Dungeon Crusade - Book I: Genesis of Evil

PART 1 OF UPDATE: All game content is fully finished. Final playtesting commencing, revisions to the rulebook underway, graphic design for the back of the box underway. A complete look at the game inside.
over 5 years ago – Sun, Nov 04, 2018 at 01:06:28 AM

PLEASE NOTE:

I had planned to include EVERYTHING within this update. When I got to the bottom, I received a message saying the maximum length for an update is 60000 characters. So update #92 is part 1 of what I wanted to show you, and update #93 will be part 2 of this mega ultra update. 

Part 2, which will be Update #93 will be dispatched on November 4th, 2018 and will conclude this ultra mega update with the rest of the game content for Dungeon Crusade. 

I hope you enjoy!... Rodger :)

Hello all and good day. :) I hope everyone reading this has been doing great. It is incredibly nice to be here with you for our monthly Dungeon Crusade Kickstarter update. 

This update, in particular, is one of the most special & important updates to me, and hopefully for you also. Here is why...

All of the game content has been completed. It is done. No more creating, developing, editing huge amounts of text, etc. This past month I seriously kicked butt to get all of this finished up for us. As I said in prior updates, September & October was devoted to finishing up the loose ends we had to do, edits to some of the cards/text in the game, touch-ups, etc. It's all finished now. 

It has been a very busy & hectic past few weeks. Dean put the finishing touches on the Cavern of Lost Souls dungeon board and the Tomb of Kaladar dungeon board. From there, I finished up what I had to do on them, and now, all 4 dungeon boards are fully completed. 

Also, all of the final game content and updated game content has been printed out and ready for the final playtesting sessions. That includes all of the quest tokens for all of the quests in the game. I special thanks to Jess for cutting and assembling those tokens. She did an outstanding job on those. :) 


The very last thing I finished up was the expert & heroic difficulty decks of monster cards. The game ships with normal difficulty monsters of course. Each deck consists of 178 cards.

So I had to go through 356 monster cards, (expert & heroic) and adjust all of the values/stats/info to reflect the 2 additional difficulties. It was quite the task, to say the least, but I accomplished it, triple checked it and wrapped up this final piece of game content. 

Speaking very candidly, I can not say enough how relieved, at ease, thrilled, elated and excited I am to say the game content is finished. I genuinely sleep better at nights, I feel rested when I wake up and feel just incredibly better.

I have so much time now that I'm not intensely working on the game content, so I can devote my time to the last few things to wrap up for the game entirely. Which we are getting to. 

I think many people are going to be viewing this update in particular because, in true mega ultra Dungeon Crusade update style, we will be looking at EVERYTHING that comprises Dungeon Crusade. Yeah...everything. Prepare thyself, hero...

So I want to share this here what I said a while ago, and why Dungeon Crusade took so long to bring to completion. For those of you Crusaders who have been with me for the long haul, please bear with me who have seen this. 

I was wearing many hats in this project. These fantastic artists created the art for the game, but pretty much everything else I did. I'm not glowing about it; I'm just saying it was a lot for one person to get completed and this is why the game took longer than expected.

All the 60 unique quests, the 10 scenarios and the 259 pieces of creative writing for the Avalon Adventure board game took me a considerable amount of time to write/create/develop and complete.

Add in everything else, the rules, the encounter cards, the monster origin stories, heroes special abilities, game mechanics, monsters special abilities, creating the layout/blueprint for all 4 dungeons, the blessing deck, creating 193 pieces of unique loot, the secret room deck, the mining and crafting aspect of the game, the treasure chest deck, creating the land of Avalon, creating the 4 House of Chance games, putting together the graphic design for just about everything. I could name more, but you can see, it was a lot to get completed.

On top of this, getting back to everyone in the form of emails, comments, messages, creating these KS updates, the videos I create for everyone, working with the artists, working with the folks at Pledge Manager for address changes for backers, etc. Bottom line, this was just a massive endeavor. But I have learned so much that will be applied toward the next project. There WILL NOT be a delay next time. 

So closing out this section, I never took one day off from working on Dungeon Crusade. Never. I stayed on task, focused, and diligently worked on this to bring it to completion for all of us, and showed you the full evolution of Dungeon Crusade. 

I fully realize just how many people are looking forward to this game and with great expectations. All of us...the Kickstarter platform, myself, the amazing artists, my extended family of backers here and people pledging for the game, we all accomplished something truly innovative, special, fun challenging, highly thematic and immersive with Dungeon Crusade Book I: Genesis of Evil. So let's get the rest of this completed, and get to playing already! 

THE 3 THINGS THAT REMAIN TO COMPLETE FOR DUNGEON CRUSADE:  

- Photoshoot for the graphic design of the back of the game box
- Final playtesting
- Revisions to the rulebook

  So there it is guys, what is left to bring the game to full completion. Let's go over these, so you know exactly what is going on:

Photoshoot for the graphic design of the back of the game box :
I would like to get on this, this weekend coming up. There is a really nice girl I know locally who is an excellent photographer and who is starting a career doing this. She said she would love to do the photoshoot for the back of the box picture. 

I believe we will be shooting the Tomb of Kaladar dungeon board for this, and of course, it will be surrounded with the graphic design I'm envisioning for the back of the box. It will also have some flavor text about the game and all the typical text you would expect to see. 

If you noticed that pretty awesome poster at the top of the update, I created that with of course the awesome art Freddy Lopez created for the game. I have come a long way in my graphic design skills, and I would like to do something like that for the back of the box, of course in a more different and appropriate layout. 

So something like this should go pretty quick. The cover of the box is done as you know as well are the sides of the box design. 

- Final playtesting
I would like to spend a couple of weeks on the final playtesting. It's mostly going over one last time the quests/scenarios and making sure everything lines up right for the setup process and a few other things. Everything else in the game is solid & done. 

But quests & scenarios is a fairly intricate part, or rather the system I devised so we just want to make sure quests tokens are right on the money and quest objectives & setup is a smooth process for people.

- Revisions to the rulebook
This is something I have already started doing a little bit on the side. Now that the game content is fully finished, I can devote a ton of time to this in particular.

When I get the revisions implemented, there are a few people I'm working with who will take a look, make some edits, then as I said you guys will be checking it over and provide any feedback you may have. There is no doubt by doing this; it will make an incredibly well-written and comprehensive rulebook for Dungeon Crusade. 

Keep in mind, like I said I will be creating a video rulebook complete with a table of contents. I have a lot of great ideas on doing something very innovative with this. I'll be shooting this when the game is printing, and I'm encouraging people to watch it before receiving the game.

After watching this, you will have such a great understanding of how to play the game, so when you receive yours, you should be able to start playing right away. There is no denying when you see a game demonstrated, especially by the creator of it, it will go a long way in teaching you the game quite easily. 

Closing out this section, I have been talking to the game company and letting them know how close we are to completion and gathering information for the submission process. A few of the artists said they will be helping me out in getting the content prepared. 

As I have always done, with everything I just talked about I will be sharing with you the whole way in the stages of it and being fully completed. 

And probably the biggest question you may ask, and I do have a solid answer for you...

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE DUNGEON CRUSADE AT OUR HOMES?:
I most certainly think you will see Dungeon Crusade at your homes March of 2019. With the 3 things, we have to finish up, the submission process; then they must send us the proof copy to review, the mass production process, shipping to the fulfillment service, then out to everyone. 

But like I said above, I will be keeping you in the loop throughout all of this, so you know exactly what is going on. 

So, there you have it. Thank you for bearing with me through all of that, and I hope it shows you what it took to create something like Dungeon Crusade. Everything above I just stated is as upfront as I can be with everyone. This was one massive endeavor, and here we are finally at the end of it. 

So now, on with this special update, but first as we always do...

PREVIOUSLY ON DUNGEON CRUSADE:

Here is a link to the last update that was dispatched. So if you're someone new to the Dungeon Crusade universe, or you want to catch up, you may want to backtrack and see all the updates I have dispatched before this one.

 Here is the link for you >> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/357343358/dungeon-crusade-book-i-genesis-of-evil/posts/2302707

AND PLEASE REMEMBER! CHECK THE COMMENTS SECTION!
I want everyone to know that's reading this that if you see a delay in the updates check the comment section. I'm in there almost daily giving everyone updates on what we are doing, what we're up to, what's getting completed, news and just everything Dungeon Crusade.

In any case, I just wanted everyone to know to check the comment section to see what's going on. Plus, if you go scroll through the comment sections history, you'll see a ton of great information I provide for everyone.

And now...

 
And yes my friends. You read that right. We are going to look back and see everything that Dungeon Crusade has to offer. LOL, you may want to plug your cell phones into chargers, as this is going to be a lot. 

But I feel very strongly about doing this for a few reasons. For one, we all have accomplished this and done something very innovative with this game. I'm incredibly proud, happy, excited and content with how the game turned out for all of us. 

And hopefully, I proved with some hard work, an undying passion for fantasy gaming,  dedication, a vivid sense of imagination, a healthy dose of creativity, a truckload of determination, perseverance, focus, a strong will, a positive attitude and most importantly just wanting to do something for fellow gamers and people, this massive task could be accomplished.

I'm not glowing about this, but more explaining this is how I approached this incredibly sincere commitment I made to everyone to get this game done.

Now, if you will...please take a quick step onto the fantasy trolley and let's head to Avalon...I'm always there it seems...it's very nice this time of year... ;) 

 Welcome to the land of Avalon... 
I had to split the map in half so you could see all of it perfectly. If I uploaded the whole map, it would have shrunk it down. 
Western Avalon

 Eastern Avalon

 The full map of Avalon

 
Years ago, I roughly sketched out the land of Avalon and what I envisioned for where Dungeon Crusade would take place. From there I created a digital version of it and passed it off to the incredible Damien Mammoliti to recreate for the game. 

As you can see, Damien did a stunning job on it. He kept all of the locations I created, but of course, injected his own style, creativity, and imagination to it.

I created a story and many different people, heroes, factions, and villains who will show up in the trilogy, with this game being Book I: Genesis of Evil. 

But I wanted to seriously draw people into the land of Avalon and give them a highly thematic and immersive game experience prior to playing Dungeon Crusade. 

So I created the Avalon Adventure board game...

THE AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME

 
This game is played before you play Dungeon Crusade. The objective of the game is to reclaim the three Runes of Eternity to shatter the curse on the dungeon and its doors to gain entry into the dungeon. Any gold or loot the heroes find in Avalon can be used when starting a game of Dungeon Crusade.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish for us with the Avalon Adventure board game is total replayability. In the way I designed/developed this game, you will never see the same game twice. You can also play the Avalon Adventure board game as a standalone game if you wish.

