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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on August 27, 2010.
Pledge $2 or more Pledge $2 or more
CURIOSITY PACK - You get access to the Backers Only posts on Kickstarter as well as our own closed-to-the-public playtesting and development forums. You'll be right there with us as we design and layout the book, haggle with printers, and decide on the cover.
Pledge $5 or more Pledge $5 or more
PATRON PACK - All of the above, and your name appears with a "Patron" credit in the printed Early Dark rulebook. This is your time to make your mark in a new world. Right here. Feel it? I do.
Pledge $15 or more Pledge $15 or more
DIGITAL PACK - All of the above, and you receive a digital copy of the finished Early Dark rulebook (either directly from us or as a download code for a popular online retailer). This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to pre-order the first Anthropos Games title available to the public! Plus, your name will already be in it. Sweet, huh?
Pledge $29 or more Pledge $29 or more
HARDCOPY PACK - All the above, and you receive a personal hardcopy of the Early Dark rulebook. This includes free shipping. Our top priority is to get this book in your gamey little hands! We are pitching a new kind of world for roleplaying, and we want you and your friends living in it.
Pledge $45 or more Pledge $45 or more
CLOTHING OPTIONAL PACK - All of the above, and you receive the soon-to-be-infamous Early Dark launch T-shirt. The quality, black T-shirt features the Anthropos Games logo on the front and the official list of all the shops and cities we are launching in on the back. Think of it as the official T-shirt for our book tour. AND, if we ever see you wearing this shirt at a convention, at a Radiohead concert, or on the street, we'll buy you a drink. No strings attached.
Pledge $69 or more Pledge $69 or more
DELUXE PACK - All of the fabulous items celebrated above (your credit in the book, digital PDF copy of the Early Dark rulebook, hardcopy, infamous launch T-shirt) and more! Yes, more! You will receive in total two hardcopies of the Early Dark rulebook, both signed by the creators. These will come to you with free shipping. Give one away, share it with your group, or donate it to a library in your area. It's yours. Also, YOUR gaming location and hometown are featured on the already-infamous launch T-shirt! Give a shout out to your FLGS, your mom's basement, or your ex's garage. Wherever you play, it's on our shirt. This is over $90 worth of Anthropos merchandise plus your place on our infamous (i.e. more than famous!) shirt.
Pledge $99 or more Pledge $99 or more
CHARACTER PACK - All of the above, plus you and an Early Dark character you design will be featured in the rulebook or a forthcoming supplement. You get the digital copy, the two signed hardcopies, the T-shirt with your hometown on it, and now a place in the Early Dark world of your very own. All of the examples we use in the book to explain rules or showcase our setting are taken from real gamers: our friends, players, and playtesters. Why not join them inside these hallowed pages? Your persona and the hero you design will introduce readers to our world and help people learn the game.
Pledge $139 or more Pledge $139 or more
VILLAIN PACK - Can you believe there's more? Believe it. You get everything in the CHARACTER PACK above except your featured character is a major villain in the continuing Early Dark saga. We are hosting a living campaign that will take place after the events chronicled in the rulebook and involve the entire Early Dark world. Forget a mere cameo in the rulebook; your character is a mover and shaker in the grand narrative. Behold, you are Early Dark canon. Local gaming groups will not only see your character in print but have a chance to engage with him or her through our online portal and later supplements as the events of the campaign unfold. We'll even offer a THIRD hardcopy of the book, just so you can prove to friends near and far how "in like Flynn" you are with Anthropos Games. Check out our website for more information.
Pledge $249 or more Pledge $249 or more
HERO PACK - You have arrived. Here you get a prominent character in the ongoing narrative, a PDF of the completed tome, three signed hardcopies (one for you, one for that special someone, and one for that kid in your group who never gets his own), a T-shirt so infamous it's wanted by the law in 49 states, AND a way to immortalize yourself on said apparel of infamy. Additionally, you become an active part in our inaugural living campaign: We have five central characters that need players. Basically, this is your chance to role-play one of the most powerful cats in the game in a meta-campaign written by us. The decisions you make will ripple through the entire Early Dark world, even affecting those playing at home. Will the king of Lokod raise an army to invade a neighbor? Will a Neferatha prince seek out the missing Anu Empress for his own gain? You get unequaled control over major events of the Hara Sea. Check out our website for more information on how you can single-mindedly shape the Early Dark political sphere.
