Battle undead and demonic horrors ravaging post-apocalyptic Earth 25 years after the Rise. DnD Fifth Edition (5E) & Pathfinder RPG.
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Indisputable. Irrefutable. Undeniable. This is Truth. Shining light into the dark corners, one broadcast at a time. Or in this case, one lonely update at a time.
Greetings our loyal backers and fellow survivors!
I regularly ponder time, especially how the last two years have so quickly passed into the ether. Time slips by so easily, though it bears such weight. That weight is especially present as the faithful at Rusted Portal press to finalize the Apocalypse the Risen tome. And a tome it is, with the Pathfinder pages pushing close to 450. A larger volume than you expected? Certainly, more than we expected. Before showing some of that content, let me answer the most pressing questions...
* AtR Pathfinder Compatible Edition: Layout first draft is one chapter short of final review. Our layout master Simeon Cogswell is as patient as talented, guiding our first time laying out such a book. The time in layout is much longer than anticipated, for which we take responsibility. Simeon has provided amazing feedback for tweaking how the information is structured to give you the best book possible. We asked for a sample to provide our wonderful backers and we’ve got that ready to share. An email will be going out to all backers at any product level shortly after this update. If you do not see that email, verify it did not hit your spam filters and then feel free to message and let us know.
Note that we will have one final pass before finalizing layout. There’s a handful of tweaks on what you’re seeing in the first 4 chapters, but this is how layout looks throughout the book. We hope you like how it’s turned out as much as we do.
* AtR 5E Compatible Edition: I know a larger percentage of you are really eager to get your hands on this version of AtR. While layout makes progress on PF, requiring a significant amount of bandwidth, Chad has been working diligently on progress for 5E. We’ve found a number of play balance issues that we have corrected and will continue making sure we’re solid before hitting editing. We are unlikely to hit editing prior to the PF version going to print. However, getting that initial milestone behind us will allow for full attention to 5E which is exciting. Simeon hasn’t murdered us yet, so once we are through editing, we hope to roll straight into layout. I’m not giving you a date on this because I don’t want to miss a target again. Please know we are for sure working hard on it.
* Adventure Series: I have recently pulled files out of the backer share as they need to be replaced with some updated versions. We have some GMs running convention games (THANK YOU!) and we will be prioritizing getting them the updated 1st level adventure “Dead in the Darklands”, the newly playtested 2nd level adventure “Demon Divided”, and a physics bending 3rd level adventure “Endless Descent”. As those playable files are ready to share, we will update all backers with a version to run at home. Trying to get some AtR in your hands as soon as possible. The sooner we do, the sooner we can enjoy relaunching our home campaign! :)
* AtR Pathfinder Layout Previews: As discussed above, you will shortly have a PDF of the first four chapters of AtR Pathfinder. However, we want to make sure you know those aren’t the only chapters that exist. The following images show off some select spreads from chapters 5-12 as proof of concept. We know we’re late and now you know we’re working hard to deliver an awesome book.
Chapter Five: Feats
Chapter Six: Skills
Chapter Seven: Trading Post
Chapter Eight: Magic
Chapter 9: Narrating
Chapter 10: The World
Chapter 11: The Multiverse
Chapter 12: Catalog of Beasts
So why the delays and what’s next?
That’s a great question and where the weight of time bogs down. At the end of the day, Apocalypse the Risen and the surrounding Worlds of the Portal multiverse was a much larger endeavor than expected. Part of that came from stretch goals, but mostly from my desire to deliver players a complete framework of the multiverse I imagined. We firmly believe Apocalypse the Risen and future connected projects benefit immensely from that consideration. Do we wish we could have delivered much faster? Of course we do, there’s a lot more content to develop! But we are building a gaming universe that we know will occupy your tables for a long time and that the risk in delays will be worth the reward in depth and quality. I personally can’t wait to put these books in your hands to prove that hypothesis.
Going forward, keep talking with us in the comments. We really do read them all. Ask questions that may come up from the shared pages. Dig on the world, multiverse, classes, races, creatures, and upcoming additional content. Writing these updates takes limited time away from production, but I will always spend time engaging with our backers. You all are awesome. Thank you again for the time and love and a big thank you to those running the content we’ve shared!
Sincerely,
Donaven – Rusted Portal Games
Hello Survivors,
The natives are again restless and marauders circling the colony. But don’t stress, we have what you need. A crisp clean update with some insights into just how this book is coming together.