Your heroes will traverse across the 52 regions of Avalon doing micro-adventures, small dungeon delves, exploring crypts, towers, ruins, and tombs, maybe getting into trouble in the villages, helping the village with different things, fight monsters, meet friendly and not so friendly factions, gaining gold, loot, mini-quests, and many other unique situations.

I have written/crafted over 255, (actually 259) different pieces of creative writings just for this game which are events, encounters, challenges, battles, and situations. I was incredibly obsessed, passionate and consumed with this game and went the extra mile to make sure we all had something very fun, thematic, immersive and challenging to enjoy.

There was a past update for this game you could refer to and learn more about it. 
But here are some pics for you to check out of the game. 

If you would like to see a demo of this game, I created a nice video series where I go in depth about the Avalon Adventure board game.  

Here is a link for it >>>  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHuoGWtNACPNypC-WJwlmPHLeP_8AqYM2


THE 4 DUNGEON BOARDS FOR DUNGEON CRUSADE:
I created 4 dungeon boards for Dungeon Crusade. Each dungeon measures 3x2 feet. After I was done with the rough draft of them, or rather blueprint/layout, I passed them off to amazing artists for them to create professionally for the game.

The most stunning Shaun Ellis painted the Ancient Ruins, Castle Blackwood and The Cavern of Lost Souls dungeons, while our friend Damien Mammoliti painted the Tomb of Kaladar dungeon. 

As I said at the top of the update, all of the 4 dungeons are all finalized. Also, you may know I created a trap system for the Tomb of Kaladar. I have now implemented that trap system into all of the dungeons in the game. So before you play, you can select to use the trap system or not. 

Here are the 4 promo posters for you to check out along with some pics of each dungeon. 

ANCIENT RUINS:

 
Here are some close up pics of each dungeon board for you...

ANCIENT RUINS:

The Ancient Ruins is just your classic dungeon board and was based off the prototype one I created way back. After the game is finished and being printed, I have said I would like to take all of the areas and chambers from this dungeon, mix them up, and create the "old school" look from the prototype board and offer it as a free download for people. 

It would use the scenario and quest cards from the real Ancient Ruins dungeon, but all of the areas/chambers would be in new locations with an old school look to it. 

But here are some pics of the Ancient Ruins dungeon board, some tokens and cardboard miniatures...

 
Here is the dungeon board broke down into 3 parts....

 
CASTLE BLACKWOOD:

When I designed the Castle Blackwood dungeon board, I researched castles and learned about the different areas of castles and what comprises castles. 

I then took what I learned and created the layout for Castle Blackwood. Shaun just knocked the ball out of the park with this stellar paint job, creativity and art style!

 

 Here is the dungeon board broke down into 3 parts...

 
THE CAVERN OF LOST SOULS

The Cavern of Lost Souls dungeon board is a pretty unique board. When I designed this one, I wanted to have a partial outdoor area, a cavern, of course, and a hidden dungeon. 

Starting off to the northwest is the desolate village of Briarwood, there's also a swamp area, an area called Dugan's Excavation camp, Darkmoon Logging Camp, the lair of the guardian monster known as Red Widow, a creepy dungeon tucked away in the northeast, a crypt called Crypt of the Betrayer and even more key locations all over this board.

One of the unique things to the Cavern of Lost Souls dungeon board you won't find on any other board is a secret passage with a ladder in Ryen's Sanctuary. This secret passage leads down into the cavern. Both heroes and monsters can use this to move from above ground to underground and vice versa.  

This dungeon board measures 3 x 2 feet like all the others, but this one feels very vast for some reason while playing on it.

Here are a few pics of this dungeon board for you...

 
Here is the dungeon board broke down into 3 parts...

THE TOMB OF KALADAR

When I did the design/blueprint/layout for the Tomb of Kaladar, I poured a ton of creativity & imagination into this dungeon to give all of us a very innovative, thematic, challenging, fun and most certainly deadly dungeon for our heroes to traverse as there are "environmental hazards" throughout this dungeon and of course traps.

I crafted a small story about this dungeon where a quite evil man by the name of Aleister Kaladar resided in the village of Mystvale in Avalon. Aleister practiced in the arts of dark magic and was accused of abducting villagers to use in his wicked experiments.

Aleister was exiled from Mystvale and traveled west to an abandoned tomb which became his new home.

There, he continued to practice in dark magic, summon creatures from beyond, abduct villagers from Mystvale and build many deadly & devious traps for anyone foolish enough to enter into his tomb.

When I was finished with the blueprint of the dungeon, the most incredible Damien Mammoliti created/painted the final dungeon for the game. The ultra detail in this dungeon is totally absurd! 

 
Here is a promo poster with the battlemage hero, Lyrenna Nightweave within the Tomb of Kaladar...

 
Here is the dungeon board broke down into 3 parts...

 
So there is a look at the 4 dungeons for Dungeon Crusade. I'm in the midst of having one final video series where I will be showing you all of the finished dungeon boards for the game and discuss them a bit with you, as well as all of the content within Dungeon Crusade. 

THERE ARE 193 PIECES OF UNIQUE LOOT IN DUNGEON CRUSADE

 
I absolutely love TONS of loot in dungeon crawl games, who doesn't, right? So in creating Dungeon Crusade, I wanted some great and diverse types of loot to equip on our heroes while descending into the dungeons of Avalon. So I created 193 pieces of unique loot.

Here is a small poster where I show you the breakdown...

 
I worked with the amazing artists Shaun Ellis and Kezrek Laczin as they transformed the prototype loot into the final loot for the game, but of course with their awesome art style and creativity. They created the final loot as they envisioned it to look like, and the results are stunning. 

Here are some pics for you to check out some of the loot in Dungeon Crusade...

 
In closing, you can try new builds with your hero(es) and equip them with different types of loot to create the perfect party of heroes with many different & unique combinations.  


THERE ARE 178 MONSTER CARDS IN DUNGEON CRUSADE AND 2 ADDITIONAL DIFFICULTIES OF MONSTER DECKS FOR A TOTAL OF 534 MONSTER CARDS

 
When I set out to create/develop Dungeon Crusade, I wanted to populate the land of Avalon's dungeons, towers, crypts and ruins with a genuinely colossal cast of creatures and monsters for players heroes to do battle with You'll always find new monsters and creatures to do battle with.

I worked with an amazing artist named Joseph Arnold on a few of the monsters. But the majority of the monsters were done by a super close friend of mine and disgustingly talented & creative artists Freddy Lopez. 

I would pass off design docs for what I was envisioning for these monsters, and Freddy would just run with it, inject his own vision, creativity & imagination into the design and the results were fantastic. We seem to have a great chemistry for creating fantasy monsters together. 

But Freddy did something more incredible with his art. He gave Dungeon Crusade a true identity and unique look in both the monsters and heroes in the game. Freddy created all of the heroes in the game also.  

The divisions of monsters in Dungeon Crusade consist of:
- Minions (Level from 1-3)
- Champions (Level from 1-4)
- Guardians (Level from 1-4)

The lowest monsters are of course the minions. This group of monsters ranges from level 1 to 3, and traverse throughout the corridors of the dungeon.

The next division of monsters are the champion monsters. These monsters lurk in the chambers of the dungeon. Champion monsters range in level from 1 to 4 and come in 2 variations. Normal and elites.

Normal champion monsters have the origin stories I wrote for them, while the elite version has deadly special abilities. 

The last group is the guardian monsters of the dungeon. Consider these like the bosses of the game. These deadly foes stalk the corridors of the dungeon attempting to eradicate the heroes. And remember normal difficulty monsters ship with the game. There are expert and heroic versions of these monsters in the form of new monster decks.

For all of the monsters within the game, I wrote origin stories for them. I wanted to further immerse the player in the Dungeon Crusade universe and make it as thematic as I could for them. 

Here are a few pics for you to check out...

There were a few new minions added throughout the project to broaden the scope of monsters in the game. You have to watch these new minions though!, They bring some special abilities with them!  

 
Here are a few screenshots of a few monsters in Dungeon Crusade. This level 1 Massive Viper champion monster is within the Expert difficulty deck. You can tell by the green glow in its name and the 2 skulls in the top right corner. Look out for this one! :O 

 
In closing, I created a few evil factions in the game also. One being, "The Faith" and the other being the Blackhand Army led by the malevolent Lord Blackhand.  

Here is a promo poster and origin story I wrote for a Keeper of the Faith, an evil priest like creature within The Faith faction. 

 
Lastly, here is a poster of the 8 guardians in Dungeon Crusade. Think of these as the bosses. When I created these, I gave them all unique names, created origin stories for all of them, and each one of them has many different special abilities. Watch out, heroes! These guys pack quite a punch! 

 
There is so much more I could show you and tell you about the monsters in dungeon Crusade, but we really must move on in the update. I assure you, you'll be incredibly happy with the quality & quantity of monsters & creatures your heroes will encounter in their adventures around Avalon.

THE ENCOUNTER DECK

There are 83 unique encounters I wrote and created for Dungeon Crusade. During the encounter phase of a turn, you draw an encounter card and see what the heroes or a certain hero have discovered.

Rest assured, there are good things within the encounter deck, but also very bad things! I got very creative and wrote thematically for all of the encounter cards your heroes will experience.

 I worked with a super nice artist named Camron Browne a while back and asked him to create unique images for each encounter I wrote to immerse the player even more into Dungeon Crusade.

The card backing you are seeing was created by the most incredible & awesome David Shearer. David did all of the card backings in the game and wait until you see all of them. They all look stunning. My favorite one is the trap card backing. 

Here are a few more pics of encounter cards for you...

THE ULTIMATE IN RISK & REWARD: THE TREASURE CHEST DECK

 
When I created the 30 treasure chest cards, I wanted it to be the ultimate in risk & reward. I wanted people's heroes in the game to be able to find very powerful artifacts to use, different amounts of gold within chests, and...some bad things.

Besides all of these great things within the treasure chest deck, a hero can find some very nasty assortment of deadly and creative traps they will have to deal with.

Worry not though; there are more good things than bad. ;) But wow...some of the bad things are REALLY bad! Look out! It's all about risk & reward.

I worked with the most incredible Kezrek Laczin on the art for the treasure chest deck. I just gave her some ideas of what I was envisioning, and she just took over and created some truly stunning art for the treasure chest deck with her unique creativity & imagination. Thank you Kez for your help and your friendship throughout this whole project. :)

Here are a few more pics for you...

THE BLESSING DECK

 
The blessing deck is a very cool game mechanic and has some of the most stunning art in the game I believe.

