A dying monarch...a star quarterback...the CEO of a dot-com empire... 

Serpent's Tooth is a tabletop game where you and your friends create a story about a King in the twilight of his rule. One of you plays the King, who wields vast power over the Kingdom. The rest of you play members of the King's court. Each with their own hidden nature, and each with the ability to seize the King's power for their own. Through play you discover the fate of the King, the Kingdom, and what power does to the powerful.

My Work

I have 6 years of publishing experience as art director of Bicycle Records, and a member of the Art Kitchen. Serpent's Tooth has been featured on Giant Fire Breathing Robot, and Game Chef. Another of my games, Suspended Animation, was featured on Narrativiste.eu.

I will be assisted in the editing by Terri Cohlene, former editor and art director for Illumination Arts publishing (and also my mom :)

Development and Production

The alpha draft of Serpent's Tooth was written and play tested last year for the 2011 Game Chef competition.  Since then the game has been through two additional rounds of playtesting and revisions including a public beta which ran from march-may of this year.

The book is laid out and awaiting the final text which will be complete in early June. I have sourced out and priced all of the components of the Boxed set and have a couple of options for the print run of books depending on how large the run is going to be. 

My goal is to have everything laid out and ready for press at the end of June, and to have all of the rewards assembled and shipped out the first week of august.  

What is a Story Game?

video:Jay Loomis additional footage: Seth Vincent, Brian Fullerton

Rewards

The Book

The book will be approximately 70 pages, black + white with a color cover. It will include a pdf wilth all of the print materials needed for play.

"Regal Edition" Boxed Set

Here is what you get...

• The Box - 9.5 x 6.5 x 2in, full color, wrapped 18pt card-stock
• 14 Tarot Sized Cards (10 Nature Cards and 4 player aides.)
• 5 Bone "Serpent's Teeth"
• Pad of Kingdom Surveys
• 7 King Sheets printed on cardstock
• Bag for holding the Teeth and Cards

Available Artwork

The art is all 8 1/2 x 11 pen and ink drawings signed by the artist. It will be delivered rolled up in a mailing tube. Email your top 3 picks to ross@heartofthedeernicorn.com when you take this choice. I will cross these off as they get taken.

• The Monarch
• The Amazon King
• The Super Hero
• The Green Man
• The Homecoming King
• Artificial Life
• The Dungeon Master
• Decay
• The Fates

Stretch Goals

$2,500 Fortify the Castle - at this level I can afford even sturdier 24pt card-stock for the Regal Edition Box. 

$4,500 11th Nature - So we've got this extra nature illustration lying around. If we reach this goal, we'll include it in the game and let backer's vote on it's name.

$6,000 Extra King - At this level, Backers will vote on one of 3 additional Kings for development and inclusion in the game. 

• The Taco King (manager at a fast food restaurant)
• The Star Lord (emperor of a galactic empire)
• The Guru (loving religious cult-leader)

$8,500 All the Kings! - At this level, we'll develop the 2nd and 3rd place runners up for inclusion in the game as well.

$10,000 Kick it to Olympia - At this level I'll set aside $500 to help fund  Kickstarter projects by local designers. 

$12,000 Website + Poster- If this many people are interested, I will build and maintain a full featured website, just for Serpent's Tooth. The site will host a forum, tutorial,  as well as tools for sharing your Kings with the Serpent's Tooth community. 

In addition, all backers at the $20 level and above will receive a Serpent's Tooth poster of their choice of King.