[The Unhallowed] | A Horror Fantasy Roleplaying Setting for Pathfinder

[Troskoski]

Hello again!

With less than a week until launch, it is finally time to reveal the identity of our last writer!

Our final Horseman owns three, yes three copies of the Book of Vile Darkness. He won his first of two Iron GM World Championships after killing his entire party, who then voted him to win the title. He has recruited talent and co-hosted a half-dozen large Pathfinder events for Gen-Con attendees, and his eye for skilled designers and GMs extends to bringing the last two Iron GM champions to the competition, as well as recruiting his fellow Horsemen for The Unhallowed.

He may be best known to Pathfinder players as this year's Paizo RPG Superstar winner. Since winning the contest in April, he has done design work for Paizo Publishing, Adventure-A-Week.com, and the "Christina Stiles Presents" line for Super Genius Games. It will be a strong publishing year for him as a freelancer.

His attraction to the horror setting of the Unhallowed is that he loves rich, in-character roleplay. The chance to set a mood, to take assumptions away from players, and to design a darkly-complected Pathfinder setting is very exciting for him. As a long-time player and GM, he shares a vision with his fellow Horsemen that other Pathfinder players and GMs will appreciate.

Our final Horseman is none other than your reigning 2013 RPG Superstar: Steven T Helt!

The Kickstarter is set to launch on October 1st. Stay tuned for more information on that soon!

Tony Troskoski
The Unhallowed

[ShadowcatX]

Nice line up. :)

[Steven T. Helt]

Thanks, Shadowcat! And thanks to Tony for the introduction, and for this exciting opportunity. believe our work on the Unhallowed setting will make for memorable games and result in a full line of supported products catering to fantasy horror fans, as well as Pathfinder and DnD players from every edition of the game's evolution.

We're going to bring some old-school style adventures where terrible things happen to the people of the Unhallowed the world, and of course your first several characters while you stand in the gap to protect them.

We're going to give you scary "uh-oh" moments where the plot rips out from under you if you're not paying attention. No NPC is safe. No trope is untouched. We will deliver classic horror moments, but we are not copying anyone's work. We are bringing you our world, and because of player and fan involvement, we are bringing you your own world.

If you are a newer player and you love high fantasy, powerful magic and powerful characters, you are going to love Unhallowed. The designers are mean. We want you to succeed in our world, but we want you to work for it.

You might be waiting for a world that answers the challenge to add elements of romance or dark terror to their setting. We are always going to be tasteful and mindful that people from all walks play fantasy role-playing games, but we aren't going to be afraid to give you an emotional game, or a gritty horror experience.

It's a tall order, but I am surrounded by peers who can do it. From the original Horseman staff, to the Big Names working to supply our stretch goals, to the friends and colleagues who have already agreed to lend their well-known names and talents to our setting as it develops, we are ready to give you the fantasy horror setting and adventures you want.

It the sky is dark, but without limit. We can only give you this experience, pay the most fearsome minds in fantasy horror, and develop a complete setting of nations besieged by the forces of darkness, if you and your palyers and friend back our Kickstarter.

We've even agreed to buy some of you dinner and host a very special game at Gen Con 2014, where we promise, you will have award-winning Game Masters give you a game you will never forget.

Thanks for receiving me, thanks to Paizo and its wonderful, avid fans for making me your RPG Superstar, and for this opportunity. Head on over to join me at theunhallowed.com. Talk horror roleplaying, talk about rules you'd like to see, and enter our challenge by submitting a horrifying story in only two sentences!

[Heine Stick]

October truly is a month of horrors for Pathfinder RPG. Blood of the Moon, which should be a helpful tome for lycanthropy-focused horror games; This Unhallowed Kickstarter; and Legendary Games's Gothic compilation Kickstarter. I like it!

[ShadowcatX]

Heine Stick wrote:

October truly is a month of horrors for Pathfinder RPG. Blood of the Moon, which should be a helpful tome for lycanthropy-focused horror games; This Unhallowed Kickstarter; and Legendary Games's Gothic compilation Kickstarter. I like it!

You wouldn't happen to have links to those other 2 do you? (I haven't heard of either.) You can PM them to me if you have them and you don't mind so as to avoid further derailing this thread if you like.

[Heine Stick]

Blood of the Moon

I don't have links to any of the Kickstarters, unfortunately, because they're not active yet. Legendary Games mentioned their Kickstarter in their first Myths and Legends newsletter. Basically the idea is to compile the Gothic PDFs they've released into a print product.

