2/28/2025
The Aftermath of the Kickstarter
This month we launched the Crowns 2e Kickstarter. It failed, due to I believe four reasons:
- General oversaturation of OSR Elfgames (not helped by me)
- Lacking a strong central pitch beyond “it’s really well organized”
- Way too high of an earnings goal (budget planning was made using COVID lockdown reasoning)
- Kickstarter exclusives bloat causing high prices for the product
That’s okay! In the ashes, Crowns 2e will rise again! We’re fully releasing the game TODAY with a 50% sale for anyone who owns Crowns 1e. Everyone else gets 10% off. This sale will go on for all of March and by tracking the itch-funding for it, we’ll see if we can reach smaller, more manageable goals with it!
Click the image below to go the sale right now!!! (this one’s for the 50% off sale, the link at the bottom of the page is the 10% off sale)
Long Live Aketon!
This month we also launched Aketon! Originally, this was supposed to be a small side project (I literally made it in just two days), but people seem to really love it! I’ve received a flood of positive feedback, some tweaks people would like to see, and ideas of what could be added in future tri-fold expansions (looking you “we need dwarves” guy on reddit).
Stay tuned for more, and click the image below to get the most up-to-date copy of the rules for free!
Blog Posts
In mid-February we started the blog back up, so we have a lot of fresh content for those interested! Some design articles, some reviews, and the start of a new blog series: Queen of Dragons, check them out below!
Dev Logs
This month we’ve had plenty of Dev Logs this month. Let’s take a look at what the big updates were!
2/3/2025 – Kickstarter is Live!
Thank you for everyone you followed the Kickstarter and/or Crowns 2e on itch.io! Now is your chance to back it and get access to the full PDF (which will be uploaded in March, selling for $20… (read more)
2/3/2025 – Crowns 2e Kickstarter is Live!
Crowns 1e was great fun, and I learned so much from it. Crowns 2e will be (already in many respects already is) greater in every conceivable way than its predecessor… (read more)
2/5/2025 – Quickstart Update
The previous adventure felt like a rush job so I sat down and rewrote it as a trifold adventure site. It’s the same base, but with a totally different plot, better layout, and a more interesting… (read more)
2/10/2025 – Combat and Monsters
Missing is no longer a null result, if you miss an attack you at least Mark the target. This means that the next attack made against them, assuming it hits, stunts, and if it would stunt… (read more)
2/14/2025 – Beast-Kin!
Beast-Kin are the “humanoids” of the Crowns universe. I always felt that the word “humanoid” felt too sci-fi, I don’t think medieval/renaissance people would have used it… (read more)
2/17/2025 – Spells and Spears
With the new initiative system, spears and polearms were no longer very helpful, so they needed their bonuses changed. Now, they give bonuses for parrying (it’s easy to keep your enemy… (read more)
2/24/2025 – Small Items and Big Monsters
Holy icons only inflict -2 MOR to their specific enemy type, not -5 (they just weren’t depleting often enough). If a monster is particularly big they are easier to hit but harder to hurt (read more)
2/26/2025 – Long Live Aketon!
Aketon is a tri-fold RPG side project I put together in two days while taking a break working on Crowns 2e. Aketon is based on CHAINMAIL and OD&D, taking almost everything it… (read more)
2/26/2025 – A4 Scale
foletto_ on reddit asked if I could make an A4 version. After some slight tweaks I did! It looks slightly different, that’s because I had to cut off the headings to make it fit. However, the… (read more)
2/27/2025 – Magic, Costs, and Fonts
The will categories have been renamed to make more sense in the setting. The natural approving at spellcasting happens much slower, Seers gain their +1 to spell every 5th level instead of… (read more)
Open Table Games
This month we re-introduced the open table games in the Discord! It’s so fun to play Crowns with the community and get feedback on what could be better and what still needs to be changed. Here’s what we played this month:
Crowns 2e, Hyadic Ghat – 2/8/2025
A demi-plane written by Sam Sorenson on itch.io
2 players
Crowns 2e, Bloodmoon Crypt – 2/11/2025
An adventure written by Magnolia Keep on itch.io
1 player
Crowns 2e, Bastion on the Frontier – 2/12/2025
A simplification of the original Keep on the Borderlands and Caves of Chaos adventures by Mathew Morris (ManaDawnMatt) on itch.io
1 player
Crowns 2e, Rot King’s Sanctum – 2/21/2025
An adventure written by Emiel Bowen on itch.io
3 players
Crowns 2e, Bastion on the Frontier – 2/25/2025
A simplification of the original Keep on the Borderlands and Caves of Chaos adventures by Mathew Morris (ManaDawnMatt) on itch.io
1 player
Crowns 2e, Rot King’s Sanctum – 2/28/2025
An adventure written by Emiel Bowen on itch.io
3 players
What’s Coming Next Month?
As mentioned up at the top, there’s a full release on itch.io with a 50% sale for anyone who owns Crowns 1e. Everyone else gets 10% off. This sale will go on for all of March and by tracking the itch-funding for it, we’ll see if we can reach smaller, more manageable goals with it.
Click the image below to go the sale right now!!! (this one’s for the 10% off sale, the link at the top of the page is the 50% off sale)
As for the rest of the content, open table games will be continuing in March, although fewer in number. More Crowns 2e content, and some development on other games as well.
We’ll also have more blog posts, every Monday, throughout March and beyond until Crowns 2e is complete. I’m excited to tackle next month’s Blog Carnival, write more reviews, expand on Aketon, and continue the Queen of Dragons series!
Thank you for reading!
Until we meet again,
GOOD LUCK ON YOUR ADVENTURES
Ward Against Evil 
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