Pledge $399 or more Pledge $399 or more
BEHIND THE SCENES PACK - This is an added bonus for those who really feel committed to the project. Or, you could just do the math and realize that you're getting a sweet deal. Here it is: A weekend of glamor in Austin, TX, with the creators of Early Dark. If you can find your own way to the live music capital of the world, we'll help you party like a jolly ol' tourist should. You'll receive a guest bedroom in a luxurious condo just south of the lake for two nights. A rooftop patio gives you a crystal view of the downtown skyline. Sit in on a class at the University of Texas. Enjoy the balmy climate on outdoor adventures. Take part in a creator-run Early Dark campaign. Or just run amok along 6th St., where bars debatably more infamous than our T-shirt await.
Project By
Has not connected their Facebook account.
Calvin is a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin who studies (in addition to more traditional anthropological things) virtual worlds and gamer culture, critical theory, cognitive science, and affect.
Good to know I am simply out of the loop. If I had a group that was local I would still offer to playtest if you need it.
Yeah, we have been communicating more on Facebook. I'm formatting Chapter 8 (the Bestiary) and finalizing Chapter 2 (the history). Been some setbacks, but things are looking good. The Forum has been silent lately; maybe we should offer some T-shirts or posters for some mini-campaigns or mini-quests. Trying to focus on finishing the book itself at the moment.
Is there any progress at all on this game? Two months without a word and even the forum seems abandoned.
Thanks for the update, Calvin. Getting excited to see some final products...
Any updates? Things have gone a little quiet.
Ok, works for me now but I couldn't get in before for some odd reason. Posted my name used here in the forums and can't wait to be a part of this.
That link should be working. At first you will see only one or two threads. If you leave a message on the Welcome board, we can switch you to have "Backer" access. Send me a personal message if things aren't working on your end; so far quite a few people have gotten signed up.
Are these forums live? Maybe I'm just not seeing the link to it. I wouldn't want to miss out by not registering!
Check out www(dot)anthroposgames(dot)com(slash)forum.
We are in the process of putting together the best PDF for distribution that will allow you all to test without requiring us to condense and reformat everything extra times. This would be bigger than a Quickstart but smaller than a draft. Everything will get posted up on the forums eventually, but getting the first chunky document together for the Backers has been a little more difficult than we first anticipated. The testers we've been in contact with for several months have many many files in many forms (but that is way too messy for you all).
Anyway, leave a post on the forum with your kickstarter username, so we can go in manually and change your account settings to open things up.
So how long until those development forums go live? The one mentioned in the basic 2 dollar pack?
Any word on beta testing materials?
Really hope we get full color books out of this, given how wonderful all the artwork is. With the latest update saying that things are going to printers, how soon could we expect the digital copy to be made available?
with the extra cash; aside from full colour (hopefully) what else do you have planned? Personally, I'd love for this to be in Hardcover; the books survive so much better in that format...
Damn, I just missed out. Would love to grab a copy at the $29 level if you're still keen.
N
Oh hush, I had a birthday to recover from. Besides, you don't get the funds for over two weeks. We'll keep every dollar and every step covered right here in Updates.<br>
Kalenmiyan- The digital copies will be out probably just after we send the formatted books to print. That will be a few months off yet. I think we'll tweak around the design a bit for the PDF release to make things easier to read on a screen (not too much, but maybe some things here and there with hyperlinks to the glossary or something).
Raise your hand if you think Calvin and Travis are halfway to Las Vegas now. ;-)
It would be a good stopgap measure until the forums are up. just a suggestion.
So...when do we get to download the digital copy?
Yes google wave is only alive for sure until the end of the year
Matt: Google dropped support for wave a little while ago. If I recall what they said correctly, they're going to phase it out within a year.
Have you thought about using Drop Box? It's a program that allows you to share files with specific users. Free to use and the guys at Evil Hat did this for their beta testing of The Dresden Files.
https://www.dropbox.com/
What about a Google Wave?
