Dawn of Madness

Mordecai's Burden - The Crushing Executioners - Language Versions Fulfilled
13 days ago – Fri, Jan 24, 2025 at 06:16:47 PM

Hey guys! It’s been a while, but we’re back in the new year with a new update. My apologies that we didn’t have a big update in December. I assure you, it wasn’t because we were taking a long winter break - it was because we were pushing hard to get as much done as possible before the end of the year. (More about that below.)

In this update, we’ll cover the wave one translated version delivery progress (spoilers: it’s done), peer into Mordecai Ashford’s story, and take a look at the Executioners. This will be a long one, so let’s jump in.

TRANSLATED VERSIONS WAVE 1 DELIVERY

Our shipping partner has officially finished delivering the first wave of the alternate language versions! Huzzah! 

If you ordered a translated version AND didn’t select One-Wave Shipping, you should have your copy now. (If you selected One-Wave Shipping in the pledge manager, then you will receive your copy when the translated version wave two ships.) 

If you haven’t received your copy (and didn’t choose One-Wave Shipping), email Cherry at [email protected], and she’ll help you out. You can also message her if you have something missing, damaged, or broken (or if you have questions about your order.)

I hope you enjoy your copy of Dawn of Madness!

WAVE TWO PROGRESS

WAVE 2 ESTIMATE

Our current goal is to start Wave 2 shipping in the middle of this year. This is a reasonable estimate based on our current progress.

We expect the shipping for Wave 2 translated versions to occur 3-4 months later. However, we need more information on the translation progress before we can make a precise estimate. We will closely monitor their progress and provide timely updates.

GAME DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS

From mid-November to mid-January, we worked on finalizing multiple Wave 2 expansions, including testing, components, and packaging design. The original plan was to finish these tasks before the Spring Festival, making the timeline extremely tight. This is why there were no major updates in between. Now that this phase of work has largely concluded, we can provide a clearer summary of what we’ve been doing and the production estimate.

We successfully completed this phase according to our planned schedule and estimates. Although the progress of some illustrations has been delayed, the testing and writing phases have progressed ahead of schedule.

The remaining tasks include:

1.      The Clockmaker Expansion’s Art

Due to the large volume and complexity of the artwork for this expansion and the higher-than-expected number of revisions, we have accelerated progress by collaborating with multiple artists and studios. However, this work will be delayed beyond our initial estimates, with a new target completion date set for the end of March.

2.      The Novelist Expansion

The writing for this expansion has been completed, and most of the game testing has also been finalized. We are currently in the editing and organizing phase. The artwork for this expansion has begun, and our goal remains to complete it by the end of March.

3.      Storybook and Rulebook Layout

This stage requires all preceding components and information to be finalized before beginning. Currently, the plan is to complete this work within March.

4.      Other Language Versions

Some translations require the final layout of all components before they can begin. Our current target for completion is set for June.

Aside from the abovementioned tasks, all other development work has been completed. Moving forward, our primary focus will be on The Novelist Expansion and the remaining illustrations and layout work. (I'm also finishing up a final edit of Mordecai's story, which will be done in the next few days.)

TOOLING AND MINIATURE PROGRESS

The factory has completed the production of all the steel molds except for the bases, and they've conducted the first round of injection molding tests. There will be several more tests before they finalize model production preparations. Based on the number of styles for the second-wave models, this process is estimated to take one to two months.

As for the bases, we need to provide final confirmation for them since they will include some textual information, such as the serial numbers and model names. We've submitted all the data required for the bases' molds to the factory, and the bases' tooling work is ready to begin.

The factory will enter its Spring Festival holiday starting this week. It will resume operations in a month.

AUDIO NARRATIVES

We are also working on audiobook narration for the DoM Storybooks and have been for some time now. (Surprise!) We’ve been carefully selecting the voices for each narrative to best match each story's tone and characters. We’ve already partnered with several talented voice actors who are currently working on their respective stories, and significant progress has been made.

Below are some excerpts from Claude the Detective’s story to listen to. Please note that these are still WIP samples. Anything and everything in them could change before the finalized audiobook releases.

Now, we need your help. If you’d like to volunteer to assist with meticulous, word-by-word proofreading of these audiobooks, please email us at [email protected].

We'll have more about the audio narration as we move forward. It will be available when we reopen the pledge manager.

Okay, that's all we have for progress updates. Now, let's dive into Mordecai Ashford's story.

MORDECAI ASHFORD – THE ANTHROPOLOGIST

It was an impossibility: a place that couldn't exist. Nevertheless, Dr. Mordecai Ashford set out with a team of his brightest students to brave South America's wild jungles and uncover the lost city of Khem. Persevering through adversity, they found it - a place of marvels and blood from a time long forgotten. They explored its forests and swamps, studied its monolithic pyramid and unthinkable observatory, and finally plunged below the earth into the dark chamber of teeth and bones. Mordecai entered with three of his top students - and only he returned.

Ten years later, Mordecai returns to the cursed wilds of Khem, plunging back into the darkness to the altar of bone, surrounded by the spinal pillars. He will complete the ritual that took his students, enter the Otherworld that traps them, and bring them home - even if it means ushering an ancient, world-ending entity back with them.  

However, Mordecai will not be alone as he explores the nightmare realm. His students are there, too - and they all have their own nightmares to overcome. Mordecai may be the lead wanderer in this expansion, but he's not the only one.

GAME SESSIONS

Mordecai Ashford’s story consists of four game sessions across multiple storybooks. Wanderers must play four progressive, connected games to finish Mordecai’s story. The first three games include a wanderer stage and a finale stage, while the final one only features an ultimate finale stage. Players will save specific components between games, and the choices made in a previous session will impact subsequent games. If the wanderers fail any of the wanderer stages, they fail the whole story.

Mordecai’s story features three additional wanderers besides himself: his students Sophia Bennett, Thomas MacAllister, and Andrew Harrison. Mordecai and one required student will always appear in a given game session. The first session features Sophia, the second showcases Thomas, and the third highlights Andrew. While these three additional wanderers don't have miniatures, they do have their own dashboards and components.

Players can choose additional wanderers as optional companions, just like in other stories. The story will gradually unfold as the game progresses. Each session will have its own finale stage, which will determine whether that game's student survives within Mordecai’s conscious world. This outcome will directly impact which students can appear in the ultimate finale, as well as the boss's strength.

STUDENT WANDERERS

All the student wanderers have their own starting and locked domain cards and existence deck. These cards will be unlocked upon the completion of their respective game session, with those existence cards becoming a part of Mordecai’s Existence Deck.

Encounters are spawned from encounter cards in each game, divided into Mordecai’s and the students' encounter decks. Every encounter is a Reality Shard, meaning that the wanderers experience them from either Mordecai's or a student’s perspective.

Each wanderer accumulates Fusion Points throughout their respective encounters. You'll use the Student Wanderers’ Fusion Points for special actions during their specific game session’s finale stages. On the other hand, Mordecai’s Fusion Points accumulate across all three game sessions and are used in the ultimate finale.