On Celebration Day, the heroes can visit the temple in the village and purchase a blessing. When they return to the dungeon, they are permitted to flip over their blessing card and reveal what they received.

Either it will be despair, meaning nothing good happens, or a valiant & beautiful angel will watch over them and aid them in some way. There are many different types of angels in Dungeon Crusade.

I worked with the incredibly creative & imaginative Freddy Lopez on the creation of the angels for the game. All I asked was, we need beautiful female angels, lightly armored, a stained glass window behind them and some reference on their looks for what they will aid the hero with.

Freddy just took over and created some of the most attractive & beautiful art in the game. Everything looks astounding of course, but the angels just look so radiant. So thank you, Freddy. You have been genuinely a great friend to me, and you didn't kill me for some of my revisions. ;) Seriously, thank you, man. :)

Here are a few more pics of the angels along with some other cards from the blessing deck.

TAVERN TASKS

 This is a very small deck and these are optional quests I created for people's heroes to complete. 

At the start of the game, you randomly pick one and complete it any time you wish. There is no penalty if you choose not to complete these, but will net you some extra gold and possibly some sweet loot.  

I wrote a whole story for Dungeon Crusade with tons of different characters, heroes, villains, factions and of course a ton of monsters. I planned Dungeon Crusade to be a trilogy, with this first game Book I: Genesis of Evil. 

So I took 6 heroes/characters from the story and had them as the quest givers for Tavern Tasks. All of the heroes & characters for the Tavern Tasks cards were created by the vastly talented artist Annika Maar. I just gave her some features and look for these characters, and she took care of the rest. Thank you, Annika, for bringing these characters and heroes to life.

Here are a few more pics for you to check out...

 

The trap system from the Tomb of Kaladar is now implemented into the other 3 dungeon boards.

 The trap deck consists of 17 unique traps, and for these also I got very creative and wrote thematically for all of them. LOL, your heroes better watch out for a few of these! :O YIKES!! Originally, the trap system was exclusive to the Tomb of Kaladar dungeon board. But talking to a few people, and thinking about it, I/we wanted to give the option of playing with traps on all of the dungeon boards. This is of course optional. It's in a way like a selector switch. Either have traps "on" or "off" for your game session.

I envisioned a very retro look for the traps and the trap cards. I worked with the incredibly talented and creative artists Dean Spencer on the creation of all of the trap card images. 

The style of art he used is called "line art," and I seriously fell in love with this retro style of art. Dean created many other things for Dungeon Crusade...the secret room cards, the heroes special ability card layouts, assisted me in implementing the final patrol routes for all of the dungeon boards and a few other things. So thank you, Dean, for everything. :)

Here is a little bit how traps work in Dungeon Crusade...

When you see the whole dungeon board, you'll notice that there are these evil sigils in certain areas of the dungeon. These indicate where trap tokens go.

I wanted something fairly light, so it didn't cover up the dungeon floor too much. I matched the sigil color, to the exact color of the trap token, so they sort of go together.

But what's great about this trap system is from game to game, the traps and the locations change. So you'll never be sure where a certain trap is. Here is a small poster I put together to give you a better idea. Also, here is another unique area of the Tomb of Kaladar.

 

Here are a few more pics for the trap deck...

 
THE VILLAGE BOARD AND ALBUS

 
The Village board and Albus, the heroes fetch hound are 2 fairly innovative pieces of game content in Dungeon Crusade. 

The Village Board:

In creating & developing Dungeon Crusade, I envisioned and wanted a full-blown village for players heroes to visit with many different activities and things to do.

There is a blacksmith in the center of the village that sells gear to the heroes along with creating power gems for them to plug into the sockets of their weapons and armor. More on this in the Mining & Crafting section of this update. A hero can also sell their old gear back to the blacksmith for half the cost rounding down. 

Also in the village is a tavern for the heroes to sleep in to regain their essence. There is also an academy in the southeast area of the village where heroes can gain special abilities. In the southwest area of the village is the temple. A hero can receive a blessing, have afflictions removed and drink from a holy fountain to regain lost health. 

There is also a bazaar in the center of the village that sells various potions for the heroes. Healing potions, Elixirs, Ochre Juice, and torches. 

Probably the most unique building in the village is a place called the House of Chance. This is a gambling hall where on Celebration Day, the heroes may enter in and play one randomly selected House of Chance game in a chance to bet their gold and hopefully win big. The four games are:

- Tower Attack!
- Heroes vs. Monsters
- Skull Jack 
- The Adventures of Bravely the Knight

We are going to discuss this more in a section within this update for the House of Chance games. 

When the heroes complete a certain amount of quests set forth in the scenario being attempted, the heroes head back to the village for Celebration Day. We are also going to touch on Celebration Day further on in this update. 

But you see, while the heroes are in the dungeon completing their quests, they are not permitted to leave the dungeon. Heroes are there to do a job for the villagers. It doesn't look too good to the villagers for heroes running back and forth to the village and doing whatever!     

That's where Albus comes in...the heroes fetchhound. 

While the heroes are in the dungeon, Albus is the link to the village. The heroes can give Albus gold and send him to the village for whatever they need. Gear, potions, a pickaxe, torch, etc. 

Also, Albus can be leveled up to level 3. When Albus levels up, his speed increases, he can carry more gear and more consumables. And no worries. Albus can never be hurt, killed or maimed. Monsters simply ignore Albus.  

Here are a few more pics of Albus in action...

 
CELEBRATION DAY

 
So what the heck is this Celebration Day? 

When the heroes complete a series of quests set forth in the scenario, the heroes head back to the village for Celebration Day. This is where the villagers celebrate the heroes defeating some of the monsters that have been attacking the village and completing quests they have given to the heroes. 

Upon returning to the village, the villagers will present the heroes with one gift. You shuffle the Celebration Day gift deck and draw one at random. You must accept this gift that is drawn, even if it is just a big "Thank You!"  But hopefully, the villagers will be quite generous and give the heroes a much more useful and handsome gift. ;) 

In addition, while the heroes are attending Celebration Day they may level up, purchase new gear or sell their old gear to the blacksmith, receive blessings at the temple, rent a room at the tavern and sleep to recover essence, obtain new special abilities from the academy, be healed at the temple to regain health or be cured of afflictions,  purchase potions & torches from the bazaar.

Also, heroes may enter the House of Chance and gamble their gold in a chance to win more with playing one of four House of Chance games.  In the next section, we'll take a look at the House of Chance games.  

There is much more to show you on the final game content for Dungeon Crusade. I will be right back with part 2 of this update in the form of update #93. Talk to you soon...Rodger :)

Finalized more of the game for total completion, complete details within update. The reveal of the 13 heroes and their backstories. In depth look at the Tomb of Kaladar dungeon.
almost 6 years ago – Mon, Oct 01, 2018 at 12:50:15 AM

Hello all and I hope everyone is doing great! :) Rodger here and it is nice to be here with you for our monthly ritual of with what is going on with Dungeon Crusade, info on total completion of the game, (which is not far off), what we have been up to, what we are working on finalizing, the reveal of the 13 hero backstories created by the backers, when you can expect the game and just a bunch of other stuff. So let's get this party started...

I'm going to do a different format this time in the update. I would like to start this update off with when the game is going to be done and talk fairly candid with you. 

As you know, I always start off updates with what is new, show off new content, etc. The truth is, there is nothing new to show as the game is done. Of course, we have the heroes backstories to show you within this update, and some up close and personal pics of the Tomb of Kaladar dungeon and some info about it, but, as I said in the last update, the game is done. 

But let me post this first, and we'll discuss all of what's going on.

PREVIOUSLY ON DUNGEON CRUSADE:

                   

Here is a link to the last update that was dispatched. So if you're someone new to the Dungeon Crusade universe, or you want to catch up, you may want to backtrack and see all the updates I have dispatched before this one.

This was a great update. It was the reveal of the last piece of game content for Dungeon Crusade, The Avalon Adventure board game. Here is the link for you >>

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/357343358/dungeon-crusade-book-i-genesis-of-evil/posts/2276550

AND PLEASE REMEMBER! CHECK THE COMMENTS SECTION!
I want everyone to know that's reading this that if you see a delay in the updates check the comment section. I'm in there almost daily giving everyone updates on what we are doing, what we're up to, what's getting completed, news and just everything Dungeon Crusade.

In any case, I just wanted everyone to know to check the comment section to see what's going on. Plus, if you go scroll through the comment sections history, you'll see a ton of great information I provide for everyone.

EVERYTHING that is going on with Dungeon Crusade:
OK, so let me start with this. I think there was some confusion from the last update, so I want to go over this in fine detail for everyone. 

YES. DUNGEON CRUSADE THE GAME ITSELF IS DONE:

When I said that, the game itself...monster art, hero art, the 4 dungeons, card backing art, token art, special abilities, hero abilities, the 4 House of Chance games, the dungeon U.I. board, the village board, the Avalon Adventure board game,  the multiple decks of cards, etc. The GAME is done. There is nothing left to create, develop, etc. It is done. 

WHAT WE ARE DOING NOW:
What is going on now, and what September was spent on was tieing up loose ends, (such as working with the 12 backers on their hero's backstories which are within this update), small tweaks to the game, final playtesting, small edits, etc. 

What got completed within September:

- Charlene and I worked with those 12 backers on their stories, so all of them read and looked great. With the size of the hero card, (5 x 4 inches) and the size of the font, we had to do some editing on the stories to get them to fit on the cards. This took some time, but that was one of the only big things that needed to get finished up. It is now done.

- I finalized many of the decks of cards in the game. The treasure chest deck, the blessing deck, tavern task deck, the trap deck, and a few others. 

The only deck Charlene and I have to go over is the champion and guardian monster cards for their origin stories. Some of the origin stories are only a few lines long, while guardians are about 5-7 lines long. So this is something that will get done within an evening. Charlene is coming down this coming week, so we can get these completed and out of the way. 

- The Ancient Ruins and Castle Blackwood dungeon boards have been fully completed. I'm presently finishing up the Cavern of Lost Souls dungeon board. As in putting the treasure chest icons, mining site icons, hide values on the chambers, etc. on the board then this will be fully complete. 

-  A few days ago, I finished up the preliminary patrol routes for the final dungeon board, The Tomb of Kaladar. I then passed it off to the most awesome Dean Spencer for him to implement the footprint patrol routes for the final game.

Dean will be done with this within the next few days; then, it will come back to me so I can put the treasure chest icons, mining site icons, hide values on the chambers, etc. on this board then all 4 dungeon boards will be complete.

