CASKET LAND

Three Day’s Journey
about 5 years ago – Fri, Mar 08, 2019 at 06:55:12 AM

“Three days - that’s all the potable water we can spare. You walk out into the Casket Land, and you either come back to us with water, or you don’t come back at all.”

Three. Days. 

That’s all we have.

This has been an amazing journey. When I played Casket Land for the first time all those years ago I didn’t expect this would ever happen. I’ve had family and friends call me, shocked, that Casket Land is what took off for me. I continue to be stunned. 

I almost hesitate to say this but - the game you funded? The game I’ve been mired in for 2 months now? In a strange way it mirrors this campaign. There’s a goal, there’s a group, there’s a time limit, and one of two outcomes…

Gameplay.

I’ve had a few folks ask about game play. It’s a harder question to answer than you think - how do I tell you what you’re gonna get without giving away the whole game? For a while I wanted to point you to the Powered By the Apocalypse site, Dungeon World, or Monster of the Week so you could dig through those rules and see what you’re getting into - but Casket Land, though inspired by all those games, isn’t like them. 

The core mechanics are the same, sure - but the flavor? It’s bitter like blood and dust. The rules? As broken as the characters you’re about to play. 

Ok - THAT is a little melodramatic. Sorry - remember - game flavor. 

Casket Land shares the core rule set that all Powered By the Apocalypse games do. You get a number of free actions, you adhere to luck and hit points, you get a certain set of moves and abilities depending on what sort of character you choose to play. 

The major difference in Casket Land is: There is no leveling up, there is no XP, and one of your moves is determined by a D6 roll instead of chosen. Sometimes that move is good, sometimes it’s neutral, and sometimes it’s real bad. Life is chaos, here and in Casket Land. My goal was to make a game that was playable in one night, by ANYONE regardless of TTRPG experience. 

An Example. 

I’m gonna use the DRIFTER class to give you a little taste of what to expect from your character playbooks. 

No one knows you, but you know everyone. They’re all the same - from town to town, waste to waste - these people bicker until there is bloodshed. You’ve survived each town’s demise, and you’ll survive this one. The question is - after this place falls to ruin, where else will there be for you to run?

DRIFTERS know the Casket Land better than anyone, for it is their only true home. 

DRIFTER JUDGEMENT:

TRICK - 0

BACKBONE - +1

SMOOTH - +2

BRAWN - -1

CREEP - +1

LUCK

Change a roll to 12 or avoid harm - choice is yours. But once you’ve checked all the boxes, you’re done for. 

HURT

Four or more hits and you’re halfway in the ground. 

ASPECTS:

You know two things to be true - this land will kill you, and it will do so because you are human. You get all the standard actions, but must roll a D6 to determine what has kept you alive in the Casket Land for so long alone. The number rolled determines your what kind of survivalist you are.

1. STALKER: Nothing walks this land without you knowing - all you need is time and something left by your prey. 

You know all that’s happening around you in this waste. Once per day you may SEARCH for tracks or items abandoned by your quarry and use them to find exactly what you’re looking for. 

1. RUNNER: You know the land, you know what lives in it, and you know that to survive it, the only option is to run. 

If you choose to run and hide from a conflict - you receive no penalty, and no monster will take an attack of opportunity against you. 

1. MADMAN: You’ve seen things out here, and they have driven you mad. The only difference between you and the madmen wandering the hills is that you hide your true nature slightly better. 

You get +1 CREEP and if you ambush or attack from a hidden place, you cause +2 HURT.

1. CANNIBAL: To survive, you must eat. At the beginning it was difficult, but after the first two members of your old party the guilt faded and you began to crave the taste...

If you eat flesh from a hurt ally, you regain health. Roll + Backbone. On a 10+ you regain 2 hurt and damage your ally 2 hurt , 7-9 you heal 1 hit and damage your ally 2 hurt, however, on a miss the party member you’re eating gets to roll HURT against you.

1. PLAGUE: Where you go, death follows. You hide your marred skin and open sores under blankets and bandanas, but the poison seeps through to any that would lay hands upon you.

ANYTHING (madmen, bandits, allies and monsters) that touches you immediately takes +1 HURT. 

1. OUTCAST: You weren’t always wandering this place - long ago you belonged to the CULT OF CRUACH. You were ostracized and thrown out, but not before learning dark and terrible rituals. 

If your enemy uses magic or rituals against you, Roll +CREEP. On a 10+ you block their attack and turn it back on them with +2 HURT added, on a 7-9 you successfully block their attack, on a miss +1 HURT gets added to the attack against you.

ATTACKS:

A STEP AHEAD - You’ve seen it all before, you know what’s coming. Roll +SMOOTH. On a 10+ you see the route or vantage point that will cause the least amount of harm to you (and your allies if you so choose) and YOU gain advantage against any foes in battle - add +1 HURT to all successful attack rolls. On a 7-9, you see the route or vantage point that will cause you the least amount of harm. On a failed roll you see nothing - but no harm comes to you.

TRACKER - Nothing walks this land without you knowing - all you need is time and something left by your prey. 

At the start of each day you can choose to TRACK. Roll +SMOOTH.  On a 10+ keep 3, and on a 7-9 keep 1. You may use what you keep to ask any of the following questions to receive a truthful and detailed answer. 

Is this person or monster being truthful?

Where do we need to be next?

What is our prey’s motivation and weaknesses?

Is there a less perilous route we can take to accomplish our goal?

WEAPONS AND ITEMS:

PITCHFORK - 3 hurt - 2 hand, messy

KNIFE - 2 hurt - hand, quiet

WATER CANTEEN 

FOOLS GOLD 

TALL TALE

BLOOD FROM A STONE 

GOLD- 10 pieces

Oof. Lotta flavor text there.

And that’s really the goal of Casket Land. I’m giving you a story to play, sure...but I’m also giving you the elements to build your own really messed up occult western game. 

There’s one final stretch goal Casket Land flavored element I REALLY want to give you. But I can’t talk about it until we pass $15K...

We’re in the final stretch - let’s make these last 3 days REALLY count. 

Drink up before things go down...
about 5 years ago – Tue, Mar 05, 2019 at 03:58:27 PM

"I can't take away the things you've seen, but I can poison you just enough that you forget...for a while..." 

Uh. 

2 more stretch goals were unearthed last night, and I can see that the last one is honestly probably gonna break over the weekend. 

What's that mean right now? Well, the FOOL class is unlocked - so as soon as I wipe away some of my comic deadlines, you'll be getting some really sick character art for that class. And hell, once we hit $12k (I can see it, oh man, can I see it) I'll share my favorite move from each class. All...all 11 of them.

I've had a few folks ask about stretch goals going forward and honestly? I didn't expect that all but one of the stretch goals would be unlocked within a WEEK. So now I'm scrambling to get some prices for some really, really, really cool potential $15k and $20k stretch goal options. I like to do everything locally if I can (neat to support local business!) so if these options I'm exploring are in fact, doable, they shouldn't impact our ship date!

Alright - as always, you all have been great. If you happen to be going to ECCC in Seattle or C2E2 in Chicago during March be sure to stop by and say hi so I can thank you in person!