But yeah, back to Unhallowed. :)

[Christina Stiles]

Heine Stick wrote:

October truly is a month of horrors for Pathfinder RPG. Blood of the Moon, which should be a helpful tome for lycanthropy-focused horror games; This Unhallowed Kickstarter; and Legendary Games's Gothic compilation Kickstarter. I like it!

Don't forget the Bite Me! PDFs on lycanthropes! Btw, Tony has agreed to give information on weres in Unhallowed for the final Bite Me! Book.

Wereblooded by Ben McFarland is out now.

[Troskoski]

Christina Stiles wrote:

Don't forget the Bite Me! PDFs on lycanthropes! Btw, Tony has agreed to give information on weres in Unhallowed for the final Bite Me! Book.

Wereblooded by Ben McFarland is out now.

That's right!

As you can see, we are truly collaborating with the experts on the details of our setting. On a related note, we will be revealing our first five stretch goals when we launch the Kickstarter on Tuesday. As levels are opened (or as I determine enough time has passed), we will be revealing other hidden stretch goals, including contributions from some really awesome guest authors. ;)

Tony Troskoski
The Unhallowed

[Endzeitgeist]

Linkified.

Also: Ships within US only? :/ I would contemplate joining for dead tree, but since all options for dead-tree are US-exclusive, I guess that's not possible. Please contemplate adding a level for your international demographic.

[Weslocke]

Looks interesting.

[Troskoski]

Endzeitgeist wrote:

Linkified.

@Endzeigeist: I am working on that option today. I will update the applicable backer levels, and post back here. Thanks for the linkification!

@Weslocke: Well, thank you. We hope to see more of you around here. Thank you for your interest!

Tony Troskoski
The Unhallowed

[Troskoski]

@Endzeigeist: I have remedied this with a new International backer level. Thank you for pointing out this oversight on the first day!

Tony Troskoski
The Unhallowed

[Stereofm]

Hi, so only a few hours to fund this book. So I know, this sounds a bit optimistic now, but who cares ? Let's do this !

[Changing Man]

I'm in.

[ShadowcatX]

This is the perfect example of a kickstarter that did everything perfect in the build up to the kickstarter, but who failed to support it. But all is not lost, in fact, it might well turn out for the best. . .

[Gerald]

ShadowcatX wrote:

This is the perfect example of a kickstarter that did everything perfect in the build up to the kickstarter, but who failed to support it. But all is not lost, in fact, it might well turn out for the best. . .

Yep. I backed it early after reading about how interesting it sounded. Then I didn't hear anything as far as updates for weeks. You can't just abandon your project midstream and expect it to get funded.

[ShadowcatX]

I will say this, it is going to be FAR harder for them to convince me to back them a second time after that. I have hopes for it, but I'm going to have to be convinced.

[davrion]

The real problem was timing. The theme had a definite appeal to run during the October build to Halloween. The problem is that too many big name kickstarters ran during the same time - Reaper, Frog God, Legendary Games, Adventure Quarterly (an OSR kickstarter Adventures in the East Mark is running into this timing problem too, IMO). October was also a WizKids release month too.

If they run the project again, I'll support it again.

[ShadowcatX]

I don't think the timing or the big names had a whole lot to do with it, they had a ton of steam going into project and were at 43% of the way to their goal, 6 days in. And then they disappeared. All of them. 20 days later they are at 45% of their funding goal. In 20 days they gained 2%, after having gotten 43% in 6 days. You can't attribute that to the big names, you can't attribute that to the time of year or any other company, they did that to themselves.

And that is why I'm going to be hard pressed to support them a second time around. I think they had great ideas, I think they had a talented staff. However, I think if any one of them had stuck with it, had posted here any kind of regular basis, had updated kickstarter, had done any other of a dozen things it would have done great. But they didn't. They all failed.

Now maybe for some of them it wasn't their place to do that. But you know something, I'd rather support people who are willing to step over their boundaries and step on people's toes to get something accomplished than I am to support people who are willing to let something sink while saying "I could fix it, but it isn't my job."

So now they have a problem. They lost my trust, and very likely the trust of a lot of their other backers. After all if they're willing to just abandon their kickstarter before it makes like they did, who is to say they won't just abandon the project after it makes on a second go around. They missed striking when the fire was hot, that chance won't come back. You never get a second chance to make a good first impression, and all that.

But problems can be fixed and trust can be restored, but it is going to require them to do more work. If they're teaming up with a trusted entity as has been hinted at, that will help them a lot (and may be better than what they were planning to begin with) and be a fairly big risk for him. Still I think it will be a good fit and I have hope.