- I have been speaking to the equally awesome artist Damien Mammoliti this past week on a few things that we need to finalize for a few things. If you remember, Damien painted the village board, the 4 House of Chance games, the recreation of the map of Avalon based off my prototype map, and of course the Tomb of Kaladar dungeon board. 

Damien had to do a very small edit on one of the chambers on the board, which is done, and there are a few lines of text on the village board and a few values on the Heroes vs. Monsters House of Chance game he needs to edit. So within the next week, that will be taken care of. 

So there you have it. This is everything and some other things that have gotten completed within the month of September. I tell you guys everything, so I wanted you to know I'm/we're on task getting the game wrapped up. 

Besides that, I have to tell you. From that last update...oh wow...there were so many very nice comments, messages, and emails I had to respond to. So besides working on the game, I had to address all of these folks and help them out. It seems as if the Avalon Adventure board game was very well received. LOL, I don't know what it was, but there were just so many things to get back to early in Septemeber. 

What is going on in October:

Entering into the month of October, there isn't much left to do to wrap up the rest of the game. But I would like to touch upon a few things, so you guys are in the loop and know what is going on:

- When Dean sends me the Tomb of Kaladr board, I must add the treasure chest icons, mining site icons, hide values on the chambers, etc. on this board
- As I said above, the few edits of text/values for the village board and the Heroes vs. Monsters House of Chance game. 
- The champion and guardian origin stories Charlene and I will be going over and proofreading this week.
- I must add the final values to the expert and heroic monsters cards for the difficulty decks. 
- There are a few of the heroes special abilities I have been wanting to edit a bit and rephrase. So this will be happening. 
- Some final playtesting of each of the scenarios to make sure the quests/scenarios are solid. 
- The photoshoot for the back of the Dungeon Crusade box. More on this when we get to this point. 

That's it, folks. The game itself is all finished. From this point, I will be making the revisions to the rulebook, and as I have said I will be sharing this with everyone here so you can provide feedback on it, so we can create a very solid & comprehensive rulebook for the game. 

But when we start on the revisions to the rulebook, I will be working with some of the artists who have agreed to help on preparing the game files for the manufacturer. So when the rulebook is complete, the game files will be prepared and ready. 

I have mentioned this quite a few times, but I'll say it again here. The game company told me the game would take anywhere from 30-45 days upon receiving the game files.

But we are taking the time to make sure all of the text, art, etc. is looking good and all in order so when the proof copy is sent out, and we receive it, and go over it everything should be perfect, so there are no delays.

WHEN ARE THE GAME FILES GOING TO BE SUBMITTED?:
I wanted to put this here, as I know people would want to know or will ask. From everything aforementioned, I believe sometime in November this will be happening. I think you know, or see how diligently I'm/we're working on this to get it fully completed. I'm on the game every single day for hours progressing it to completion. I love working on the game, but, this game is done in my eyes. Believe me; I'm right with you. I want this game right now! 

But as I have always done, you will know everything and be informed constantly and kept in the loop of what is going on. LOL, could you really imagine me shutting up? ;) 

But when the files are submitted, I will get us a very close date when you can expect Dungeon Crusade to arrive at your homes. If I had to say now, and just a guesstimate, I would say March - April 2019. 

CLOSING OUT THIS SECTION:

So before we get on with the rest of this update, I want to say a few things. 

If we stand back and look at the big picture of this game, all of us really accomplished something here with Dungeon Crusade. This game to me, really represents something brand new in the fantasy dungeon crawl genre, especially for the soloist board gamer. 

Yes. It took some time to complete. But something like this needed the time to fully develop, and not to do a rush job on it. I fully realize there are so many people with great expectations for this game. I took the time and worked as best as I could to get it completed so we would have something incredibly grand to enjoy. 

I have mentioned this before, but more than ever I want to say this here. I was wearing many hats in this project. These fantastic artists created the art for the game, but pretty much everything else I did. I'm not glowing about it; I'm just saying it was a lot for one person to get completed and this is why the game took longer than expected.

All those 60 unique quests, the 10 scenarios and the 259 pieces of creative writing for the Avalon Adventure board game took a considerable amount of time for me to complete. Add in everything else, the rules, the encounter cards, the monster origin stories, heroes special abilities, game mechanics, monsters special abilities, creating the layout/blueprint for all 4 dungeons, the blessing deck, creating 193 pieces of unique loot, the secret room deck, the mining and crafting aspect of the game, the treasure chest deck, creating the land of Avalon, creating the 4 House of Chance games, putting together the graphic design for just about everything. I could name more, but you can see, it was a lot to get completed.

On top of this, getting back to everyone in the form of emails, comments, messages, creating these KS updates, the videos I create for everyone, working with the artists, working with the folks at Pledge Manager for address changes for backers, etc. Bottom line, this was just a massive endeavor. But I have learned so much that will be applied toward the next project...

- There will be no more delays for the expansion or the next game we do together. More people will be working on different aspects of the game to get the project done more rapidly and efficiently, so you guys are not waiting. 

- Any game brought to Kickstarter from here on out will be fully complete or mostly complete, as in final content. I say mostly complete because as I have said with Groovus Games Unlimited, you guys have a voice in the game that we are all creating. Create a hero is a great example like we did with Dungeon Crusade. We want our backers to help shape and evolve the game. 

- Finally, I would like to say again thank you to everyone here for your time, interest, patience & support with the game. I genuinely believe many first time creators learn so much on there first go around doing a game. And wow...doing something like this juggernaut of a game, I have learned so much in the process. I'm out to prove for the next project we do together, it will be on time or hopefully early. 

- Lastly, if you ever need anything at all, feel free to get a hold of me through email, message me or reach out to me on Facebook. I always want people to know I'm here for whatever they may need. I try to get back to everyone promptly. 

OK, all. I hope everything above sheds some light on what is going on and where we are at. But of course, if you need anything, just let me know. 

On with this most glorious update! 

THE REVEAL OF THE 13 HEROES BACKSTORIES: So here is a small update video with something I had called "create a hero."

When Dungeon Crusade launched on Kickstarter, I had twelve packages called "Create a hero." Twelve lucky backers got to name a hero in Dungeon Crusade, write a backstory for that hero, and their name and backstory would be on the reverse side of the level 1 hero cards in the game.

I made these packages free of charge. I wanted this to be a very pure experience for people and have them help shape the lore of the game with their creativity & imagination.

In this video, I go over a few other key features in Dungeon Crusade to get you more acclimated to the game and show off a few of the heroes for you. 

So feel free to go and check this out, and come back to the update. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHuoGWtNACPOw4436p69eKa70g3EPdjII
 

So like I said way above, Charlene, (our awesome proofreader/editor) and I have been working with the 12 backers and getting their final backstories prepared and making sure everything is reading and looking great. 

As you know, I have been in high gear working on the game for quite a while now. Now that things are calming down a bit, it's nice to really get into these heroes backstories and truly absorb them, and what they bring to Dungeon Crusade.

If we look at the big picture of the game, you know there are 4 dungeons boards based in Avalon, there is the whole land itself with 52 unique regions of course. With the Avalon Adventure board game, you'll genuinely get to know all of these regions. Through the adventure cards and the quests in the game, you'll meet & learn about all of the factions, people, villagers and monsters in the game. There are a ton of monsters in Dungeon Crusade, and all of them have origin stories. There are 193 pieces of unique loot in the game. I can go on and on, but here is my point.

These 12 backers who created the 12 heroes (well there are 13 with Albus, but I created the backstory and lore for him), but these 12 backers genuinely put yet another layer of immersion, lore, and character into Dungeon Crusade with their creativity & imagination. I want to thank them greatly for this.

So my ultimate point is, just wow! ALL of us did something incredible & unique with Dungeon Crusade. After reading all of these final backstories and absorbing them, this game has just evolved and grown even more with these backers have created. 

So have a look at all of them...

 
I wanted to say that I had to scale those hero cards down a bit for these posters. But with a size of 5 x 4 inches, they are very clear to read. 

I came up with that graphic design for the backstories, and I think it compliments the front very nicely. I lowered the opacity of the background just enough so you can still read the backstories very easily and clearly. 

So in closing out this section, I wanted to greatly thank these 12 backers for injecting their creativity & imagination into the game and giving Dungeon Crusade yet another layer of immersion and some terrific lore. Truly awesome job! :) 

A CLOSE UP LOOK AT THE TOMB OF KALADAR DUNGEON BOARD:  

 
So since we are putting the final touches on this dungeon board, I wanted to talk a bit more about it and explain the trap system. I also wanted to get you some very up close & personal pics of some areas of this dungeon. 

When I did the design/blueprint/layout for the Tomb of Kaladar, I poured a ton of creativity & imagination into this dungeon to give all of us a very innovative, thematic, challenging, fun and most certainly deadly dungeon for our heroes to traverse.

I crafted a small story about this dungeon where a quite evil man by the name of Aleister Kaladar resided in the village of Mystvale in Avalon. Aleister practiced in the arts of dark magic and was accused of abducting villagers to use in his wicked experiments.

Aleister was exiled from Mystvale and traveled west to an abandoned tomb which became his new home.

There, he continued to practice in dark magic, summon creatures from beyond, abduct villagers from Mystvale and build many deadly & devious traps for anyone foolish enough to enter into his tomb.

Now, if you checked out those backstories, you'll see the 2 heroes who came in contact with Aleister. ;) Again, another layer of lore and immersion in Dungeon Crusade. 

The Tomb of Kaladar dungeon features a trap system and "environmental hazards" I created just for this dungeon board. Your heroes must tread carefully within this dungeon while trying to complete the quests they have been tasked with.

In creating this dungeon, I made it very intricate with tight passages, hidden areas to the rear of the tomb and many unique areas to explore. It is most certainly the most challenging dungeon in the game.

When I created the prototype dungeon board, I wanted each of the 24 unique areas of this dungeon to tell its own story just by the name of the area. I wanted the player to imagine what types of malevolent acts of wickedness Aleister Kaladar would perform in his residence.

I gave the outstanding artist Damien Mammoliti my prototype dungeon board of the Tomb of Kaldar to him to of course professionally create it for the final game. Not only did he give it that incredible retro look & style we are shooting for, but his attention to detail is just outstanding.

Well, ULTRA detailed to be honest with you. This may be one of the most incredible fantasy dungeon boards I have personally ever seen. Even though I have seen this for months now, I still find something new in it! Just a massive THANK YOU, Damien! I just don't know how you got this dungeon so stunningly detailed. Just wow...

So take a look at just some of the areas of this incredibly immersive & thematic dungeon! 

