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What's up, backers??
We all know this by now, but just for good measure, here's a reminder that our Wave 2 preorder is live and will be until November 5th.
Hit us up at support@succubuspublishing.com if you've got questions or issues that need addressing.
Acts 2 + 3, as well as Pirates, still require thorough playtesting and won't be going into print until early next year. We need time to identify and fix any issues our play testers find. After waiting this long, we would feel terrible delivering a lackluster product that hasn't been properly balanced, or even worse, isn't fun.
At the same time, we have a window for production with our factory in November and have hit a point where we just want to get production started without getting delayed further through Chinese New Year.
For both the KS2 Promo Pack and Art Book Vol. 2, we haven't fully decided which print runs these will fall into. The KS2 Promo Pack contains Esper upgrades that only make sense for Act 2 + 3, so this will likely fall into the July / August delivery date, even though it has a bunch of cool stuff that works with Act 1.
Art Book 2 contains tons all the art from Acts 2 + 3 and would make more sense to be delivered in that window as well.
Fury of Nature has already been printed and will likely deliver in December 2024.
The Crawl Compendium and The Bellicose PvP arena have not been forgotten. We still have plans for these, they've just been put on the backburner while we finish everything else.
With all that out of the way, let's take a deep dive into the gigantic expansion that is...
Nightingale waited until the last possible moment, as the heavy mace swung rapidly towards her unprotected body. The man wielding it had arms thicker than her neck, his body almost entirely obscured by heavy metal plates.
"Now!" hissed the Maluma, its voice sharp and harsh in her mind. "Left! Push the limb aside, then pull downward!"
She obeyed, jerking around the falling weapon and yanking sharply on the armored limb. Her own body strained at the force, thin black tendrils briefly emerging from her skin. Something cracked, and the man screamed, tumbling sideways to the floor.
At her back, she heard Rook's shouts, and the sharp ring of steel against steel. Her knight fought desperately to protect her, as though she still needed anyone's protection.
"The bearded one prepares a spell, host! Look!"
She did, her eyes jerking upright. Past the fallen soldier and one of his comrades struggling to lift him, another man clutched a golden spellbook in both hands, eyes fixed on Nightingale.
Nightingale tossed her shortbow aside, taking the curving wand from her vest. She pointed it sharply at the armored spellcaster, and spat a crude curse. The wand ignited with deep red, lashing across the distance in an instant. She barely even felt the fresh wound open in her side, making her briefly stumble in her charge.
She missed only a single step, before black tendrils reached out from within, mending the wound as quickly as it opened. Her target was not so lucky, however.
The curse struck him directly in the chest, sending his golden book tumbling wildly through the air. He screamed as he went down, his skin stained with several swirling marks.
"Finish it," came the Maluma's command. "He's more dangerous than the rest. Make sure he can't fight again."
Nightingale screamed, leaping across the shadowy battlefield in seconds. Nightingale landed on his chest, clawing away at the armored breastplate with both hands. She yanked it sharply aside, exposing the man's vulnerable neck. She twisted the sharp wand in one hand, pressing it up against his skin.
"Harder!"
She gritted her teeth, pressing the bearded man with incredible force. A little more pressure, and he would never threaten anyone again.
"Nightingale!" Something caught her wrist, yanking her away from the fallen mage.
Rook stood beside her, his armor dented and splattered. But it wasn't his strength that stopped her strike---it was the way he looked at her. "Night, we won."
She looked up, and saw he was right. The remaining knights had all dropped their weapons, sinking to their knees in defeat. The path was clear.
"Oh!" She stood, turning her back on the defeated mage. "Right."
"Weakness," the Maluma whispered, its pleasure now turned to annoyance. "His blood was ours."
The Maluma's disappointment weighed heavily on her as they left the defeated knights behind. She denied it this time, but its vast hunger remained. It was only a matter of time.
We’re stoked to have samples of Unintentional Malum: Act 2 & 3 from our manufacturer. They’ve done an amazing job and everything looks really good!
If you haven't seen them yet, check out the images of the samples sent to us!
