We're starting off a new year and a new decade with our very first blog post! This time around, we'll be talking about our public debut after New Years, our road map for the coming months, and what you can do to support us at this stage in development!
Legends of Avallen started the decade with a triumphant roar, announcing its entrancing world, approachable gameplay, and emphasis on creative teamwork at MAGFest.
MAGFest is an awesome multi-day convention just outside of Washington, D.C. celebrating music and gaming. We presented Legends of Avallen at the MAGFest Indie Tabletop Showcase (MITS) and the response we received was fantastic. About 100 people got some hands-on time with the game; some came to whip up their townspeople in character creation, many continued on with their characters to save a family from a burning building, and we even had an epic 4-hour session that finished with our party of budding adventurers slaying a young dragon in the Otherworld in order to save their town. There was so much fun, creativity, teamwork, and resourcefulness from all our playtesters, including those who had never played a tabletop RPG before, that we believe our design goals have now been met. The feedback was so positive that we are happy and comfortable to say the core of the game design is finished.
So what's up next?
First things first, we'll be polishing up the quickstart guide with some examples so that the rules are easier to understand and put into practice (it's much harder to write for other people than it is for yourself!). Once we're satisfied with that, we'll be sending it out to the fans on our mailing list for general feedback, after which it will be posted for anyone to use. Afterwards, we'll work on some documents for those that want to try their hand at running the game, which will include the intro session that we ran at MAGFest. We can't be everywhere all the time to run the game for everyone, after all!
In the meanwhile, we'll be fleshing out the world lore and developing more advanced game rules that would be used late-game, like class abilities. We're really excited about the world and class progression; we can't wait until you can experience being a veteran adventurer traipsing around Avallen!
I know you're wondering, But what about Kickstarter, where all prospective indie projects are destined to go? Don't worry, Kickstarter is on our radar! Our current plan is to get LoA up sometime during the summer, the funds of which would help us get more art, graphic designers, writers, editors, and much more (like a hardback copy of the rules document.....???).
Whilst we've had nothing but positive response to the game from those that have looked into it and tried it themselves, the future of the game won't reach the heights we want it to without more eyes. The best thing you can do to support the game right now is to sign up to the mailing list at the bottom of this page (we won't spam, promise) for early access to playtest material, concept art wallpapers, and cool, fun blog posts like this, as well as share your interest with those you think might fancy the game so we can grow our base of support.
Lastly, we would love to know what you want to see from this blog. Is it the lore that you're interested in, or would you want more detailed introductions to the game mechanics? Future character customisation options? Development progress in real time? Development history of the game and all the crazy stuff we tried in the beginning? Something else? All of the above? Let us know! You can message us on Twitter, FB, or on the contact form all linked at the top of this page. We're really excited about getting the ball rolling, and we're happy to talk about and explore all facets of the game.
That's all for our first entry out of, hopefully, many. Thanks for coming along on this ride with us!
- Team Avallen
Great first blog post! My answer to "what do you want to see from this blog?" would be work-in-progress images related to the art (I love the stuff that's associated with this game and it's always super interesting to see how it was developed) and also examples of character sheets from the game (as that's often a really satisfying way to digest a character, looking through their stats/abilities and also the extra more story-related things people have written on their sheets that really flesh them out). Cheers!