In June, 2k Games released Duke Nukem Forever.

In July, George R.R. Martin finally published A Dance With Dragons.

Since it seems to be the season for projects trapped in the quagmire of Valve time, I figured it was time to release one more: Legends & Labyrinths has, at long last, arrived and is now available for sale through an 8-Bit Funding project.

WHAT IS LEGENDS & LABYRINTHS?

For those of you unfamiliar with Legends & Labyrinths, it’s a fantasy RPG that was first announced in June 2008 and then got stuck in development hell for three years.

Legends & Labyrinths takes 3rd Edition and strips it down to its most basic components. It removes everything non-essential, leaving behind a simple, fast-and-loose, easy-to-use system.

Legends & Labyrinths is based on a simple belief: Not only is 3rd Edition the most popular gaming system on the plant, it’s also one of the best. Its designers created a small, elegant set of core mechanics, resulting in an extremely flexible system. They then used those core mechanics to implement a wide array of carefully researched and thoroughly playtested guidelines and supplementary rules. The result was possibly the most robust and detailed system ever created.

Legends & Labyrinths, on the other hand, was created with a simple methodology: If it’s not a core mechanic, it’s not in the game.

The result is a slick, tight, elegant system that doesn’t get bogged down in the details. Legends & Labyrinths jettisons the rules and guidelines which make 3rd Edition so robust, but it leaves behind the simply and flexible game which lies at the system’s core.

For experienced gamers, Legends & Labyrinths is a fast-and-easy game that jettisons the baggage of 3rd Edition. For new gamers, Legends & Labyrinths serves as the perfect introduction to roleplaying games — simple enough to learn in an afternoon, but also a complete game that can be played for years without ever needing another supplement or rulebook.

One of my playtesters recently explained the appeal of Legends & Labyrinths like this: “Plenty of games have tried to add stuff on TOP of 3rd Edition. But Legends & Labyrinths comes UNDER 3rd Edition.”

Have you ever thought that 3rd Edition was too complicated? Had too many details? Was too time-consuming to prep? Then Legends & Labyrinths is exactly the game you’ve been waiting for.

100% COMPATIBLE WITH 3rd EDITION

What really makes Legends & Labyrinths special is that it is 100% compatible with 3rd Edition.

What does that mean? It means that any stat block or mechanic usable in 3rd Edition can be used in Legends & Labyrinths without conversion. It also means that any character created in Legends & Labyrinths can be used in a 3rd Edition game without conversion.

Got a 3rd Edition adventure? It can be run in Legends & Labyrinths as-is. Got a book full of monsters? It can be used in Legends & Labyrinths. Got a supplement of new spells? They can be cast in Legends & Labyrinths.

You can also incorporate core mechanics from 3rd Edition into your Legends & Labyrinths games without any difficulty. For example, Legends & Labyrinths features a stripped-down combat system. But if you really like some or all of the detailed combat rules from 3rd Edition? Well, all you have to do is use ‘em. Legends & Labyrinths is 100% compatible with 3rd Edition.

On the other hand, what if you really like all the different character creation tools 3rd Edition gives you (allowing you to tweak your character just the way you like it), but you feel the complexity of the rest of the system chokes the life out of your roleplaying? Well, all you have to do is use the full character creation rules to create your PCs and then play them using Legends & Labyrinths. The game is 100% compatible with 3rd Edition.

In other words, you can think of Legends & Labyrinths as being the streamlined foundation of the game: It’s a complete game all by itself, but you can also add whatever additional functionality you want whenever you want (and however you want).

WHY 8-BIT FUNDING?

Legends & Labyrinths is being initially released through an 8-Bit Funding project. Basically, I think it’s a spiffy game. I’m willing to bet that you’ll think so too. And spiffy games, in my opinion, should also look spiffy.

I’m looking to raise enough capital through this funding project to pay top-of-the-line artists to provide top-of-the-line illustrations. I want to see wandering mercenaries marching through the purple dunes of the Arcano Deserts and twisted caverns of silver-veined stone filled with smoky torchlight. Imagine dragonriders racing between the half-shattered towers of the Bassanen Empire and elven detectives scouring the back alleys of the grotto megapoli.