Players must find a balance between accumulating Fusion Points for both the student wanderers and Mordecai, as each plays a crucial role in shaping the course of the game.

The game features up to 133 encounters for players to explore. However, players can only access less than 50% of these encounters during one playthrough. Different choices made during the game will have a direct impact on future sessions, resulting in varying rewards that ultimately influence the player’s performance in the finale. These decisions shape the path ahead, affecting both the progression and the outcome of the story.

STORY SEGMENTS

Now, let's look at a few snippets from Mordecai's story, plus some more art from his cards. As usual, these may feature small spoilers but nothing that will hurt your enjoyment of the game. Gameplay elements have been removed as has context, and these may be partial encounters, spliced encounters, or otherwise be altered. All that to say, feel free to enjoy these without worrying they'll ruin your future games. Let's dive in.

Bats in the Lab

Thomas turns to you as you pass the final cages. Blood coats his fingers and the small scalpel he clutches.

You don’t want to look, but you must. Stepping forward, you see a dead bat lying on the table. Its body is as long as your forearm, with its wings outstretched. Thomas has flayed open its belly. You know throwing up on your friend’s research would be rude, so you close your eyes, breathe through your nose, and count to ten before opening your eyes again.

“Isn’t it great?” Thomas asks, and the enthusiasm in his voice is almost comical.

No, it’s not great. It’s a dead bat.

But you summon a tiny smile and answer, “Sure, I guess. It’s a bat.”

Thomas laughs. “Of course, it’s a bat. But my breeding program is working.”

Thomas launches into an explanation of the disease process he’s studying, how this particular dead bat shows no sign of whatever it was he expected to find in its guts, and how that was wonderful because it means that whatever he was doing was a success.

“That’s wonderful, Thomas,” you reply, and although you have no idea what he’s talking about, he seems so excited that it’s hard not to share a bit of his enthusiasm. “Maybe we can talk more about it… somewhere else.”

He looks around the lab as if seeing it for the first time. “Oh. Yeah, I guess it does kind of smell like bats in here.”

“Yes,” you reply. “It does.”

His face falls slightly, and you hasten to add, “But it’s fine. Research is always messy.”

“I guess not yours,” Thomas says. “Astronomy isn’t…” He glances down at his hands for a moment… “isn’t bloody.” He shifts uncomfortably, and your eyes are drawn to his shoulders again. Something doesn’t look right.

“Thomas, are you all right? Maybe some fresh air will do you good.”

He brightens immediately. “Great idea. The night air is the best thing for us.”

You’re unsure who he means by “us,” but you somehow doubt it involves you.

Thomas strides to the window and throws it open, taking deep breaths of the cold air that rushes in. You move to join him, but he turns his head. His eyes glow yellow.

“Don’t.” His voice bubbles out, and you stumble backward until one of the cages stops you. Tiny claws scramble at your back, paralyzing you to the spot.

Thomas sheds his lab coat and spreads the vast black leather wings that sprout from his shoulders. Every bat in the laboratory screams along with him as he leaps from the window and soars out into the night.

Cocoons

The jungle swarms with the sounds of night. Insects chirp in the trees, generating a constant, undulating wave of sound that rises and falls as you walk. Frogs croak, and unseen things splash. Occasionally, a cry splits the night as some small creature meets its end between vicious teeth and claws.

You don’t fear the night. Crawling things don’t bother you, and you're too big for most of the forest's animals to make a meal of. Only the mosquitoes will feast on your blood as you wander between the trees’ trunks. Your lantern draws them, but you would soon be lost without its light as you navigate the moonlight-choked shadows beneath the trees’ canopy.

The path opens into a small clearing. The trees finally part to let the moonlight through, and you set your lantern on the ground. Pale shapes in the trees around the clearing draw your eyes. Summoning your resolve, you approach one of them.

Stark white against the dark foliage, the shape resolves into a cocoon hanging from a strong branch. It’s enormous, and you wonder what kind of caterpillar could be pupating inside. It must be some unknown species – something as thick as your waist and as long as you are tall. You smile momentarily, imagining Thomas’s excitement at discovering this mysterious giant.

You can see three of them spaced equally around the small clearing. Retreating to its center, you wonder when the cocoons will release the enormous moths they must carry.

You don’t have to wait long. With the sound of tearing cloth, one begins to open. You stand in front of the small hole to see what comes out.

A human arm pokes through the silken fibers.

It’s thin and bony, the skin saggy and gray. Shock roots you to the spot as the substance tears further, allowing the passage of a shoulder, a neck, and a head. The eyes are sunken, and the lips pull back to reveal long teeth without gums. It looks like a corpse that’s been dead for months, and you realize that the cocoons are not cocoons at all.

The corpse looks at you. Shreds of long dark hair still cling to its pale skull. The nose is half gone to decay, but there’s no denying who this was.

“Sophia,” you murmur.

Sophia looks at you and opens her mouth in a silent scream.

Noises from behind you send you spinning. The other two cocoons tear as the long-dead bodies of Andrew and Thomas clamber out. Thick mucus covers them as they spill from their gestation pods onto the wet ground.

You race to the edge of the clearing, searching for the path that brought you here, but find your way blocked by a thick wall of thorns. There is no way out.

“It’s me, Dr. Ashford,” you say. But as they crawl toward you on palms and toes, you realize they already know. They have waited for you to return to this lost valley. They have longed for you to find them and bring them home.

Instead, they’ve found you. And none of you are ever going home.

Flowers in the Bog

You don’t even notice the swamp’s smell after a while. It fades into the background of your senses because there is so much else to focus on. Snakes dangle from branches, pretending to be innocent vines, until a little furred creature tries to climb and becomes breakfast. Vines dangle from branches, pretending to be innocent snakes, until a bird flies by and learns that some plants are carnivorous.

You slog through stagnant water up to your knees until you come to a shallower, firmer spot of ground. The dense overhead rainforest canopy parts above you as a small flower patch pokes up through the ankle-deep algae.

They look like sunflowers from a distance, pale yellow with thick middles and sparse petals around the edges. You edge in for a closer look.

The flowers stare back at you.

Instead of seeds in the center cushion, a hundred tiny eyes blink, swiveling to focus on your face. You get no feeling of intention from them: they could be friendly or hostile, hungry or complacent, intelligent or merely present. But they’re absolutely looking right at you.

You’re struck again by Khem’s wondrous species. This hidden, cliff-ringed valley in the middle of the jungle holds flora and fauna utterly alien to the outside world. And you’ve discovered them.

The honor of discovery allows you to name the new species. Heliopthus annuus? Helianthus opthalmia? On the way home, you’ll have plenty of time to sort out the perfect names for your discoveries.

Home. It’s almost time.

The scratching at the back of your brain is right. You’ve felt it for a while now. Your meandering through the wonders of Khem has taken on a new urgency since… when?

How long have you been here?

That was the other voice – or one of them. There are so many these days. You decline to answer. Time doesn’t matter here – only science.

