Feb052017

Winter 2017 Update and Convention Schedule!

Ahoy, all!

I hope that your holidays treated you well and that 2017 is off to a great start!

While we’ve had a few hiccups that have interrupted production–some torn chest cartilage, the untimely death of one of our cats, a busted dishwasher, and a bout with norovirus–we’re still chugging away to ensure that CSW: Rogues Gallery will be the phenomenal book that you deserve.

First off, the best news:  text editing is done.  Christine, Jeff, and Lauren did a phenomenal job on the text, and it’s leaps and bounds better.  Secondly, we have about 80% of the art in.  I’m still waiting on a series of pieces, but I have no doubts that these will be arriving soon.

My original hope was to have all of these items in hand by the end of December; obviously, this puts us slightly behind that original target date.  Interpret that how you will; it’s still my intent to have pdf copies out this summer, with hard copies to follow.  I heartily apologize if that leads to an actual delay, but I want to ensure that I’m proud of the book that arrives in your hands.  Your patience is surely appreciated!

Conventions and Upcoming Appearances:

With the spring approaching, that means conventions!  Andy’s busy assembling his spring and summer convention schedule, which will include the following:

  • Saturday, February 10: DayCon Game Day (Fairborn, OH)
  • Tuesday, February 28: RPG Demo Night at The Rook OTR (Cincinnati, OH)
  • Friday, March 3-Sunday, March 5: CincyCon (Hamilton, OH) (Only Saturday, March 4)
  • Saturday, March 11: UDCon (University of Dayton, Dayton, OH)
    • Andy will be the keynote speaker at the convention, in addition to running games!
  • Saturday, March 25: WittCon XIV (Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH)
  • Friday, April 28: GeekFest at the Boonshoft (Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Dayton, OH)
  • Tuesday, June 13 – Sunday, June 19: Origins Game Fair (Columbus, OH)
  • Friday, October 8 – Sunday, October 10: CinCityCon (Cincinnati, OH)
  • Friday, November 10th – Sunday, November 12: AcadeCon (Dayton Convention Center, Dayton, OH)
    • Dates for AcadeCon are subject to change.

 

Note that, unfortunately, we will not be attending GenCon this year.  The reasons for this are twofold:  GenCon is becoming increasingly prohibitively expensive, especially for a small design company.  While we have endeavored to cut down costs–we’ve always stayed outside of downtown Indianapolis to reduce hotel costs–the expenditure for GenCon is always the highest of our convention season.  

Further, a dear friend of ours is getting married in late August.  Her wedding is in Minneapolis, so we’re taking the road trip up to see her off into married life.  Because of the time-proximity to GenCon, we elected to go to the wedding rather than the convention.  Ideally, we will return to GenCon in years to come.

But how about those convention scenarios?  What will we be playing this year?  Take a look!

CSW:  Darkness on the Edge of Town (4 hour investigation)

— “Everything dies, baby, that’s a fact.  But maybe everything that dies someday comes back…”

CSW:  Bad Trip (2 hour demo)

— Overdose deaths among New Corinth’s homeless lead to a harrowing realization.

De Civitates Dei:  Ghosts of Ma’ara (4 hour alpha playtest)

— Wrest an ancient relic from the clutches of an evil lurking within a ruined Crusader fortress.

In addition, at WittCon and several other events, Andy will be showing off board game prototypes of Dwarven Defenders, Steel Drivin’ Man, and a few other designs that he’s been kicking about!

Art Previews:

Lastly, let’s take a look at some of that gorgeous art filtering in from our artists!

Gramma Murder (Matt Morrow)

Cadeia and the Rojo Bastardes (Dan Oropallo)

Suiting Up (Jon Gibbons)

Lobotomy (Jon Gibbons)

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Dec282016

Holiday Update and New Products!

Ahoy, all!  

We’ve been 8 ways of busy since our Kickstarter for CSW: Rogues Gallery ended, refining the draft, commissioning art, and taking care of the logistical elements behind putting together a phenomenal book.  Our editors have been hard at work, our artists have been sketching away, and Andy’s been wracking his brain and keyboard with new material for both Rogues Gallery and for the coming convention season.

First up, let’s take a look at one of the newest pieces!

Cadeia and the Rojo Bastardes (Dan Orapallo)

In addition, we’ve finally managed to put together a few items that have been in high demand!  All of Andy’s pre-gen characters are now on sale via DriveThruRPG!

Both packs One and Two each contain 6 characters, ready to show up around your game table!

Have a great holiday, and we’ll have some more news for you in the new year!

 

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Oct182016

A Long Overdue Fall Update!

We’ve been so hard to work out here, we forgot to update our website!

If you’ve been following the buzz on our Facebook page, you already know the great news:  our Kickstarter relaunch was a success!

By the end of August, we raised over $5,000 to help make Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery into a reality.  Thanks to all of you who backed us; we’re already hard at work on the art aspects of the book, with art direction completed and our artists pumping out some phenomenal pieces!

