Dungeon Crusade - Book I: Genesis of Evil

Tower Attack reveal video, New loot, and new monster background art!
over 7 years ago – Mon, Jan 16, 2017 at 11:22:54 PM

Hello all fellow Crusaders of Avalon! :) Rodger here I hope everyone is doing great this weekend, and enjoying any games you might be playing. It's great to have you here checking out our weekly update. :)

I have to say, I was completely unaware of what was going on over at Board Game Geek! I guess Dungeon Crusade has about 9 different nominations under some different categories! It's something like 20 of the most anticipated games of 2017. I just recently found out about this! Here is something I found for you to take a look it. I copied it off the BGG site to you show you...

 So if you like, here is the link for it if you would like to cast a vote! :) >>> https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/217265/item/5036431#item5036431

And to the people who did and got the game on there, I would like to say a huge THANK YOU! :) But to me, it's just totally cool to be recognized with all of those other awesome game. 

So on with this update! First thing I think people will like to hear...

I WILL BE CREATING THE TOMB OF KALADAR DUNGEON BOARD:

I posted this a few days ago in the comments section, so I'm officially posting it here for everyone.....

I wanted to speak to Shaun before saying this, and get his input on this. He agreed with this, and was 100% onboard with it.  

So my Origins prototype board. I know alot of people liked that very much, and as I said and promised we are doing that grungy, ultra detailed, dirty type of design for the Tomb of Kaladar.  

So here is the deal...I will be personally creating the Tomb of Kaladar. Here is how it's going to go down...  

I'm providing Shaun with all of the assets (pieces I used to make my prototype Origins board). He is going to recreate them in 300 dpi, (this is needed for the printing process), and send them to me with the tiles of course I used, and I will be crafting this myself. I have SO MANY ideas I want to do with this for the story I wrote behind this dungeon. This will be the only dungeon that has deadly traps on it, and I created a very new and innovative way that traps will pop up in the game. It will be random every game.  

So what to expect is my grungy, dirty, blood splattered, ultra detailed dungeon, 3D chamber walls and dungeon walls with some new quadrants for this dungeon, such as Kaladars laboratory, torture chamber and many other fun places! :) I will assure you it will truly capture my prototype dungeon, and I will use every bit of my creativity and imagination to make this truly memorable and awesome for us to play on. :)  

And another big plus to this is it will take a workload off Shaun, so this game will get done even quicker. When I'm done with my layout, I'll send it to him for final lighting and shadow work. I'm getting the rough sketch done for Castle Blackwood now, so when I submit that to him, he will be working on that dungeon while I do the Tomb of Kaladar. I am beyond excited to do this, and can't hardly wait to get started. 

I truly believe I will be able to get this done fairly quick with how I work on dungeons. I will also share with you in the updates pics on how its progressing, so you can see it being built!

TOWER ATTACK REVEAL VIDEO:

So I shared the following lines on You Tube with the Tower Attack reveal video,  and I'd like to share them here as well. 

So here is a pretty exciting reveal I believe for you. In this video, we are going to reveal the 1st of 4 games for the House of Chance in Dungeon Crusade. The game Tower Attack! In the villages of Avalon, I created a building called the House of Chance.

What heroes can do is go into the House of Chance on Celebration Day to bet & win gold and play games of luck, dice pushing, strategy & tactics and a card based game. With these mini games, heroes have a chance to win very big, or lose the gold they have.

Sometimes the heroes will be very low on gold, and must risk the little they have in an attempt to gain more for the necessities they need such as healing potions, torches, weapons, armor and the various services around the village before descending back into the dungeon.

The final version of Tower Attack! you will see was recreated under the incredible talent and creative mind of Damien Mammoliti. I told Damien what I envision for these games is a look and style reminiscent of board games of the late 70's and early 80's.

We sent pictures back and forth for a bit, but he was right in the zone all the way. He absolutely nailed it with Tower Attack. All of the House of Chance games he is creating will have this very retro, awesome vibe to them. So enjoy the reveal of the Tower Attack and a little more information about Dungeon Crusade! 

CLICK LINK TO WATCH VIDEO!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeGJOlPVnnY

And here is the final Tower Attack board! Please note, the Dungeon Crusade logo will NOT be on the final version. That was just placed on it here as sort of a watermark...

Major KUDOS to Damien for this outstanding job! :) This way exceeded my expectations.

DUNGEON U. I. BOARD

So I have been meaning to show this off for awhile. Understand this is just my prototype dungeon u. i. board, as this is going to be recreated for the final game. 

But if you remember, alot of the things you will see on here were at the bottom of my Origins dungeon board. 

As a side note, All of the dungeons you will receive with Dungeon Crusade are going to be 36x24 inches, but the board will be made up of 6 12x12 inch thick tiles. So you will place the 6 tiles together to form the dungeon board. I suggested this to the game company and they seem to agree this is the way to go. 

So here is the dungeon u. i. board I created. Now when this goes to the artist for recreating it, some things might get shifted around. I will be using this board in the new playthrough video....

SOME FINAL LOOT FOR DUNGEON CRUSADE:

So another awesome job goes to Shaun on this incredible loot he has been creating! When I went into the folder to pick through all of the loot he has created thus far to put some loot cards together to show you, I didn't know what to show! It all looked so epic awesome. 