The sunflowers blink at you, and you spend a long time blinking back, trying to establish a pattern or communicate with them. You can discern no rhythm to the blinking either within a single flower or among the group. All the eyeballs’ random blinks create a mesmerizing flow. If each flower has a hundred eyes, at least a thousand blinking orbs surround you in the little patch.

Regular sunflower seeds are edible. You wonder if these tiny eyeballs are edible as well.

On the Nile

You awaken with your heart pounding. Vague memories of abject terror flit across your mind, and you momentarily gasp for breath.

It was just a nightmare. Not real.

The world rocks gently beneath you, the hot sun washing your face. You stand, gaining your footing on the deck of a small wooden boat.

“Mordecai, you’re finally awake.”

The voice belongs to Harold Arnak, your father’s best friend. Something in your memory nags at you. It’s like the unsettling feeling of realizing wormholes pock your apple after you’ve eaten half of it. But you shake it off, smiling at the man who was your only father figure after your dad died in that terrible accident in Egypt.

Egypt. With a start, you realize that’s where you are right now. The boat you’re on is sailing up the Nile River. You are ten years old, and your father just died. Mr. Arnak is taking you home, and grief chokes you momentarily.

Harold lays a gentle hand on your shoulder. “Are you okay, son?” he asks. “I know this is hard on you. But it will be better once we’re home.”

It won’t be better. You know this. You remember it from your devastated childhood even as you’re living it now.

Shouts erupt from the little craft’s bow. You rush forward to see what the crew points at in the water.

A hippopotamus stands in the shallows. It rocks with strange, jerky movements, lurching from left to right in the water. You lean over the railing to see why it’s behaving so strangely.

The crew is still shouting, and you recognize one of the words: Crocodiles.

You see why the hippo’s moving so strangely as the small ship passes the hippo in the water. It’s dead, its feet stuck in the muddy shallows, its body buoyant in the rippling water. And it’s being eaten by crocodiles. The dead hippo jerks back and forth in a hideous dance as each reptile rips a bite from its belly. The macabre scene sickens and fascinates you.

The small boat pitches beneath your feet. Before anyone can react, you tumble over the side, splashing into the water. It’s deeper here, and you submerge in the darkness, clawing your way back to the surface to suck in a lungful of air.

“Help me!” you cry to the boat, but a strong wind has already pulled it far from reach. The current sweeps you backward, and you struggle to stay afloat.

Something large bumps your leg from below. You kick away, clutching at the water as you swim toward the muddy shoreline.

The dead hippo is there, standing still in the current. The crocodiles are nowhere in sight.

Swim. Just swim. Get out of the water. Egypt has no more dangerous place than the Nile’s edge.

You kick hard, and your foot sinks into soft mud. It sucks at you, trying to trap you like the hippo for the crocodiles to consume at their leisure. Up close, you can smell it decaying in the hot sun. Its eyes and part of its face are missing, and a cloud of insects buzzes around the rotting gray skin.

And then it disappears.

The hippo vanishes into the river’s depths with a stream of bubbles, sucked under by… you don’t know what.

By something that scared away the crocodiles.

Mud sucks at your feet, and you claw at the waist-deep water.

Escape. Escape. Escape.

You’re so close.

Something thick and strong wraps around your ankle. You don’t have time to gasp a breath before it drags you backward and down.

The Nile is a shallow river, but the thing around your leg pulls you deeper and deeper underwater. The light dims, and your ears pound into your skull. You try to wrest your leg free, but your hands slide off the slippery tentacle that grips you.

You cannot hold your breath any longer. In the purple darkness of an impossible depth, you gasp, saltwater filling your throat and lungs. It burns a hot white fire.

The tentacle releases your leg, and you spin in the water. Your last vision is a shadowy shape: a hundred slithering arms and a razor-toothed mouth that opens to suck your limp body inside.

THE EXECUTIONER ABOMINATIONS

The ground shudders beneath you as you sag to your knees. Looking up, you see the mountainous, molten abomination thunder into view, hefting its monstrous bludgeon bound in ribs, chains, and bones. Pieces of its previous victims still rattle and drip off its wicked weapon, their arms and legs dangling limply. This being has become your judge, jury, and executioner. It has already weighed you and found you wanting. No hope remains but that of a swift end. Bowing your head, you wait for it to execute your sentence. 

The Executioner abominations are coming, and they will take no prisoners. Using Detainment tokens to slow the wanderers and hasten their justice, the Executioners can be a brutal new abomination family to add to your games of DoM. Let's look at how they work.

GALLOWS

As I mentioned, the Executioners apply their unique Detainment tokens to torment the wanderers. Each Executioner uses these tokens in unique ways. For Gallows, all world shards with a yellow sentience icon are considered Detainment spaces and receive a Detainment token.

Whenever a wanderer enters a Detainment space, it will automatically pursue the nearest wanderer, closing in like a tightening noose.

If a wanderer is present in Gallows's space when it activates, it will inflict damage equal to the current round number. It’s as if a strangling rope is gradually tightening around the wanderers' throats, becoming increasingly dangerous as the game progresses. The later in the game you are, the more perilous the situation becomes.

When no wanderers are in its space, the Gallows will resolve Confrontation Cards. It will use numerous methods to force wanderers into Detainment spaces, tormenting them with damage or imposing negative effects, such as giving them Slowed, Weakened, or Disoriented cards.

GIBBET

Similarly to Gallows, Gibbet considers world shards with a green sentience icon as Detainment spaces at the game's beginning. However, it won't stop there, creating more Detainment spaces on the board at the end of each round. These Detainment spaces' effects are incredibly painful, causing wanderers to lose 1 die on all sentience tests for every sentience color.

Upon activating, Gibbet targets or pursues wanderers with weaker sentience values. Furthermore, it will resolve a confrontation card with every activation.

Through these confrontation Cards, Gibbet can cause wanderers to become Lightheaded or directly reduce their sentience values - unless they are willing to pay the required cost. These methods serve to assault the wanderers’ sentience further, much like a gibbet slowly torturing its trapped victims inside its bars until they collapse from the torment.

HEADSMAN

Headsman is quite different from the previous two Executioners. Instead of controlling spaces on the board, it responds to the wanderers’ actions throughout the game. It also accumulates Detainment tokens via confrontation cards, making it progressively more dangerous.

First, Headsman will immediately activate whenever a wanderer performs an encounter or attack action. If a wanderer is in Headsman's space, it will consume all of its accumulated Detainment tokens to deal massive damage - provided it has accumulated enough of them. If there are no wanderers in its space, it will resolve a confrontation card instead.

Headsman can move, accumulate Detainment tokens, and deal damage through its confrontation cards. It constantly monitors every wanderer, punishing each of their rule-breaking actions. (And it sets the rules.)

BLUDGEON

Bludgeon interacts with Detainment tokens in a very unique way. Whenever a wanderer performs an encounter or attack action, Bludgeon will toss a token, much like flipping a coin. Thus, there is a 50% chance it will respond to the wanderer’s action. If it is successful, Bludgeon will immediately resolve a confrontation card.

