Pledge Manager Closes MONDAY!
9 days ago
– Fri, Nov 15, 2024 at 02:45:17 PM
Happy mid-November, family!
Winter is drawing ever closer, yet as nights grow darker and shadows draw longer, every member of Team MCG is still hard at work, making all manner of rewards for this and other fantastic crowdfunding campaigns.
The Pledge Manager Closes on Monday
We will close the pledge manager and charge cards for add-ons on Monday, November 18th. Now is the time to ensure you’re happy with all you’ll receive from this campaign. Are you suuuure you don’t want to add the Limited Edition Deeper Still Hat and T-Shirt to your pledge? Or perhaps the Witch Jar, which will be a true sight to behold on your gaming table? Nab them now, while you can!
Dig Your Own Grave
Bruce just finished the development pass of this campaign’s first supplement,
Dig Your Own Grave, which expands your character options with all-new descriptors and foci, as well as detailed backgrounds and connections that help establish your players’ characters even more firmly into the setting. There’s also additional equipment and player intrusions. You are going to love how much this book helps immerse your players into the world of alternate Appalachia. Next, this book will go through editing.
Ready for a Challenge?
The Darkest Woods is like no RPG you’ve run before.
The deepest horrors of
The Darkest Woods draw upon your characters' memories and personal fears. Explore their notions of morality, family, friendship, love, and truth and exploit the party’s history, personalities, and shared bonds. Sure, there are monsters to fight—but the true horrors in the woods aren’t measured in hit points, but by the threat they extend to everything the PCs hold dear.
No matter how battle-hardened or blasé your players are, they’ll find new forms of fear in The Darkest Woods.
- Two versions of the encounter area map: a tagged version for the GM, and an untagged version with the secrets removed for players;
- An illustration of the encounter area showing the players what they see;
- Images of creatures encountered; and
- Immersive game assets such as handouts (like tarot cards and journal entries), props, and even audio (as clues and atmospheric sound).
Give your players (and yourself!) the most immersive RPG experience they’ve ever had.
Let’s see if you and your friends have the strength to find—and fight—your way out of
The Darkest Woods.
Thanks again for your support,
—Team MCG
Oh, and one more thing…
about 1 month ago
– Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 02:42:52 PM
Hello again family,
We’re sorry to send you another message so close to our last update, but we thought you might want to hear a few exciting bits of news.
Backers at The Darkness Stares Back and The Darkness Stares Back—New to the Family pledge levels: Good for What Ails Ya, a set of recipe cards with delicious and authentic real-world recipes as well as in-game effects, has been added to your list of rewards in BackerKit—huzzah! (Please forgive us for momentarily forgetting to include it among your rewards.)
The recipes will be authentic, with contributions from Cam and Steve themselves. Imagine cooking up a meal straight from the family traditions of the Old Gods of Appalachia creators—that would make for a great game night, wouldn’t it? We’re also including our advice on bringing your group together to combine a wonderful meal with a fantastic game session.
While this product isn’t ready for fulfillment just yet, rest assured we haven’t forgotten it. If you’re due mamaw’s recipe book, keep an eye on your BackerKit rewards. Plus, this product has also been added as an add-on (try saying "added as an add-on" five times quickly!), so if it isn't one of your pledge level rewards, you can purchase it through the pledge manager.
And one quick message to all of our lovely Old Gods of Appalachia family: MCG fulfills rewards through the MCG Shop, not BackerKit. Each reward will be available to redeem when it completes production. You’re welcome to redeem each one when it becomes available, or wait until they’re all finished to redeem them all together. Each time you redeem rewards, you'll give us your shipping address and pay for shipping.
We kindly ask that if you have questions about our fulfillment process, you give this
helpful guide a quick read before reaching out to Jennifer, our wonderful customer service guru. Though she is magical, she is also human, so any self-help you can do before reaching out is greatly appreciated.
Now… are you ready to be terrified?
Want to add more spooky to your existing game? Want to start a horror campaign or adventure? Planning a one-shot for Halloween?
Simply choose the frights you want to put your players through, and get a
creepy 31% discount on select horror-focused items on the MCG Shop, including
The Darkest House, Stay Alive! and the
Old Gods of Appalachia corebook. And enjoy
13% off everything else (not unlucky in this case).
Save, if you dare…
Here, the woods sing. Here, the squirrel leaps from branch to branch, and the stag lifts its antlered head before bounding away through dappled light.
But go no further, friend.
Do not mistake the forest’s bounty for kindness. Do not think its shadowed depths are simply denser versions of these pleasant shallows. For to venture deeper is to become lost within the ancient chambers of the forest’s dark heart, where twisted and sinister things make their homes and even light struggles to find its way.
Discover why humanity has always feared the wilderness.
Brought to you by the minds behind the horror masterpiece The Darkest House, The Darkest Woods is a standalone horror TTRPG mega-adventure and setting. You can insert The Darkest Woods into any campaign—including (perhaps especially) the one you're playing right now. The characters drawn into its mysteries don't even have to all come from the same world, campaign, or game system.