Take a look below!

[Show thumbnails]

In other news, the winter doesn’t mean the end of convention season!

We’ll be heading to Star City Brewery this weekend–October 22nd–for their Dayton Designed Game Night, where Andy will be running demos of Dwarven Defenders.

And, if you haven’t gotten it already, get your badge for AcadeCon, now at the Dayton Convention Center!  Andy will be running Dwarven Defenders and the premier of De Civitates Dei, while Jules will be throwing down a whole series of CSW games!

See you around the game table, friends!

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Jul252016

One Week to Relaunch!

Friends–

First up, thanks for your continued support of Cold Steel Wardens.  We truly appreciate each and everyone one of you–we never get tired of hearing stories about your home games, of your off-the-wall convention adventures, or your favorite comics inspirations.

If you’ve enjoyed CSW thusfar, Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery is the next step in our odyssey.  Rogues Gallery contains full write-ups for Stonegate Penitentiary, Lincroft Asylum, and a legionCSW-Rogues-Gallery-Kickstarter of mooks, madmen, masterminds, and metahumans ready to drop into your campaign.  Further, Rogues Gallery dramatically advances the New Corinth setting, as our narrator–fan favorite vigilante Sawbones–provides his own notes on the various miscreants roaming the streets.

However, CSW: Rogues Gallery cannot become a reality without your help!

We will be RELAUNCHING the CSW: Rogues Gallery Kickstarter on Monday, August 1st, 2016!

Our revamped KS drive will include a number of special events throughout the drive:

  • We’ll be hosting a Kickstarter launch party at The Malted Meeple game cafe in Hudson, OH, on August 1st.  We’ll have cake, featured milkshake specials, and demos run by Andy all evening.
  • We’ll be hosting demo events at Epic Loot in Centerville, OH on both July 28th and August 25th.  Andy will be on hand to answer questions and run demo games for anyone around!
  • We’ll be running a bevy of events at GenCon Indy!
  • We’ll be holding a “Crowdsource-A-Villain” contest on our Facebook page for the duration of the drive.  The results from the votes will become an additional villain which will appear in Rogues Gallery!

 

Of course, Rogues Gallery cannot become a reality without your help.  Please consider backing us and share/tweet/like/upvote our drive whenever you can.  

Thanks again for all of your support; we’ll see you on Kickstarter on August 1st!

–A.P. Klosky

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Jul082016

Locked and Reloaded! The CSW: Rogues Gallery Kickstarter Returns!

Dear Friends–

In March, you came out in full force to support our Kickstarter drive for Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery, the first in a series of follow-up books for our award-winning Cold Steel Wardens rpg.  Unfortunately, we did not reach our funding goal in March, which left us with some difficult choices to make.

After much soul-searching, we have decided to give Cold Steel Wardens:  Rogues Gallery another go, but we still need your support to make it happen.

Burned and battered, but we're back, baby!

Burned and battered, but we’re back, baby!

We will be relaunching our CSW: Rogues Gallery Kickstarter on August 1st, 2016.  Our drive will run until September 1st, with a goal of $4,950.

Your support is critical to the continuance of Cold Steel Wardens as a game line.  If you’d like to see more CSW, please consider backing our drive on August 1st.  Your support, especially in our first few days, will be imperative to reaching our funding goal.  Even if you’re unable to help us financially, spreading the word via Facebook, Twitter, online forums, and other social media sites.  The more exposure we have, the greater our chances of success!

We will be kicking off our relaunched drive with a launch party at The Malted Meeple game cafe in Hudson, Ohio, from 4-11pm.  We’ll be running demos there all evening, with special CSW–themed milkshakes and more!  This will be in addition to our already-scheduled events at GenCon as well as other events throughout the Ohio area.

More information on CSW: Rogues Gallery will be available on the Blackfall Press Facebook page, the Blackfall Press Twitter account (@BlackfallPress) and at www.blackfallpress.com.

Thanks again for your support, and we’ll see you on August 1st!

 

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Jun082016

Summer Updates: Convention Schedule and Kickstarter Relaunch!

Ahoy, all!  Andy here.

Since our updates in mid-April, things have slowed down a little bit out here.  This has been partially due to the end of the school year–I teach English as my day job–but also because I underwent arthroscopic surgery for a torn meniscus at the end of April.  Mind you, this was following two full month of doctors’ appointments and physical therapy for what was first diagnosed as a knee sprain, then as a dislocated kneecap, then finally as a torn meniscus.  

That said, I’m more than ready to get back on the horse and do some gaming!CH13 warehouses-F

First up, the two big conventions of our season:  Origins and GenCon.  Blackfall Press is hosting official Cold Steel Wardens events at both conventions, with the newest print edition of CSW available for sale at both cons at the Studio 2 Publishing booth!

