Apologies if I’ve been quiet since the pre-order campaign ended. Its been a question of drawing up mundane To-do lists and knuckling under and getting the work done.  I’m planning to do at least monthly updates from now on.

The big big huge news is that OpenQuest 2 is going to be in colour 🙂

Just before the pre-order campaign ended, literaly in the last couple of days, I received an email from OneBookShelf who run Drivethrurpg.com/RPGNow.com saying that their POD printers now support what they call ‘standard color’. This new printing option works out a couple of pounds/dollars more expensive than black and white. Pending a successful print proof, this means that we can do OQ2 in colour. Certainly the PDF. So I spent an exciting couple of days emailing artist Simon Bray and discussing the practicalities with him. Turns out he had the time to colour in all his existing work and the new pieces he’s done for OQ2 and due to your generosity during the pre-order the cash was there to pay him. He has now completed for 60 or so pieces of art in OpenQuest 2, see the example below 🙂

I’m now working out if the money is available to colour Savage North, Life and Death and Here Be Dragons, within the deadlines that I’ve set for getting the books out to you. A bit of a rethink on my part, so bear with me while I sort it out.

Progress in other areas
New introduction has been written, Character generation has been tweaked and clarified and Battle magic now has 40+ new spells. Next up is new spells for Sorcery and Divine, as well as more example magic items. My overall plan is to get the updated core rules done by the end of this month, get the new material proofed and then update the adventure books. Layout should commence for OQ 2 in early Dec.

One of the big criticisms of Old School Style games, is the tendency for them to become a matter of resource management. Hit Points being a prime example. A party enters a Dungeon, gets into fights, carefully keeps a track of lost hit points managing the rate they are lost and regained (through healing spells/potions) and then returns to the surface when the Hit Point loss/refresh rate is working against them.

I’m especially conscious of this when I’m playing OpenQuest which has two sets of beans to count: Hit Points and Magic Points (especially if the party are exclusively using Battle Magic).   I’ve worried in the past that this goes against OQ’s story telling leanings, and occasionally come up with Magic Pointless spell casting rules (all of which have been unsatisfactory). But you know what, I’ve kinda come to love them and being strict about how quickly Beans can regenerate, as opposed to hand waving their recovery, can drive the story in interesting directions too.

….yes I’ve been working on OpenQuest 2 Battle Magic (40 + new spells) this lunch, can’t you tell 😉

Tom Zunder, land lord of the Tavern bb, is churning out OQ/D100 versions of some of the OGL D20 Monsters, with extra content.

• Go check it out on this forum post.

At time of writing we are $320 off last stretch goal (The Adventures Book).

I’ve added a new Upgrade perk for any of you who want to Upgrade to a higher level.

Remember miss this and you’ll miss a lot of free stuff, and the game doesn’t go on general release until least Feb 2013.

OPENQUEST 2 is GO! GO!
Just under two weeks of the IndieGoGo.com preorder left.

http://indiegogo.com/oq2

Pick up has been outstanding and we’ve reached four out of five stretch goals.

This means

A new version of OpenQuest 2 expanded to be the IMPERIAL EDITION.

Highlights of this….

•     US Letter Size
•     Available in hardcover
•     Tidied up and reorganised rules, to remove any remaining ambiguities.
•     All internal Clip art replaced, existing art improved and new art added by artist Simon Bray.
•     Purely random character generation.
•     New Spells, (at least 50 Battle Magic )
•     Sorcery Enhanced.
•     Generic Deities + spells.
•     Blood Magic for evil magicians.
•     Straight forward rules for Relationships by Simon Bray.
•     At least ten New Monsters.
•     Genre Guides. How to use OpenQuest for specific Genres such as Swords and Sorcery, Low Magic settings, High Fantasy etc
•     Plus other small highlight boxes, containing explanation of current rules for the first time D100 player or Games Master.
•     New wrap round cover by Jon Hodgeson
•     Mass combat + Domain rules
•     Otherworlds of magic explained.
•     More setting info for the Empire of Gatan.
•     More plunder items.

Because we’ve reached the stretch goals for them all preorderers will get.

• OpenQuest Basics – a quick start lo art version of the game, in 6in x 9in format. If you order a printed version of OQ2 you automatically get a printed version of OQBasics 🙂
• OpenQuestRpg.com – a hub for all OpenQuest activity, including the extended family of OpenQuest games (currently The Company and the upcoming River of Heaven), with forum, online SRD for reference, as well as a members only area with exclusive preview material and playtest material.  All pre-orders no mater the level get members access for a year.

The final stretch goal , a book of OpenQuest Adventures, is in sight, and all preorders will get a pdf copy (with the option of a printed version) way in advance of general release.

Remember its the final two weeks. If you  don’t preorder now you are going to have to wait until the game goes on general release in Feb to grab a copy and will miss out on the free shipping and extras (so no free printed version of Basics if you don’t preorder the printed version, and no free year subscription to OpenQuestRPG.com ).

Thank you for your time.

Regards

;O) Newt

Two weeks until OpenQuest 2 preorder closes. One stretch goal to go. Major update imminent 🙂