 
So I hope you enjoyed a small glimpse into the Tomb of Kaladar. And someone asked me earlier, why are there no patrol routes? As I said at the start, Dean is working on implementing the final footprint ones.

While speaking about this dungeon, I worked with the awesome Dean Spencer on the unique art for the trap cards for The Tomb of Kaladar. Check the poster to see some of Dean's outstanding retro line art he created. While looking at the poster, notice the trap card backing that the equally outstanding David Shearer painted.  

 
David created all of the card backings in the game, and he gave another great level of identity to Dungeon Crusade with his unique art style. So thank you, Dean & David. :)

SOME INFO ON THE TRAP SYSTEM FOR THE TOMB OF KALADAR:

When you see the whole dungeon board, you'll notice that there are these evil sigils in certain areas of the dungeon. These indicate where trap tokens go. I wanted something fairly light, so it didn't cover up the dungeon floor too much. I matched the sigil color, to the exact color of the trap token, so they sort of go together. 

But what's great about this trap system is from game to game, the traps and the locations change. So you'll never be sure where a certain trap is. 

Here is a small poster I put together to give you a better idea. Also, here is another unique area of the Tomb of Kaladar.  

 
So there you have a more in-depth look at the Tomb of Kaladar, and I hoped you enjoyed it. 

I was going to say this below, but I'll just say it here. The next KS update, I will have fresh new pics of all 4 fully finished dungeon boards for you to check out. 

IN CLOSING:

Well all, I hope you enjoyed the latest update. It's weird, as what I said at the top of the update is usually here. 

But what I said at the very start is paramount to me. I feel really good that I took the time to lay out everything, so you know, and people know exactly what is going on and where we are at. There isn't much left to do. 

And I must be candid and say to you I'm so genuinely happy this is almost done for all of us. You know I love working on the game, but I know and feel in my heart this game is done as far as I'm concerned. There is just such an abundance of great content in Dungeon Crusade; this game is going to keep you busy for a super long time. 

But that's what I wanted to create for people, and why there is so much. I want people to be surprised everytime they play. Almost like they see something new each time. That is what's so great about these games, and why I believe we all love them so much. 

But as of right now, I want this game done and in your hands already. But please know, I did not rush this to just, "get it done already." I/we took the time and crafted something really innovative, immersive & fun for everyone to enjoy. 

OK, all. I'll be in the update comment section as usual. I hope everyone has a great evening and I'll be talking to you soon...Rodger :)

 

The grand finale for Dungeon Crusade: "The Avalon Adventure Board Game." Dungeon Crusade is now complete. Yes, FINALLY!
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Sep 01, 2018 at 01:00:34 AM

WELCOME CRUSADERS OF AVALON!:

Good evening all! :) Rodger here and I hope everyone is doing great and is ready for a very special Dungeon Crusade Kickstarter update. I'm very glad that you are here. 

First and foremost, Dungeon Crusade is complete. Yes, I can't believe it. But we all did it; it's done. There is nothing left to develop, create, paint, sketch, imagine, etc. The game itself is finished. You have no idea, how happy & elated I am to finally be able to say that. 

Also, I want to say the Avalon Adventure board game did take a few weeks longer to get completed. I wanted to get this update out sooner, but I made sure this game was 100% solid, very creative, immersive, fun and a thematic experience for you to enjoy. I'm incredibly proud & happy how this game turned out. 

Those images above is the opening story I created/wrote for the Avalon Adventure board game. So the Avalon Adventure board game is in a way the grand finale for Dungeon Crusade.

The majority of this update will be dedicated to showing you this quite creative, innovative, thematic, battling, exploring, dungeon delving, choose your own adventure kind of game. LOL, forgive me for such a description. But when that's what it pretty much is. 

I think you are really going to enjoy this game. We revealed it on YouTube just a few days ago, and it seems to have been quite well received. I think you know just how obsessed, passionate and consumed I was with creating it. 

So with the reveal video, a demo of the game, all of the posters for it within this update I think you're in for a real treat learning and experiencing this game.

After we discuss the Avalon Adventure board game, we will be talking about the few things that are left to wrap up the game. It's not much. Just final polish, final playtesting, tieing up some loose ends, then revisions to the rulebook which I will be sharing with you guys here. 

But we will get to all of this. Let's get on with this special update and learn about the Avalon Adventure board game! 

PREVIOUSLY ON DUNGEON CRUSADE:

 Here is a link to the last update that was dispatched. So if you're someone new to the Dungeon Crusade universe, or you want to catch up, you may want to backtrack and see all the updates I have dispatched before this one.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/357343358/dungeon-crusade-book-i-genesis-of-evil/posts/2251531

AND PLEASE REMEMBER! CHECK THE COMMENTS SECTION!

I want everyone to know that's reading this that if you see a delay in the updates check the comment section. I'm in there almost daily giving everyone updates on what we are doing, what we're up to, what's getting completed, news and just everything Dungeon Crusade.  

In any case, I just wanted everyone to know to check the comment section to see what's going on. Plus, if you go scroll through the comment sections history, you'll see a ton of great information I provide for everyone.

THE REVEAL VIDEO OF THE AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME:

So let's start with this. You can do either two things. Go and watch the full reveal video series on the Avalon Adventure board game, or stay here and check out the update first. 

The reveal video series has a run time of about 1 hour and 20 minutes. I went all out on this last reveal video and tried to make it very enjoyable and informative for everyone. You will learn a lot about the game within the video and a small demo of me playing it. 

So take your pick! If you stick around, let's dive into this game and discuss it a bit. 

Here is the link for you >>>  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHuoGWtNACPNypC-WJwlmPHLeP_8AqYM2

WHAT THE HECK IS THIS AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME MR. GROOVUS!?

So let me say first, the Avalon Adventure board game has always been in Dungeon Crusade from the start. You're hearing about it now of course because this is the last piece of game content for Dungeon Crusade. 

This game is played before you play Dungeon Crusade. The objective of the game is to reclaim the three Runes of Eternity to shatter the curse on the dungeon and its doors to gain entry into the dungeon. Any gold or loot the heroes find in Avalon can be used when starting a game of Dungeon Crusade.

OVERVIEW:

One of the things I wanted to accomplish for us with the Avalon Adventure board game is total replayability. In the way I designed/developed this game, you will never see the same game twice. You can also play the Avalon Adventure board game as a standalone game if you wish. 

During playtesting, I took the same path through Avalon on two different games. Each time, the outcomes were completely different from one another. Yes, I entered into the same regions, but what came up on the adventure cards were different, along with the heroes that were randomly chosen, the die rolls, and the good & bad events/encounters/situations/circumstances/battles.

The first thing you will do is select your six heroes from the twelve heroes available. Albus is not used in the Avalon Adventure board game, as the heroes have not met him just yet. However, you may learn where Albus comes from in this game. 

Notice in the poster below the war banner in Hope's Reach. The war banner represents all six heroes and where they currently are in the land of Avalon. Also notice the red, "tracking token". After your heroes have an event/encounter in that region, you will place a red tracking token in that region, meaning the heroes have successfully explored this region.

Notice in the poster below the red tracking tokens and where the heroes have traveled to and where they currently are in Avalon.

Your heroes will traverse across the 52 regions of Avalon doing micro-adventures, small dungeon delves, exploring crypts, towers, ruins, and tombs, maybe getting into trouble in the villages, helping the village with different things, fight monsters, meet friendly and not so friendly factions, gaining gold, loot, mini-quests, and many other unique situations.

I have written/crafted over 255, (actually 259) different pieces of creative writings just for this game which are events, encounters, challenges, battles, and situations. I was incredibly obsessed, passionate and consumed with this game and went the extra mile to make sure we all had something very fun, thematic, immersive and challenging to enjoy.

Here is an example of one of them for you. Our heroes have come across one of the eight guardians in the Dungeon Crusade universe, Razorfang! 

THE 52 ADVENTURE CARDS:

 
When the heroes enter into a region of Avalon, you'll search the deck for the adventure card for that specific region. If it is an unexplored region, you will roll 1D12 and use the result to find that entry on the adventure card. There are many different things that can happen in all of the regions of Avalon, and all of it is unique to each specific region.

 
Here is another shot of the adventure cards for you...

Take a look at the Ancient Ruins adventure card...

THE VARIOUS TREASURE CHESTS OF THE AVALON ADVENTURE GAME:

 
Notice on the side of the game board there are three different tiers of treasure chests which are bronze, silver, and gold.  As the chests go up, there are better rewards within each one. Also, each game the contents of the rewards within the chests will change. So you will never see the same contents of treasure chests from game to game. 

Throughout your heroes journey in Avalon, they will come upon many of these chests. Sometimes within dungeons, ruins, towers, crypts or maybe a someone in a village might give them a treasure chest for a heroic deed or some other service they did. 

I'm going to keep it a secret for right now on what heroes will find within all of these chests, but please know, it scales very appropriately as the chests go up.   

REJUVENATION POTIONS. EXCLUSIVE TO THE AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME:

The rejuvenation potions can only be found within the Avalon Adventure board game. When one of your heroes acquires one of these, they can consume it and instantly recover 3 health and 3 essence. 

These potions can be discovered within the dungeons, ruins, crypts, towers, and villages of Avalon. After playing the Avalon Adventure game, and if your heroes have any additional ones left, they can be carried over into Dungeon Crusade to use. 

INTRODUCING, THE BATTLEBOARDS:

When I was developing the combat system for the Avalon Adventure board game. I wanted to accomplish a few things for us. A few things were to make the combat system easy & fun to use, make the battles fairly quick and not too long & drawn out, make the combat system multifaceted so different dice combinations could be used throughout this game and bring the battles to life so to speak.  
 
The reveal video does an excellent job of showing the combat system in action. But in a nutshell, battles in the Avalon Adventure board game boils down to monsters/creatures having a toughness and a certain amount of life, and using different colored dice for the battles. 

When I mentioned multifaceted, you'll be doing battles a few different ways so combat in this game will always remain fresh and interesting.  

So let's take a look at these Battleboards and discuss them a bit more...

So let me explain how these are used. Your heroes will no doubt be confronting and doing battle with just about all of the monster and creatures that comprise Dungeon Crusade. 

When the heroes are within a region and have an event/encounter that has the word "Battle!" right at the start, you'll be getting the appropriate Battleboard whether it be an outdoor area or indoor area and preparing for combat. 

The adventure cards have all the details and info on how combat will work for this unique encounter, such as the monsters toughness, the monsters health and what dice you will need. 

Let's look at a few battles setup and explain it a little more...