[LMPjr007]

What a lot of people don't know is that certain things going on behind the scenes with this kickstarter I know because I spoke to them about possibly acquiring this for our upcoming Obsidian Apocalypse campaign setting. I have not heard back from them since my initial offer was placed with them but I expect to hear something back now that this Kickstarter is over.

[ShadowcatX]

LMPjr007 wrote:

What a lot of people don't know is that certain things going on behind the scenes with this kickstarter

Ok. Every kickstarter has "things going on behind the scenes". When those things interfere with the functioning of the kickstarter then obviously they're a problem. And if they're a problem now, how can we, the backers that were kept in the dark, trust they won't be a further problem the next time they do a kickstarter? Or after the kickstarter while they're working on the product? Despite technicalities to the contrary, backers of a project like this don't really have a recourse if they get stuck on a project that never happens.

Quote:

I know because I spoke to them about possibly acquiring this for our upcoming Obsidian Apocalypse campaign setting. I have not heard back from them since my initial offer was placed with them but I expect to hear something back now that this Kickstarter is over.

Which is pretty much my biggest hope for this.

[Gerald]

ShadowcatX wrote:

LMPjr007 wrote:

What a lot of people don't know is that certain things going on behind the scenes with this kickstarter

Ok. Every kickstarter has "things going on behind the scenes". When those things interfere with the functioning of the kickstarter then obviously they're a problem. And if they're a problem now, how can we, the backers that were kept in the dark, trust they won't be a further problem the next time they do a kickstarter? Or after the kickstarter while they're working on the product? Despite technicalities to the contrary, backers of a project like this don't really have a recourse if they get stuck on a project that never happens.

Quote:

I know because I spoke to them about possibly acquiring this for our upcoming Obsidian Apocalypse campaign setting. I have not heard back from them since my initial offer was placed with them but I expect to hear something back now that this Kickstarter is over.

Which is pretty much my biggest hope for this.

Damn, shadowcat, get out of my head. Once again, I agree with the entirety of this post. I'm now a bit gunshy with this product, and I was REALLY interested in it.

I hope LMP is able to acquire it, because I am still interested in it, but I don't think I trust it enough to purchase unless its a final completed project now.

[davrion]

ShadowcatX wrote:

I don't think the timing or the big names had a whole lot to do with it, they had a ton of steam going into project and were at 43% of the way to their goal, 6 days in. And then they disappeared. All of them. 20 days later they are at 45% of their funding goal. In 20 days they gained 2%, after having gotten 43% in 6 days. You can't attribute that to the big names, you can't attribute that to the time of year or any other company, they did that to themselves.

You can, because that's just what I did. I don't find it plausible that the overlapping Kickstarters had a negligible impact on things.

I'm not sure what kind of updates you were looking for - updates for those who already pledged? Personally, I dislike getting updates that are just rehashes of the same rah-rah updates that just increment the % funded (I've already pledged, stop with the sales pitches). This thread certainly had enough material pre-launch as compared to many other KS campaigns.

[ShadowcatX]

davrion wrote:

ShadowcatX wrote:

I don't think the timing or the big names had a whole lot to do with it, they had a ton of steam going into project and were at 43% of the way to their goal, 6 days in. And then they disappeared. All of them. 20 days later they are at 45% of their funding goal. In 20 days they gained 2%, after having gotten 43% in 6 days. You can't attribute that to the big names, you can't attribute that to the time of year or any other company, they did that to themselves.

You can, because that's just what I did. I don't find it plausible that the overlapping Kickstarters had a negligible impact on things.

I'm not sure what kind of updates you were looking for - updates for those who already pledged? Personally, I dislike getting updates that are just rehashes of the same rah-rah updates that just increment the % funded (I've already pledged, stop with the sales pitches). This thread certainly had enough material pre-launch as compared to many other KS campaigns.

I would suggest looking at the Dragon Kings kickstarter as an example of a kickstarter done right. They've done updates (and specifically teasers) through facebook, and they've been active online here (and I can only assume other gaming related outlets as well). They've kept their product at the forefront of people's thoughts, and they've surpassed their goal and have a significant amount of time remaining.

And that is why I don't accept the whole "It was overlapping kickstarters" argument. Dragon Kings made their funding. Dragon Tiger Ox made its funding. Adventure quarterly made its funding. Amethyst made its funding. All running concurrently with this. Competing kickstarters didn't help the project, but it was not the reason for the project's failure.

And I realize it may sound like I'm being overly hard on the developers / authors / whatever of the project, but I don't wish them ill. Quite the opposite, in fact. However, I don't believe that making excuses for the failure of the project will help them in the future. They need to know what they did wrong, and that the failure of the project was their own fault, not the fault of the product and they need to be realistic about what it is going to take to get past that failure.

