Final Week Begins... Free Dice at 666 & 777
over 8 years ago – Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 08:14:23 AM

This project closes one week from today. I'm delighted that we're already funded. Your support and enthusiasm have made this a lot of fun so far. But I think there's more we can do. I'd like to see the English edition of Aquelarre include a silk bookmark, and I'd love to get my own hands on the remaining adventures, especially the solo adventure at 600 backers for the main Aquelarre book.

666 & 777

Everyone knows the Number of the Beast, the Unholy Trinity, each represented by a 6, the number that stands for imperfection in the Bible. Did you know that 777 stands for the Holy Trinity, where the number 7 is Biblical perfection?

What do they mean for this project? They mean free dice for you!

I'm counting only backers for the full-color Aquelarre toward the primary stretch goals, but the total number of backers (ANY backer at ANY level) is very important to a project. The more backers — and activity in general (liking updates etc.) — translates to the project showing higher in search results on Kickstarter. That inevitably means more people find the project to perhaps back it.

So if/when we reach 666 backers, I'm going to give everyone who's ordering any other dice (which means you need to be backing at a level to receive a physical reward, be that Deck100, or Brevarium, or Aquelarre itself, or even KAP 5.2) three free 6-sided dice. By "any other dice" I mean the limited edition dice as well as the Aquelarre dice that are available anytime as an add-on.

These 3d6 will be identical and will have the "6" replaced by the goat head symbol that's on the various d10 that are available as add-ons. You can see this on the d10 that Nosolorol created for the original Spanish game (this die is not available in this KS project).

These 666 3d6 are the same vortex burgundy with gold as the limited edition Day of Dead d10 that were available Halloween weekend (and will be available again for pledges on November 13th... Friday the 13th!).

Similarly, if/when we can make it all the way to 777 backers, those who have added dice will receive the 777 3d6. These 3d6 will be the same angelic-themed borealis sky blue with white as the All Saints’ Day d10. Here's a color reference for those dice:

In the case of the 777 3d6, I'm replacing the "1" side with a symbol (see below). You can either read the symbol as a "1" so these are normal d6, but since they're Holy Trinity Dice, I'd encourage you to read it as a "7", so the die gives a 2-7 result (which is used a number of times in the game, but can be fun even for a 1d6 roll!).

So, if we pass 777 backers, then a whole bunch of you will receive six free d6 with your reward package!

How Can You Make This Happen?

Spread the word. Get your friends to pledge for even $1. I'm happier, of course, if pledges are for a copy of Aquelarre (*), but with more backers of any kinds comes more visibility and I think this will help the project overall.

(*) More of these backers will get us to the 600 needed for the solo adventure!

One Final Detail

If we pass 666 and approach 777, then I'll put the question to you about which symbol we should put on the 777 d6. Should it also be the goat head to mark these as for special use with Aquelarre? Or should it be a cross/religious image also from artwork in the game?

Thanks again for your support. Let's crush this final week!

The Box + The Card
over 8 years ago – Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 08:14:12 AM

This is the most exciting update of the project!

We’re getting down to the truly final days of our project. When I launched the project I knew that this year was the 25th Anniversary of Aquelarre, but I didn’t realize that the *exact* date of the anniversary was known. And guess what? That date is during the 20-odd days of this project, AND it’s a Friday the 13th. Spooky!

This Friday is the 25th Anniversary of Aquelarre!

In Spain, Nosolorol, the publisher of the glorious current edition of Aquelarre, is offering a limited edition of 300 copies of a boxed, leather-bound copy of Aquelarre (including some other cool stuff too). It’s not in the scope of this project to offer a leather-bound copy of the game, but I can offer… THE BOX.

New Pledge Level: THE BOX

I’m offering a new pledge level that allows you to back this noble project and receive as a reward the very same box from the very same source. Nosolorol are themselves making this possible, and I am extremely appreciative of the generous support they have given us during this project. They are truly dedicated to making Aquelarre a global game.

It’s a $200 pledge for THE BOX, and you receive the following:

Everything in the MASTER level pledge: Aquelarre, Brevarium and the Game Director’s Screen — plus a pair of custom Aquelarre d10; all three limited edition d10 for Halloween, Day of the Dead and All Saints’ Day; the Aquelarre silver coin minted by Campaign Coins; the collection of 12 art cards; and a special 13th card with the same back as the art cards, but with a front featuring *an original sketch* by Aquelarre artist Jaime Garcia Mendoza (see below for more details).

I’ll provide the math: that’s $49 for the box. Which is a bargain!

** There will be an additional $8 shipping charge for the box in the US or Spain, and an additional $12 everywhere else.

NOTE FOR IMMACULATE BACKERS: You may add $95 to your pledge to add the box and all the other items included in THE BOX pledge level. You may of course still add more coins or dice, etc.