Thanks again for your support,
—Team MCG
We're Hard at Work on Your Rewards, and the Pledge Manager Opens This Week!
about 1 month ago
– Mon, Oct 14, 2024 at 02:26:56 PM
Hello family,
It’s been about a month since the Old Gods of Appalachia: Deeper Still crowdfunding campaign closed, and we’re excited to tell you about the progress we’ve made in bringing the enriching supplements and cool rewards you funded to life.
Pledge Manager Opening This WeekThe required smoke test for the pledge manager was sent last week. The smoke test opens up the pledge manager to 5% of backers across all pledge levels and gives us a chance to see if we made any errors in set-up. Looks like all is well, so expect to receive your invitation to the pledge manager this week.
Through the pledge manager, you can verify your pledge level, and purchase add-ons, if you wish. (Please remember, we do not collect shipping addresses through the pledge manager. We'll collect your shipping address and shipping payment through the MCG Shop when it is time for your rewards to ship.)
If, after you've received your invitation to the pledge manager, you experience any issues completing your survey, please reach out to us through our
Contact Us page and we will be happy to help you. (The team will be away this week to attend Gamehole Con, but we will be back next Tuesday and ready to answer your questions.)
Dig Your Own Grave Now in DevelopmentThe manuscript for
Dig Your Own Grave has been completed and is now in development—huzzah! This tome, designed for players, expands character options with all-new descriptors and foci, as well as detailed backgrounds and connections that help establish characters even more firmly in the setting and story. Inside you’ll also find additional equipment, player intrusions, and advice to enhance gameplay.
This book will be invaluable at the table, and we can’t wait to get it in your hands. But good things come to those who wait, family, and in the meantime, we think you might want to check out the MCG Shop…
Choose Your Scares: Spoooky Season Sale
Want to add more spooky to your existing game? Want to start a horror campaign or adventure? Planning a one-shot for Halloween?
Simply choose the frights you want to put your players through, and get a creepy 31% discount on select horror-focused items on the MCG Shop, including
The Darkest House, Stay Alive! and the
Old Gods of Appalachia corebook. And enjoy 13% off everything else (not unlucky in this case)!
Save, if you dare…
Do Not Enter The Darkest Woods
Here, the woods sing. Here, the squirrel leaps from branch to branch, and the stag lifts its antlered head before bounding away through dappled light.
But go no further, friend.
Do not mistake the forest’s bounty for kindness. Do not think its shadowed depths are simply denser versions of these pleasant shallows. For to venture deeper is to become lost within the ancient chambers of the forest’s dark heart, where twisted and sinister things make their homes and even light struggles to find its way.
Discover why humanity has always feared the wilderness.
Brought to you by the minds behind the horror masterpiece The Darkest House, The Darkest Woods is a standalone horror TTRPG mega-adventure and setting. You can insert The Darkest Woods into any campaign—including (perhaps especially) the one you're playing right now. The characters drawn into its mysteries don't even have to all come from the same world, campaign, or game system!
Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG
Crossing the Finish Line: Thank you!
2 months ago
– Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 06:37:33 PM
Hello, family—
As we write this update, the campaign has passed its scheduled end point. But BackerKit has a new feature: as long as people keep pledging, the campaign remains open. Additional pledges are still trickling in! At this moment, we're just a hair shy of hitting the stretch goal and unlocking Good for What Ails Ya.
Perhaps we'll hit the $800K mark, or perhaps we won't—but even if we don't, we're so close, and we so very much want to make this new item, that we're going to do it. Consider the stretch goal unlocked!
We're going to call it a night, even though there are still pledges coming in. From the bottom of all our hearts: THANK YOU for your support! Your enthusiasm for this game has brought us three new wonderful tomes that will greatly enrich your gaming experience, not to mention all the other cool rewards like the dice set and tin, Resource Deck 2, t-shirt, stamp set, witch jar, trucker hat, and more!
We do want to give you a heads up on next steps, but there’s a few things to take care of first.
Many thanks are owed to our wonderful partners, Cam Collins and Steve Shell of DeepNerd Media, without whom the amazing property Old Gods of Appalachia wouldn’t exist.
And we must acknowledge the wonderful MCG team. Led by Shanna, MCG designers Monte, Bruce, and Sean are already hard at work on the new books they will be bringing to life for you. Bear and Javier coordinated the artwork and graphic design for this campaign, and will be making the books and other rewards as beautiful as they are functional. Jen, Olivia, and Kate have provided answers and are always available to provide support to you, our wonderful community. Teri, Dominique, and Tammie have corralled the words and tamed the logistics. Charles, the man behind the curtain, has planned and run this campaign.
Together all of us from both DeepNerd Media and Monte Cook Games send you our deepest gratitude. Your support brings the imagination of both teams to life.
Here’s what to expect as we move forward from here.
The Immediate Future
Running a crowdfunding campaign is hard work. We’re looking forward to the weekend and getting a bit of rest. You may not hear from us for a little while, but don’t worry. As we’ve said, the design team is already at work on these titles. We’ll post updates when we have something exciting to share.