[Aarontendo]

Eh I think it was a lot of all the above.

Having your KS run the same time as Reaper, Frog (and to a lesser extent Legendary, Adventure Quarterly) isn't going to help, not one bit. Truth be told I thought Legendary would have done a bit better had it not been competing for others KS dollars.

Having all the creative staff sort of fall off from promotion isn't helping. Look at projects such as Razor Coast. Logue, Lou, the former Blondie Frog, and others kept releasing teasers, doing interviews, and promotion.

Finally, and maybe it goes against the spirit of KS, but it takes a lot more convincing to get me to KS people who I think aren't as proven in the field. The publisher on the KS intro page admits he's never published anything...which already makes me reticent to spend money.

They may do a bit better by teaming up with an organization who has successfully published, as at least then we can feel fairly confident that we'd receive this.

[Paul Ryan]

I have to sadly admit that the way this one was handled has made me think of the early history of Razor Coast. Being a great writer is not necessarily the same as having the organizational skills to publish something, and the vanishment of everyone involved during the KS process, along with the current lack of any comments or response now that it's over aren't doing anything to persuade me to back again.

[Christina Stiles]

Blame for the lack of updates belongs to the person who started the project, not the writers. I personally know Tony, and this was his first go at this. I think he has some things to learn before making an effective go of this. I would suggest he have actual manuscripts in hand and heading into layout before attempting this again. It is a cool idea, certainly. Going dark in the kickstarter process is not a good sign. I know what happened on some of this, but not why Tony failed to push his own project.

[Christina Stiles]

LMPjr007 wrote:

What a lot of people don't know is that certain things going on behind the scenes with this kickstarter I know because I spoke to them about possibly acquiring this for our upcoming Obsidian Apocalypse campaign setting. I have not heard back from them since my initial offer was placed with them but I expect to hear something back now that this Kickstarter is over.

Louis, I think your company would be a good home for this. I hope something gets worked out.

[ShadowcatX]

Christina Stiles wrote:

Blame for the lack of updates belongs to the person who started the project, not the writers.

Yes and no. Certainly they were not obligated to step forward and take the horse by the reins, but like I said, I'd prefer to back a project by people who are determined to see it succeed, even if that means over stepping their boundaries, rather than a project by people who step aside and watch it fail because saving it isn't their job. And it isn't like the authors hadn't already been introduced to the public as part of a big reveal (and thus a portion of the generate excitement job already put onto their shoulders) and it isn't like it is Tony on camera in the kickstarter. Everyone had some portion of "interacting with the public" on their plate and thus had the opportunity to save this project and none of them took it.

Now had things been different, had Tony been the only one who posted here, had he been the one on the kickstarter video, and had the author(s) been totally behind the scenes working on a manuscript, well then I would be more inclined to lay the blame at his feet and his alone, but that wasn't the case here (and honestly, I think that's one of the things this kickstarter did right in the beginning, I loved that they were interactive here).

[Christina Stiles]

Some things happened in the middle of the process that were never officially announced. It isn't my story to tell, so that is all I will say. Either way, it began as Tony's project, and it ended as Tony's project.

[davrion]

Aarontendo wrote:

Having your KS run the same time as Reaper, Frog (and to a lesser extent Legendary, Adventure Quarterly) isn't going to help, not one bit. Truth be told I thought Legendary would have done a bit better had it not been competing for others KS dollars.

Exactly. I don't think you can fault Legendary's communication at all, and they only made the target about 2 days before it ended. If you don't have an existing track record (such as Dragon Kings, from Tim Brown), releasing this past month was going to be a really difficult proposition.

[LMPjr007]

Christina Stiles wrote:

Some things happened in the middle of the process that were never officially announced. It isn't my story to tell, so that is all I will say. Either way, it began as Tony's project, and it ended as Tony's project.

BINGO!!! This is what I mentioned also.

I would just consider this KS over and if someone else happens to pick it up I suggest supporting it then. No need to bad mouth people who didn't live up to some exceptions compared to of KS. Consider this a "trial by fire" event when it didn't work out for them, but they always get another chance to do this right and get the success they really hope for.

[terraleon]

When you run a KS for an RPG, you have to know that you're going to need preview art, preview material, updates with author bios, tidbits to whet the appetites and stoke the excitement of the backers so they can help you amp the signal. It's an every other day push to greenlight.

-Ben.

[Thanael]

Well, either it will go to LMPJr or they can learn from it, prepare and do another KS. It has been done before.