GILBERT- Air time would be awesome. Once we get the shorter version of the QuickStart out, maybe we can organize some Actual Plays!
JOSH- We are still setting up the forums. Every time I think they are done, they are not done. We've thought about simply opening up some of the Google Docs we have uploaded, though that might be a little too bold. Either way, we want you guys looking over our shoulders as things progress (for the benefit of both) so we'll have it operational ASAP.
Love it when people manage to get homebrew games out onto the market, can't wait to get my hardcopy of the book.
Welp, consider yourselves backed.
I just made my pledge, how am I going to get access to the Dev forums? Sorry, I'm kind of new to this.
Fantastic! can't wait to play-test this with our group :D
got BF to sign up & donate too ;)
Just bought the hard copy pack. Dead-set on throwing this at anyone I know who is into fantasy tabletop games. Seeing inspiring, original content come in recent years offers a great deal of hope towards traditional gaming. What your team has done is outstanding. I'll be rocking on my heels, impatient to get my hands on this book.
This looks great! Can't wait.
I'm in at the $29 level. My gaming group and I podcast our sessions and do play testing for several different companies. If you'd like some air time on the podcast or are still in need of some play testing, let me know!
Calvin: Someone has been playing Bioshock! =D
Chad: Thank you kindly!
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ILR: Right now the dev forums are the playtesting forums, and I have to do a little privacy work for the current testers before we open those up to the Kickstarter Backers. Really, that means getting in touch with each of them and asking "Hey, can we make this public?" which shouldn't be too big of a problem. Still, it just seems responsible. Everything should be opened up with a few more Updates before Gen Con next weekend. Thanks!
Okay, I threw my $30 into the ring. The mechanics sound cool and the character sheet is gorgeous. I'm weak in the graphical realm.
May I get the dev forum access now?
This looks intriguing. I've signed on.
I've also posted a link to the kickstarter on a forum. Hopefully that'll drive more traffic.
Megan: I sent you an e-mail last night; hope you got it.
Ethan: We'll be playtesting up in to September or October while we work on formatting and settle on which printer offers the best deal and things. We're preparing a new wave of edits for our testers, so now is a good time to jump on board if you want to start playing with your pals right away (if you pledge enough for a PDF or hardcopy, I'd be fine sending you the stuff, of course there is a non-disclosure agreement to sign and some legal things). Just send me a message with your info and any questions.
I'm confused...on the website it talks about play-testers. It gives info on NPC's and stuff...so if i pledge enough to get a hardcover copy (I'm considering the 99$ pack) could I possibly play-test?
This game looks awesome! I love the setting & leveling process & the DH loves the mechanics (or what we know if it). How do we gain access the dev forums?
Thanks for that Chris, after reading the convo, we obviously need some more mechanic specific stuff on here for the interested. We will work on getting some more technical stuff on here asap.
RPG.net thread on the game: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php…
If at all possible - I'd love to meet up with you at GenCon and pick your brain a bit. Also, I started a thread on RPG.net to discuss Early Dark (handle: Praetorian). There is a community over there that gets excited about games like this -- if you guys have the time/wherewithall to drop by and discuss the partculars, you might gain a couple extra pledges.
I'll be at GenCon, but we won't have a booth. We've talked about some unofficial gaming. Again, more info soon.
Chris: you can participate from anywhere. I'll put up a video update if I can get to a computer tonight with more info.
Mike: we can ship anywhere. No problem.
Question: do the things that offer free shipping offer it to Canada (and elsewhere, too, but Canada's the pertinent one for me :p)
Two questions...
You guys going to GenCon, by chance?
Also, I live overseas - if I invested in the Hero Pack how would I be able to contribute?
Shoot, if we could make a video game, we could do alot of different things, I've got allll kinds of crazy ideas for that, BUT with the table-top genre its kinda harder, you must create a mechanic that is easily remembered and that still works qualitatively. If you know someone who wants to use our setting/concept art to make a video game, please let us know :)
Thanks for all the support guys!
I also find it mesmorizing.
Just wondering - Have you thought about a video game?
Also is this for the educational market?
It appears you might take it in different directions
you guys rule.....the montage is hypnotic. Can't wait to see the final product. Keep up the great work!