Through these confrontation cards, Bludgeon will immediately pursue the wanderer who took the previous action and deliver a harsh punishment. This includes inflicting damage in multiple colors and forcing the wanderer to bear the consequences of receiving wounds.

When Bludgeon activates on its own, it will either kill a wanderer in the same space or pursue the most distant wanderer. The further the distance, the greater the damage dealt, provided it can catch up to the wanderer.

Okay, that's it for this update! I hope you have had a great start to 2025 and that it only gets better for you in the weeks ahead. We'll talk with you again soon!

Translated Copies at the Warehouse!
2 months ago – Tue, Dec 03, 2024 at 04:08:13 PM

Hey guys! This update will be short today, but we have good news if you've been waiting for your translated copy of Dawn of Madness. 

We finally managed to fulfill the EU's requirements and got the products through customs. The goods took a couple of days to reach the warehouse, but they have now arrived. The warehouse is organizing everything and pushing some other projects through the queue, and then they'll start on this. Based on their estimates, we expect the translated games' deliveries to begin shipping next week. 

Once again, we're very sorry for the delay in your receiving your translated copy, but it seems your wait is finally coming to an end. We'll let you know when we hear more, which should be soon.

We will have a bigger update later this month, but we didn't want you to wait longer for this news. Have a great day, and we'll talk with you again soon!

Time Grinds On - The Clockmaker's Big Update and Translation Status
3 months ago – Tue, Nov 19, 2024 at 07:26:25 PM

Hey there! Today, we're finally ready to discuss Edward the clockmaker and how his game works. We'll also discuss Wave Two's progress and the translated product shipping status. Let's jump in.  

Translation Shipping Status

The ship containing the translated products arrived at the port at the end of October. It was initially scheduled to arrive on October 7th, but it had to take a much longer route due to the conflict in the Middle East. Since then, the games have been going through customs, where they remain trapped.

Why has customs taken so long? Because the EU recently instituted new rules that require additional testing for incoming products. We've never dealt with these new rules before (including when we delivered the English DoM earlier this year), so they surprised us. We're working quickly to overcome this hurdle and get the games to the warehouse. 

We're terribly sorry for this additional delay. I'm sure this is as frustrating for you as it is for us, but we're doing everything we can to end this process as quickly as possible.

Wave Two Progress 

For the Wave Two wanderers' progress, I am finishing up editing/rewriting Edward's endings. Another writer has also completed the initial writing for Mordecai, and I expect that one only to require a relatively light edit. Overall, we continue to plug along on all of them. We may be slightly behind where we wanted to be, but not significantly. 

TOOLING PROGRESS

We recently received new pictures of the Wave Two steel molds from the factory. Currently, the tooling process is progressing pretty smoothly.

We hope to have more production info for you soon.

Edward Hirshfield

THE TICKING HEART - PROLOGUE

An old, crumbling apartment building stands in a forgotten corner of the city, its decaying walls concealing secrets that refuse to fade. Unseen scars bind its tenants, their traumatic pasts haunting their present. But something far darker stirs beneath the surface: a hidden thread that weaves their fates together.

All but one member of the once-proud Hirshfield family has mysteriously vanished. They left behind nothing but the haunting echoes of an unfinished arcane ritual, the sounds of a strange machine grinding in the gloomy stillness – and an army of strangely sinister old clocks.

The clocks littering the building are more than timepieces here: they symbolize the curse that courses through this place, twisting time and reality. Each tick is a moment lost; every tock is a reminder that the boundary between this world and another is thinning. Time doesn't pass in that other world. Instead, it distorts, erases, and devours.

This place is the Root: the foundation of all time, where everything begins and ends. It is a realm of unblinking eyes and shifting shadows, where the foolish pay the price for tampering with time's flow. It is a world that consumes those who challenge its rules.

As the Hirshfield family's last surviving heir, you find yourself tied to this building, the ritual, and the curse. The only way to end it and reunite with your lost family is to complete the ritual – and tear open the fabric of reality itself. You can do this only by creating a passage between the living world and the Root, but time is running out. Each moment is a step closer to either redemption or damnation.

Can you finish the ritual in time? Or will the ticking in your own heart eat through your soul before the clock runs down?

The end is near. And it will determine the fate of everything you hold dear.

INTRODUCTION

Edward's story takes place within the unsettling walls of the Hirshfield Building. There, wanderers must confront the terrifying fates of its twelve residents. Each resident's seemingly unconnected horrors conceal a shared truth: a mysterious ritual that holds the key to the meaning of time and the secrets hidden within its fractures.

As the wanderers uncover these encounters' outcomes, they will finally reveal the intertwined destinies of Edward, the residents, and his family. The choices made and the paths taken will shape the building's fate and Edward's ultimate destiny.

THE HOURS AND INHABITANTS

Edward Hirshfield's story is divided into twelve segments called Hours, represented by twelve Hour cards. A single game session lasts three Hours, meaning the wanderers must play four progressive, connected games to finish Edward's story. The first three games only include a wanderer stage, while the fourth game features a wanderer and finale stage. Wanderers will save specific components between games, and their choices in earlier sessions will impact subsequent games.

Each of the first twelve world shards represents an apartment belonging to one of the Hirshfield Building's residents. For example, World Shard 1 belongs to the inhabitant Maria Isabella Anderson.

The wanderer Edward Hirshfield controls the Clock dial throughout the story. Set the Clock dial to "12" at the beginning of each game session. During the game, various game effects will move the Clock dial.

One hour passes whenever the Clock dial completes a full rotation. When that happens, wanderers must determine a specific inhabitant's fate by resolving that inhabitant's corresponding Hour card. For example, wanderers must resolve the "One O'clock" Hour card when the Clock dial completes its first full rotation during Game 1, determining Maria Isabella Anderson's fate (World Shard 1's inhabitant.) At two o'clock, players must decide World Shard 2's inhabitant Alan Thompson's fate, and so on.

Wanderers will uncover each inhabitant's end in sequence as time progresses. One game session concludes after wanderers resolve three inhabitants' fates, continuing until they've decided the fortunes of all twelve inhabitants. At that point, the campaign enters its finale stage. The outcomes of all twelve inhabitants will determine which ending the wanderers will enter.

HOUR CARDS

The Hour cards are a countdown system that requires wanderers to complete specific encounters within a limited time. Each Hour card specifies the encounters the wanderers must complete before that hour arrives.

For example, the Hour card "One O'clock" requires the wanderers to finish all four of Maria Isabella Anderson's encounters before One O'clock (when the Clock dial completes its first full rotation during Game 1.) If the wanderers meet the conditions, Edward enters the listed entry, resolving Maria's fate. Then, the game continues. The wanderers lose the game if they fail to complete the required encounters, they lose the game.

In each game, the first two Hour cards always require wanderers to complete all the encounters for their respective inhabitants within the time limit. Meanwhile, the third card requires them to complete any remaining encounters and defeat the abomination. When the wanderers meet the third card's conditions, they immediately resolve the third Hour card and conclude the game session (they don't need to wait for the Clock dial to complete the full rotation.) However, if they fail to do so before the third full rotation completes, they fail the game.

