Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Kickstarter of the Week: Deluxe Tunnels and Trolls

Posted by Katie on 9:30 AM


The team who created the classic role-playing game Tunnels & Trolls comes together again to make the finest edition yet.

Launched: Jan 3, 2013
Funding ends: Feb 5, 2013

When it was first published in 1975, Tunnels & Trolls opened up the role-playing game genre, showing that these games could encompass a multiplicity of ways to make this segment of the game hobby exciting. Today hundreds of diverse RPGs explore every genre, every play style, and serve every player. T&T led the way first.

In the 37 years since then, T&T has seen eight major editions with many accessory adventures and supplements. The game has been published worldwide, including translations into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and even Finnish. It had two computer games created for it, and it has influenced other games time and again. A lively fan community shares their love of the game in blogs and forums. Fan publications abound, licensed and approved by the original designer and publisher. Tunnels & Trolls is a solid substantive game that has weathered the years, worldwide, and thrived.

Now we’re back for more.

In T&T, your heroes might shine or stumble, they might seek adventure in dark alleys … or for some, adventure comes knocking on the round front door with a kazoo band led by red-suited monkeys!

We want to throw wide open the gate of possibilities once more. The original team that put together T&T has reunited: Ken St Andre, Liz Danforth, and Bear Peters are working together with Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo and graphic genius Steve Crompton. Our dream is to create the best version of Tunnels & Trolls yet seen.

The minimum we intend to deliver is a book of at least 200 pages (and possibly a lot more) wherein designer Ken St Andre lays out new rules, including new options for character creation, better methods of character development, new playable kindreds, and new personas like Paragon, Specialist and Citizen.

Further, the book offers the players access to rich, deep world development as never before. Deluxe T&T reveals the Trollworld, as known to the original players, in detail for the first time, and whole continents previously unknown are defined. Steve Crompton has created a beautiful, definitive map assembled from every initial resource available. The book gets a complete graphic make-over, including new art and old favorites, and a new cover painted by Liz Danforth.

The game will play much the same as it did in the 70s and 80s, and be backwards compatible to existing modules and adventures. It will still be fun, lightweight and customizable. It remains a great way to introduce new players to fantasy role-playing while offering a system robust enough to support long-term campaigns. You will still be able to play with friends face to face, or using any of the virtual tabletop hosts. And you can still play the solitaire adventures when you have a little time to kill and no one else to play with.

We believe the game is better and stronger as a system than it used to be. No matter who or where or how you play, Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls will have the power to carry you away.

Or at least, that’s the plan.

Back in the old days, putting out a book like this was easy. Ken’s First Edition was run off at the university’s copy shop, stapled together, and handed to his friends. Even after the Fifth Edition came out, Flying Buffalo would still print solitaire adventures on the leaky old printing press in the back of the warehouse-offices, and staff would spiral-bind the pages together.

New printing technologies make possible options to us that were once prohibitively expensive. In the rewards offered you will see a downloadable pdf and a traditional soft-cover print edition, but also two hard-cover versions. We are looking at what is possible for color interiors. We have some more ideas we don't want to reveal just yet. We intend to get good quality publications across the board. We still want to make great games and that’s why Kickstarter is so important.

We can't do it without your support.



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