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Adam dropped this bit of art in the comments yesterday



to be used as the art on a double sided luck token

Creator Kingdom Death about 15 hours ago

Heya Guys, Just wanted to let you know that I have been in contact with Kai ( of cipher studios ) and if the artist is ok with it, we are going to make some adjustments to the Cross over Helldorado Twilight Knight to make it more appealing to both fans. I personally felt that for HD it was fine, but I can see why some KD fans have some issues with her.

A creator, listening to customer feedback and criticism, and making adjustments if he feels they are necessary?

Now granted, this may have only been possible as the Helldorado version of the Twilight Knight was at no more than 80% complete, maybe...

I see what you did there.....

Interesting tidbit here:

Creator Kingdom Death 2 days ago

@Agusky, I will not be releasing the rulebook in PDF format, my apologies. It would undermine too many core design choices that have carried the project and brand this far. Currently, things are far too hectic for me to consider any other language version outside of english. Nailing down game rules that are readable, understandable and also mechanical is very hard. Look at MTG for example, they have been writing rules and cards for the same game for over 20 years and they are still striving for perfection.

I promise you, once I get my heads out of the woods here I will look into translations so that in the event the game is popular enough and it warrants more production runs I can pull the trigger on it. But as you know a poor translation can do a lot more damage then good and like everything else I am just not comfortable releasing anything that I don't feel is as close to perfect as I can manage.

Strange that he decided against a PDF version of the rules. You still can't play the game without the cards.

I'm quite glad there is going to be no PDF. Games like Malifaux and Gods of War are weakened by freely (if you know where to look) available PDF downloads. I like that Poots is sticking to his artistic vision of a super high quality product. A PDF book printed at work is not super high quality...

 Still Standing wrote:
I'm quite glad there is going to be no PDF. Games like Malifaux and Gods of War are weakened by freely (if you know where to look) available PDF downloads. I like that Poots is sticking to his artistic vision of a super high quality product. A PDF book printed at work is not super high quality...

The Malifaux rules were freely available from Wyrd... How is that weakened by the distribution of knowledge?

 Still Standing wrote:
I'm quite glad there is going to be no PDF. Games like Malifaux and Gods of War are weakened by freely (if you know where to look) available PDF downloads. I like that Poots is sticking to his artistic vision of a super high quality product. A PDF book printed at work is not super high quality...

I dont see how his product could be hurt by a PDF version. It's sometimes more convenient to look at the rules on a tablet(such as using a search function). Unless he's worried about offering the games art for free, or releasing a PDF without it.

Alfndrate wrote:

 Still Standing wrote:
I'm quite glad there is going to be no PDF. Games like Malifaux and Gods of War are weakened by freely (if you know where to look) available PDF downloads. I like that Poots is sticking to his artistic vision of a super high quality product. A PDF book printed at work is not super high quality...

The Malifaux rules were freely available from Wyrd... How is that weakened by the distribution of knowledge?

Sinful Hero wrote:

 Still Standing wrote:
I'm quite glad there is going to be no PDF. Games like Malifaux and Gods of War are weakened by freely (if you know where to look) available PDF downloads. I like that Poots is sticking to his artistic vision of a super high quality product. A PDF book printed at work is not super high quality...

I dont see how his product could be hurt by a PDF version. It's sometimes more convenient to look at the rules on a tablet(such as using a search function). Unless he's worried about offering the games art for free, or releasing a PDF without it.

What seems like a higher quality product? A free to download PDF, or a good quality printed book on nice paper with embossed covers. Perception is everything.

 Still Standing wrote:

Alfndrate wrote:

 Still Standing wrote:
I'm quite glad there is going to be no PDF. Games like Malifaux and Gods of War are weakened by freely (if you know where to look) available PDF downloads. I like that Poots is sticking to his artistic vision of a super high quality product. A PDF book printed at work is not super high quality...

The Malifaux rules were freely available from Wyrd... How is that weakened by the distribution of knowledge?

Sinful Hero wrote:

 Still Standing wrote:
I'm quite glad there is going to be no PDF. Games like Malifaux and Gods of War are weakened by freely (if you know where to look) available PDF downloads. I like that Poots is sticking to his artistic vision of a super high quality product. A PDF book printed at work is not super high quality...

I dont see how his product could be hurt by a PDF version. It's sometimes more convenient to look at the rules on a tablet(such as using a search function). Unless he's worried about offering the games art for free, or releasing a PDF without it.

What seems like a higher quality product? A free to download PDF, or a good quality printed book on nice paper with embossed covers. Perception is everything.

Why not both? It would allow people to check out te game before buying at least, and he stil has the hardcopy for the ones who buy the game. Not to mention you don't have to worry about dog-eared pages or a bent spine on your high quality book.