Basically, I’m treating the 8-Bit Funding project as a preorder-with-perks program to raise the funds necessary to make the final rulebook as awesome as possible.

WHAT IS THE BLACK BOOK BETA?

The Black Book Beta rulebook is being released to fulfill two functions:

First, it will allow those sponsoring Legends & Labyrinths early access to the game while we wait for the artists to finish their commissions.

Second, it basically gives us a public beta testing period in which sponsors and their gaming groups will be able to give me a final round of feedback which can be incorporated into the rulebook.

The Black Book Beta rulebook is fully playable, but not complete. What does that mean? Basically, the Black Book Beta rulebook is missing:

(1) Spells
(2) Monsters
(3) Magic Items

These items are missing primarily because the layout of these sections of the rulebook will depend heavily on the art which we’ll be able to commission following the funding drive.

Don’t you need spells, monsters, and magic items to play the game? Yes. But, remember, Legends & Labyrinths is 100% compatible with 3rd Edition: Until the final rulebook is completed, you’ll be able to pull spells, monsters, and magic items from any online SRD (or your existing 3rd Edition rulebooks and supplements).

(The Black Book Beta rulebook will also include L&L’s super-simple monster creation system, so you can whip out playable stat blocks for any creature you can imagine in seconds.)

To be perfectly honest with all of you, given the long and painful development process for this project, I also felt very strongly that the game needed to be in a completed state before I offered it for any kind of sale. The Black Book Beta rulebook allows me to accomplish that while also working to ensure that the final version of the rulebook is the best it can be for you: Even if I keeled over from a heart attack tomorrow, Legends & Labyrinths is in a completed state. It has been written. It has been laid out. It even includes temporary, public domain art. About the only thing missing at this point are a few “page XXX” references that still need to be filled in.

I could, if I wanted to, simply publish the rulebook as it exists today and nobody would blink an eye at it. (Well, the lack of art in the bestiary would probably annoy.) But I’d rather make this final, extra effort to push it over the top. I hope you’ll agree with me and help to make that dream a reality.

If not, just wait a few months and the final version of the rulebook will be on sale.

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Legends & Labyrinths is being initially released as an 8-Bit Funding project. Today I'm going to talk about the Funding Perks you can claim by sponsoring the project:

REGISTERED ADVENTURER ($5): You'll be listed as a Registered Adventurer and sponsor in the L&L rulebook. You'll also receive a PDF copy of the Black Book Beta rulebook which will be given to all sponsors as soon our goal is met.

BETA WARRIOR ($12): You'll be a Registered Adventurer (as above), but you'll also receive a PDF copy of the final, full-color rulebook when it's released.

LABYRINTH PROWLER ($30): As above, but you will also receive a signed, full-color, softcover copy of the rulebook when it's released.

LABYRINTH CONQUEROR ($35): As above, but you also get a limited edition, full-color poster commemorating the artwork you've helped to sponsor.

LABYRINTH EXEMPLAR ($50): One of the great things about the L&L rulebook will be the Sidebar Reference System (making it the easiest rulebook you'll ever use). The SRS sidebars include many examples, and as an Exemplar sponsor your character will be starring in one of them! You also gain all of the above perks. (Subject to approval of your character name.)

LORD OF THE LABYRINTH ($150): As per the Labyrinth Conqueror, but you'll be listed as a "Lord of the Labyrinth" among the sponsors. Plus you get an exclusive "LORD OF THE LABYRINTH" t-shirt. These t-shirts will only be available during this limited sponsorship period.

LEGEND IN YOUR OWN TIME ($450): As per Lord of the Labyrinth, plus your adventuring group will be immortalized in the Legends & Labyrinths rulebook: Provide us with a campaign journal describing your adventures and we'll commission an awesome piece of art ripped right from your gaming table. (Subject to approval of content.)

INTO THE LABYRINTH ($300): As per Lord of the Labyrinth, plus Justin will personally run a 4 hour adventure for you and your group online using Google+ video chat. This also includes PDF copies of the Black Book Beta and final rulebooks for up to 5 additional players in the group (for a total of 6 including the purchasing sponsor). And the entire group will be listed as an Adventuring Party among the sponsors. (Justin has final approval over scheduling of the session. He will run the adventure for more than 6 people and everyone playing will be listed in the adventuring party, but this sponsorship only includes PDF copies for 6 players.)

(TIP: Talk to your gaming group. For six people, this sponsorship splits into reasonable $50 chunks.)

LEGEND IN YOUR OWN TIME + INTO THE LABYRINTH ($700): As per Legend in Your Own Time, plus Justin will personally run a 4 hour adventure for you and your group online using Google+ video chat. (The commissioned illustration can be taken from this online game or from your home game.) This also includes PDF copies of the Black Book Beta and final rulebooks for up to 5 additional players in the group (for a total of 6 including the purchasing sponsor). And the entire group will be listed as an Adventuring Party among the sponsors. (Justin has final approval over scheduling of the session. He will run the adventure for more than 6 people and everyone playing will be listed in the adventuring party, but this sponsorship only includes PDF copies for 6 players.)

A LOCAL LABYRINTH ($1000): As per Lord of the Labyrinth, plus Justin will personally run a 4-hour gaming session for you in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. (Justin has final approval over scheduling of the session.)

A LABYRINTH ON THE ROAD ($1500): As per A Local Labyrinth, but Justin will run a 6-hour gaming session for you anywhere in the United States within 450 miles of Minneapolis/St. Paul. (That includes Chicago, Kansas City, Bismarck, Davenport, Milwaukee, and more.) (Justin has final approval over scheduling of the session. You must be able to provide a reasonable location for the playing of the session and the location must be within reasonable driving distance of an acceptable hotel. Winnipeg and other Canadian destinations within range may be doable. But you may need to wait until Justin gets his passport renewed.)

A LABYRINTH ANYWHERE (SOME RESTRICTIONS APPLY) ($3000): A per A Local Labyrinth, but Justin will run a 12-hour gaming session for you anywhere in the continental United States. (Justin has final approval over scheduling of the session. You must be able to provide a reasonable location for the playing of the session and the location must be within reasonable driving distance of an acceptable hotel. Justin also needs to be able to get to you, which means having an airport nearby that Justin can fly to at a reasonable ticket price.)

(If you don't live in the continental United States, we may still be able to make arrangements. Send me an e-mail and we can hash out details.)
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PDF Rulebook: $12

Softcover, Full-Color Rulebook + PDF: $30

Beyond that, I'm offering nifty perks for people who want to contribute more than that. But, for the most part, the larger contributions are there for people who want to help make this rulebook as awesome as possible.

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8-Bit Funding video at Youtube:

http://youtu.be/eN8ABulOGCA

Just for curiosity's sake, why not Kickstarter?  The only reason I'm asking is, I've uncovered a lot of projects I've liked just by going to Kickstarter and searching for RPG, but I've never even heard of 8bit funding.  KS seems to have more visibility with the potential funders of RPGs.

Quote from: CRKrueger;473634Just for curiosity's sake, why not Kickstarter?  The only reason I'm asking is, I've uncovered a lot of projects I've liked just by going to Kickstarter and searching for RPG, but I've never even heard of 8bit funding.  KS seems to have more visibility with the potential funders of RPGs.

I think Kickstarter already had George Strayton's game, now called The Secret Fire (BUT was called L&L) on their books. Two L&L's would've caused confusion. 8bit is better in one regard, it takes Paypal.

Wait, so you are selling an unfinished, incomplete game?

Quote from: CRKrueger;473634Just for curiosity's sake, why not Kickstarter?  The only reason I'm asking is, I've uncovered a lot of projects I've liked just by going to Kickstarter and searching for RPG, but I've never even heard of 8bit funding.  KS seems to have more visibility with the potential funders of RPGs.

Kickstarter rejected my project proposal in May. They don't tell you why they reject your projects. Sean's theory is plausible (and not something I'm going to publicly comment on at the moment, beyond saying that I'm aware of the attempt to register in January 2011 a trademark I've been using continuously and globally since June 2008).