I listed them below from common (white), uncommon (green), rare (blue), epic (purple) and orange (legendary). As you probably know, they get more powerful and they go up....

 I was speaking to Shaun a few days ago and he believes he has a little more than 50% of it done. So we are well on the way to finishing up the final loot for the game. 

And seriously, when i was going through the folder for everything he has created, it all just looks so lush & awesome! I'm going to have to do a video when all of it is completed and show every piece of loot loot. 203 pieces mind you! :) 

If you can make it sometime, check out Shaun's Twitch stream on Friday afternoon's from 4pm-6pm. Stop in there sometime and say HI! and check out what he is making for the game. Here is the link for you >>> https://www.twitch.tv/shmaba

THE NEW BACKGROUNDS FOR THE MONSTER CARDS:

So here is yet another awesome thing for us! Tom has gotten the new backgrounds done for the monster cards! They look epic awesome! 

And if you remember, I have said I have always wanted dungeon backgrounds on the monster cards. Even in my prototype game, those were on the cards. I just felt it was very unique looking, more immersive for sure and it was nice eye candy to boot. 

So checkout the remake of a few monster cards with the 3 new backgrounds, plus the origin story for the Ancient Horror. Also notice the text on these cards. There were a few people that made mention that the text was getting a little too close for comfort to the frame of the card. That issue has been resolved, and from here on out, that will no longer be an issue. :) Thank you for pointing this out! :) 

And here are the monster cards with the new backgrounds.....

Something also I would like to say about these backgrounds that Tom created. These could not have been more perfect, and what I had envisioned for Dungeon Crusade. I truly think these backgrounds have a very retro and awesome look to them, and truly fits these cards perfectly. Especially that skeleton warrior above with that dungeon door to the left. EXACTLY what I envisioned for the monster cards for Dungeon Crusade! KUDOS to Tom! :)  

So closing out this section, I thought I'd share one of those behind the scenes with you. After seeing these backgrounds, I wanted a 4th and final one. I wanted this one to be a classic dungeon look. Alot of gray, a dungeon door, torches and a old, chipped up pillar. So Tom is creating this 4th and final background.

LOL, please be kind on my VERY rough sketch! Don't laugh at my deformed monster art! ;) But I thought you would like to check this out, and then the final piece when Tom is finished with it....

So Tom then sketched out a much better idea of what this background will look like...

So I post these little things for you guys, because I always love seeing things like this, and hope you enjoy it as well! I believe this background will be done by next update and of course be sharing it with you.

I wanted to show you the Ancient Horror (elite) now after the text was corrected and aligned much better. Last update the text on this card was very close to the edge of the frame. 

 IN CLOSING:

I hope you guys enjoyed this update and found it fun and has you looking even more forward to the game. Everyone is still on task with what their working on and we are really moving at a great pace I believe. 

I think with myself and Shaun creating these dungeons, it will pickup the pace quite a bit. Again, I'm really looking forward to designing the Tomb of Kaladar for us! I want to get my tasks done so i can get on with designing it.  

Hopefully Jesse and the rest of the gang at Cornerstone Creative Studios will have some new monsters for us to check out, and hopefully put them on this last background Tom is creating. Oh, and if I heard right Damien is working on Skull Jack now. So that will be the next house of chance game we will be seeing. I will be doing a live playthough of that for you. 

OK guys, I'll be in the update comment section as usual to chat a bit with you, and the regular comment section. I felt so bad! Just being so busy I haven't checked over there in awhile, and then saw all the comments people were leaving there! Very sorry about that! I'll make it a point to check over there more.

Have a great day everyone and talk to you soon...take care...Rodger :) 

The level 4 champions emerge! Final affliction cards! Mining card! And...junk?
over 7 years ago – Mon, Jan 09, 2017 at 11:12:36 PM

 WATCH THIS FIRST! >>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvXZN_eZczA&t=9s

Now see! LOL, that's how to start an update off with a bang! :) 

Hey everyone, Rodger here and I hope you all of you are doing great and enjoying our first week into 2017! I got ALOT accomplished this week for the game. The loot in the game is 100% nailed down, and all of the special abilities for the first 6 heroes, as in all the level 1,2 and 3 variations is complete. They came out REALLY good and I'm very happy with them. 

So let's get to what I would like to show you. Here is the legend we always put up for some people unsure about the warfare types on the monster cards....

DEBUT OF THE LEVEL 4 CHAMPIONS:

So yes! Finally the debut of the level 4 champions. As you may know, these are the massive heavy hitters of the dungeon, only bested slightly by the high level guardians of Dungeon Crusade. 

Here is a little promo poster from the one in the video above...an Ancient Horror!

 So let me tell you something about how I came up with this certain monster.

A few things inspired me for envisioning this monster for the game. The Ring Wraiths from Lord of the Rings, (love that movie), and the Black Sabbath album cover Mob Rules from 1981. I'm a guitarist, and grew up listening to Black Sabbath, and I always thought that album cover was creepy/cool, and a great album to boot! So many things have influenced me in creating Dungeon Crusade in some way, shape or form.

And major KUDOS and outstanding work to Mr. awesome, Freddy Lopez Lopez for creating this absolutely incredible monster for the game. His imagination & creativity is just off the charts. And of course Jesse Hansen of Cornerstone Creative Studios who brings it all together.

And finally here is it's monster card.....

 
And while on the subject of level 4 monsters, here is another one provided to me from Cornerstone Creative Studios, and yet again, Freddy Lopez working his magic again!
Meet the Crypt Fiend, and then run from it! :) 

 And I have to say about Freddy. The guy is like a Jedi master in the art world. When I created the design doc for this, I had this image of this bizarre, disgusting creature in mind. So I put some skeleton of a creature, then started drawing on it what I wanted it to look like, then supplied some pics of different things. LOL, some how, Freddy made sense of all of that, and injected his own creativity & imagination into it and this was the final result. 

And here is it's monster card....take a look at not one, but two special abilities this Crypt Fiend possesses....and they hit one right after another...

  Possible dual afflictions baby! LOL! This game isn't playing around guys. When a hero encounters a level 4 champion, especially an elite one in one of the chambers, you will remember it. But fear not valiant heroes! I created some awesome level 3 special abilities for the heroes. So if your heroes are geared up with some legendary gear and weapons, and have some damage dealing special abilities, you stand a awesome chance at slaying all of the level 4 creatures.

But if you go in unprepared..well...your heroes can always evade out of the chamber right? ;)  

I'll try to post the normal versions of these guys next update so you can see the origin stories I wrote for them.  

THE DEBUT OF THE MINIONS:

So as promised from last week, here is the first time we are seeing a minion monster card. First we'll post the origins story poster, followed by the monster card....

 And now her monster card.....

 And remember, minions are represented by a miniature. They start out as vagrant minions that traverse randomly around the dungeon with the patrol route system. You will never know where minions will go next. If they convert to a raiding minion by a roll of what raid die is being used, they head out of the dungeon to raid the village, thus raising the terror level track in the village. 

Quite simply what the raid die is there is 6 difficulties tied to the D20, D12, D10, D8, D6 and D4. On the easiest difficulty you roll a D20 at the start of a minions turn. If 20 is rolled, they convert into a raiding minion. So that would be a fairly relaxing and easy game to play

 If you want a very challenging game play with a D8 raid die, meaning if 8 is rolled, the minion will convert into a raiding minion. And for you most valiant and masochist gamer's out there, play the hardest insane difficulty of using a D4 for the raid die. On a result of 4, a minion converts.  Load up the dungeon with 16 minions and see how long before the minions burn that village down! :) 

Plus something I never told you guys. Inside the encounter deck I created a few cards that when they are drawn minions will reverse on their patrol routes and go in the opposite direction.

So a huge thanks to Cornerstone Creative Studios for getting these monsters out the door for us. Don't worry...the monsters are just getting started..TONS more on the way. 

THE FINAL AFFLICTION CARDS:

As you have seen, heroes can take afflictions from monsters and creatures and events in the dungeon. Afflictions are a negative condition that affects a heroes body, mind, health, well being, vision, thought pattern, etc.

As you may know, Shaun took the task of creating the affliction cards. And freaking WOWSA Johnny Blaze! Take a look at what he created......

 I cut these out so you could see them better......

 He did just an outstanding job on these. I think these truly fit very well with Dungeon Crusade and just give the game more of a unique look.

When we were conversing before he created them, I explained, and showed him pictures of what I envisioned for these. I wanted them to be fairly simple and look very retro. All the rest is his though. Where he came up with some of those images to create is beyond me man! And he made the suggestion we change the Irrational affliction to Raging, and I think it fits much better. So a huge KUDOS to Shaun! 

And in closing out this section, these affliction cards are final. These are the ones that will be in the game. So scratch that one of the list. Another step of getting this game done!

Also, next update i think you need to see some of this incredible loot Shaun is creating. I'm going to out some more loot cards together and let you see what this stuff looks like. I sat in on his stream last Friday evening, and OMG! He recreated one of the legendary weapons, Axe of 1,000 Deaths. That looked crazy as all get out!  I'll most def have that one next update for you guys to check out.

And if you get a chance, check out Shaun's Twitch stream on Friday from 4pm-6pm. Stop in there sometime and say HI! and check out what he is making for the game. Here is the link for you >>>  https://www.twitch.tv/shmaba

THE LOOT HAS BEEN PERFECTED:

This is something I am really excited about, and is working so perfectly. I went through and edited every piece of loot with adjusting gold prices here and there, damage output of weapons, adding enhancements to many weapons, bonuses to attributes on certain gear, etc. This really had to be done after finishing up the heroes special abilities. 

LOL, you'll have to get to know me more, I'm very OCD and quite the perfectionist with like "I MUST HAVE EVERYTHING BALANCED JUST RIGHT!!!!" LOL, it drives me CRAY-Z if the slightest thing is off. So just know, I "feel" everything is solid right now. 

Now I'm going to give you an example of what I'm talking about. I'm going to be using my prototype stuff to show you, so this is not the final art. But the great thing is, when the loot gets put together for the final game, we just look at the prototype cards, and enter in the info and we are good to go...

so take a look and let me explain....

 One more example.....

 So hopefully you see my point with these. I think players will really consider what to purchase at the blacksmith for their heroes.  All of the loot now is like that. And again, the cards shown is from my personal prototype game. This is not going to be in the game...but this kinda stuff below is....