A game session also includes other inhabitants' encounters besides its three principal inhabitants. Wanderers can complete encounters in any order but must ensure they complete the specified encounters before the next hour arrives. Players should read the Hour cards' requirements before starting the game.

THE CLOCK AND WORLD SHARDS

Edward Hirshfield also controls the Clock marker. At the beginning of each game session, you'll set the Clock dial to "12" and place the Clock marker on world shard 12 – "Edward Hirshfield." These components represent the mysterious connection between time and space in the Hirshfield building, shaping this eerie world together.

During the game, players will transport the Clock marker to the world shard that matches the Clock dial every time the dial moves. In other words, the Clock dial and Clock marker's positions always match, cycling together through 1-12 o'clock and world shard 1-12.

Resolving encounters, taking damage from the Sentinel terrors, and leaving Sentinel terrors alive until the end of a game round will all move the Clock dial and Clock marker.

Edward's world shards are different from other wanderers' in that they have no specific wanderer or finale stage sides. Each of the first twelve world shards offers a game effect on its front side. World shards 13-16 do not contain game effects and are identical on both sides.

Every world shard starts with its front side facing up at the beginning of Game 1. Players may flip over select world shards to their rear sides as the story progresses. Every world shard's front-or-back state must be recorded and maintained between game sessions. Players will also preserve their final orientations in the finale stage.

Wanderers can use the game effect on a world shard when the Clock marker is on it. However, they can only use each world shard's effect once per round.

ENCOUNTER CODAS

There are no encounters printed on world shards in Edward's story. All the encounters come from specially designed "encounter coda" cards.

During each game's setup, take out all 21 of the current game's encounter coda cards and spawn the "Starting" ones on their corresponding world shards. The game will instruct you when to spawn the remaining cards.

After fully resolving an encounter, the wanderer will flip the current encounter coda card over and acquire it as a coda card. If there are two outcomes for the encounter, the wanderer will resolve the effect listed in the result you received.

You'll find no sentience icons printed on the coda card side because of this unique design you would use in a confrontation action. So, when performing a confrontation action, wanderers may exhaust one coda card to roll one sentience die for each sentience color to help them damage the abomination.

MORE CHAOTIC AND UNPREDICTABLE

Every encounter in Edward's story has a coda card, which means wanderers will modify their sentience values each time they resolve an encounter. In other words, you'll change those values more frequently than in other stories.

Additionally, after concluding every encounter, the Clock dial will move clockwise, thereby also moving the Clock marker. Then, the wanderer resolving the current encounter must usually transport to the Clock marker's current world shard. This mechanism makes the game more dynamic, and the wanderers should keep that in mind when strategizing.

Since the wanderers only have three full rotations of the Clock dial to complete a game session, time becomes an invaluable resource. Wanderers can acquire Time tokens by eliminating Sentinel terrors (Edward's specific terrors) and prevent the Clock dial from turning by spending them.

EDWARD HIRSHFIELD

Edward is a man of remarkable composure, even bordering on coldness. His actions are methodical; his demeanor is precise and unwavering. He can effortlessly take apart, repair, restore, and even create clocks, a skill requiring great depths of meticulous analysis. Because of this, he features three blue sentience at the start of the game. While capable of deep empathy and an uncanny ability to perceive the fates and pains of others (giving him two yellow sentience), he remains haunted by an underlying fear when faced with the supernatural (thus, why he only has one purple). Now, in his later years, Edward bears the scars of a life shaped by early family tragedies and the collapse of his ancestral legacy. Decades of solitude and relentless struggle have drained him of passion and vitality, leaving him with little more than the shadow of routine to sustain him. Because of this, he starts the game with zero red.

Yet, within him lies an unyielding riddle whose answer has eluded him his entire life, tying his heart in knots. This unspoken burden has forged within Edward a profound inner strength and a relentless capacity for self-reflection, giving him four green sentience at the game's beginning. After years of preparation, torment, and silent endurance, the moment he has awaited is finally upon him: the ritual is at hand.

Edward's abilities are limited in his own story. As such, he cannot use his starting existence card, "Cheating Time," and his sealed card, "Manipulating Chronos." But still, he can benefit the wanderers with skills related to the concept of time, such as boosting their mental capacity, decreasing a monster's mental capacity, and reviving used domain cards.

Although his abilities are limited in his game, Edward can unlock a domain card each time the wanderers conclude an inhabitant's fate corresponding to that inhabitant's story.

After the wanderers complete Edward's finale for the first time, they will unlock Edward's locked card, "Manipulating Chronos," and a bunch of Clock cards based on the inhabitants' fates. Then, he can use them and his starting existence card, "Cheating Time," while playing other wanderers' stories.

Clock cards record the effects on Edward's world shards and transplant these effects into other wanderers' stories.

SENTINEL TERRORS AND EDWARD MALFORMATIONS

Edward himself is not the only one who can use Time tokens.

Sentinel Eidolon

Eidolon is slow but can force nearby wanderers to lose health based on how many Time tokens it has. Plus, it consistently gains Time tokens over time. In addition, the Sentinels' attacks can decrease the wanderers' mental capacity if they can open the eyes that litter their bodies (using eye domain rifts).

Sentinel Revenant

Revenant regains health based on its Time tokens. It also gains 1 Time token each time it loses health, making it difficult to kill.

Sentinel Scourge

Scourge can gain Time tokens quickly, and it uses them to become faster and faster as the game progresses. It will soon be racing across the board if not dealt with swiftly.

Malformation I: Reflections on Time

Edward's first malformation can protect other monsters from being harmed. Furthermore, it will gain Time tokens and use them as extra health by testing the wanderers.

Malformation II: Memories of Her

Edward's second malformation can provide other monsters with extra mental capacity. It does this by accumulating Time tokens, which it also uses to strike the wanderers harder.

Malformation III: Past Present Future

Edward's final malformation sets a final countdown for all the wanderers while constantly damaging the nearest wanderer. When it accumulates 12 Time tokens, everyone dies instantly.

Story Segments

Finally, let's look at a few snippets from Edward's story. As always, while these will contain mild spoilers, I doubt you'll get enough from these to massively spoil anything from playing the whole game. I've removed gameplay elements from these encounters, and they may either be incomplete or combine different sections. But they should give you an idea of what to expect from Edward's story. I've also interspersed some of his art between these story segments. Enjoy!

Under the Surgical Lamp

You stagger dizzily under the oppressive overhead lights, trying desperately to focus and regain your bearings. You squeeze your eyes shut against the brilliant blaze bearing down on you, shaking your head to clear it as stars burst behind your eyelids. It feels like hours pass before the shock subsides, and you can force your eyes open again.

Gradually, your surroundings refocus – and you realize that the apartment has utterly changed. The gloomy, derelict space has become a cross between an operating theater and a fever dream. The sofa has become a surgical table with a blurry, distorted silhouette lying atop it. It's like someone carefully drew a person in ink, then smudged it with a misplaced thumb.