Also note that you may pledge for multiple boxes. Pledge $235 as DISCIPLE and you may have two copies of Aquelarre and two boxes. Or even pledge $260 for THE BOX and get everything in THE BOX plus a second box.

** Extra boxes ship at half the ship cost, so $4 or $6.

New Add-On: The Empty Box

The Aquelarre box is only available from Nosolorol as part of a special package that’s limited to 300 copies. I feel it’s important to maintain this limited availability, but of course Nosolorol is offering this to existing Aquelarre fans. Lester and I are trying to create new fans with this translated edition. Plus, the box is sooooo nice that I want to make it a little more available as part of this project. Therefore, anyone who is backing at a level that includes the full-color hardcover Aquelarre may add the box as a reward for the add-on price of $60.

So, DISCIPLE or BLESSED DISCIPLE for Aquelarre + box is $120. Add KAP 5.2 and the total pledge is $155.

Or MASTER and BLESSED MASTER is the set of Aquelarre, Brevarium, Game Director’s Screen for $105. Add the box for $60 for a pledge total of $165.

IMMACULATE backers may also add $60 for only the box.

How This Affects Stretch Goals

Since the box is effectively asking you to double down on your pledge to support this project and it’s an add-on only available in addition to Aquelarre itself, it should therefore also count double toward the stretch goal. Every box add-on is worth +1 to the stretch goal count, and a pledge of THE BOX is automatically worth +2 to the total.

New Pledge & Add-On: The Card

As the perfect 13th card to add to your set of twelve art cards, how about an original sketch card by Aquelarre artist Jaime Garcia Mendoza? Available as a new pledge level for existing fans of the game or as an add-on reward, I think THE CARD is as exciting as THE BOX!

You may add-on this card for a pledge of $25 and in this case only you do not need to be purchasing any other physical goods. So if you pledged VIRTUAL SCRIBE for $60 for the PDFs of the Aquelarre trio plus KAP 5.2, then change your pledge amount to $85 and you’ll receive an original sketch card too!

What’s the card? It will have a card back depicting the front cover of Aquelarre to match the set of 12 art cards, but the front will be left blank. Jaime will add an original sketch to your brief specifications. Request “a soaring angel” or “a roaring demon” or “a knight about to enter dark woods” or some similarly brief scene and Jaime will fulfill the request to a reasonable degree.

In Summary

The special 25th Anniversary Aquelarre box and an original sketch card are both available in pledges and as add-ons. These join a great list of other add-on items that were discussed in Update #4.

Last Words

Translator Lester Smith appears on RPG.net chat tomorrow night from 7-9pm! That’s November 12th from 7-9pm. He’ll discuss Aquelarre and take a stab at answering your questions. Keep in mind that he has not already translated the entire book! There are some decisions about the game and game terminology that he’s not going to make until he’s further into the translation (or perhaps even finished).

• Log into Lester’s chat with this link.

You can prep for the Q&A by reading this recent post on Lester’s website. He touches on the Aquelarre character sheet…!

Stretch Goal + #rpgnet + Free Download + Blessed Reboot
over 8 years ago – Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 08:13:53 AM

Just a brief update! Four things to cover:

Stretch Goal #3 Smashed!

Without even counting the number of boxes requested as add-ons to DISCIPLE and MASTER pledges, the stretch goal count is 377 — well past the 350 needed to unlock the 40 new Advantages and 40 new Disadvantages that we'll add to the game.

Next up at 450 is an additional 12-page adventure, and just barely beyond that at 500 is the silk bookmark. I am very hopeful of making both of these goals.

Lester Smith Live on #rpgnet Chat

Lester Smith (translating this game for you!) will be live in less than an hour at #rpgnet chat from 7-9pm CST (that's 8-10pm EST). He'll discuss Aquelarre, perhaps his D6xD6 and remind you that if you pledge to this project you'll receive a free copy of the D6xD6 Aquelarre, and who knows what else will come up!

Please join the discussion and ask questions. Lester loves talking about Aquelarre.

Free Spanish Brevarium

It's past midnight in Spain, which means it's already the 25th Anniversary of Aquelarre. To celebrate, Nosolorol is giving away the PDF of the Brevarium! Yes, the Spanish Brevarium is available as a free download, and probably for one day only, so go grab it. Telll your friends to download it too and point out that they can support this project for an English-language edition.

BLESSED Pledge Levels

Since it's the 13th in Spain, I'm going to go ahead and open up the BLESSED pledge levels. If you're getting THE BOX (pledge or as add-on) then you don't need this, but if you are currently pledging as a DISCIPLE or MASTER, then change to BLESSED DISCIPLE or BLESSED MASTER so that you can add the limited edition d10 to your pledge.

These pledge levels close again at the end of Friday the 13th!