The full announcement is here, but in brief: Our company name is changing to Growling Door Games, Inc., effective immediately.
Announcement: curse the darkness Companion
Yes, it’s been a good long while since I posted on this blog. That isn’t because there’s nothing going on in the world of curse the darkness, just that a lot of it is still unfinished. The anthology of fiction, titled The Road to Hell on Earth, is under construction – authors are doing edits, and then we have to put it all together and get a cover done up.
But that’s not why I’m posting. I’m posting because I have an announcement about the curse the darkness Companion.
As you might remember, I’m going to include the ghost rules, and probably some new scenarios and material for the game. It’s also going to feature a new fiction piece by Stephen Michael DiPesa (who’s done a bunch of work for White Wolf, including developing Summoners for Mage: The Awakening).
But here’s the surprise: The Companion is also going to include:
- A write-up of curse the darkness using the Savage Worlds rules. That’s going to put a more high-adventure/pulp spin on the game, which I know is a big change, but I think it’ll be fun.
- A write-up of curse the darkness using Fate rules. Note: The Fate Core Kickstarter is, as of this writing, still going on, and so this is timely. I’m a big fan of this game engine, and while it will, again, change the dynamic of curse the darkness, I think that it’ll work to bring a new dimension to the system of Memory. In fact, Fate was one of the systems I initially considering using for curse the darkness.
- A write-up of curse the darkness using White Wolf’s Storytelling system (that’d be the new World of Darkness). As you probably know, I’ve done a lot of work with this system, and the reason this announcement took as long as it did was that I was finalizing the details of this license. But now that I have, I get to rework my first original RPG using the rules that helped get me the visibility to make the game in the first place, which I think is awesome. Expect a more supernatural bent to this version.
- One more? Sure. I’m considering doing a hack of Apocalypse World for curse the darkness, too. It seems a natural fit. My only hesitation is that I’m not as familiar with AW, both from a game engine perspective and on the particulars of using the system in my own products. I’ll be looking into that more, believe me. AW’s a great game and, based on what I’ve read, a lot of fun to hack.
- And more? I’ve got some other ideas. If you know a game system that a) I could legally use and b) you think would be a good fit, heck, let me know.
The curse the darkness Companion will be available for sale at GenCon 2013. curse the darkness itself is, of course, available for sale now at Drive-Thru RPG, and I’d love to see more reviews up there!
Please do spread the word!
Success! We will have books tomorrow!
Amazingly, the copies of curse the darkness are being delivered today, so we will have them here at GenCon at booth 1933 tomorrow. If you’re a Kickstarter backer and you’re getting a physical book or a Kit, or if you want to buy a book (or a t-shirt, or a Kit), then come on out to the Independent Game Designer Network booth and see us!
Behold! Kit Assembly!
Hoping against hope that the books will await us at GenCon, we set about building Kits today for the folks who said they’d pick them up there (plus a few more, in case we have books and can sell them). Check it out!
Very excited for GenCon! Hope to see you all there! Drop by booth 1933 and say “hi” and “I’d like to buy a curse the darkness shirt!”
ALL IS NOT LOST!
So guess what! Today we got the second proof copy of curse the darkness in the mail, and it looks awesome. The too-dark pictures from the first proof have been corrected! Success!
It might, therefore, be possible to get the copies in to GenCon. They’re being shipped to a friend of mine in Indianapolis, and given the turnaround on the proof copy, it’s just possible that they’ll arrive before the con ends.
So, if you said in your survey that you would be at GenCon, please do stop by booth #1933 (the Independent Game Designers Network booth, where, incidentally, you can obtain some other awesome games from Magpie Games, Faster Monkey Games, and other folks that I can’t remember right now).
Here are the times that either myself or Michelle will be at the booth:
- Thursday, 10AM-2PM
- Friday, 2PM-4PM
- Saturday, 10AM-2PM
- Sunday, 12PM on, off and on
Even if one of us isn’t there, someone there will know the skinny on the books. However, if you’re a Kickstarter backer, please do show up during one of those times or make arrangements with me over email (playattentiongames@gmail.com) to get your game. I want to be able to personally put our product into the hands of the backers, so that I know that folks got their games.
Reminder: We will have curse the darkness shirts on sale at the booth ($20 each), and if the books come in, I’ll have print copies on sale (also $20).
Ooh! Also, I’m running three sessions of curse the darkness!
- Thursday, 1PM, JW 205, table 4
- Thursday, 7PM, location TBA (it’s a pickup game)
- Saturday, 10AM, JW 305, table 4
Now, these games are full, according to the system, but I would love for people to show up and have a look at how the game works.
And I think that’s it! Everyone keep your fingers crossed for swift printing and shipping! I’d say pray, but y’know…He might hear you.
GenCon Update – Bad News and Good News
Well, bad news first. I’m still waiting on a second proof copy of curse the darkness. It hasn’t even been shipped yet, which means that even if I check my email now and it’s been shipped (hang on – nope), it won’t get here until Thursday, which means that even if I place an order for the books on Thursday and have them shipped to the hotel at GenCon, they probably won’t get there while the con is still going on. If there was a way to know for sure, I’d feel better about it, but since the time between “place order” and “order is shipped” aren’t consistent (for my first proof copy, there was a lag of one day, for this one we’re coming up on three), at this point I’m going to say that we’re not going to have print copies of curse the darkness at GenCon.
Now, that said, I am going to assemble the Kits for the people who bought them and said they’d be at GenCon. That’s about 18 of you who responded to the survey and said that you would be or might be at GenCon, and bought Kits. (Those of you who bought books but not Kits, keep reading.) If you bought a Kit, please do stop by booth 1933 to pick it up. I’ll ship you the book as soon as it becomes available, but you should already have the pdf and this way you’ll have all the other goodies, too.
If you bought a book and you’ll be at GenCon, I’ll have your Character Pads (also booth 1933), at least, so if you want to swing by and grab one, awesome!
Now, I did promise some good news. We had some extra curse the darkness shirts made, so if you’re at GenCon and you want to buy a shirt, we’ll have them for $20 each, while they last. They’re very comfy.
So, bottom line: If bought a Kit and you’re going to be at GenCon, please come pick up your Kit. You’ll get your book ASAP, probably within a week or two after the con.
Good News and Bad News
Well, let’s start on a high note. I got the proof copy of curse the darkness in the mail today. Behold!
Here’s my daughter, Teagan, holding it. My dog, Leo, seems to have sneaked in there, too.
Anyway, the books looks mostly fabulous, and therein lies the bad news. “Mostly” is not good enough. What happened was this: the pdf copy (that many of you have already downloaded) wasn’t optimized for print, and so the pictures came out darker than we wanted. For some of them, that isn’t a huge problem, but for a couple of them it utterly ruins them. So we’ve uploaded the correct pdf this time (we had the right one the first, just the wrong one got uploaded), and we’re now starting the process of approval, proof copy, shipping, over again.
What does this mean for you? Well, it might mean that I won’t have print copies at GenCon. That sucks, I know. It sucks for me, too, because I really wanted to be able to hand out books and Kits (and, y’know, sell a few, too), but it’s more important that the book look right. So if the book doesn’t wind up coming in before GenCon, c’est la vie, I’ll just mail everything out afterwards. (If you bought a Kit and want to pick up everything except the book at GenCon, though, I’ll totally do that because it’ll save trouble and money shipping.)
And what about the Kits? Check it.
So you’ve got (top left to right) a Suit Assignment sheet, five Player Mats, a Condition Assignment sheet (all laminated), a Character Pad, a bag with the candle stamp with little yellow Memory Points, a bag with the Symbol with little black Between Points, a copy of the book, a GM’s Deck (blue with the Symbol) and two Players’ Decks (red with the candle), and a Scenario Creation Pad (still at the printers, but we’ll have those next week). All of that will be packaged in an attractive cardboard box and shipped to you or handed to you at GenCon, assuming I can get the books in on time.
It’s all coming together, maybe not as smoothly as we’d all like, but considering the Kickstarter just wrapped in early June I think we’re doing pretty darned spiffy. And don’t forget – I need stories for the anthology!
Oh, and I have some exciting news about the curse the darkness Companion, but I’m gonna save that until I get confirmation on one remaining thing. 