The figure throbs and twitches, its form fluctuating as if conjured by the darkest recesses of your nightmares. Then it screams, the shrill, piercing sound sending shivers coursing through your body.

You sense invisible spectators lurking in the gloom, crowding closer and closer around you. Though you can't understand their words, their hushed whispers and muttered secrets rustle in your ears. Claustrophobic panic wells inside you as you look around, searching for them. They shuffle and shift just outside the light, but you still can't make them out in the shade beyond the spotlight's glow.

You realize that's what's above you: a surgical lamp directed squarely over you and the bed. Somehow, its gleaming brilliance intensifies even further, nearly blinding you again. You grimace, trying again to shield yourself from its harsh blaze as the shadows outside its circumference mill about. The light's intensity increases further, eradicating any straggling shadows beneath it. You're unworthy to be beneath its light. Its touch burns.

A hoarse, strangely modulating voice emanates from the writhing smudge on the surgical table: "Save me. He says you can. You're an incredible doctor, aren't you?" The black silhouette convulses, throbbing slowly, then faster, then manic, then plodding.

The droning murmur outside the light becomes more insistent, urging you forward and driving you toward the table. Looking down, you find a scalpel clutched in your trembling hand. How did that get there? The throbbing blackness spits and sputters as you approach it.

Your hand clamps around the operating table's edge. You lean forward –

The roiling humanoid figure sits bolt-upright, then unleashes a shrill female scream. "Lies!" she cries. "You're nothing but a dirty, lying addict! What did you do to me, you scared, simpering little boy?"

The pulsing silhouette becomes more defined, taking on a ghastly woman's shape. Her venomous, accusing voice pierces the air and rings in your ears.

Your heart gallops in your chest, the scalpel quaking between your leaden fingers. The shadow woman grows larger on the table, finally enveloping it as she continues expanding. Despair pours over you, threatening to drown you as the lines blur between reality and your tortured psyche. Your failures and insecurities become manifest in this ever-growing being.

Black Widow

It takes a while for your eyes to adjust to the blackness that has consumed you. Finally, you find yourself in a boundless, otherworldly domain woven from countless thick cobwebs. Reaching out, you touch one of the strands. It's hair. Crouching, you brush your fingertips across the floor. It's made of hair, too. Gulping, you straighten again.

Straining your vision, you barely discern an object in the distance. Can you even truly see in this place, though? Or are you just creating illusions to follow? Maybe it doesn't matter. You have to do something.

You inch toward the object, each step muffled by the thick strands beneath your feet. Their rustling sounds fill the air, accompanied by the ghostly whispers of countless spiders scuttling in the darkness. Your skin crawls, imagining what may lie just beyond your fingertips.

Finally, you reach the object – and find a decaying corpse dangling in the air. It almost seems scorched. Droplets fall from above, pattering on your forehead. Then, you hear something breathing overhead.

Gathering every ounce of courage you still possess, you look up. A woman hangs in the emptiness above you. Slowly, a glow builds up within her, burgeoning outward, revealing that every hair in this vast webbed nightmare travels back to her scalp. Her numerous limbs twist in a macabre ballet as she fixates on the corpse before you.

Perhaps the woman's face was beautiful once, but that was before the severe burns and scars ravaged it. Her wounds almost seem to move in the soft, glimmering light, writhing across her visible skin. You can't see her eyes inside the black hollows of her sockets. You're unsure if the light simply doesn't reach them or if they are actively absorbing it like two black holes. Regardless, they leak the same viscous fluid that earlier kissed your skin.

The woman slowly descends along her hair toward the man's body, her mouth opening wide, wider, wider, her lips and cheeks splitting to expose the agony beneath. Then, she begins to devour the corpse's flesh, releasing a new flow of sluggish blood down its twitching extremities. Squelching, ripping, and chewing sounds drift through the darkness, forming a grotesque symphony that consecrates their eternal union. It's as if they are fated to remain forever bound together. You grimace, feeling your stomach churn.

Tide

The bathroom door groans behind you. Glancing back, you watch with widening eyes as it bulges outward, straining, straining –

The door erupts into an explosion of soft chipboard fragments. A black torrent pours out from behind it, raging down the hall toward you. You barely have time to take a deep breath before the foul tide surges over you, knocking you off your feet. You crash into the wall and furniture that dissolves as you barrel into it, whirling uncontrollably in the current. You claw at the water, the vines, anything to get a handhold…

The water level drops, allowing you to surface. You take a massive gulp of fetid, rotten air, then look up – and gasp. A whirlpool has appeared in the center of the room you now wallow in. You can't tell if this space was a bedroom because the maelstrom has sucked down all its remaining furniture. You realize it's dragging you toward its maw, too.

Against physical laws, something rises out of the vortex. A ghastly feminine figure emerges, wearing the sea's miry rot like a garment – or a second skin. It pulses as if breathing in syncopation with her. The woman's arms lengthen, elongating into whipping, flailing tendrils. They score the walls and grab whatever debris remains in the room, pulling it toward the vortex's mouth. Did her arms develop extra joints or lose their bones altogether?

Black, briny seawater seeps from her void-like eyes, staining her pallid cheeks as her mouth dangles in a flaccid, despairing "O." Her stretched, torn lips cannot conceal the rows of razor-sharp shark's teeth gleaming in her jaws.

The sea woman rises. Her deformed legs quiver grotesquely in the water as she turns toward you. Terror grips your heart, but you also notice something else about her. Something heartbreakingly sad.

Reshaped

Your body unravels as reality crumbles and your compulsory dance crescendos. You feel your skin peel off your muscles, your bones grind to dust, and your organs unspool at the whim of some unspeakable force. Splinters from your skull impale your brain, making eruptions of light and darkness bloom like fireworks before your eyes. Oblivion threatens to consume you and this whole place. You're running out of time.

The emptiness finally sucks away the phonograph's dissonant melody, enveloping you with suffocating silence. You feel your body threatening to collapse into a pile of bloody jelly. Is this the end?

Blackness eats away the last of the world around you. The only remaining light beats down directly on you. Looking down, you find you're standing on a desolate white stage, surrounded by the abyss. Looking up, you see a brutally intense spotlight beating down on you – and reflecting on the sole mirror still accompanying you.

The framed glass floats in the darkness, bobbing in the void. Steeling yourself, you force yourself to shuffle forward and look into it. Nothing could prepare you for the abomination that stares back at you.

You don't see a body but a grotesque canvas of fleshy horror: a perverse deconstruction of a human being, like a puzzle whose pieces someone jumbled into an unrecognizable mass. Your fractured skull reveals a mixture of brain and bone while your eyes have traveled to different locations across your face. Your mouth has become a jagged, dangling chasm where your jaw once was, concealing your unnaturally distorted neck. You can simultaneously see your shoulder blades and your stomach due to your twisted torso. Your joints are all bent the wrong way – and what appear to be new ones have formed. Finally, your fingers and toes look more like flopping tendrils than digits, their joints having multiplied many times.