 Still Standing wrote:
What seems like a higher quality product? A free to download PDF, or a good quality printed book on nice paper with embossed covers. Perception is everything.

You sir get the triple facepalm. The development of the rulebook is probably going like this:
Poots writes, creates, and develops the rulebook in Adobe InDesign
Poots sends rough drafts back and forth to editors (if he has any)
Poots sends the now finalized InDesign file to company that will be printing the rulebook

He could literally add 1 step:
Poots clicks the button to generate that InDesign as a PDF and has PDF of the rulebook. Design quality of the pdf is exactly the same as rulebook because they're from the same sources file

NOW whether or not he wishes to do it is up to him, but to say that a free to download PDF is somehow a dip in production value is disingenuous to companies that have put out high quality PDFs of their rulebooks. And believe it or not, there are people that prefer PDFs over another book (no matter how big or small it is)

A PDF for a BOARD GAME? =.=

 Still Standing wrote:
A PDF for a BOARD GAME? =.=

Ah, I see you haven't heard of Fantasy Flight Games then.

Moving on...

Creator Kingdom Death 3 days ago

@Victor Garrison,

Yep, I will be making several videos to help people play. Starting with a explanation / play thru of the games tutorial and then a few other drilling down into the more technical / mechanical aspects of the game.

When exactly can a player spend a survival and dash and how does interrupting monster turns / other actions work. Etc.

We also have future plans for putting together a searchable online Addendum. Which will include bizarre user scenarios and how to resolve them. And in the case that someone does not understand our perfect description of any given rule, we can offer additional explanations for it with this system.

Alph ninja'd me and Brook said what I said.

 Still Standing wrote:
A PDF for a BOARD GAME? =.=

Board games stil have rulebooks, not to mention any fluff he might add to it. Of course if it's going to be more lke a story book I can understand why he might be reluctant to release a PDF.

I can perhaps understand his hesitation with the game so (relatively) far off. I know there's a lot of "proprietary" type things that he's done with this game that he doesn't want to get ninja'd, as it were.

I'd still really appreciate a PDF of the rules in the future, though, because, well, iPads....

He better not make a PDF. or sell it to those people. I feel it would diminish the quality of the game for me if those people were allowed nice things.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
He better not make a PDF. or sell it to those people. I feel it would diminish the quality of the game for me if those people were allowed nice things.

Oh, I'm right with you. Certainly don't want those people getting their hands on the rules. That wouldn't be good for anyone.

Honestly, there isn't a ton of onus for him to make a PDF of the rules available until after all the stuff for the KS people ship, as the intial print run, and correct me if i'm wrong on this, is for the KS backers only?

re-worked Twilight Knight on the right

(looks to have been made taller check the space below the sword hilt, and had something done around the face)

KD is gonna be selling these thru the site as well, correct?

Doesn't seem like they did any very noticeable changes to her. I assumed it would be redesigned from the ground up. I may have just been expecting too much though.

Could be the angle but it looks like he just scaled back her arms and scaled the sword handle down a bit too.

Either the arms are slightly shorter or the angle at which the arms have been attached has been tweaked.

Yeah. The original had a left arm that went down to her knee. The new redesign seems to have a left arm that goes down to a more realistic mid-thigh.

Hello everyone! It's been over a month since our last update where we finally unveiled the material miniatures will be produced in and discussed our delay. For us it's been intense! Long 18-hour days, constant play testing groups, copy editing and pushing ourselves to further tweak and refine every aspect of the project.

Initially I had planned on keeping everyone up to date with smaller weekly updates, but there wasn't anything significant to share and I really don't want to spam peoples inboxes! This will shift in the upcoming months as milestones are reached and there's more to share. Things definitely aren't quite but we're working through a big stretch which will yield lots of news soon.

Pledge Manager Upgrade!
You can update your shipping address directly from the pledge manager now! Here is the direct link: https://kingdomdeath.com/address/address_change.php

Production Update
We've had a pretty big change in the workflow. Originally, I was delivering files and resin masters to the factory and they were responsible for fully preparing the parts for plastic production. However, once production started and we spent countless hours going back and forth over details, we decided it would be best to make a major shift. The KDM project has now invested a significant chunk into a special software license so that I can personally review and tweak miniatures with the KD sculpting team before they are committed to production. The new workflow gives myself and our artists much greater quality control.

Here is an image showing some of the armor kit mastering, its a long detailed oriented process me and the KD team is now handling.



Then the talented engineers can focus on what they do best, which is preparing the figures for molding. This part of the process is very much like a puzzle, since with hard plastic molds there is no tolerance for undercuts at all. In some cases details need to be changed to meet the requirements of the draft angle and make production a reality.

Graphical Evolution
Anna is gonna kill me If I keep upgrading designs… but so long as there is time I just can't help myself! You can see here the mood / trait cards are now much easier to identify.



Oh my! I don't think I've shown you guys what one of the hit location cards looks like!



Effects of the Delay!

Upgraded Tokens - Originally the positive and negative attribute tokens had a simple text design. Since there's time Lokman illustrated a unique piece of art that embodies each attribute! I don't wanna spoil them all, so here are a couple of em.



Monster Crests - Here are some of the other monster Crests that the delay allowed us to include!



Mask Miniatures for the Core Game - Hector has wrapped up all the masks and they will now be included in the core game as a big thanks to everyone. There will be one of each in the core set, not exactly sure which sprue they will end up on yet tho.



Lion Knight Expansion Upgrade - Just another little detail the delay has allowed us to include, The Lion Knight expansion will now include a male and female armor kit compatible head and corresponding holy mask gear card.



Core game rulebook upgrades - We've added a section to the rulebook that talks about KDM's unique game play concepts. I loved this section… so we went back in and added more art to it! We also fleshed out a few more things and are up to oh… 40ish story events? This means the rulebook is pushing around 140+ pages now!



Quick Playtest Highlights

- Survivor spends 13 survival points in a single turn, attempting to flurry the Butcher to death. On the very last attack, his axe breaks and the Butcher ends up wiping the party a few rounds later.

- A Lvl 2 lion seemed to have an affinity for pulling the legs off its victims! Two dismembered legs later, it faced down its final target, a dual katar wielding survivor that managed to hold out and bring it down to its last 2 wounds before dying heroically.

- A settlement reduced to a single person decided to play it out, luckily they drew "Stranger in the Dark", which increased their population by one! This boon however, was met with instant tragedy as one of the two survivors discovered that the lanterns could be used to produce heat and badly burned their body! Mistaken for a flesh monster, the survivor was banished… reducing the population to 1 again!

- Hunting party critically injures an antelope causing it to constantly vomit blood from its large under maw. The effect of this is actually good, it gives bonus insanity to every survivor it passes over (vomiting blood on them of course) and due to the way the AI cards landed, it ended up running over the group several times before they broke out of its combo! Now officially the insane-est party to date.

Worldwide Shipping Stuff
No update yet and there will not be a firm update until we know the exact dimensions and weight of every package. We do not and cannot be expected to control the policies of every unique region and we must meet certain legal requirements to protect ourselves. Once we have isolated the exact fulfillment procedure that we will be using, we will let everyone know. Until then, all I can do is assure you were are exploring every option that comes our way.

Finally, to answer a recurring question.
KDM hired a professional copy editor and no, she doesn't check these updates (she might die after reading one). She's busy checking hundreds and hundreds of cards.

... Gonna sneak in some extra content now!!!!!!!!!!

Aya Origin Comic!
Lokman and I are having a blast working on this!



This Armor Kit mastering image came in while I was writing the update. It shows one of the many methods we are using to check all the sockets with as much scrutiny as possible.



Dragon KIng!?
I think the Dragon King is the most asked about expansion. I do very much like him, but he is not my personal favorite. (I just don't understand why the Dung Beetle Knight isn't everyones favorite like mine! ) Anyway, his sculpt... honestly? I am just not fully satisfied with it. This Dragon has had quite the legacy and I will share the whole story once I do have a version I am totally in love with and feel GREAT committing the huge amount of resources such a large kit will require. But until then, until I have something I am totally proud of to share. He will remain out of the spotlight.

I actually had Danny Cruz do a little art pass and we are incorporating some of his vision into the new final. Which I will share when its ready.



I also got the resin Sunstalker Dancer!

I don't know about any of you, but I'm starting to kick mysef for not getting a Sunstalker Dancer.

I can't remember if I got one or not...

And:

Creator Kingdom Death 37 minutes ago

@HappyWulf, for the sake of of time. We are not currently allowing backers to increase their pledge. I know it sounds crazy! But we really need to keep our nose down in work for now.

Creator Kingdom Death 38 minutes ago

@Ian, The rules are currently around 20 pages, the tutorial is 14 ( its very graphic heavy) and the story pages amount to around... 90? Each story event is a full spread. Full page art on the left page, rules on the right page. The format really bulks the book up!

As a child of the 70s/80s, these updates remind me of how I felt waiting for the 1st new Star Wars movie. I just hope there's no Jar Jar Binks in KD to destroy that...unless of course he is devoured on the first page of the story.

>_>

I'm sure there are words in this thread I need to eat, but god danged am I sad I didn't get in on this KS...