Check out the components list taken straight from our shiny and polished new Act 2 + 3 Rulebook. Be sure to click each image to get a closer look.
The Adventure books are massive spectacles of storytelling, tabletop combat, choice, and outcomes. Though the narrative is huge, the size of these books reflect the sheer number of outcomes that can occur, and paths that can be taken.
Both the Act 2 and Act 3 Diagram books are over twice as big as the Diagram book found in Act 1. This provides meaningful differences, outcomes, and narrative moments in every single encounter you play. We've packed a lot of story, mechanics, and dramatic reveals into the Diagram books, making every encounter feel rich and interesting.
The new Rule book found in Act 2 has all the new rules required to play all the new content on this Kickstarter. In addition, it contains Variant rules created by the community, and any Errata required for the current printing (1.2) of Act 1.
In fact, you can check out a PDF of the entire New Rule Book here! There are a few missing assets, but save for some examples, it's nearly complete thanks to our community's diligence and attention to detail!
Middara Unintentional Malum: Act 2 & 3 contains new Tiles as well as a new size of board we call Sheets. Some compelling narrative moments are best served by employing the use of more linear types of encounters setups. This is where Sheets are best utilized. A Sheet is much larger, just barely larger than 6 tiles put together! Sheets represent fixed locations; airships, a hot spring, a section within a manor, or even an iconic set piece that is part of an existing tiles set.
Middara Unintentional Malum: Act 2 & 3 contains new Tile sets.
The Middle Passage; a treacherous windswept crack in the earth inhabited by dangerous denizens looking to tear you limb from limb. The cavern itself is a dangerous enough place, requiring tactics to navigate without the worry of monsters.
The Deep Vaults; the name given to the unexplored depths of the Spires of Elenia. This strange place challenges reason, its twisting architecture and howls evidence of some profane intelligence that lives amongst the dim red glow of the strange foliage that somehow still grows.
These tile sets can be connected to existing tile sets, sheets, or used in a modular way that organically connects one set to another using transition tiles. This allows us to transition from one tile set to the next seamlessly.
In some circumstances, sheets can even be connected to Tiles to create wild and strange encounters that keep a group of adventurers guessing from start to end where the story might take them!
Some Sheets might even connect to other sheets to make for truly epic encounters!
You hug yourselves to keep the biting wind at bay. The gusts whip against you, threatening to blow away anything not attached to your body. Up above, the sun peaks the craggy plateau, barely reaching its light across the canyon's belly. The jagged rocks stretch so high that their massive bodies cast huge shadows that creep across wide areas into the distance.
Encounters embody the environments they occur in. Each area contains its own unique tokens, monsters, terrain, and rules as needed. Bringing your gaming group into the world of Middara like never before. The Middle Passage isn’t just tiles—its gusts, treacherous spikes, and the wide array of unique denizens that live there.
Strange corridors curve and twist to incongruous shapes overhead, trailing away at random to lethal falls. The ground pulses under your feet to an invisible heartbeat, accelerating to rapid crescendo as you finally reach an opening. A feted stink fills the air, threatening to suffocate you if you breathe too deeply.
Each unique location puts the story first, building a cohesive theme and structure for the areas you fight through. As players delve deep within new areas, new threats are revealed, and new surprises await.
Each one of our new locations serves a specific purpose in the story. But this doesn’t mean they cannot be repurposed for our Crawl Mode, custom content, or even for a Tabletop Role Playing Game.
Quality over quantity has created encounters with deep narrative ties, skill checks that represent the specific location they occur in, and combatants who are designed around the environment and terrain itself.
Epic bosses can now get unique epic locations! These deadly encounters can be representative of the scale and scope we always intended. Try not to get merked as you confront the horrors of Middara in spooky new locations that will keep your gaming group on their toes.
While some of our new Terrain is baked into the art of the new sheets and tiles, you’ll also be getting all the new terrain as tokens. This allows them to be used in the Crawl mode, other stories we release, and homebrew.
Check out all the new Terrain types, below.
Of course, there are a lot of new tokens… tons. Terrain, Combatant tokens, new Ability tokens, etc. There is an incredible amount of content with unmatched modularity and opportunity for storytelling.
L.U.R.I.D security roams the opulent halls of a debaucherous nobleman’s manor. Behind closed doors, the hushed whispers of conniving elite orchestrate plans to undermine their opposition. If you are caught, they’ll make you disappear.
What skeletons does the privileged class of Elenia hide deep beneath the facade of their glittering manors? But Nightingale may have no choice but to confront the darkness hiding within.
Fate forces her to venture into such despicable places if she wants any hope of survival.
The Maluma threatens to take Nightingale, unless she is willing to make sacrifices. Her desperation has led her to confront those who offer many promises to the worthy—power beyond any discipline a mortal can learn. Hidden in the wilds of Elenia, there are those who preach a tantalizing gospel, one that Nightingale must overcome to reach her goal.
This focus is a breeding ground for creative skill checks. Newer encounters have many more meaningful skill checks that offer radical new approaches.
You can expect newer encounters to evolve, change, and react in ways that keep players on their toes! Some Skill Checks might give an Adventurer more than one option, using different Skills, others might provide options only available to certain characters.
Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 2 & 3 contain high tiers of gear, taking your characters to anime-esque power levels. New tiers of gear, new disciplines, new types of disciplines, and a few surprises. All combined, Middara truly has unparalleled customization in the dungeon crawl genre.
The new dice in Act 2 and 3 come in 6 new colors. Each set of new colors represents a new tier of items and power level in Middara.
Each new tier of Items contains over 60 new items. Alongside their unique magical options, there are over 200 items to choose from between Epic, Legendary, and Mythic Tier equipment.
With literally hundreds of items available, players can create a truly unique adventurer every time they play through Middara.
Old tiers get new upgrades. Act 2 adds Robes and Light Stones as brand new items available starting in Mundane and going all the way through Mythic!
Dozens of new items have been added, woven into our story and hidden behind narrative moments, achievements, or hidden within the encounters themselves.
With new monsters comes new monster loot! We’ve taken feedback from the community and ensured that each and every Item fits a niche, helps a build, or is downright vicious.
To care for a Fey, Jin-Moon is to commit to some fashion changes.
Brand new item types have been added to the game, creating new opportunities for existing play styles and opening the door to brand new directions to take your characters.
New discoverable Familiars unlock new options for those walking down the dangerous path of Assemblage. Take care of your new pets and they will take care of you.
Middara: Unintentional Malum Act 2 & 3 contain a brand new type of Ability called Keystone Disciplines . Keystone Disciplines reduce table clutter while filling gaps in builds found by our wonderful community!
Keystone Disciplines mix and match two different trees to create wonderful build-shaking mashups for all those min-maxers looking to dig into the finer details of Middara.
Since Keystone Disciplines can have their costs reduced by trading in Disciplines you already own, you’ll be able to optionally afford them at many points of the game!
Alongside brand new normal disciplines, we have taken feedback and expanded upon builds that needed it most. Conduit Summoning has been buffed, inflicting poison upon your enemies is now a viable option at higher levels, and players can now tank for their friends by pulling the aggro of Intelligent Combatants!
Many of our new stories contain Stealth Encounters. That is, encounters where adventurers are sneaking through an area in an attempt to not get caught. These encounters detail patrol paths where players can predict where opponents are going to move on their turn, and try to avoid them.
Or… assassinate them and dump their bodies—depending on your style of course.
These encounters are rare, and encountered only when the option makes narrative sense. Still, we’ve made sure to create a full experience for those looking to wear a skin tight ‘sneaking suit’ and cut throats.
That doesn’t mean you have to, though. While stealth encounters are necessarily harder by going loud, we have provided that as an option for those looking to take a less subtle approach to solving their problems.
If you want to read any of these topics in more depth, or discuss them with others, don’t hesitate to join our vibrant discord channel!
Our community kicks some serious ass, and we’re lucky to have them!
Huge shout out to all those helping us make this gigantic game a reality!
Until next time...
