New Year, New Villains
over 2 years ago – Tue, Jan 09, 2024 at 11:50:40 AM

The Surgeon / Arms Dealer has arrived.

We're experiencing some slowdowns on production due to holidays and personal matters on our team, however - work is still being done!

Chelsea 'Dot' Steverson is wrapping up drafts on the Guts and the Surgeon. What role does she play in your game? She has a complex morality and backstory that allows for her to be a neutral shopkeep, ally in taking down the Vineyard from within, or enemy. When your party members are infected with a Rot Stain, they may wish to visit them in the Dark Market to have such a limb removed. The Surgeon reconstitutes such body parts into weapons, harnessing the mythical traits of the Guts, before selling them under the pseudonym The Arms Dealer. Just think of the customization options! You can see Yorsy's rendition of the Surgeon (she/they) below.

We have found a sensitivity consultant with limb difference lived experience to make sure we are addressing or avoiding as many issues as possible with this type of story.

Delays in delivery

I apologize, but I regret to inform you that we will not be making our April 2024 delivery promise. It was too ambitious of me to estimate 11 months after funding. However, we are nearing completion and should be able to deliver PDFs in 2024. Currently, we are in discussion with a publisher to handle distribution and I am confident that the quality of the printed book will be satisfying.

I will have an updated timeline for PDF delivery once we finish editing.

The Undead Gala on Alchemy VTT

We've struck a deal with our friends at Alchemy and they will be ingesting our introductory adventure to their library soon. If you are a backer: You get this for free! Others may buy this from their store as it becomes available. We'll be sending you all updates on this as they develop, but you can expect sometime in 2024. No, this does not slow down our production - Alchemy is handling the conversion for us.

Vineyard RPG Adventures
over 2 years ago – Sat, Nov 18, 2023 at 05:51:21 PM

Vineyard RPG Adventures

We're launching an adventure book crowdfunding campaign in 2024 after we fulfill our core book to you all. We have recruited 6 fantastic writers to the team (and bringing some back from the core book) so we can deliver the very best in storytelling. The book will be an anthology of adventures that spans the entire City and features many of our undead villains.

What types of adventures would you be excited to see? Sound off in the comments.

Did you read or play The Undead Gala?

We'd love to hear from you. Rate & Review The Undead Gala! Backers: if you haven't received your courtesy copy of that adventure, message me your email and I'll send it to you ASAP.

The Undead Gala is here! Check your email.
over 2 years ago – Sat, Oct 28, 2023 at 05:02:17 PM

Thank you so much to all of our community of backers and supporters! We've completed our intro adventure The Undead Gala and wished to share it with you all before it was posted on DriveThruRPG publicly or sent to Tales of the Valiant backers. It will contain a clickable $15 coupon for BackerKit pre-orders, so if you'd like to use that to upgrade your order with more add-ons, you're welcome to do that. The adventure will go on sale at DriveThruRPG next week - and we'd greatly appreciate if you gave us a rating/review after you've had time to read & play it. (With the included caveat in your review that you received a copy because you backed our Kickstarter.)

You will receive an email from DriveThruRPG with a link to download your copy!*

*If you do not receive an email, please shoot me an email to isfriday@gmail dotcom with the email address you used to back us on Kickstarter. I'll get it over to you ASAP.

In this 48 page PDF you'll find everything you need to:

• Introduce the setting to your table.
• Introduce La Chismosa as a villain.
• Build up the mystique and power of Aisling Rovehnna & The Confessor with their brief appearances.
• Introduce whisperborne as a lore component of the setting and (future) player option.
• Terrify your PCs with The Rot.
• Begin the party's journey toward either fighting or joining forces with The Vineyard.

Join the Discord and give us your feedback in the #vineyard-rpg channel! https://discord.gg/isfriday

My team would love to hear from you - I'll pass along your feedback to our contributors. While this adventure has been in-house and contractor playtested extensively, your feedback is going to improve the rest of the core book and future versions of this adventure. If you have questions for me or want to tell us your table stories, I'd be eager to hear them, too!