Suddenly, myriad spotlights snap on, each illuminating a different mirror. In every pane lurks a new – yet bone-achingly familiar – horror. Though none of you look the same, the others' shattered bodies are similar to yours in the extent of their dreadful reconfigurations. You are all torn, twisted, and pieced back together into jumbled nightmares.

A visceral reaction wracks your body as you look at these multiplied terrors. You want to scream, to rage, and to rip yourself – and the mirror images – to pieces. However, all you can manage is a low moan.

"Only when one forsakes the original form," a voice whispers, "can one forge true art." No, it's not just one voice. It's all of the mutilated reflections' voices – perhaps including your own. Then, all the reflected abominations slowly, painfully drag themselves toward you. It's almost as though they're still trying to dance.

The Monster

It's coming. You hear its footfalls in the grim dimness, its low, throaty growl resonating around you. Is it a man? Or a monster? It sounds so close.

You're all turned around. You hardly know what's up and down. Something pulls at your mind, forcing you forward. Your breaths pant and gasp raggedly out of your mouth as sweat runs down your face and soaks your clothes. Where are you? Who are you? And how do you escape?

The beast draws nearer. You almost feel it brush against your skin. The hairs on your body stand on end. Is it searching for you? Or is it toying with you? You want to moan, but you don't let the sound out. You can't take that chance.

A faint light appears ahead. You almost gasp, feeling hope welling up inside you. Is that a way out of this impenetrable dark?

You draw nearer and nearer to the glow. You think you may make it. You're almost there –

A silhouetted figure steps in front of the light. It's – it's so big. You screech to a halt, then take an involuntary step backward. Maybe you can edge around it. But… It seems to be looking right at you.

An image seizes your mind of a shape looming in the darkness, standing motionless in the shadows. Its skin is cold and pallid, stretched tight over contorted bones. It seems so desolate and dreadful. Is it here, too? Or is it the creature looming before you?

Another entity blocks the light. And then a third joins the first two. The monster isn't alone. The beasts' eye sockets begin to emit a ghoulish green glow.

"W-who are you?" you ask, your voice cracking. "Why are you doing this to me? Please, just… Stop…”

The hulking forms don't reply.

The beasts turn slightly as the light grows marginally brighter. It's now just vivid enough for the illumination to glint off their jagged maws. Those are killers' teeth. These things are predators, and they're hungry. You can hear them breathing from here, their misshapen bodies rising and falling rhythmically.

Edging around them to the left, you feel something snag against your skin. You gasp. Are you in a tunnel? Is this the wall? Its jagged surface seems covered in fangs, as if it wants to devour you, too. Liquid drizzles onto your fingers as if this place is salivating for you, aching to gobble you up.

The three hulking figures turn and dash away toward the light. Relief douses you, but a new sense of concern joins it. Why did they go that way? Are they laying a trap for you? You glance behind you into the blackness. You can't go back. All you can do is continue forward.

Finally, you emerge into a cavernous space, Illuminated by a faint light from above. You can discern three portals cut into the surface before you in addition to the one you just emerged through. You hesitate, looking from one yawning opening to another. And then you realize that one of the hulking figures stands just inside each entry's threshold. They're waiting for you to choose.

You're so hungry – and thirsty. In fact, you're ravenous. You raise a hand to your face – and freeze. Your arm is little more than skin squeezing bone. Is it really yours?

Looking down at your body, you're horrified to see how gaunt and tall you are. You look almost nightmarish – inhuman. You realize the beasts weren't hunting you: They were running from you. You are the hunter, and they are the prey. You can smell the blood pumping through their veins from here.

The Knock II

The relentless knocking at the door morphs into a sinister rhythm. Its unnerving cadence ensnares your senses. If you close your eyes, you can almost see the world outside spiraling around the rapping entity.

Peering through the peephole, you initially don't see anything but an empty void. You look down – and discover a small boy rhythmically knocking, then pausing with expectant patience before resuming his frantic summons. You notice the hallway fluctuate around him as if two worlds are overlapping.

As the boy's mesmeric knocking continues, you also begin to hear a heartbeat that isn't your own. The sound is feeble yet insistent as it emerges from the ether. Pulling away from the peephole, you gasp. The apartment's walls are swelling and twisting as they forget their original shape. A massive, pulsating fleshy sac heaves and shudders where the crib had been. A thicket of throbbing blood vessels sprawls outward like demonic vines from its surface, entwining and strangling the room. You seem to hear fluid coursing through these new, malignant growths as new mammoth cells split and spread.

The room's transformation is unholy. The walls' paintings warp into twisted mockeries of birth. The houseplants weep crimson while ink bleeds down the pages of the collected letters on the table.

The boy's voice wriggles into your mind in between the incessant knocking. "Mama..." it calls. "Mama..." His haunting refrain reverberates through your soul. You feel yourself intertwining with the boy's terror-stricken mother, who drifts alone in a parallel agony. Her pull and the boy's calls torment and tear at your psyche.

Shapes squirm within the pulsating sac. The arterial network branches out, feeding unspeakable fleshy lumps as they grow around the room. You realize they are embryonic organs forming across a webbed canopy of the blood vessels. Limbs emerge from the sac's corners, reaching out into the void.

The veins' pulsing intensifies as the knocking intertwines with the ghostly calls for "Mama." Each throb synchronizes with the sac's unnerving vibrations. Ghoulish anticipation seethes through the room as more organs and limbs sprout chaotically from every surface, thrashing, beating, and pumping. Then the ceiling distends, simultaneously bulging and thinning, as a colossal infant presses downward like it's about to tear into your reality.

Overwhelming terror rakes at your sanity as you look up at the monstrous baby. Your lip trembling, you crouch down, your eyes fastened on the ceiling as you start to back out of the room. Then, turning, you hurtle toward the door, desperate to escape the eldritch horror consuming your haven.

Okay, that's it for this update! I hope you enjoyed this look into Edward. We'll hopefully be back soon with some news about shipping for the translated versions - specifically, that everything has gotten through customs and to the factory. We will also introduce you to the Executioners soon and Mordecai, the anthropologist, after that. 

Just in case we don't talk to you again before then, have a happy Thanksgiving for those in the US and a fantastic rest of November for the rest of you. We'll be in touch again shortly!

Updates on Wave Two and the Save System!
4 months ago – Fri, Oct 04, 2024 at 02:04:58 AM

Hey guys! Last month, I mentioned that this next update would feature info on the wanderer Edward. However, we're not quite ready to jump into him, so let's look at how everything's progressing for Wave Two - and the save system the team's been working on. (There are actually two versions of it, but we'll get into that below.)

Without further ado, let's jump into what's happening on the miniatures front.

Miniature Production Progress

We went to the factory this month and saw the arrangement of all the miniatures and the proposed layouts for their molds. Here's a look:

Several miniatures need further adjustments. Once the factory makes those changes, we will move to the next stage – the molding process.

