot hunt, work a job, study magic or acquire any other skill (not that most NPCs can but just in case a result allows an NPC to aid you with any of these it cannot be a Jester)

All in all a Minstrel who decides to take a Jester will be much better equipped to travel and explore the Overland on her own with a Jester by her side.  For example say you get into a combat and know you are going to be knocked unconscious simply have your Jester sit the combat out and then administer a healing potion.  Say you roll up an Audience with the Mayor of a Town and it says you are arrested,simply have the Jester say 'just kidding' and walk away!  

Now there will be some restrictions that apply not only to Jesters but to all NPC Companions.  The chief one being these are not NPC Comrades.  They are not loyal for life.  NPC Companions may leave your party, forsake your character, betray you, or even attack you depending on the rules and/or scenario.  For example, if you draw an Encounter card that says one of your NPC followers may be an assassin and roll for each except NPC Comrades you must roll for your NPC Companion like any other follower.  

Obtaining NPC Companions will work the same way as obtaining Skills, Advanced Skills and Traits works in that they must be purchased using your XP's To Spend.  In addition, like 'traits', they will require upkeep which will vary depending on the companion.  A Squire may simply require food and lodging from a Knight but other Companions may require payment in gold each time you access them like the 'Fence'.

Tentatively a list of the NPC Companions that will be available in the 2nd Edition and the Skills/Advanced Skills they will be available to is as follows:

COMPANION/SKILL REQUIRED

• Squire/Knight
• Jester/Minstrel
• Animal/Ranger
• Apprentice/Wizard
• Sergeant/Warrior
• Bosun/Admiral
• Fence/Thief
• Handler/Spy
• Retainer/Samurai

There may be one or two more that will pair with a couple of new skills not in the rules yet but overall I want to keep this mechanic simple but relevant.

Everything else is proceeding as planned.  I will do a more specific run down next month.  Five more of you need to complete your surveys and I will be sending individual messages to you soon in case you need help with anything in the Backerkit.  

Until then Salud!

Welcome To The Wooddam Forest!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 25, 2018 at 11:42:50 PM

The Wooddam Forest map is complete!  Once again another excellent job by catographer, Robert Altbauer of Fantasy Maps.

 This version doesn't show the numbered hexes which will obviously be added for gameplay.

In addition to the finished Wooddam Forest Map I got the actual sample of the new box in and took a picture of it partially filled with stretch goal items!  The bottom of the box has an image of part of the actual game map and depending on where you are at in your campaign you could actually use it to play on if you don't have enough space to break out your full map or you are simply at a hotel or convention and don't want to.

 That being said everything is on track.  I should finish the last additions to the new rulebook in the next couple of weeks.  After that I will have to go through and edit it.  From there it will go to layout and then to be added to the interior of the hardback.  

Most of the supplements and modules are in layout now and I am pleased with how most of them are coming out.  I still have some writing to do for The Unknown Islands, The Town of Misery and The Urban Expansion but the others are pretty much done.  

The cards for the expansions are waiting on art.  I've been  purchasing additional art to speed this up a bit but a couple of my artist have promised to get me more images soon.  Some of which is also needed for the new rulebook.  

Still I am pleased with what I am getting as you can see below in this scene of some elves waylaying a Dwarf that has wandered into their realm uninvited!

Finally there are still six Backers that have not completed their surveys.  Their names are in the last update so I won't repeat it here but hopefully all of them will verify their details by time the first items start shipping.

Salud!

Missing Addresses! And a small Update!
almost 6 years ago – Sat, May 19, 2018 at 10:02:39 PM

In an attempt to get the pledge manager stage of this campaign behind me I am still missing addresses from the following Backers!  This means you have not entered the Backerkit and verified your pledges.  

• Colin MacMillan
• David Lucardie
• Ehrich Douglas
• Helen Adams
• Ian McFarlin
• J. Evans Payne
• Luke
• Matthew Dalrymple
• Nicolette Tanksley
• Rodney Leary
• Tandemarcher