Three of our heroes have encountered (3) Skeletal Grunts residing in a cellar of one of the towers in Avalon. The adventure card tells us these Skeletal Grunts have a toughness of 5 and 2 health. We would place 2 damage markers on the Battleboard by each Skeletal Grunt to remind us of their health. 

Next, the adventure card says we need to give each hero 1D6. Notice how I have these miniatures lined up. Sir Brennus is facing off against the red grunt, Zeek is facing off against the blue grunt while Ennwyn is facing off against the green grunt. So we know, what hero is fighting which Skeletal Grunt and it's very easy to keep track of what's going on.

Finally, the adventure card tells us that each round of combat the heroes must roll their D6 and add their strength to the result. If the result meets or exceeds the Skeletal Grunt's toughness, the hero scores 1 hit! We would then remove 1 damage token. If the result is lower, the Skeletal Grunt hits the hero for 1 damage.

The battle would continue until the heroes vanquish all of the Skeletal Grunts, or the Skeletal Grunts defeat the heroes! LOL, we truly don't want this to happen. 

Here are a few more examples of a few battles set up for you. Just know, there are many interesting & unique battles in the Avalon Adventure board game. 

Some battles can be quite large, and all of the heroes will be fighting! 

However, you can use the Battleboards to make the Avalon Adventure board game a little more immersive. 

In this pic, Pawlom has entered into a secret chamber according to the adventure card. Feel free to use some doors and a Battleboard to bring this small scenario to life! 

 
So there you go, the Battleboards of the Avalon Adventure board game. I genuinely believe you'll love the battle system in this game, and enjoy using the Battleboards for all of the monsters and creatures your heroes will come across on their perilous journey across Avalon. 

THE RUNES OF ETERNITY:

 The objective of the Avalon Adventure board game is for the heroes to recover the three Runes of Eternity to shatter the curse on the dungeon and its doors. The three runes they will need to do this are the green, yellow and red runes. 

Notice that there are 9 runes. On the reverse side of these runes is a question mark and a colored crystal on sets of three of them. The crystals are the same color as the Runes of Eternity. There is a method at the start of each game where the runes are placed randomly in each of the 3 zones, (green, yellow and red). 

Here is a picture for you to refer to. Notice where these runes are placed. Three are in the green zone, three are in the yellow zone, and three are in the red zone. 

Notice the blue runes pictured a few above. When a hero discovers a blue rune, these are set aside. A blue rune can be used at ANY TIME you would like to re-roll a die roll. If a player chooses to do so, the blue rune is taken, one re-roll is made, and the blue rune is placed back in the box. A hero can use another blue rune if the second die roll is not in their favor.  

RECLAIMING THE THREE RUNES OF ETERNITY IN THE AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME:

Once the heroes reclaim the three Runes of Eternity, they must traverse back to Hope's Reach where Father Jova is awaiting their return. At this time, you will open all of the treasure chests the heroes have discovered in Avalon, count the gold they have found and begin to play Dungeon Crusade.

CLOSING OUT THE AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME SECTION:

There is, even more, I can say about this game. There is a Fate Track at the top right-hand corner of the board. If a hero perishes in the land of Avalon, the angel from the story you read will resurrect that hero to continue the fight. 

However, you must place a red token on the Fate Track. If the Fate Track ever reaches the skull at the opposite end, your heroes have lost the game and must be replayed. 

 But I encourage you to watch the reveal video and the demo of the game to learn even more about it. It is a very easy game to learn. Probably about 15-20 minutes. It's not complex at all.  

Also, if you have the Crusader of the Realm edition or the Master of the realm edition of Dungeon Crusade, you will be receiving this game. The base edition, or rather the Knight of the Realm edition does not include the Avalon Adventure board game. 

"OK MR. GROOVUS! DUNGEON CRUSADE IS DONE. NOW WHAT!?"

As I said at the top of the update, Dungeon Crusade is complete. There is nothing left to develop, create, paint, sketch, imagine, etc. The game itself is finished. 

From here on out it is just a matter of polish, final playtesting, tieing up some loose ends and revisions to the rulebook. 

I will be sharing the rulebook here for you guys to look over and provide feedback on it. We will have a much more solid, understandable and comprehensive rulebook with you guys looking at it and offering some suggestions and clearing up some things that may not be that clear. So I would venture to say September will be used for what was aforementioned and get the game ready for the next step.

From there, we will be working on submitting the game files to the game company for the manufacturing side of it. So I would say within the month of October we will be doing this. 

IN CLOSING:

So there you go, guys. This is all that is left for Dungeon Crusade.  There is no more reveals, surprises, etc. Dungeon Crusade is done...FINALLY! 

I want to take the time to say, thank you to EVERYONE who has been on this journey with us. I want you to know I personally will be eternally grateful for believing in me, Dungeon Crusade and these amazing artists to get the job done for you. 

As you have seen over the past few years, I made good on the commitment I made approaching the Kickstarter platform. I constantly kept you in the loop, engaged and brought you along on the whole journey of the evolution of Dungeon Crusade so you could see it happen. 

I don't know how other creators feel, but I'll tell you, you guys who have backed the game and the people who have pledged for this game are some of the most remarkable, kind, patient and incredible group of people I have ever met in my life and I hold each and every one of you in the highest regard and respect you so greatly. 

Not a lot of people get an opportunity like this in life. I vow to you to always be a prolific creator and give you the best of my creativity, imagination, innovativeness, drive, focus, determination, strong will, and passion to work on games with you and do something special in the process where we all in a way work on it together. THAT is what Kickstarter is to me. It's a cooperation to make something together. 

OK, guys, I must hit the hay for a bit for a recharge. I have almost been up for 24 hours straight! LOL, diehard til the end! But I wanted to get this Dungeon Crusade grand finale update out there for you to check out. I have something very special planned for the next update towards the end of the month. I'll keep quiet for now about it. ;) 

I hope you enjoyed this special update and I'll, of course, be in the update comment section later today to see what's going on. Before I go, I thought I'd post a few pics from the past below. So enjoy! 

Have a great day all, talk to you soon...Rodger :) 

The final piece of content for Dungeon Crusade, The Avalon Adventure board game is nearly complete! A look at the normal & elite minions! The few things left to do, and Dungeon Crusade is fully complete.
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 01:05:24 AM

Hello everyone! :) Rodger here and I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying their summer. As always, I'm very glad to be here with you and deliver some awesome news and prepare you for the piece of content for Dungeon Crusade that is nearly complete, and what I have been working on incredibly diligently. The Avalon Adventure board game. 

Also, this may be sort of a quick update only because there are only three more adventure cards left I have to complete for the Avalon Adventure game and want to get back to finishing them up. 

When these are done, I'm putting the content together, creating the reveal video of this game, a demo of this game for you, and rolling out the August update immediately. The whole update will be dedicated just to this game. Also, this is the last piece of content for Dungeon Crusade, and the game is finally done. 

Not to get too ahead of myself, but this Avalon Adventure game is probably the one thing I was very obsessed with, consumed with and over the top passionate about. LOL, if you have seen my comments in the comment section you know, I'm incredibly thrilled to debut this for you guys because I'm very excited for you to play it for yourself and be immersed within this highly thematic and creative experience. 

Please know, I'm not just hyping this for no reason. I believe when you see this game, I think you will agree this is fairly innovative, in a new direction and it's a ton of fun. LOL, well...depending on what happens to your heroes while traversing the land of Avalon. It is quite a dangerous place! 

But within the month of July, this is what I have been hard at work on finishing up for us. When we get to that section in the update, I'll be spilling all the beans for you.

On with the update! :)

PREVIOUSLY ON DUNGEON CRUSADE:

Here is a link to the last update that was dispatched. So if you're someone new to the Dungeon Crusade universe, or you want to catch up, you may want to backtrack and see all the updates I have dispatched before this one.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/357343358/dungeon-crusade-book-i-genesis-of-evil/posts/2226866

AND PLEASE REMEMBER! CHECK THE COMMENTS SECTION!  

I want everyone to know that's reading this that if you see a delay in the updates check the comment section. I'm in there almost daily giving everyone updates on what we are doing, what we're up to, what's getting completed, news and just everything Dungeon Crusade.  

In any case, I just wanted everyone to know to check the comment section to see what's going on. Plus, if you go scroll through the comment sections history, you'll see a ton of great information I provide for everyone.

THERE ARE NORMAL & ELITE MINIONS IN DUNGEON CRUSADE:

So this got put on the backburner showing this to you guys, probably by 4 or 5 months now. But it was implemented a while ago. I was so busy working on the quests, the scenarios, the Avalon Adventure board game, and everything else; this had to wait.

Before we go on, here is a small poster I put together for you, Take a look, and I'll tell you what's going on...

Let's start with this. You may know there are 10 unique minions in the game. There are three minions within each group for a total of 30 minions. So if you go by each group, there is a minion with a red base, one with a blue base and one with a red base.

In case you're wondering, here is a small list of the minions in the game...

* Wraith
* Goblin Footman
* Orc Siegebreaker
* Orc Archer
* Shadow Servant
* Shadow Dweller
* Cultist of Zul
* Blackwood Prowler
* Skeletal Grunt
* Overgrown Black Rock Viper
(As a side note, please expect this total to massively grow with the expansion we have been talking about. Of course way after the game ships.)

As you know, there are normal and elite champion monsters in Dungeon Crusade. Normal versions have their origin stories, while elites have nasty special abilities. 

So WAY before, all minions in the game had special abilities. So during playtesting and overtime, I wanted to have at least one minion that didn't have a special ability and have it just be a straight fight. Plus, I had nowhere to put the small origin story I wrote for each minion in the game. All monsters in the game now have their origin stories. Minions, champions, and guardians of course.  

So when a blue minion spawns into the dungeon, you'll see a silver star on its monster card, just like a normal champion monster. These "blue" minions have their origin story. Plus, it gives the player a break from constantly fighting elite minions all the time. 

So when you see a red or green minion spawn into the dungeon, these are the elite versions. These have a gold star on their monster card, and both have the same special ability. And of course, there are elite champion monsters that have the same gold star. 

In closing out this section, I feel incredibly happy and content with how the minions turned out for the game and help diversify the game even more now. 

Also, when you play the Avalon Adventure board game, you'll notice these minions "might" show up in the regions on their monster card, plus a few other locations. It's just another level of immersion I wanted to weave into the game for everyone. LOL, and please, believe me, I have done a ton of weaving in many different aspects of this game! 

So let's say your heroes travel to Old Orchard Grove in Avalon. This region is the origins of Goblin Footman, so there is a good chance they will show up there.    

Here are a few posters I put together for you on a few of the minions and their cards. Enjoy! :) 

So I hope you enjoyed learning about this and now onto......