We told you back in April that layout was underway, and that is still true. We’ve burned through the most difficult chapters, and we want you to see a few snapshots so you know what’s up. Below are 24 pages of insight into races and classes. In the chapter opening for Races you’ll see a blank page on the left and placeholder text in the small paragraph at the top. Sorry, you don’t get to see all the special text yet. These pieces hold narratives from key NPCs in the world you can use in your games and help establish the flavor for the world. Each chapter opens with these narratives to set the mood.
Each of these images are two page spreads:
We also told you that the cover art was looking fantastic, well that might have been an understatement. Here’s some mockups so you have a full taste of what’s coming. Simeon (layout) hasn’t done his magic, but this should give you a good idea. That's a full front, spine, and half back cover wrap scene. Oh, you didn’t think we’d share the back cover copy just yet, did you? Also know that the cover iconic is highlighted throughout the book and will be another important NPC in the future. :)
Overall art additions: we have added dozens of pieces of art since our last update! From full page pieces to found artifacts in game, you are getting significantly more art than previously announced. Our goal from the start was to come out like an established company rather than some indie startup. We know you’ll agree when you get this book in your hands. And it IS coming.
While Simeon (layout) and I are hard at work finalizing chapters, Chad (lead developer) has been tearing up progress of 5E. Significant work has been made on locking down Races, Classes, Weapons, and Gear. That includes direction on what to trim for the slimmer ruleset and what to add for AtR flavor. AtR 5E has been playable for over a year, so changes are intended to maximize 5E rules and introduce changes unique to Apocalypse the Risen (such as insanity, ballistic AC, etc). Our goal is still to trail the Pathfinder print by about 3 months. Layout will be simpler, with art placement and direction decided. Classes are less complex to format, so we will be well ahead of this piece allowing us to hit the next layout running.
Overall message: Look, we are small team and are busting our asses to deliver you a freaking amazing game. We’ve been slower than hoped, but we have not been slacking. We aren’t playing by the typical small company rules and have long been dedicated to making sure the AtR Campaign Setting is foundational in establishing us with our fans. We’ve lost two backers that didn’t believe we can delivery on that promise. And we’ve gained nearly ten times that in people that have played our very well designed game and adventures in the time since this Kickstarter. Hopefully the above progress delivers just that message. Stick it out, you’ll be with us for as long as we are churning out games. And we’ll keep delivering for you for years to come, because that’s what we are here to do.
Sincerely,
Donaven – Rusted Portal Games
Greetings, Survivors!
The Rusted Portal Games team has officially entered the afterlife. We are processing this update and future needs from the Veil. Despite the strongly neutral alignment, we are unfazed and continuing production! Our passing is not without benefit to our faithful backers. And things look good!
Writing/Editing: The entire Pathfinder book is written and through editing. Final word count after whittling spells down is just over 331k. We feel great to be providing backers with a significant book that will more than hit our page count goals announced during the Kickstarter. Most importantly, thanks to many talented writers and a saint of an editor in Jennifer Povey, those words will make sense and be neatly organized for your enjoyment.
Layout: We are officially deep into layout with the incredible talented and award winning Simeon Cogswell. Regarding layout completion, timing is a bit out of our control at this stage. We are working hand in hand with Simeon to provide feedback, best text for sidebars, placement of art, etc. However, the process just takes time because of the sheer volume of text. See printing below for anticipated timing.
We have designed some gritty pages and currently working hard on the overall design. I’ve provided a little taste below, but please note this is just a quick pass to share. Our goal is for players and GMs to feel like they have a piece of the world in their hands. A found relic of importance.
Art: We still have a bunch of art rolling in, plus more photo manipulation pieces that will all be worked in over the next couple weeks. We are really stoked about some b/w pieces from artist Scott Harshbarger who really grasps the theme of the world. And you may also be keen to know that we are working through drafts of the newly illustrated cover art. You haven’t seen anything from us about this artist or the cover, but we are loving it. You can check out Éva Kedves portfolio to get an idea. She’s awesome. Here’s all you get, just a tease! This cover will introduce an important NPC in the world that we hope to tell stories about in the future.