 LOL! Now that;s the good stuff right there! And of course Shaun's awesome creation for you. 

So this leads to to the most awesome loot in the game...something I personally created for each and everyone of you....something that if your heroes find it, you'll treasure it for ever....A gift from me to you...and that is........junk loot.....

 LOL. I truly love this aspect about Dungeon Crusade. You are not guaranteed to get shiny, awesome loot when you kill some monsters my friends. No, there is a chance that monster or creature was carrying a piece of worthless utter junk.

I had the best time creating these unique 20 pieces for the game and to inject my weird sense of humor into it....

Picture it...your heroes just killed a level 4 champion monster...maybe an Ancient Horror...a hero died in the process.....the other 2 heroes are low on health...you roll the D20 for the loot roll...you roll a 20! You get to draw from the loot deck to see what that ancient horror was carrying! You draw, and it was carrying......(drum roll.......)

 LOL...and you guys are going to love it! Because by the same token, you could kill a level 1 minion, pass a loot roll and pull a piece of Fabled Gear, some of the best loot in the game out of the loot deck. Of course the junk loot I showed is just my design, as Shaun will be recreating all of it....to make it look even worse for you ;) 

But let's put all of this loot into perspective of what you are going to get. and this is the final total....
--- 20 pieces of unique junk 

--- 12 pieces of Starting gear (gray) X2 swords, bows, staffs, daggers, scepters, axes-

--- 30 pieces of Common gear (white)

--- 30 pieces of Uncommon gear (green)

--- 30 pieces of Rare gear (blue)

--- 30 pieces of Epic gear (purple)

--- 30 pieces of Legendary gear (orange)

--- 15 pieces of Fabled Gear (gold trim) This is gear that belonged to the characters I created for the story. Very powerful stuff indeed.

--- 6 Underworld Artifacts (black) The most powerful weapons in the game. However they most be powered by lifeforce to use and you risk a heroes life wielding these unholy relics. There is a chance each time using one of these weapons a heroes soul could be consumed. 

So that's a grand total of 203 pieces of loot. 

CHARMS....THEIR SO CHARMING:

Something else I want to touch on about is charms. These can be found in the loot deck of course. I added these into the game awhile ago, and I moved the gold prices on these up once, and I might move them up again...take a look at them. Again, this is just my prototype cards, these are not final art. Shaun of course will be remaking these. 

The rule is a hero can only have one of these at a time. So you can't carry like 3 of them and stack them for a massive boost in the stats department. So don't get to comfortable on those gold prices, these may be going up by just a squeak...we'll see ;) But I thought you would like to take a look at them and see how "charming" they are..........I know, that was just...I know, let's, let's just move on.....it's late.....

THE MINING CARD BACKING REVEAL:

So the artist David Shearer emails me just a day ago, and what does he email me, the backing of our mining cards! :) If you saw the other backings he has done, then you know what were in store for....have a look! 

  

So I really like what he did with this card design. He said excuse that red line around it, that of course won't be there. I think he said he had to touch something up on it, but said it was totally cool to show everyone.  We are going to be doing a huge thing on mining in one of the updates, so you will see how this works for mining and crafting power gems for your weapons and armor.I assure you it's very fun and very easy to learn.  

I think David will be doing the backing of the loot cards next. So maybe within a few weeks we will be seeing that also.  

So in closing I hope you guys liked all of that stuff, and it makes you look forward to the game even more. I'm still so happy how the loot is now, and it makes me even look forward to playing it more now that everything is balanced out, except the small changes that will come to the charms. 

I'm still on task with trying to get Castle Blackwood finished up and over to Shaun, and everyone else is just moving right along with that they are doing. I truly feel we are getting stuff done very quickly.

And Tom will be getting me those new backgrounds for the monster cards here shortly. I should have them next update and will use them on the Ancient Horror and Crypt Fiend normal champion cards with their origin story and you can see how they look.

OK all, I'll stop in tomorrow and see what's going on, and chat it up a bit. Have a great day, and talk to you soon...Rodger :) 

p.s. I wanted to share one last thing with you. If you scroll back up to the junk loot, take a look at the piece of junk that talks about a Beat the Troll club. When you play the Avalon adventure board game, you may have some encounters where the heroes see children playing that game. 

With the power of the internet, and secret research....um... that has, been ....conducted...in a .....um...old abandoned school house, yes, an old abandoned school house,  I actually traveled to Avalon and brought back a rulebook on how to play Beat the Troll. Wow, children there are pretty much off the hook. 

So here you go...enjoy even more about Avalon.

HAPPY 2017 FELLOW CRUSADER'S OF AVALON! :)
over 7 years ago – Mon, Jan 02, 2017 at 04:49:42 PM

A good evening, a good morning or good afternoon to everyone! LOL, not sure when you are seeing this. Rodger here, and WOWSA! 2017 is here?! Where did 2016 go? That was a VERY fast year to me. 

So Happy New Year to everyone. I celebrated last night by working on Dungeon Crusade, playing one of my favorite old school PC games, Eye of the Beholder and a Christmas gift I received last week Zombicide Black Plague with the Wulfsburg expansion and those 3D doors expansion. (Thank you mom! ;) ) 

I have a game in progress going right now in my DC game lab. It is really nice for about 10-15 minute breaks, to go over to that table, play some Zombicide, and come back to working on Dungeon Crusade. I get kind of re-calibrated a bit, then go back to working on DC.

I hope you guys had a great Christmas with your family and friends and enjoyed the holidays. :)

So, onto this update! LOTS of stuff going on for sure. 

FIRST VIEWING OF A GUARDIAN CARD:

So yes! This is the first time we are seeing a guardian card posted in a update. Now, you have seen the Champion monster cards, but this is almost the same, but a little different. 

Let's post that legend for some people who may have not seen it before showing the 6 warfare types....

 OK, so first here is the backing to a guardian card, and if you remember David Shearer did these backings, as well as all of the other card backings in the game...

 And here is the first of 8 guardians, Nafarion....

First off the guardian monster cards are tarot size. 120mm x 70mm. I wanted to have a bigger card to show the monster art off really well since it's a guardian, and enough room in the text area to give them a few different special abilities. 

 So alot to say about this card. First off all, guardians level up in Dungeon Crusade, just like heroes do. However, guardians can obtain level 4, where the heroes can only hit level 3. As guardians go up in level, they will increase in all stats, and their special abilities will change as they level up. Basically there going to get alot tougher and deal more damage. 

LOL, now that ability on Nafarion at level 1, Pounce & Drag Away,  is a little bit OP'ed. Expect to see that on the Level 3 Nafarion card, and a special ability called "Lunge", on it's level 1 card. 

Notice in red it says "on attack." Meaning this is a special ability that will possibly happen when they are on the attack.

 Guardians will also have in blue, "on defense" on their cards. So if your heroes try some tricky tactics for an attack, don't be surprised if Guardians have a defense mechanism to ruin their plans!  

One thing I wanted to do with the guardians is have the guardians split up the heroes. Alot of the special attacks and defense abilities will be ones that break heroes up. I don't want something lame like each turn, their all just standing their, not moving, and just chucking dice while they just stand there! So expect the guardian Banevik to have his ability "Massive Club Swing", where if it activates, it will send the heroes flying back a few steps!  

I put together a breakdown for you guys to check out for explaining the guardians, and what the different things mean on their cards. I think this will do a great job of explaining everything perfectly....

 Also, their background colors will change to denote what level they are. They will match the colored diamond on their card. 

So closing out this section, the 7 other guardians I created are Banevik, Dreadthorn, Horrus, Kilgore, Lord Blackhand, Razorfang and the toughest guardian in the game, Magmus, an evil deity of the underworld. LOL, sounds like a rowdy bunch right! ;)

  A NEW MINION:

And the awesome folks at Cornerstone Creative Studios, who are Jesse Hansen, Joseph Arnold and Freddy Lopez got another minion done. 

Now remember, a minion is a miniature that roams the halls of the dungeon, and can possibly convert to a raiding minion that will head out of the dungeon to raid the village, thus raising the terror level. 

Have a look at a Cultist of Zul.....

 I didn't have time to put the minion card together, next update, you will see how the minion cards look, as we have yet to see one of those. 

There is also a new Champion monster they have provided me with. If you remember, I created this evil religious cult in Avalon called The Faith. So here we have a level 3 Champion monster, Father of the Faith. There is elite and normal champions, here is the elite version for you....

 Take note on the card of the loot roll section. Notice this Father of the Faith has a X2 for the loot roll. So you will have 2 chances of finding loot on him upon slaying him. 

Some monsters are going to have a greater chance of dropping loot then others. Hmmm.....could there be a charm in the loot deck that a hero could carry to give them a better chance on loot rolls? ;)  LOL, I'll say this, I did sprinkle some charms in the loot deck that do different things.

And also Jesse sent me 2 level 4 champions a few days ago awaiting coloring from Freddy. Wait until you see these! These should be done for next update. There is an Ancient Horror, and a Crypt Fiend. As you know I write origin stories for all of the monsters.

When I created the Crypt Fiend, I wanted a very disgusting, vile creature that carried deadly diseases . Some may want to skip reading the origin story for that one...it's pretty sick. LOL, but it will get my point across about this champion monster I assure you! :) 

 BACKGROUNDS FOR MONSTER CARDS:

So if you remember, we discussed dungeon backgrounds for the monster cards. I explained that's what I truly envisioned for Dungeon Crusade. Alot of you guys agreed when i showed the first one, it looked MUCH better than just that plain background, which i really didn't care for at all. 

Well, Tom is on them! Tom's vision of fantasy stuff is truly top notch. As I told you guys a while ago, I love behind the scenes stuff. Whatever that may be. So I have a little behind the scenes stuff here for you. 

Tom provided me with 5 sketches and asked me to pick 3. I hate when he does that!!! Because they all looked great, but we agreed on these 3...have a look...remember, these are just the rough drafts, but I thought you would like to check them out, and see the finished product in a update or 2....

 Now I was very particular about the coloring so it would not interfere with the awesome monster art. These will be on par with that background above on the monster cards. I really dig what Tom created here, and I hope you like this little behind the scenes thing. 

And do remember, Tom is doing the angels for the Blessing deck. So some truly awesome stuff we will be seeing. 

THE VILLAGE BOARD:

I couldn't believe I forgot to post the village board last update!! LOL, I had Christmas on the brain or something. But as you saw in that video, or if you didn't here ya go>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75AcCvkCvQU

Damien did a freaking outstanding job on the recreation of my prototype village board. Have a look...

 And that leads me into something else with Damien...

HOUSE OF CHANCE GAMES:

So as you may know, Damien is recreating all 4 of the House of Chance games. And we have some really awesome stuff in store for these. 

As you may know, there is 4 House of Chance games. Tower Attack, Heroes vs. Monsters, The Adventures of Bravely the Knight and Skull Jack. 

Here is a look of just my prototype design for a few of them...

 I'll post the other 2 next update for you. So here is what I and Damien envision for all of these House of Chance games....

We have been sending pics back and forth for how these will be created, and i think you guys are going to like the sound of this! 

These games are going to have a nostalgia, old board game look to them Ya'know, kinda cheesy, but VERY awesome and retro inspired. When I started telling Damien this, he was right there on track with calling out games all of us love...

Let me share some of the pics that were going back and forth between us, and what to expect the House of Chance games to be in tune with...

 I'm thinking this type of look/style for Heroes vs. Monsters for the image above and below. 

 So I hope you like the sound, and look of that for the House of Chance games. I am REALLY fired up to see those, and use them in the game. I mean, the prototype ones are cool and all, but Damien is going to knock the ball outta the park with his design.

Now, I am going to apologize for this right now. But I don't know what else to do. So please forgive the red and black vibrant contrast below....

OK, many people a have a misconception about the House of Chance games. People think you use all 4 at once. I have explained it so many times! So let me put it this way....

 LOL, sorry for that poster! But I'm about to go stir crazy over here or something! :) 

On celebration day, the heroes can go into the House of Chance and PLAY THE 1 House of Chance game that was randomly decided at the start of the game. The 4 games will be numbered 1-4. Roll 1D4, that's THE ONE GAME that will be in the House of Chance for the duration of the game. 

Now, if you want to house rule it and change THAT ONE GAME FOR ANOTHER ONE GAME between celebration days, that's totally fine.

And I know someone is going to ask, "Can you use all 4 games if you want to?" I say this, you can, but you will break the game in a way. The heroes will be swimming in gold, and will be able to purchase everything in the village and then some! :) So use at your own risk unfair Crusaders of Avalon who are too greedy! ;)

Also, Shaun is still running his Twitch stream on Friday from 4pm-6pm. Stop in there sometime and say HI! and check out what he is making for the game. Here is the link for you >>>  https://www.twitch.tv/shmaba   

In closing, everyone is still on task with what they are working on. I'm very happy to report the updated content for the new playthrough video is almost all completed! I will be using the final hero cards for the playthrough. Here is the knight hero, as he levels up throughout the game....

 Now remember, the backers who got the create a hero package will be giving these heroes names, so they won't be known as "Knight", "Rogue", etc,

OK guys, that's about it for now. I hope you liked that update and hopefully you see there is alot going on. It's such a pleasure to be in 2017 with you guys and to be creating Dungeon Crusade together. We of course still got work to do, but we'll get there. ;)

I will be in the update comments tomorrow if you guys want to stop in and chat a bit. I have to say, I'm really stoked for the House of Chance games. Damien works really fast it seems, so we could expect to see one at least pretty soon. He is recreating Tower Attack first I know.

OK everyone, have a great day and I'll be talking to you soon, take care...Rodger :)

p.s. You only use 1 House of Chance game, per game of Dungeon Crusade.    

Merry Christmas to all Crusaders! The Village board reveal and minis! :)
over 7 years ago – Sat, Dec 24, 2016 at 10:49:32 PM

Hello all! :) Rodger here and a very Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you guys had a great Christmas if you are seeing this after Christmas, and for those of you who are seeing this before Christmas Day, I hope you have a great celebration today. In any regard, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! :)

Here is a little Christmas Card I put together for everyone....

 It was a real pleasure meeting you guys here on kickstarter, and it's a real joy to be creating Dungeon Crusade together for all of us to enjoy. :) 

So this is going to be sort of a short update, but a very cool one. Let's start with this slice of awesomeness.....

VILLAGE BOARD REVEAL:

Damien Mammoliti as you know has created the map of Avalon for Dungeon Crusade. That map will be used for the Avalon adventure board game. After I saw that map, it was just common sense that he had to bring that art style to the Village board of Dungeon Crusade.

He has recreated my village board through his eyes, imagination and creativity and the results are outstanding. I told him that I wanted the buildings to be more cohesive when he redesigns the village. Mine didn't match so well. The video you will see starts with my prototype Village board, then goes right into his recreation. The detail he has put into the Village is just astounding! 

LOL, I told him, this village has to have some dogs in it! I think you guys know my love for dogs. So make sure you check out the town's fountain and see the dog drinking out of the fountain! What a awesome touch to add to the village! :) 

So have a look! >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75AcCvkCvQU

USING MINIATURES WITH DUNGEON CRUSADE:

So my Reaper bones miniatures came in this week! So I made a video on using different miniatures with Dungeon Crusade, In the video I'll show you how I paint mine and some other fun stuff. I REALLY like the collection I put together, and I hope you like it as well.  

Also I explain how to put together the minion groups for any confused by it. Enjoy the video! :) >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ9f623PiyA

Here are a few pics I took with a few of the new miniatures I painted today....

 Here is the list also for you of the Reaper miniatures. I believe i have to add a few on here. So give me a few days to add those in. I think the metal mini for Lord Blackhand and the Cleric hero are not on this list >>>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/106OVX5Sv4-49FC4OUvtfdIdkNDRyahkOHepAKvSYcnk/edit?usp=sharing

And closing out this section, I will add a list of the exact miniatures you saw in the video. I'll call it something like the Crusade Collection or something like that. 

HEROES SPECIAL ABILITY CARD BACKINGS:

Now, I would like your guys input on these cards I put together. In preparing for the new playthrough video, I started creating a cool looking backing for the heroes special ability cards. This design took about only 3 revisions before I thought it looked pretty cool. There is a few things on the card that have to get redone, but I think this looks really good and a clean design.

I would like to hear your guys thought on these backings. What do you think of these?

 So let's discuss these a bit in the update comment section. All of the heroes special ability cards go next to the academy on the village board at the start of the game. When a hero uses "enlightenment", on their turn, they select the special ability they would like, and pay the lifeforce cost on the card to obtain it for that hero to use.

So guys, I hope you liked this Christmas Day update and enjoyed it. I have to check out now and go wrap gifts upstairs. I'll be pretty busy tomorrow but I'll check back in here towards the evening if I can to see what's going on, and discuss some of this with you. 

I hope you guys have a great Christmas Day, and got some good stuff from Santee Claus. ;) There is only 3 things on my XMAS list...
1) The gift of time to work on Dungeon Crusade. 
2) A huge pack of super soft white socks. (Seriously, I want those)
3) Zombicide: Black Plague. I have no idea when I'll get to play it, but I haven't got a new game in forever. So my family said is there any game you want, and that was it. But I love playing/working on Dungeon Crusade!

But I think it would be good to break away here and there for about 10-15 minutes in my gameroom to re-calibrate a bit. Ya'know, setup a game of Zombicide, play a few rounds of that and go back to Dungeon Crusade. We'll see what happens if i get it! :) 

OK guys, I'm off to wrap gifts, have a great day and talk to you soon...Rodger :)  

New monster, new type of background, updated miniature list and BUSY!
over 7 years ago – Sun, Dec 18, 2016 at 11:30:16 PM

Hello all fellow Crusaders of Avalon! :) Rodger here and I hope everyone is doing great today. :) And only 7 days, (actually less now) until Christmas?? This year just flew by. 

This past week was ultra busy for me personally with the game of course, family and the just the Christmas season in general, running around here and there.

Game wise I have been working on the rough draft of the next dungeon you will be seeing which is Castle Blackwood. I am really inspired and fired up for this new board! As I said before, this board will feature an outdoor area around the edges of the board. 

The Siege tile, where the heroes start, and minions escape off the board will be in the almost center of the bottom of the board. There will be a cobblestone pathway overgrown a bit, with gates that have been smashed open.

There will be a graveyard with an underground crypt that leads into the cellars of the castle, watchtowers, a terrace on the side of the castle that leads into the castle itself, a forest area that I have been calling "The Somber Forest", which will have a "Somber Forest (north)" sector and a "Somber Forest (south)" sector. From this outer part of the board, it will move into the cellars and lower levels of the castle, then finally towards the middle of the board it will be the castle itself. 

If you notice, I'm using the word sectors instead of quadrants now. Another time I would like to here you guys sound off on what term you like better. Quadrant or sector for defining that 6x6 area of the dungeon where chambers reside. I'm aware the definition of quadrant, but I just have called it that for years now. It just kind of stuck. So tell me, what term do you like, quadrant or sector? I'm all ears! :) 

NEW PROMO POSTER:

I also put together a new promo poster for Dungeon Crusade. Take a look...I think it looks pretty alright awesome. :) 

NEW MONSTER:

So we do have a new monster this week. Let's put up the legend as we always do to see the 6 different warfare types....

 Do me a favor. When you see this new monster, take a look at a few things for me. First the warfare icons. I noticed some people said they were a little too bright/vibrant. I tweaked them a bit and saved them. I toned down the vibrancy quite a bit of these, so give me your thoughts.

Second, notice the new background on it. It has a dungeon background to it. And that brings me to a point. When I started Dungeon Crusade, I created all of the monsters with a dungeon background on it's card. To me, it's more immersive and thematic seeing a monster in a dungeon location, and it just looks unique for Dungeon Crusade. And notice, it's very subtle, and doesn't interfere with the awesome art. 

I will be completely honest with you...I feel VERY passionate about having this. I think the background we have now is, well...bland. My idea is to have an artist create just 3 more backgrounds, very subtle ones though. Each background would be associated with a level...1, 2, 3 and 4. And again, this goes with my original vision of Dungeon Crusade is all about.  

So we have a level 2 champion monster, a Blackhand Blademaster. There is the promo poster for it, followed by the cards....

 And here is the normal version of a Blackhand Blademaster....

 And the elite version...OUCH!  Take a look at that special ability! :)

 I also want to show you another monster with that background. This is the level 1 champion monster Vampiric Assassin. Take a look, and tell me what you think ....