Happy horror gaming.

-Friday

Post Big Bad Con Update!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Oct 05, 2023 at 01:04:43 PM

Big Bad Con

Hello hello! I had the wonderful opportunity to attend Big Bad Con. I'll be releasing a podcast with some of my industry peers soon if you are curious about attending in the future. What does BBC mean for Vineyard RPG? Well - I was scoping out some new adventure writers and artists for our 2024 adventure releases on DriveThruRPG.

That's right: After the core book is shipped to backers we'll be publishing more adventures. My intent is for people to be able to segue to Vineyard content mid-campaign at their tables, insert one shots featuring the content to test it with your players, or to give you a starting point for a new campaign!

The Undead Gala

If you backed our Kickstarter: You'll be receiving your courtesy copy of The Undead Gala in late October. (This is before the Tales of the Valiant backers, because of our promise to you.) Once we send you the link you'll be able to download the adventure, play it, and if you have the spoons it would be great if you wrote us a review on the DriveThruRPG website. You will, according to website terms of service, need to disclose that you received it as part of your pledge to the Kickstarter.

Still, reviews mean a lot and help other GMs decide if it is the adventure for them. Any support in that way helps us a ton. Word of mouth is the #1 seller of RPG books. What's more? Every copy of Undead Gala will give its owner a $15 coupon to pre-order the core book on BackerKit. So people have good reason to check it out!

The Core Book Update

Our last two Lieutenants are being drafted currently by Basheer Ghouse and Noordin Ali Kadir. Once those are submitted, we'll have all Lieutenants finished.

Sebastian Yūe has finished the second draft on The Grapevine chapter which explains the history, lore, plot hooks, and actionable items for GMs to use in creating the Vineyard's propaganda machine. The printing press is a fun plot device with planned handouts and customizable PDFs for you to bring the slander to life.

I'll be back later this month with your download link for The Undead Gala.

September Update!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Sep 03, 2023 at 11:53:52 AM

Hey y'all,

Locations, locations, locations

For Vineyard RPG we are delivering a number of fantastic places for you to run your adventures. Here's a sneak peek of The Warrens & Hilltop.

History of the Warrens district (excerpt)

Once an industrious location for the people who worked at the market, shipyard, and all other enterprises that required skilled labor - this district now houses but ghosts of its past. Within the last century, the Vineyard has crept its way into ownership of a majority of establishments here. The tipping point for many families came 20 years ago when a ghoulish assault went unchecked for longer than many would forgive the Vineyard for.

While the rich flourished and moved on from this dangerous location, the people of the Warrens were never inclined to feel jealousy or resentment for those who abandoned it. Everyone knew and embraced that it was a scrappy place where laborers raised their own. Just as the money began to leave the District, the Vineyard filled in the void to keep commerce alive.

History of the Hilltop district (excerpt)

Hundreds of years ago the district was a druidic farming community that used their magic to fuel an affordable supply of food and medicinal herbs for the City. Once merchant families were able to leverage the advantages of worry-free sustenance, they began to buy out the beautiful gardens in Hilltop. This resulted in the official formation of the district as the families cooperating led to a complete change of hands. Walls were built soon after, and the nickname The Walled Garden sprung up amongst the less fortunate. The druids became employees of the families - cutting the supply of affordable high quality foods for the masses. Now their magic creates feasts for the wealthy, instead.

The Undead Gala adventure (free for KS backers)

I'll be forwarding a free copy of The Undead Gala to all backers. This adventure will be wrapped up into the Vineyard RPG full release, so I feel as though it would have been weird to not give it out. Stay tuned for that in October. You also would receive this adventure if you had backed Tales of the Valiant with the adventure pack add-on!

This adventure's PDF will come with a coupon that you're welcome to use on BackerKit. This won't change the price of your KS pledge, but if you want to get yourself an add-on at a discount, you can!