THE AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME: THE VERY LAST PIECE OF CONTENT FOR DUNGEON CRUSADE.

First I would like to say I worked with the most awesome Tom Feldmann on the runes for the game pictured above. He is such a nice guy and just super creative. There are a few other things he painted that you will see in the debut of this game. 

If you remember, Tom made those stunning & retro dungeon backgrounds for the monster cards, the heroes special ability icons, and the potions or the game.  

So as I said at the start of the update, this game is something I am so passionate about and very excited for you guys to try out. I honestly believe this is something very innovative that we have not experienced before. 

I have put every ounce of my creativity, imagination and drive into this game. I loved working on everything for Dungeon Crusade, but this game is something truly special to me. I 100% assure you this game is incredibly thematic. Like, absurdly thematic. 

Let me say first; this is what I have been working very diligently since the start of July.  The game board is all finished up, I knocked that out right at the start of the month, and it looks completely awesome! The game board measures 14 x 16 inches, and it is so detailed, colorful and very vibrant. It most definitely has a retro vibe to it. 

In case you don't know about this game, let me get you up to speed. 

The Avalon Adventure board game is played before you play Dungeon Crusade.

Your heroes will travel around the land of Avalon doing micro-adventures, small dungeon delves, exploring crypts, towers, ruins, and tombs, maybe getting into trouble in the villages, helping the village with different things, fight monsters, meet friendly and not so friendly factions, gaining gold, loot, mini-quests, and many other unique situations things. 

I have written/crafted over 250 different pieces of creative writings just for this game which are events, encounters, challenges, and situations. 

Your objective in this game is to recover the 3 magical runes to shatter the curse on the dungeon doors. Every game, these are randomly placed and hidden providing tons of replay value. No two games are ever the same. 

Let me share a few things with you about this game, then discuss how this will be wrapping up very soon. 

One of the things I shared about the game and your heroes may want to watch out for is Scarlet Nightshade. 

PRO CRUSADER TIP #57 FOR TRAVERSING THE LAND OF AVALON: BEWARE OF SCARLET NIGHTSHADE:

Scarlet Nightshade, a poisonous and thorny plant, grows in some regions of Avalon. These commonly grow as thickets in somewhat dark areas. 

Scarlet Nightshade can be quite hazardous to humans, animals, and would-be adventurers who come in contact with it. The leaves of these plants are a dark shade of red with small black veins running through them. The thorns can be anywhere between 2 to 4 inches in length and have a bone-like color to them.  

If punctured by one of these thorns, one can expect a loss of health, essence and possibly other ailments.

So there you go! Be on the lookout for this deadly plant! ;) 

I made a small series of posters a few weekends ago of some of the regions your heroes may end up visiting in Avalon. 

RUINS OF RA'SHAL:

This region as you can tell is set in a desert-like area located in the southeastern corner of Avalon. With every one of the 51 regions, I took my time and crafted these to be very thematic and paint a picture in the player's mind about what is going on and where their heroes are at. 

Also, notice the creature(s) on these posters. Your heroes "might" run into them depending on where they end up in that particular region.  

THE VILE TOWER:

Ahhhh...what a charming place, right? When I wrote/crafted the adventure card for The Vile Tower, the heroes could end up in one of the many floors of the tower. The cellar, the main floor, the 2nd, 3rd or the 4th floor. And there 'could' be an Elder Priest lurking around one of the floors.

So each floor of the tower something, of course, unique will happen. LOL, no spoilers! But, try to keep your heroes out of the cellar!!! ;)

CASTLE BLACKWOOD:

There are 4 dungeon boards for Dungeon Crusade. The Ancient Ruins, the Cavern of Lost Souls, the Tomb of Kaladar and Castle Blackwood. So these dungeons are in the Avalon Adventure board game, or instead regions the heroes will explore. 

When I wrote/crafted the adventure cards for these areas, I drew a lot of inspiration from these dungeons, and a lot of the areas in the dungeons will show up on the adventure cards. 

For example, Castle Blackwood has a throne room, a king and queen's burial chambers, an eastern & western watchtower, a royal graveyard, an undercroft, a larder, an oratory, the Somber Forest and many other areas. So the adventure cards will be making mention of these areas if the heroes end up in them. 

 LOL, and the most beautiful, charming and deadly girl known as a Vampiric Assassin pictured on the poster may just show up.

Here is a full map of Avalon...

The game board for the Avalon Adventure board game will differ just a little bit. I divided it up into the different regions and had to move some of the location banners a bit, but This will be shown in the huge reveal coming incredibly soon in the August update. 

And as I said above, the August update is going to be posted very quickly, as in less than 2 weeks. The minute we finish up the Avalon Adventure board game, the update will roll out along with the reveal video and a demo of this game that I'm dying to play for you! 

In closing, just know there are some "other things" for this game that I think you'll find incredibly charming and quite innovative. I'm going to knock out the last three adventure cards so we can get to this game quickly for you. 

In closing out this section, this is the last piece of content for Dungeon Crusade, and I'm planning on making this a truly awesome finale for everyone. Truth be told, the Avalon Adventure board game can be its own stand-alone game.  I simply love creating content for it, playing it and playtesting it. 

The game takes anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to play depending on what happens to your heroes in Avalon, and, how much you want to adventure in the game. LOL, I'll say it just one more time...I truly love this game, and I'm very excited for you to see it and of course play it for yourself. This game is THAT good. 

OK MR. GROOVUS GAMES, WHEN IS DUNGEON CRUSADE GOING TO BE DONE!? 

So I want to lay this out for you and let you know the plan...

* After the Avalon Adventure board game is done, Dungeon Crusade the game is all finished. There is nothing else to create, paint, etc. As I said, this game is wrapping up very soon. 7-10 days then we will be rolling out the August update quite early and devoting the update just to this game. 

* At that time, we want to take the month of August to polish up a few things, tie up some loose ends, final playtesting, final token count, final proofreading, etc. This should go quite rapidly. 

* From there, I will be making the revisions to the rulebook and sharing it with you guys to have a look at and giving me your thoughts making sure it all looks and reads very well. 

* From there, we will be working on getting the game content submitted to the game company for the manufacturing end of it. Of course, a proof copy will be sent for us to look over first making sure everything looks and reads right as rain. 

So I have said Dungeon Crusade will be wrapping up this summer. Summer ends towards the middle of September if I have that right. So I think that sounds about right. There isn't much left to do. 

But as always, I will be keeping you guys in the loop on EVERYTHING that is going on the whole way, no matter how small it is. 

IN CLOSING:

So I hope you liked this update. I really wanted to have the Avalon Adventure board game in this update, but there is this little left to do, and I flat out refuse to rush it just to make the update. 

This game is incredibly special to me, and I want you guys to have the best and very immersive, thematic, fun and challenging experience with it. I think before I hit the hay for the night, (it's about 1:32 a.m. right now) I may knock out one of the last three of the adventure cards. 

I'll be in the update comment section tomorrow and of course in the regular comment section to chat it up with you guys if you like. LOL, I think that is my home away from home! 

I have to say before I go, wow, here we are approaching the end of the road with Dungeon Crusade. I just to thank all of you for this incredible experience and it has just been a sincere honor and pleasure getting to know all of you, and working with all of you on the evolution of this game. I think we did something special here...LOL, a little on the massive/girthy side ;) but we did it. 

OK, all have a great night, and an awesome Tuesday, talk to you soon...Rodger :) 

The reveal of all final scenario pages! The reveal of all final 60 quest cards! An upgrade to a monster! The final 2 monsters for the game! And yes, still wrapping up this summer!
about 6 years ago – Sat, Jun 30, 2018 at 11:52:04 PM

Hello everyone! :) Rodger here and I hope everyone is doing great this weekend. It's nice to be here with you for this very special KS update. I'm so sorry for the delay. I wanted to have this out last night and earlier today, but I had a lot to say in this update and was busy tweaking it.

This update means a lot to me in regards to the 60 quests and scenarios. Let me explain a bit before we get into it all. 

I'm very proud and happy with how all of these quests and scenarios came out; I put a ton of time, creativity and imagination into every single one of them so all of us would have a unique and immersive experience with Dungeon Crusade. There is just so much lore, characters, NPC's, factions, locations, events that are woven into all of this content. 

And when you add in the adventure cards from the Avalon Adventure board game, (which we will be talking about within this update), it adds an even greater depth to the game. 

Finally, I must sincerely thank Charlene for all her help with the proofreading on all of this specific content. We have been working together throughout June not only to get the quests and scenarios knocked out, but we are proofreading other various content making sure it all looks & reads excellently. 

As a side note, she will be on board for everything game wise we do. We are working out a great system where I can send her what needs proofreading, she takes a look, sends it back to me, and I apply it to the card(s). This right here will speed up getting games done much, much quicker in the future. 

OK! On with this update! :) 

PREVIOUSLY ON DUNGEON CRUSADE:

  Here is a link to the last update that was dispatched. So if you're someone new to the Dungeon Crusade universe, or you want to catch up, you may want to backtrack and see all the updates I have dispatched before this one.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/357343358/dungeon-crusade-book-i-genesis-of-evil/posts/2202057

AND PLEASE REMEMBER! CHECK THE COMMENTS SECTION!  

I want everyone to know that's reading this that if you see a delay in the updates check the comment section. I'm in there almost daily giving everyone play by play things that we are doing, what we're up to, what's getting completed, news and just everything Dungeon Crusade.  

In any case, I just wanted everyone to know to check the comment section to see what's going on. Plus, if you go scroll through the comment sections history, you'll see a ton of great information I provide for everyone.

BATTLE REPORT VIDEO SERIES:

I wanted to share this here with you. I started this series in June where I can post some quick videos and chat with you guys about what's going on with the game, and what we are up to. 

There are only 2 parts right now, but I'm planning on making a third video maybe tomorrow to show some updated cards, a correction to a blessing card, and discuss this update. So if you like, check it out! 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHuoGWtNACPNZ8xhUUSz7kdAUyetwNObC

THE SKELETAL GRUNT MINION HAS HAD AN UPGRADE:

This was on the list for quite awhile, and we just got this implemented a few weeks ago. Skeleton Warriors are my all-time favorite fantasy monster ever. LOL, I blame this movie for that, especially this awesome end scene of Jason and the Argonauts >>> 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlFjNVTiI1c

But the original Skeletal Grunt had a more comic book look to it, and didn't match the look I was striving for in the game. It did look good, however. So awhile ago, I asked the most awesome Freddy Lopez to create a new Skeletal Grunt, since Freddy has done just about all the monsters in the game. 

