Hi all,

Lo! Thy Dread Empire will be launching on Kickstarter on 02-AUG-2022! Follow the KS preview page now! Development has been coming along really well over the last few weeks. Today I've tidied up the text of the "bare bones" preview document. This contains the very basics needed to try out the rules. Give them a shot and let me know what you think. As they don't really show what is coming next, I thought I'd make this DevLog to talk about what to expect between now and June 2023.

PHYSICAL ITEMS

The main reason to take this to Kickstarter is to pay for art and printing costs. The print copy will be a minimum of 40 pages, A5, Staple-Bound Zine. It will be full colour throughout. Inside you will find safety mechanics, the basic game rules, and a play guide. There are also extra rules for a Game Moderator (GM) to add a bit of spice to scenarios, using miniatures/terrain for your battles, full campaign rules, and a ready to use campaign (including ten factions to choose from).

If we blast through the base funding, the book could make enough to replace the staple-bound zine with a perfect-bound book, double the page count, or have a hardback option open up. The more we make, the more we can do.

There will also be the option to gain a Play Aid Pack with your rewards. This consists of two folded A3 sheets. The first has a poster of the cover art on one side, and a battlefield map for use in play on the flip side. The second sheet has rules summary cards as well as unit and terrain tokens. You can cut these out to use on the battle map.

ART

 Julia Nevalainen is who I'm working with for this project. Her primary style at the moment is abstract digital collage, but she has a lot of experience with watercolours. Her pieces, no matter the medium, remind me of Francis Bacon or John Blanche. As this is a collective effort, both Julia and I are taking union rate for our art and writing, respectively. Any profits above this will be split evenly. The more money we raise, the more art we'll have in the final game. You can see the type of art we'll be aiming towards here.

THE SKELETON WAR: A FULL CAMPAIGN SETTING

It is a world where sickly light oozes through a polluted sky.  Rubble and dirt crunch underfoot. Blasted earth and ruins are interspersed with the alien architecture of apocalypse cults. Dead forests, blasted by the acid rain and searing winds, ensnare the unwary. The fabric of reality has twisted into a dark, surreal nightmare.

Across this land of life-in-death, isolated ghoul clans preach the survival of the fittest, even as the flesh they feast upon turns to ashes in their mouths. Wights, undead who still believe they are living, oversee factory-dungeons and violently suppress any dissent. The Lords of Gender enforce strict behaviour as their swirling masques ravage the land. Bureaucrats from the Necromantic Nation extract life-force through toil, unable to end the misery caused by their own edifice. The Death Cult of Capitalism thinks it has killed any opposition.

And they're right... 

From beneath the unquiet ground, a hand bursts upwards, five decaying fingers form into a fist.

Spirits of Revolt break the ghost-chains which bind them in service. The Mujeres Zobista wrest control of their bodies through the act of collective animation. Black Cross Revenants battle to abolish the Flesh-Prisons, wounded leviathans turned into pulsating cities of torture for their inhabitants. Lost crypts play host to The Skeleton Unions as they plan to strike at the machinery of exploitation. Vampire freedom fighters travel sleeplessly under the cover of night to wage war against those who lay claim to blood and soil. 

Your final struggle is here and now. The Skeleton War rages and there is a world to win. What stakes will you fight for: eternal power over a subjugated dead world, or the liberation of Life and Death itself!

EXPANDED RULES

• Mechanics to ensure mindful play
• Rules for different types of command structure (hierarchal and horizontal)
• Rules for different means of resolving conflicts
• The Skeleton War: A Narrative Campaign featuring setting information, ten faction army lists,  and game set-ups
• Rules for play with and without a Games Moderator (GM)
• Rules for integration with tabletop RPGs and Storygames
• Expanded examples and explanations 
• Reference cards
• Art and Layout
• Influences/Mediography  

The amount that it is possible to add will be set by the success of the Kickstarter Campaign. It launches at the start of August, so please follow the campaign page now, and share the link anywhere it might be of interest.

Enjoy the preview, follow the Kickstarter, and spread the word!

Tanya.