 So I am eager to hear from you guys and tell me what you think to the old background to these new "subtle" (key word) dungeon backgrounds. 

Closing out this section I was speaking to Jess from Cornerstone Creative Studios about the monsters, and he sent me a picture of many monsters awaiting coloring by Freddy. So in the near future we will be seeing much more monsters within the updates. There is a few of them that is really going to knock your socks off! I believe I caught a glimpse of the level 4 champion monster "Death Knight" and that thing looked insane! 

PRINT COMPANY FOR DUNGEON CRUSADE:

So the big announcement is here. I met some of the most awesome people awhile ago, as awesome as you guys are. ;) For the past months, myself and the truly incredible team at DoFine Games having been working everything out for Dungeon Crusade. But something just as important as printing the game is we are really great friends over this whole thing. I have gotten to know some of them very well, and we have talked about everything from Dungeon Crusade to our families and learned about each others cultures. They're based in Shanghai btw. Bottom line is it's been just another awesome aspect of this journey of doing Dungeon Crusade. 

That's one of the big things about this past week was we were conversing everyday about the contract and working out everything. They are very state of the art, and Dungeon Crusade will be printed on some outstanding materials. Nothing flimsy here! ;) I'm working with 2 awesome production managers right now and it's going perfect.

All Dungeon Crusade games, and any further games produced under Groovus Games Unlimited will be printed under DoFine Games. I'm very honored and proud to be partnered with DoFine Games, and look forward to all of our endeavours with them. :) Truly awesome people who believe in what we are doing with Dungeon Crusade.    

I can tell you as of right now, their engineers have worked out a box size of 297mm x 297mm x 160mm. The 297mm x 297mm is pretty concrete, that won't change at all. However, that 160mm may go down a bit. We will know more in the months to come. 

So closing out this section, I hope you guys like the sound of all of that. It's truly a relief to have that all squared away for us, and know their is a very dedicated, committed and awesome company behind the printing of Dungeon Crusade.:)

I just got some news from one of the production managers, and was able to slip this in. As you know, there are 45 doors that come with Dungeon Crusade. This is the base that the doors will use. They will all be in black....

The great thing is these look very close to the bases I made for the prototype game. Plus they are very compact.

For the cardboard miniatures, here are the bases that will be in the game. The heroes will have gray bases, the minions will have red, green and blue bases and the guardians will have purple bases....

UPDATED MINIATURE LIST:

So you know that Dungeon Crusade is coming packed with retro style cardboard miniatures. As I said before, I truly think that is the best way to play Dungeon Crusade. But people love their miniatures! Nothing wrong with that at all. 

So what I finally did this week was finish out my custom collection of Reaper minis to use for the new playthrough video. Here is the list I put together over the summer for some of the Reaper minis you could use for playing Dungeon Crusade. The great thing about this is you can build a truly custom collection you would like. 

I will be doing a workshop video when the rest of my minis come this week on painting them. LOL, I am no master painter guys! I'm just doing the basic colors to get you going. It is important to color code your minions though. They must be red, blue and green. The list below explains it for you. Also, I did mix in some metal miniatures with the Bones minis. The metal ones were some of the ones I used in the prototype game in case you liked them. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/106OVX5Sv4-49FC4OUvtfdIdkNDRyahkOHepAKvSYcnk/edit?usp=sharing

I would like to do this workshop video as soon as I get the rest of my minis, but with Christmas approaching it may be afterwards. My plan is to hopefully get them early this week, paint them this week and put it out on the update on Christmas. LOL, yes...I will (try) to have an update on Christmas day. ;) But if the plans change, I will post an update the following weekend after Christmas. 

IN CLOSING:

So on my part, I truly have my hands totally full, and loving it. :) Working on Castle Blackwood, still working on the affliction cards, updating stats here and there for the new playthrough, tweaking heroes attributes and warfare values. 

For the new playthrough i should have a final village board from Damien to use for it. I'm just trying to get as much done for the new playthrough as I can. 

As far as the rest of the team members, they are still on task with everything else they are doing. Oh! I almost forgot! There is an update, rather more of a certain content I'm putting in the game...it's just a little, but very cool. 

In the encounter deck there is one card that when you draw it, it has a picture  of a treasure chest. ...

 It's a challenge for a random hero. It will tell you that this hero has discovered a treasure chest and he or she can attempt to pick the lock. Now if you pick the lock, you will find a random amount of gold in it, if you fail picking the lock, you have set off a trap! 

I really like this card alot, so now there will be 4 of these cards, (a little different from each other) in the encounter deck. So your hero will be using their lockpick skills even more now. And in a way, I have to thank DoFine Games for working out a great deal for us to allow extra little content in the game like this! :) 

And as always, try to tune in to Shaun's weekly stream on Twitch Friday's at 4P.M. EST. You can sit in on his Dungeon Crusade creation session, and watch as he creates the loot for Dungeon Crusade. Here is the link to get there >>> https://www.twitch.tv/shmaba

OK guys, I hope you liked this update. The big thing to take away from this is the partnership we have with DoFine Games. They really just helped us out alot, and they are so very excited to be printing Dungeon Crusade! 

I look forward to our pow wow's as usual the following day on these updates. I hope you have a great day, talk to you soon...Rodger :)