At Origins, I’ll be running two-hour demo sessions (Stolen Away and Hell on Wheels) at 1pm and 3pm each day.  At 7pm, I’ll be running our newest four-hour investigation:  Anastasia’s Bane.  Help take down kidnappers, break a fellow vigilante out of police custody, or track down an enigmatic arms dealer!  

In addition, CSW original playtester Julia Murgatroyd is bringing her own scenarios to the party!  Julia will be bringing the DC Comics-inspired Bile in the Throat, featuring the Birds of Prey!

At GenCon, I’ll have the same set of scenarios, available on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, while Julia will be running Bile in the Throat on Saturday and Sunday.  Seats are still available at both the Origins and GenCon games, so swing on by with your generics and pull up a chair!

That’s not the biggest news, though.  After doing some post-Kickstarter analysis (and, let’s be honest, some soul-searching), I’ve decided to relaunch the Kickstarter drive for CSW: Rogues Gallery.  The text of the book is already done; it’d be a damned shame not to give it at least one more try.

However, this hinges upon you, heroes.  While we were moderately successful in our first attempt for Rogues Gallery, it simply can’t happen without the funds from a fully-successful Kickstarter; the burden of art, layout, editing, and graphic design are simply too much for me to finance on my own.

The new Kickstarter drive for CSW: Rogues Gallery will go live on August 1st, just in time for GenCon!

Please, above all else, spread the word!  The more buzz we can get moving about CSW and the upcoming Kickstarter, the more likely that we’ll succeed.  And, that success means that I spend more time working on CSW material in the future!

Thanks again for all your support; we’ll see you on August 1st for the relaunch of our CSW: Rogues Gallery Kickstarter!

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Feb212016

For Immediate Release–CSW: Rogues Gallery Kickstarter!

Blackfall Press Announces Kickstarter Drive for Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery

Drive to run from March 15th to April 18th, 2016

[Englewood, OH] — Today via the Blackfall Press webpage, designer A.P. Klosky announced the impending arrival of a Kickstarter drive to finance production of Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery, the second book in the Cold Steel Wardens game line.  The drive will begin on March 15th and run through April 18th, with Klosky running demos of Cold Steel Wardens at two regional conventions during the drive.

“I am beyond excited to get this book into the hands of our fans,” said Klosky, “It’s exciting to go back to Kickstarter just as the CSW corebook hits print once more through our new publishing partners at Studio 2.”  Klosky further encourages any fans of Cold Steel Wardens to visit the Rogues Gallery Prefundia page and sign up for an e-mail reminder for when the drive goes live.

As Blackfall Press, Klosky successfully Kickstarted the corebook for Cold Steel Wardens in 2012, winning a “Best Genre Emulation” BAMFsie award for the book.  Since that time, Cold Steel Wardens has made appearances at gaming conventions worldwide, providing the ideal game for fans of Iron Age superheroics.

 

Cold Steel Wardens: Rogues Gallery expands greatly upon the default New Corinth setting, featuring full write-ups for Stonegate Federal Penitentiary and Lincroft Asylum, as well as a bevy of mooks, masterminds, metahumans and would-be vigilantes for heroes to match wits against.

“What really sets Rogues Gallery apart from other ‘monster manual’ type books is the way it’s written,” Klosky continued, “Nearly everything in the book is written in-character, from our convention-favorite vigilante Sawbones.  In Rogues Gallery, you will literally have a copy of Sawbones’ notes and collected evidence:  his biases, his perspectives, and his successes as an investigator color this view of New Corinth.  My biggest goal for this book is that it should be fun to read, both for players and for GMs.”

During the drive, Klosky will be running numerous Cold Steel Wardens events at several regional conventions surrounding Western Ohio.  These conventions include CincyCon in Hamilton, Ohio, WittCon XIII in Springfield, Ohio, and WhosYerCon in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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For more information on Blackfall Press, Cold Steel Wardens, or CSW: Rogues Gallery, please visit the following:

  • Website:  www.blackfallpress.com
  • Prefundia: http://prefundia.com/projects/view/csw-rogues-gallery/8287/
  • Facebook:  Facebook.com/BlackfallPressLLC
  • Twitter:  @BlackfallPress

 

 

 

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Jan202016

2016 Convention Run-Down

Happy new year, fellow gamers!  Andy’s been up to his eyeballs in drafting, revisions, and planning, but that only goes to show how much great stuff we have on the horizon!

One of our most important items on the docket is our convention schedule!  We love seeing all you fans at the various gaming conventions and throwing down some dice!  Check out the list of conventions below and see where you can catch up with Andy, play some Cold Steel Wardens, or try out one of our new designs!

 

If you know of any gaming or comic conventions in the Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky area, please drop us a message and let us know.  We’d love the chance to sling some dice with you!

Oh, and one last thing…

Beware the Ides of March!  New Corinth will never be the same…

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