The Next Few Weeks
BackerKit began collecting pledges the moment the campaign closed. But it takes them a full two weeks to release those funds, along with the data on our backers, to us.
In the meantime, we will get the pledge manager fully set up. The pledge manager gives us information we need to fulfill your pledge and lets you manage your add-ons and make any upgrades you want. We’ll notify you when we open the pledge manager, which should be in about three weeks.
The Next Few Months
Once you’ve completed the pledge manager survey, we won’t need anything else from you until it’s time to start fulfilling rewards. We’ll be busy crafting your products and rewards in the months to come. We’ll post regular updates but, if you don’t hear anything for a few weeks, don’t fret.
At the same time, please pay attention when you do get communications from us. Our emails and updates include critical information about your rewards.
When Your Rewards Ship
Every time a reward is ready for you, we’ll contact you by email to begin the fulfillment process. Generally, we’ll direct you to the MCG Shop, where you’ll log in, “buy” the product (for free, because you’ve already paid for it through this campaign), pay for shipping for physical items, and check out.
This is an important part of the process because it ensures we have accurate delivery information for every item we send out. (With thousands of backers getting rewards, it's amazing how many people will change their address over the fulfillment period.) You'll pay for shipping at that time.
Make sure to pay attention to communications from us—don't let our updates or emails go to your spam folder, or otherwise ignore them, because if you do you could miss out on some of your rewards.
But What’s This on the Horizon?
The Woods watch you as you wander, lost among the trees.
The Woods don't care.
The Woods see you isolated, lonely, and in terrible danger.
The Woods don't care.
The Woods are ancient (eternal?) and vast (infinite?).
You are small and brief. Hardly worth noting—to the Woods.
Discover why mankind has always feared the wilderness.
Can your characters escape the Darkest Woods before they are consumed by them? To do so, they'll need to discover and master ancient, primal secrets and perhaps even fundamental truths... about themselves.
Mythic witches, horrific monsters, hateful spirits, cannibalistic cultists, and other dangers have always called the Darkest Woods home, but even the cruelty of the woods in winter, of a burning forest filled with charred ghosts, of a region haunted by things churned up in a flood, or of the truly twisted inhabitants of the region known only as the Backwoods test the mettle of any who find themself lost within its dusk-dark, twisted paths.
The Darkest Woods is a standalone TTRPG mega-adventure and setting in the spirit of The Darkest House, usable with any rule system. You can insert The Darkest Woods into any campaign—including the one you're playing right now. The characters drawn into its mysteries don't even have to all come from the same world, campaign, or game system.
So many challenges await. But the Woods don't care.
You are on your own.
Brought to you by the mind that brought you the horror masterpiece
The Darkest House, The Darkest Woods is coming to your game soon.
Would you like us to remind you when it launches? Sign up now!
Stretch Goal Unlocked—the Next One Is Especially Cool!
2 months ago
– Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 12:32:23 PM
Hello, family!
It’s the final day of this campaign, and boy howdy are we off to an incredible start! This morning you unlocked our latest stretch goal, increasing the size of Come Hell or High Water and adding more content directly from Cam Collins and Steve Shell, the creators of Old Gods of Appalachia.
Our next idea is a doozy: it brings together an interesting new game effect, immersive game aids to pull you and your fellow players into the setting, and additional contributions from Cam and Steve. We think you’ll love it.
Good for What Ails Ya
Your intrepid group has tracked the switchback poisoner to the Old #9, and you’re planning to venture into the shaft at first light. Fortunately, your mamaw had a recipe for soup beans and corn bread she’d always make when someone had a run-in with a copperhead or timber rattler. So you gather for a meal, and the next day you set out feeling fortified against the dangers to come.
We’re going to make a set of recipe cards, just like mamaw’s. Each will include a recipe on one side, and a game effect on the other. If your characters cook and eat the recipe, they gain the effect—it’s sort of like making cyphers, but uses normal ingredients and cooking instead of the crafting process. Some of these recipes may have in-world sources.
And that’s not all. The recipes will be authentic, with contributions from Cam and Steve themselves. Imagine cooking up a meal straight from the family traditions of the Old Gods of Appalachia creators! That would make for a great game night, wouldn’t it? We’ll also include our advice on bringing your group together to combine a wonderful meal with a fantastic game session.
Oh, and one more thing! Steve will read these recipes to you as well. You’ll get additional audio files to go along with them. To recap:
- Benefits and mechanics for your games
- With authentic Appalachian recipes
- Including contributions from Cam and Steve
- And more audio files!
That’s a Stretch, Family!
There’s a reason we call it a stretch goal. This is a whole new product, and a truly immersive and fun addition to your rewards. Can we make it there?
This campaign has been on fire today, thanks to your support. With a nudge, that goal isn’t out of reach. Let’s all get out there, share this campaign, and end it on a high note with an amazing new item added to your rewards! See the end of this message for shareable images.
And Join Us Online This Evening!
Drop by the campaign page in the final couple of hours—we’ll be hosting a live stream right here! Shanna, Cam, and Steve are liable to drop by and visit with us for a while, and perhaps we’ll see some of the other fine folk who are helping bring the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game to life!
Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG