At last we come to the final manuscript preview. With this update, the entire current draft manuscript is available for Backers to download and read, before any pledges are processed or any payments collected.
We've actually had the bulk of the rules and systems from Storypath Ultra for a bit now, and with today's chapter we're going to see what it could look like when you use all of the building material from SPU to assemble your own game.
The final version of the Core Manual will present three different settings that use Storypath Ultra as a system. They won’t spell out absolutely everything, but each of them will be a complete game to run for your players. We'll just leave some room for you to adjust and expand on them to suit your own taste.
The first example, presented in today's download, is Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from Hell, which showcases alternative history, supernatural player characters, and a way to add more granularity to combat. Unlike the other chapters, this one also contains a variety of “Under the Mask” sidebars, explaining some of the design decisions of this setting to better illustrate how to create your own Storypath game.
Two additional game examples will be added to the final book, one flavored with a science fiction theme and the other with fantasy trappings. For our Sci-Fi example, backers have chosen "An experimental space flight flings the player characters into a distant galaxy full of strange and alien sights."
For the final poll, you'll be voting on a Fantasy setting example. Your options:
A cozy fantasy game where explorers look for ingredients to help heal their sick dragon friend.
A war-torn world ripped apart by a devastating magic war, and a few surviving wizards try to prove who is the best among them.
A group of young heroes are blessed with magical armor and weapons in order to defeat an evil sorcerer queen seeking to destroy their land.
Voting will run until the Crowdfunding campaign ends on September 26th. You must be a backer of this project to vote for this setting.
WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK
I've now shared the complete draft manuscript over this campaign. Along the way, the team has gathered feedback to help guide the manuscript through the next steps of editing and development. To that end, they've created a special Feedback Form for you to submit your comments after reading each section!
International Shipping – Collected in the Pledge Manager
One last note about Shipping before we get into the manuscript previews.
First up, it's amazingly expensive to ship, especially from Onyx Path's home base in the US. We get that, but there's not much we can do at this time. Onyx Path is in a difficult space where the company is big enough that they're not saving money by fulfilling out of Rich's garage, but small enough that they can't really set up international partners to handle portions of the fulfillment. So we are where we are - for now.
The best we can do at this point is to plan carefully, advise everyone up front that international shipping will likely be expensive (see our projections on the main page) and only charge what it costs us when the time comes. We’ll be charging for shipping in the Pledge Manager once the books are being printed and we can deal with the actual shipping charges rather than using our best-guesses this far out. If you live outside the US and aren't sure you want the hardcover or other physical items, you can pledge to the PDF tier now and upgrade your pledge in the Pledge Manager once we know the final shipping costs.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit magic, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to this Update" link on the bottom and I'll see you below the SPU logo.