Game Progress

Next, let's look at where all the Wave Two wanderers are currently. Here's a handy graphic reflecting three of them:

1) Cary James, the Actor: We've completed the game testing for Cary. Next, we'll finish the final proofreading and the layout work for his components.

2) Edward Hirshfield, the Clockmaker: The team finished his story, and I'm currently editing/reworking it. After that, we'll focus on testing the gameplay for his finales and the art for his story.

3) Mordecai Ashford, the Anthropologist: Wendy has finished the initial writing for Mordecai's story. We'll focus on him after we finish Edward.

4) Anita Clavell, the Novelist: Curtis is working on Anita's story, and it's been going smoothly. We'll update more on her once more content is finished.

That's it on the wanderers for this update. Now, let's move on to something I know many of you have been waiting for news on - the save system(s).

The Save System(s)

We wrestled with how to create a save system throughout the development process, trying to devise a convenient saving method that we could implement during the game. We tried many approaches but couldn't find an easy way to save the game without adding additional components. We tried using sheets to record everything, but we eventually opted for taking photos due to the large amount of information to record.

We also considered using an app, but after evaluating the cost and the team's capabilities, we had to abandon that idea.

All the factors and information in DoM that continue from one phase to another significantly impact the game experience and players' strategic thinking, making it impossible for us to simplify the saving process by omitting certain information. Therefore, we failed to provide a suitable solution by the time the game reached your hands. This oversight was certainly a shortcoming on our part.

DoM is a time-consuming game experience (as I'm sure many of you have noticed) and it really requires a method to save information during the game. After long deliberation, we decided to tackle this challenge using two methods:

1. We provide an official saving method using save sheets, allowing players to have a way to save the game for now.

2. We develop a more convenient tool to help players save the game quickly and efficiently in the future.

Let's start with the save sheets.

The Save Sheets

While still requiring a lot of bookkeeping, we hope this will help you save your game starting with your next session (if needed). Let's jump into it.

You can only save the game at the end of a game round.

The save sheets have 3-4 pages (depending on how many wanderers are in the game.) Here's a look at them:

Wanderer Save Sheet

To fill out the wanderer save sheet, first record the wanderers' health, existence, domains, cards, and other components. One page can contain the information for two wanderers. Be sure you keep the wanderers' sentience sheets with this one.

If a domain card has charges, write a number after its name.

If a coda card is exhausted, place a check beside it.

Monster Save Sheet

Now we'll move to the monster save sheet. We'll start by recording the abomination's health and current confrontation card on it. (Only recording the card's upper section is fine.)

Next, record the terrors' and malformations' health, domain rifts, and other pertinent information.

Game Board Save Sheet

We'll start filling out the game board save sheet by recording the game round number.

Next, we'll record the world shard number and components on each world shard in the matching space. Check the lower-right box if a completed token is on the world shard.

Finally, record the scores for each ending.

You can ignore any other information that lacks a space on these pages.

We have provided two versions of these record sheets: one with a color background and one without. Both versions should fit on either A4 or Letter-size paper.

You can download the sheets below.

Color-background version:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g0yoD8U-J-dMaDl_W6myy8vepB-F9CmV/view?usp=sharing

No background/black-and-white version:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KByLoSeJLjLC8C4Nh43Bc4kt-2yIwYY0/view?usp=sharing

The Save Tray System

As mentioned above, we're working on another save system apart from the save sheets. This one will use trays to keep all your components carefully and conveniently contained to make putting away and pulling out DoM a breeze. 

There are three layers of trays. The first layer consists of four wanderer trays. The second is a single tray for monsters and other essential cards. The third layer holds the world shards and their accompanying components. Let's take a look at how these work:

This tray system is still a work in progress and currently lacks some components like record sheets and the box. We're also working out where to put the ending tokens. However, what's cool about it is that you can even use the tray system during the game to keep things tidy, organized, and easily accessible.

This save tray system will be a new add-on available within the next few months when we reopen the pledge manager, and it will ship with Wave Two. (And yes, we will be reopening the pledge manager closer to finishing Wave Two.)

Translated Version Shipping

The boat is still at sea with the translated copies. We'll keep you informed as we hear that the ship has docked and the warehouse has received them.

Okay, that's it for this update. I hope these intermediate save sheets help you now and that the tray system makes a big difference in the future. Have a fantastic October, and if we don't talk with you again sooner, have an incredible Halloween! I hope you enjoy a bunch of Dawn of Madness during this spooky season!

Missing Your Wave One Pledge? Read This.
5 months ago – Fri, Aug 30, 2024 at 11:48:00 PM

Apparently, when it rains, it pours. In this case, you're getting three Dawn of Madness updates in one week - which may be a record for us. 

This update won't be particularly fun (that was our last one, which you can check out here.) However, we noticed some comments from people asking where their Wave One delivery was, and we wanted to make sure no one was left in the lurch.

You may not have received your Wave One order yet for one of three reasons. Let's take a look:

Reason One: You Selected One-Wave Shipping

This option was something we added back in the pledge manager because of backer feedback. If you selected this as an add-on, your whole pledge will arrive in Wave Two, which should ship in Q1 or Q2 next year. (Check out our last update for more on the current Wave Two schedule.)

To discover if you selected one-wave shipping, log into your Backerkit account and find your Dawn of Madness pledge. Then, navigate to your Order Confirmation page and scroll down to the "ADD-ON ITEMS" section. If you see "I Choose 1-Wave Shipping," you will get your Wave One items with Wave Two. 

Reason Two: You Selected a Translated Edition

If you selected a translated edition of Dawn of Madness, then your Wave One items are currently on the boat, and you should get them before too much longer. (Check out our first update of the week here to learn more about the progress and ETA on the translated editions.) To determine if you selected a translated edition, navigate to your Order Confirmation page and see what language is listed in your "PLEDGE ITEMS." You should see something like this: 

Reason Three: Your Order is Lost

Should you not fall into either the "1-Wave" or "Translation" categories, then your order is likely lost. We hope this hasn't happened to you, but if it has, please email Cherry at [email protected] and let her know your situation and details. She'll then help you with this on a case-by-case basis to make sure you get your game. (It may take her a bit to get back to you, but she will - and she'll resolve this for you.)

We're very sorry if you've been trying to contact us about this and haven't been able to reach us yet. We're a very small team pulled in a lot of different directions, so it can be difficult for us to get to everything and everyone - particularly if your question or request was sent somewhere besides Cherry's email address. (I will admit, I am notoriously bad with emails - as many of you have likely noticed. I promise you, if you emailed me and haven't heard back, it isn't because I dislike you or think your issue isn't important. It's just something I'm awful at that I am constantly trying to improve upon - and usually failing to do so.) If you reached out to us through another channel (whether Kickstarter, Facebook, Backerkit, or another email address), please resend your request to Cherry's email at [email protected] to make sure it gets seen. 

Okay, that's it for this update! I hope this helped you if you haven't yet received your pledge. Have a great day (and I hope you have a happy Labor Day weekend if you live in the US), and we'll talk to you again soon.