Railroad Guide Unlocked—Big News Today!
about 2 years ago – Mon, Apr 25, 2022 at 06:06:44 AM

Hello, Family—

We’ve had an amazing week for what is generally the slowest period of a Kickstarter campaign. Thanks to your support, we’ve unlocked the Pocket Railroad Guide! Read on, because today we’re announcing not one, but two new stretch goals!

Railroads were an everyday form of transportation in the 1920s and 30s—all across America and critically in Appalachia, where they paved the way for mining, industrialization, and the incursion of the modern world into those ancient mountains. This guide will be both a practical game aid (with information about train routes and times) and an immersive prop that will transport OGoA players’ imaginations into Alternate Appalachia as dependably as the trains transport their characters throughout the region.

The Pocket Railroad Guide is now available as an add-on. Furthermore, we’re making it part of the Delver into the Dark backer level. If you’re backing at this level, your rewards just got tangibly better! And if you’re not, maybe it’s time to consider an upgrade; our news today will make it even more appealing.

Two New Stretch Goals!

RPGs are immersive, and tangible props contribute to that immersion. Things like the Pocket Railroad Guide and the Scrip Set are great, but what about things more specific to your adventures? An old letter that holds a clue, a newspaper clipping that introduces an adventure prompt. A business card for a mysterious NPC, a train ticket, a handbill for a theatre show or revival meeting. Elements like these make the game feel real, and draw the players ever deeper into the world, but are often specific to the adventures you create.

So for our next goal, we’ll make a digital prop-crafting kit. It will contain things like company logos; period fonts and decorative elements; letterheads; templates for newspaper articles, invoices, handbills, and business cards; and much more. It’ll be a great tool for creating immersive props for your game table.

The prop-crafting kit will be a digital reward added to every backer level, and will unlock when the project reaches $1,400,000 in funding!

But that’s not all. We also want to make a player’s guide for the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game.

This 32-page softcover will excerpt key setting and character information, so you can easily share the most important player-facing content around the table. It’ll be a great way to introduce players to Alternate Appalachia and help them think about the characters they might create without having to pass the corebook back and forth around the table. It won’t contain anything that isn’t already in the corebook—its function is to make important information for players easier to access and share.

The Player’s Guide will be added to every backer level in PDF format. It will also be offered in print as an add-on. And we’ll add a bundle of five Player’s Guides—enough for the whole gaming group—to the Delver into the Dark backer level. That’s in the neighborhood of $100 of extra value for this backer level—on top of the Pocket Railroad Guide we just added!

We’ll unlock the Player’s Guide at $1,500,000.

We’re just about halfway through this campaign, and we’ve already unlocked so many stretch goals! If you can take a minute to post, tweet, retweet, or share something about this campaign, we can keep this amazing momentum going, unlock these stretch goals, and move on to even more!

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG

Resource Deck Gets Bigger!
about 2 years ago – Wed, Apr 20, 2022 at 08:33:24 PM

Hello, Family—

Thanks to your continued support and the enthusiastic buzz you’ve generated,the Resource Deck will now be expanded to 100 cards, including more of the new corebook content you previously unlocked through stretch goals. This handy game aid will now have additional creatures, NPCs, cyphers, artifacts, and similar items, making it even more useful at the game table and when the GM is prepping for play.

If you’re backing at the Walker of the Green or Delver into the Dark reward levels, or if you have chosen the Resource Deck as an add-on, your rewards just got better!

For our next stretch goal, we’d like to make something really neat: a pocket railway guide, which contains an area route map and train schedule. In the 1920s and 30s railways were the primary means of long-distance transportation in America, and they were a critical part of piercing the isolation of Central Appalachia and enabling the growth of coal mining and logging. (In Alternate Appalachia, some rail conglomerates play a role in the spreading influence of the Inner Dark.) For small-town Appalachia, the railroad is a lifeline to other communities in the region, and to the larger world beyond.

With rail playing such a prominent role in daily life, characters need easy access to route and schedule information—and pocket guides are a common way of getting it. This guide will be both a  practical game aid (with information about train routes and times) and an immersive prop with a vintage feel.

At $1,300,000 we’ll unlock this add-on! And for Delver into the Dark level backers, you’ll have it added to your rewards for free, making that level an even more amazing deal!

We’re now solidly into the middle phase of this Kickstarter campaign, when things traditionally slow down a bit, but that means we’ll have time to come up with more exciting stretch goals. We’re still moving at an amazing pace, so please keep spreading the word and we can unlock this—and other cool stretch goals—quickly!