And for those of you excited about the leather cover… don’t worry, we certainly haven’t forgotten about you! Simeon will be taking care of laying out that awesome Eclipse devil from Preston Stone in foil for the leather. I might personally hug each copy before shipping. Or not. Just pretend I didn’t write that. The following is just the mock-up provided during the Kickstarter and the final may differ. I just wanted to remind you all how sick this is going to look.
Printing: We are prepared to start printing Pathfinder immediately upon layout completion. Simeon will assist with the handoff to the printer to ensure the layout file translates smoothly as each printer is slightly different. Our plan of record is still to print Pathfinder domestically. Of course, part of completing files for print is also completing files for PDF delivery. We plan to distribute the final PDF files through DriveThruRPG. As for timing, again this is completely at the mercy of layout finalization. Layout requests 30 days. We should see a May start of printing and delivery in June, pending setbacks outside our control.
5E Design: We are well underway on final development for the 5E build. You’ve seen most of the classes and some of the creatures. There are already some tweaks from those designs, and a number of new AtR design elements that are crossing over between systems. You will still enjoy a colony and resource system in 5E, have the pleasure of personalities and insanity instead of alignment, and our built from scratch multiverse. This is not D&D, even if the system plays that way. You won’t find elves and dwarves in the Worlds of the Portal, trust.
The largest part of these books is the writing itself. Narrative, rules outside of stat blocks, and transition information for you to run and play Apocalypse the Risen. The majority of that writing translates directly to 5E, which means we don’t have that work to do in order to finish the second book. The work now is refining the already playtested rules and adjusting setting rules to the new system. We are still a few months behind Pathfinder, but in much better place to finish sooner than later.
Lastly, just a message of appreciation and gratitude for your support and patience. I know you’re all very eager to get this book in your hands. And I know we are very late. Rest assured that during that extra time we have been working very hard to fill this book with quality material, creative design elements, and amazing art. It’s important you know we have invested heavily in this book beyond the Kickstarter funds and we have no delays on that front to get through printing. We haven’t run any other Kickstarters or taken on any other projects. We simply put as much time as possible, outside our collective pay the bills job, into making an incredible Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting for you to enjoy. And you will be enjoying this game in 2019 for both systems.
Sincerely,
Donaven – Rusted Portal Games
Greetings, Survivors!
A grand hello from the Rusted Portal Games team. We know you are eager to keep up with the progress for Apocalypse the Risen Campaign Setting so let’s get right to it!
Editing: Fantastic editor Jennifer Povey has completed 10 chapters, the final files coming out looking crisp and clean. That leaves 3 chapters to go. 90% of the writing is complete for two of those chapters—Bestiary and Magic Items—with the last 10% simply final transitions and stories between rule section. The Bestiary is finalized at 22 creatures which are summarized below. We are really happy to be able to bring a great diversity of enemies to your table! And finally, the Multiverse chapter is awaiting a major contributed writing piece and finalizing the complexity of planar rules.
The Bestiary
DAMNED
Shunned Demons: Angler (Wrath), Corrode (Envy), Dredge (Lust), Eyrachnid (Pride), Fire Urchin (Sloth), Shyft (Gluttony)
DARKLANDS
Mutated Animals: Skunk Hound
Mutated Plants: Siren Pine, Corpse Flower
DEAD
Ghosts: Apparition, Emote (x4), Poltergeist, Shade
Risen: Depraved, Devourer, Famished, Hungry, Ravenous
PARADOX
Cryptid: Wendigo
Oh the humanity!
Layout: Award winning layout artist Simeon Cogswell has already started preliminary layout and page design. You will recognize elements in the layout stylings from the well-received Maverick spread we presented during the Kickstarter. Additionally, our stellar iconics artist Raven Mimura has offered his handmade metal work for use as design elements. Border and artisanal nail seen mounted with Enforcer iconic Argo. Keep an eye out for Raven's upcoming personal projects. The pieces are awesome!
Speaking of iconics, I’m so happy to introduce Mother, our Shepherd iconic. She’s seen here banishing a demon, from that demon's perspective. What a badass!
Printing: We believe we are still on track for the April start of printing schedule announced in December. Between comments and updates we will let you know of any major changes.
All said, we are churning out content as quickly as possible. Especially exciting for us has been the realization that we have so much more content for Apocalypse the Risen than could possibly be included in the first book. There we be a lot of supporting materials into the future, much of which is well designed and tested. We are really stoked and hope to spark that same excitement in our awesome backers.
Now, back to writing…
Donaven – Rusted Portal Games