I keep on putting off my State of D101 Games 2020 address. The short version is, we are doing well. New stuff is getting out there via the Kickstarters, and we’ve got some great things in the pipeline.

But there’s the stuff that hasn’t got done. That has been hanging around my neck like a millstone preventing me, and in all honesty, going forward.

So I’m currently looking at all the outstanding work from various Kickstarters I’ve run over the years. Stretch goals that have got overlooked and periodically forgotten, as a one band I’ve tried to struggle on regardless.

So given the current Lockdown, I’m using this as a golden opportunity. To get my head down and get all these bits done and out there. I’m calling the whole project “The Great Escape”, and my aim is to have everything done and published and in backers hands by the time Lockdown is lifted here in the UK (which I reckon will be mid-June).

Last year I got To the Stars! the long-awaited River of the Heaven companion out by being bloody-minded about it. So I learnt what I needed to do to bring these long-overdue stretch goals back from the dead.  Which basically boils down to three steps.

1. I’m injecting the fun back into a project that has become “that thing I have to do as work”, remembering the thrill and excitement that I felt when I first felt when I came up with the idea and explained it to backers.
2. Working out a sensible, achievable plan, and getting my head down and doing it.
3. Not feeling afraid to reach out to contributors and asking for help. But at the same time only working with people who will understand the need to get the work done and not put their own spin on it.

If you’ve backed something I’ve done with outstanding stretch goals, you should have received an update explaining what I’m doing and will continue to get updates until it’s done. If you haven’t for a particular project its because I’m still working out a plan to get things done and waiting on collaborators to get back to me 🙂

Like everyone else its strange times here at D101 HQ at the moment. I went on holiday to the lovely isle of Lanzarote back in mid-march and came back to the UK on lockdown. The schools closed, so I’ve now got the 24/7 company of my children and my wife is now working a six-day week at her hospital, which involves getting data from the Intensive Care Unit where they are treating CONVID 19 patients (!).

Last week I made a concerted effort to get back into D101 work, but I’ve been largely distracted having to look after my family. So its mainly been admin tasks, catching up after the holiday. Good news got some playtesting in for Skyraiders of the Floating realms, and ran Defenders of the Dragon Empire – a Wuxia Kung Fu hack based on Monkey RPG, via online games using Google Hangouts.

OpenQuest 3rd Edition is back on track this week, after being put to one side and possibly abandoned, but I’m envigourated with it once again. Its also eased me back into heads-down writing, with a nice bit of tinkering-fiddling writing blowing up in my face and solidifying into a new finished chapter about how organisations (Religions, Sorcery Societies etc) work in OQ3.

My big task next week is to work out timescales for delivery of games and updating Kickstarter backers.

Overall the virus has been a punch in the gut, but I’m quickly getting up off the floor and getting back into the mighty work that is D101 Games 🙂

Following on yesterdays’ spotlight, which featured Project Darklight, here’s one about one of our quietly best selling game, which was released with out much fanfare early Autumn 2015.

What is It?

A self-contained game of monster hunting in the cosmopolitan city of Ancient Alexandria during the Roman occupation.

Although it is based on the Fate game system, it uses a variant called Fortune, which sits somewhere between Fate Accelerated and Fate Core regarding complexity.

How it Came About

Paul Mitchener (Age of Arthur, Starfall, Crucible of Dragons), the author, released it as a standalone game via his Historical RPGs Patreon. I liked the straightforward version of Fate that he used with it, called Fortune. While it retains the meat of the Fate system, there are differences. It uses Professions instead of Skills, (Fate Core), or Approaches (Fate Accelerated).  Extras are used as standard to define anything that isn’t directly part of the character such as magical items, martial techniques or advantages due to some form of social status (the Legionary extra is a good example of this).  I also liked the premise of the characters being monster hunters in classical Alexandria, since I’m a big fan of Roman Epics.

While I liked the Patreon version and I thought with some more work on it, It would be a nice small pick up and play the game. Paul agreed with me, so we started work on it.

The Development Processes

I did a small bit of editorial on the game, asking Paul to clarify a few bits and expand in a few areas (the section on Alexandrian Religion is new). The main aim here was to keep it short and to the point, including lots of gameable stuff without either being vague or going over the top.

After Paul had done his bit of creating this tightly focused game, I rounded off proceedings with an adventure called Saviour Gods. This adventure focuses on a plot to pull down the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which unknown to anyone is a magical ward dedicated to the “Saviour Gods” of the title

I commissioned the ever-talented Peter Town (Mythic Russia, Hearts in Glorantha, The Book of Glorious Joy) who actually relishes the ancient period, to do the art.

Another Peter, Frain (Duty and Honour, River of Heaven, Monkey), did the cover, a scene straight out the Saviour Gods, with a Roman Centurion battling a mummy before the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

I also re-used Stephanie McAlea’s (Stygian Fox owner who produce beautiful Call of Cthulhu scenarios) fantastic map of Alexandria, which she had originally done for the Patreon version on the back cover.

The Finished Product

An A5 11 Page self-contained game. It’s designed to be read quickly and then run with the adventure or scenario seeds straight out of the book. The game even comes with four ready made characters.

Currently available in the D101 Summer Sale with 25% off until Sunday 16^th in print with free pdf, selling at £9 (usual price £12).

• Hunters of Alexandria in the D101 Summer Sale.

Also from DriveThru in Pdf/Print 

And LULU in print.