Thanks again for your support!
  —Team MCG

The Corebook Expands Again!
about 2 years ago – Sun, Apr 17, 2022 at 05:52:09 AM

Hello, Family—

Thanks to your wonderful support this weekend, we have unlocked yet another stretch goal! The Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game is getting bigger again, this time with an increase to the number of NPCs detailed through description and stats. This expansion applies to the standard version, the limited Deluxe Edition, and the PDF.

Past stretch goals have already added more creatures and adventure content to the book. With all this new material, it only makes sense to expand the Resource Deck as well.

The Resource Deck aids play by giving you easy access to key game elements (creatures, NPCs, cyphers, artifacts, and similar items from the corebook) during prep and play. Cards representing some types of items, such as cyphers, can be shared with the players: instead of the player copying info about a cypher from the book into their character portfolio, and then erasing it all when they use that cypher, they can simply be given a card with the info on it. Creature cards have info and stats for the GM on one side, and an illustration to show the players on the other. All of the cards ease play and make prep faster and more convenient for the GM.

At $1,200,000 we’ll increase the size of the Resource Deck to 100 cards, including more of the new corebook content you’ve unlocked through stretch goals.

Please keep telling the world about Old Gods of Appalachia and this Kickstarter. We’ve had an amazing campaign so far—let’s keep up the pace and keep hitting more stretch goals!

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG

The Old Gods Speak!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 16, 2022 at 05:21:44 AM

Hello, Family—

Your overwhelming support has left us gobsmacked and plum tickled! Today you took this campaign over an amazing milestone: the one million dollar mark. We are grateful and honored and humbled by your enthusiasm and the support, at this point, of nearly 7,500 backers.

This is a special point in this campaign, and to mark it you’ve unlocked a special stretch goal: The Old Gods Speak, a set of audio files to supplement your gameplay.

Have you heard the voices in the night? Do they sound like home? They should, Family. Cam and Steve will narrate descriptive elements for creatures, NPCs, items, locations, and even adventure scenes from the book. These are the sorts of things the GM might read aloud to the players, or crib from the text as they describe what the characters see. Instead, the GM could play a short audio clip that delivers that description in the resonant voice of Old Gods of Appalachia.

This reward has now been added to every backer level. If you’re getting Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game in its standard version, the limited Deluxe Edition, or the PDF, The Old Gods Speak is now part of your rewards.

And now, as the Man from the Railroad says, “Ever onward, ever forward.” That’s true for this campaign, too—though perhaps we’re talking about a less sinister direction. Let’s unlock some more goals!

At $1,100,000, we will further expand the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game with the addition of more NPCs. Alternate Appalachia is filled with interesting and colorful people—from major figures like the aforementioned Man from the Railroad, to the everyday shopkeepers, miners, and farm folk in the small towns and hollers throughout the region. The corebook is already slated to contain a selection of such NPCs, but we’d like to add even more. Combined with the additional creatures and adventure content you’ve already unlocked, we anticipate this will bring the corebook to well over 400 pages.

Buzz for the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game has been phenomenal (did you see the Gizmodo article that came out yesterday? And check out this great video from The Infinite Construct!). It’s this buzz that keeps adding new backers to the Family, so please keep spreading the word. Let’s unlock this corebook expansion, and more stretch goals besides!

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG

Deluxe Upgrade Unlocked!
about 2 years ago – Fri, Apr 15, 2022 at 12:59:13 PM

Hello, Family—

Once again, you’ve unlocked another stretch goal, continuing to make the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game, and the Kickstarter specials we're funding through this campaign, ever more awesome. The limited Deluxe Edition of the book now features three satin ribbon bookmarks, enhancing both its utility and its singular beauty.

We are approaching an amazing milestone: $1,000,000. So for our next stretch goal, let’s do something really fun for backers at every level. Let’s bring a bit of the audio experience of Alternate Appalachia to your game table with sound files you can use in play!

Have you heard the voices in the night? Do they sound like home? They should, Family. Cam and Steve will narrate descriptive elements for creatures, NPCs, items, locations, and even adventure scenes from the book. These are the sorts of things the GM might read aloud to the players, or crib from the text as they describe what the characters see. Instead, the GM could play a short audio clip that delivers that description in the resonant voice of Old Gods of Appalachia.

If you’re new to Old Gods of Appalachia, check out the Kickstarter video for a sample of narration from Cam and Steve. Or better yet, listen to the podcast!

We’ll unlock this stretch goal at $1,000,000. It will be added to the rewards at every backer level.

We’re standing on a very exciting threshold. Please continue to spread the word about this campaign, so we can cross that threshold, make this stretch goal happen, and continue on to many more!

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG