Playtests, Art and the Future
over 2 years ago – Sat, Aug 07, 2021 at 03:46:35 AM

GREETINGS MUNDANIANS.

It’s been a while since our last update, and we can hear your pleas for updates from across the void. Let’s not waste any time and just jump into it!

Honing the Beast (Playtests)

We had our first playtests in June and needless to say, thank you to everyone who participated. All of the feedback was greatly appreciated and we are currently in the process of integrating the notes we received into the game.

This brings us to the current status of the manuscript. Every day the game feels a little more like a beautifully balanced Chimera of Battle, Wit, Story, and Epic Heavy Metal Fantasy. We want to keep the action going, but we understand that everyone is anxious to get the game. Right now the big things we need to still finish are:

• Metal Managerie (Creatures)
  
• Power Moves (Abilities)
  
• The Metal Maestro (Storytelling)
  

We’ve actually brought on some AMAZING writers from our Discord, who also happen to be published game designers to assist us in generating Power Moves. But there are a lot of them, and we’re doing our best to balance them so they feel awesome, and can scale as players progress in the game. It’s a lot like writing Spells for That Beachy Spellcaster's RPG(™)

Album

At this point, we’re waiting on a few more guest soloist, but otherwise the REZODRONE SOUNDTRACK (aka no vocals) is completely done. We’ve got all the contracts in place for the ALBUM (aka vocals from known bands) but the album is coming along nicely.

Make it Pretty (Art)

While we are working on the final manuscript, our amazing set of artists have been turning in some absolutely killer work that we wanted to share with you chowder-heads.

Pay tribute to the gods with your excellent rolls and you can bring Ragnarock to its KNEES!

You like monsters? Well we’ve also GOT SOME MONSTERS to share with you.

And finally, the creeping evil that is The Silence.

Delivery of the Damned

Last thing we want to talk to you knuckleheads about is the state of delivery for the products.

As you know there is a global pandemic happening right now, which has affected many pieces of production all over the world. This means factories are slammed with orders they are fulfilling from last year on top of all the new orders they are constantly receiving.

To that end, we are being told to expect delays from a few of our vendors. In the interest of full transparency, it looks like we are set to receive products in our warehouses closer to the end of November/early December this year. Unfortunately, that means our delivery to you is looking closer to early January as our logistics company is already booked for Christmas.

We know this is a bummer, but it also gives us time to make sure the game is as rocking as possible. Hopefully we have a better idea of final delivery timelines by our next update.

Until then...

They can't stop us, let em try. 

For Heavy Metal...

Sincerely,

Hunters Entertainment

Thunderchild, Symphony, and Dope Ass Art (State of the Game)
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jun 23, 2021 at 02:54:46 AM

GREETINGS MUNDANIANS.

We’ve been grinding away at Gods of Metal: Ragnarock, our  Epic Heavy Metal Fantasy RPG for a while now, and we’re stoked to give you this big ass post-Kickstarter update!

Thunderchild (Development)

Mechanics:
     While we’ve had and shown through liveplay strong bones for the design of the game, it’s taken a lot of effort for less results to finish the game mechanically, not to mention balancing the load (HA!). As a result, we’re not as far along as we’d like when it comes to finishing development - but are coming around the bend.

We brought on Gabriel Hicks and Chris Bissette to put some gas into this engine, leading us into the closed playtest which we’re happy to say was received by over 40 different game groups.

The aforementioned Closed Playtest is now a huge factor of how we move forward. We understand that there are still a lot of holes in the development of the game, particularly in balancing - and we want to see how YOU, the backers and first customers of the game feel about the core system in place before we make the final push to wrap up the core development of the game.

World Stuff:

We brought on board Liselle Angelique to write some DOPE LORE for the game as well. She’s been a huge contributor to fleshing out the world of Ragnarock and it’s beautiful but brutal landscape.

It has long been a tradition for Avatars to one day make a pilgrimage to the Cliff of Power, and successfully scale the near-vertical cliffside of this monumental inselberg, preferably without relying on the aid of your bandmates or calling upon God-given Power Moves. The scaling of the cliff by many is seen as a rite of passage. Some bands have been known to use this feat of strength to solve internal disputes or prove their superiority to rivals without resorting to violence (of course much of the ado surrounding the Cliff of Power is largely down to very effective marketing). Denizens often charge admission to others who wish to witness avatars ascend the cliff, occasionally plummet to their deaths, or be picked off by the pterodactyls that roost atop the rock.

All of this is being integrated into the Map you saw in an earlier update, and you know what - we're getting a pretty cool world here for you to play in.

Overall:

Honestly, we’re behind in development. No way to cut around it. But the good news is that every time we visit the game and put time into it - it feels like it’s becoming a better game. We really want this RPG to be both satisfying in combat, but also not so overwhelming and number-adding that it turns off new players to the hobby who are looking to get their Heavy Metal Fantasy on.

We knew Combat and Power Moves was going to take time balancing, it just ended up being more true than we imagined. But we hope by the time it’s done, we’ll have made something that feels like you can ‘do whatever you want’, without having to lean essentially on the Metal Maestro the entire time to make it work in a balanced Encounter.

Right now Positions now have three paths of play that give you a progressive list of Power Moves you can unlock. Power Moves are essentially Spells/Abilities wrapped up in one and are activated via Tributes.

The thing is, we have like… ~20 power moves for each path of play, times 6 different positions, plus at least 10 Tonal Power Moves for each God. That’s over 300+ Power Moves at the moment to create and balance.

A Symphony of Destruction (Music)

To add even more chaos to our mayhem and madness, Jameson Boaz and Jason Charles Miller, in addition to our Music Producer Paul Gargano have been making huge strides in the soundtrack and compilation which will become both our Vinyl GM Screen as well as our Soundtrack.

They are incredible, and we are so blessed to have them on our project. We can’t give you the whole thing yet, but rest assured, we got you with a couple of 30-second samples to get your blood flowing.

Also, Jason was kind enough to film special guest guitarist Ernie C. (Bodycount) just massacring his guitar to do a solo for us for one of our tracks TITANS WALK AMONG US

Some Mind Melting Art

Art in Gods of Metal: Ragnarock has been a process of discovery, and rediscovery. We have so many talented artists showcasing a wide range of styles in the book, and we’re both nervous and excited about putting it all together. Our Art Director, Caleb Cleveland, has been tapping into his personal Power Moves   in his art skill tree however, so we have a bunch of HOLY SHIT THAT’S AWESOME to show you.

Needless to say, we’ve been busy - and that’s what makes the next part the most difficult.

State of Delivery

Between the intense shipping conditions that the world is currently undergoing and the delays in development - it’s extremely unlikely we’ll be hitting an October delivery date for the Kickstarter.

While many of our other deliverables (like Pins, Candles, and other items - which we’ll show in another update), are going along fine - the game development itself as we mentioned above is behind.

The feedback we get from the Closed Playtest will determine a lot when it comes to setting a date for book delivery - but even then - with all of the issues with logistics that the publishing industry is dealing with at the moment. We aren’t comfortable setting a release date until we know things are on the water and on their way over to the warehouses.

HOWEVER, we will keep you up to speed every step along the way. Right now, it’s back into development - and continuing to finish off the art we have ordered - and PLAYTEST PLAYTEST PLAYTEST.

We look forward to continuing the good work ahead and appreciate all of your support.

Throw your head up high, raise your fist up in the air, play metal.

Louder than Hell,

Sincerely,

Hunters Entertainment

Fixed the music links in prior update
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 22, 2021 at 09:17:14 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Ragnarock is calling YOU (to playtest)!
almost 3 years ago – Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 06:01:43 PM

GREETINGS MUNDANIANS.

It’s been about a month since our last update, and we’ve been grinding away at building out the game for your shredding pleasure!

Since you all have been waiting so patiently, we wanted to share a behind the scenes look at the world of Ragnarock in the form of a work-in-progress map!

While this is still a crude iteration of the map, we wanted you to witness the very birth of a world that you helped bring to life by backing the Kickstarter campaign!

A Taste of Destruction

Beyond that, we wanted to show you how much havoc the Ragnarock dice can wreak. BEHOLD THEIR ROLLING POWER.

Playtesters Wanted!

If you can’t WAIT to get into the world of Ragnarock, we’ve got you covered.

We are currently seeking people to playtest the game! If you’re interested, please shoot [email protected] an email with “Ragnarock Playtest” in the subject line!

Rock & Roll 🤘

Lastly, we’ve got a great Kickstarter for you to check out below -- it ends in 4 days!

Rock & Roll: Adventures for the World's Greatest Roleplaying Game inspired by Your Favorite Records - a quarterly zine of 5e one-shots coming summer 2021 that merges the worlds of popular music and tabletop RPGs, now on Kickstarter!

That’s all for now, but stay tuned for more updates. We have no official close date for the pledge manager at this point in time — so feel free to share the pre-order page with any friends who might have missed out on this totally righteous game!

Sincerely,

Hunters Entertainment

Response Needed -- Get your reward for Gods of Metal: Ragnarock
about 3 years ago – Mon, Mar 29, 2021 at 10:30:26 PM

The BackerKit surveys are out!

Please, make sure to search your inbox (and spam) for an email titled "Response Needed -- Get your reward for Gods of Metal: Ragnarock" sent from "[email protected]".

If you have any trouble logging in, or if you lost your survey email, please visit https://ragnarock.backerkit.com/ and enter your email address to gain access. You can check to see what email is associated with your Kickstarter account in your Kickstarter "Settings" tab. 

Note that if you logged in with an Apple ID, your email is hidden from us and you might not receive the survey. If this is the case, please comment below to let us know.

If you've already completed the survey, it's important to note that YOUR CARD HAS NOT YET BEEN CHARGED. We will send a notification from BackerKit with a 48 hours notice to lock your order before your payment method is charged.

Rock on! 🤘

Hunters Entertainment