So take a look at the new Skeletal Grunt for the final game. I believe this fits incredibly well with the other cast of monsters and creatures. I want to thank Freddy for creating such an awesome looking monster! :) 

Here is its origin poster, followed by another poster of its cardboard miniature and its level 1 monster card. All minions in the game level up from 1 to 3 in the game. Please remember all of this is prototype content made in-house, but it still looks pretty darn good. KUDOS to Liya on the outstanding cutting job on the cardboard miniature. 

So there you go. And look out for its special ability Shield Deflect! :) 

THE FINAL 2 MONSTERS FOR DUNGEON CRUSADE:

So let me tell you what happened with these 2 monsters and how they made it into the game. You probably have seen the Black Rock Viper, and Shadow Servant peppered through this project as they are part of the lore of the story I created. 

They would be in various posters I've posted, and actually, the level 4 champion monster, "Queen of the Blackhand" can summon a Shadow Servant to absorb damage. There is a picture of one on her card. 

You may have read how Black Rock Vipers are found in southern Avalon in The Crags area, and how Aleister Kaladar kept these within his tomb. I'm sure when you play this dungeon, you will run into a few traps of his that focus on these deadly creatures.

So my point is, the art for these 2 monsters has always been there, for more than a year I believe. Freddy painted these by the way. So in playtesting/playing Dungeon Crusade, I realized they would go perfectly in rounding out the minion class. 

You see, I don't believe in just throwing in monsters for the heck of it. Adding a monster should give the game another layer of depth with what these monsters will bring to the game, and challenge the player with. 

So take a look at their origin posters and at their cardboard miniatures and monster cards, and I'll describe what they bring to the game...

So with the addition of these, that brings the total to 10 unique minions, but for a total of 30 minions in the game. There are 3 minions per group of course.

If you notice, or you will notice, each minion has a unique special ability. You won't find a minion that has the same ability as another one. So what makes these minions special and will add to the challenge of the game...  

OVERGROWN BLACK ROCK VIPER:

If a hero is combating one of these monsters and fails a mythical warfare roll, they have been bitten. They must roll 1D3. The result is essence lost. You won't find that on any other minion. So make sure you send a hero who is proficient in mythical warfare before taking one of these on. 

SHADOW SERVANT:

Now, these monsters bring something devious to the game! A  Shadow Servant has an ability called Vanish. If it hits, the Shadow Servant vanishes, and reappears on a spawn location closer to the exit of the dungeon, thus, that closer to raiding the village! 

In closing, these are the final monsters for the game. These genuinely round out the minions perfectly, add a nice challenge to the player(s) and another small layer of depth to the game. 

THE REVEAL OF THE SCENARIO PAGES AND THE 60 QUEST CARDS:

And I guess this is the massive part of the update, and as I said at the start of the update, I'm pleased and proud of all this content. 

This is indeed what I wanted to give to people with Dungeon Crusade. Just a huge fantasy dungeon crawl game with unique and innovative quests and that breaks the mold of this genre, and basically, give something to people that is so different and something new for them to enjoy. 

I want to say I'm super happy that this all this content is all completed and out of the way. This took a substantial amount of time for me to get done and out of the way.  But it's done and brings us a major step towards completion. 

Oh, also, I sort of came under some fire for spoilers. So let it be known I purposely blurred out the scenario overview text. But, after this section, I will share the first 4 with you, as they were posted on the Dungeon Crusade facebook page. If you don't like spoilers, skip that section! 

Also, some of these shots came out "meh," as I was doing some late night shooting and the lighting was not the best...

Also, please note, there will not be white edges of course in the final book. The print shop didn't do edge to edge printing so excuse the white borders around the pages. 

Before we move onto the quest cards, I want to say there will be a few pages right at the start of the scenario book where I will explain how to play a scenario and the 3 different scenario difficulty modes, and of course, there will be a back cover. 

RANDOM DUNGEON GENERATOR SCENARIOS: 

Lastly, I have talked about this in the comment section recently. There will be one scenario for each dungeon board where it's a random dungeon scenario. This will be lite on story, but heavy on down & dirty dungeon crawling. In the next KS update, I should have something to show you how this will be played. So if killing tons of monsters, getting loot, gearing up your heroes and leveling up your heroes sounds good, these scenarios will offer that for you. 

THE REVEAL VIDEO FOR THE 60 QUESTS FOR THE GAME:

I did share this last update, but I reposted it here in case anyone might have missed it. Here is the link for you. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r08U2O5HeZE&t=68s

THE 60 UNIQUE QUEST CARDS FOR DUNGEON CRUSADE:
So I thought of a cool way to show you the quest cards for the game. When you select a scenario to attempt, it will instruct you to pull 6 specific quest cards for that scenario. So I put the 6 quest cards together at the village the heroes will be defending. I thought after I did this, it gives the sense of how huge the land of Avalon is, and all the different locations the heroes will travel. 

Hopefully, after you see these pics, you'll get what I'm saying. Also, to prevent spoilers, the stories were covered. I would like to surprise you guys with these! The reverse side of these cards has the objective text and setup text. 

So have a look and enjoy!  I'll see you at the end of this little journey!

SCENARIO 1: INTO THE DEPTHS

SCENARIO 2: DARKNESS DESCENDING

 SCENARIO 3: AN ONSLAUGHT OF EVIL

SCENARIO 4: WELCOME, TO CASTLE BLACKWOOD

SCENARIO 5: SIEGE ON SALEMPORT

SCENARIO 6: A PROPHECY FORETOLD

SCENARIO 7: THE FALL OF BRIARWOOD

SCENARIO 8: ORIGINS OF EVIL

 SCENARIO 9: THE LOOMING SHADOW OF KALADAR

 
SCENARIO X: THE SCOURGE OF THE UNDERWORLD

Did you notice on some of the quest cards in the top right-hand corner the red circle with the letters GS? That is something I created and added to these cards.

What this means is a player will quickly see a guardian will spawn, and take that into account for the guardian limit that is outlined in the scenario.

So let's say the guardian limit is 3 for a scenario, and the heroes have a quest where a guardian will spawn. Two guardians will spawn from the guardian phase, and the 3rd one will spawn from the quest the heroes have.

So when you have your quest cards in front of you, and you see the red GS icon, that will be a visual reminder. The bottom line is I'm doing little additions like this to some of the content in the game, so Dungeon Crusade will be as user-friendly as we can make it.


THE SCENARIO PAGE HEADINGS:

 
THE 4 SCENARIOS WITH OVERVIEW TEXT:

Here are the first 4 scenarios where you can read the overview text. There isn't any spoilers, as the overview text just sets up the scenario. The quest stories are what drive the game experience you could say.

So enjoy! 

So I hope you enjoyed a look at all of the quests and scenarios. As I said, there will be the random dungeon generator scenarios that I will try to get into the next update. 

THE LAST PIECE OF CONTENT TO BE CREATED: THE AVALON ADVENTURE BOARD GAME

So I have been mentioning, this is the last piece of content that needs to be completed, and Dungeon Crusade is done. I have been looking forward to getting to work on this. This game is, of course, played before you play Dungeon Crusade, and the Avalon Adventure board game is like one of those pick your own adventure/Fighting Fantasy books I guess you could say.

I'm creating this so while you are playing you will run into many of the characters, factions and NPC's from all the quests in the game. While playing this, you'll do micro dungeon delves, explore towers, ruins, and crypts and visit the villages scattered throughout Avalon. You "may" find gold and loot in your adventures that you will be able to use while playing Dungeon Crusade. 

So within July, this is what we will be talking about, showing off and discussing. I'll be using most of my prototype work on this, so it should go pretty quick. And of course, Charlene will be right there with me doing the proofreading, so we will get this knocked out very quickly and wrap this up. 

Again, I'm very excited about this! I plan on going all out and giving people a very immersive, creative and fun game experience. Also, you may know, this game mechanics are very random, so you will never see the same game twice. 

AND YES, WE ARE WRAPPING UP THE GAME THIS SUMMER: 

So with the Avalon Adventure game out of the game, the only thing left will be the revisions to the rulebook and tieing up some loose ends, and we are done. There is just nothing left to create for the game. I will be keeping you in the loop, (as I always do) 100% of the time letting you know what's going on. 

PLAYING DUNGEON CRUSADE:

I mentioned this in the comment section recently, and I wanted to share this here in the update.

But as you may have seen, I'm playing/playtesting Dungeon Crusade. I'm playing it as the creator of course to fine tune it, and make sure it's solid, but I'm playing it more as a dungeon crawl junkie gamer, which I openly admit I am, and you that know I am.

I'm genuinely having a fantastic & fun time playing. LOL, please don't hate me for saying this, as I know there are some people so eagerly awaiting this game. But I'm so incredibly content, satisfied, happy, and confident with how it all turned out. I am the hardest critic on myself.

When I create something, it takes A LOT for me to say, "OK...I'm good with this. I'm happy." There is just SO MUCH stuff that is going on in this game, and its always doing something different that you may not be expecting. I love that.

From the monsters, behavior & movement, the encounters, the treasure chests, the crates, the mystery chambers, what is going to happen in the chambers of the dungeon, the conditions the heroes may suffer and other things within the game. I think this game is an 'arcadey, dungeon crawl, simulation game within an open world environment where anything can happen.' type of game. I know that's quite a description, but that's how I genuinely feel.

The point I'm trying to make is this. It took us awhile to get to this point where we are at with Dungeon Crusade as in finally wrapping it up. I greatly thank you for your patience and support throughout this whole project.

But I honestly believe in my heart, all of us did something special here with this game. It turned out to be a massive innovative juggernaut. I know we still have a few things to do for the game, but I see this all coming together to be something very immersive and unique for all of us to enjoy.

We have achieved something here that's nuts, epic, left of center and pretty darn fun and challenging. And please, hold me to what I said above when you get your game. You'll see...LOL, oh, you will see. ;)

IN CLOSING: 

I hope you enjoyed this latest Dungeon Crusade update, and like I said at the start of it, I think this one was an important one and meant a lot to me at least. It shows or instead conveyed what type of game experience I was trying to get across. It did take us awhile, but we got this thing done. We still have a few things to do, but looking back at EVERYTHING, there isn't that much left to do. 

LOL, I sometimes sit here for a while thinking, "Wait, was I going to say something else?" But if I think of something, I'll share it within the update comment section. 

But once we finish up the Avalon Adventure board game, revise the rulebook, tie up some loose ends, we will be preparing the game files to submit to Wingo Games for the next step. 

OK, guys, have a great night, and I'll, of course, be in the comment section to see what's going on. Talk to you soon...Rodger :)