I looked at several alternative funding sites. 8-Bit ended up making the most sense.

Quote from: misterguignol;473839Wait, so you are selling an unfinished, incomplete game?

No. The original post was pretty clear on this and I know that you're familiar with how these funding sites work.

Answering a few questions about Legends & Labyrinths. If you’ve got more questions about the game or funding project, post ‘em and I’ll answer them ASAP.

Q. WHY 8-BIT FUNDING?

At this time, I felt it was the best fit for the project.

Q. DO I NEED A PAYPAL ACCOUNT TO CONTRIBUTE?

No. Although 8-Bit Funding uses Paypal to fulfill payments, you can just use a credit card.

Q. WHEN DO I GET MY COPY OF THE BLACK BOOK BETA?

When the project reaches its funding deadline, 8-Bit Funding sends me a spreadsheet with the contact information for all donors. This will allow me to send and/or arrange all of your perks. However, after talking things over with 8-Bit Funding I’ve found something of a work-around. It’s a bit time-consuming for me, but it’ll give me a way to distribute the Black Book Beta rulebooks early.

On the 8-Bit Funding website, I can post updates to the project. This includes updates which are visible only to contributors. When the project hits $1500 (getting halfway to my goal), I will post an update with information on how current sponsors can claim their copy of the Black Book Beta. (I’m doing it this way so that I can fulfill them all at once, which will make things considerably easier on my end.)

Q. CAN I UPGRADE MY SPONSORSHIP LEVEL LATER?

8-Bit Funding’s infrastructure doesn’t support this. (There’s information on their website about why, but I don’t think it’s really important.) But, once again, there is a work-around.

If you want to upgrade your perk at a later date: When you make a contribution at 8-Bit Funding you have the option to contribute without requesting a perk. Select that option and pay the difference between your current perk and the perk you want. (For example, if you were a Beta Warrior at $12 and want to upgrade to a Labyrinth Exemplar at $50, you’d make a contribution of $38.) When I get the final report of contributors, I’ll see the un-perked contribution and be able to contact you to confirm your intentions.

You can follow a similar procedure if you want to purchase multiple iterations of the same perk. Select the perk you want but then simply multiply the contribution amount by the appropriate amount. (For example, if you want to purchase copies of the rulebook for your whole gaming group — nudge, nudge, hint, hint — you can select the $30 Labyrinth Prowler perk, but then enter $$120 as the contribution amount to get 4 copies of the rulebook.)

Q. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR THE FINAL VERSION OF THE RULEBOOK TO BE PRINTED?

This depends pretty much entirely on how long it takes for the artists to complete their work. Based on previous projects, I would estimate roughly 3 months. Possibly slightly longer; possibly quicker.

My intention is to anticipate the end of the funding drive and begin contacting artists as soon as I know that I can afford them, which should speed things up on the back end. This is also another reason for the Black Book Beta rulebook: It’ll give you a fully playable version of the rules ASAP to tide you over until the final edition is completed.

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Quote from: Justin Alexander;473914No. The original post was pretty clear on this and I know that you're familiar with how these funding sites work.

QuoteThe Black Book Beta rulebook is fully playable, but not complete. What does that mean? Basically, the Black Book Beta rulebook is missing:

(1) Spells
(2) Monsters
(3) Magic Items

It looks an awful lot like you're asking money for crippleware.

Quote from: Justin Alexander;473915Answering a few questions about Legends & Labyrinths. If you've got more questions about the game or funding project, post 'em and I'll answer them ASAP.

Why should I choose L&L over the Secret Fire?

Which game is The Beginning of the End working on?

Quote from: misterguignol;473953It looks an awful lot like you're asking money for crippleware.

As I said in my original post: If you don't want early access to the Black Book Beta rulebook, then don't preorder the game. I promise not to send the gaming gestapo over to your house and force you to give me money before the final rulebook is released.

Quote from: FASERIP;473974Why should I choose L&L over the Secret Fire?

Which game is The Beginning of the End working on?

Beginning of the End has been doing editorial passes on my stuff. He also posts DMP promotional stuff at forums what I'm persona non grata.

I don't know much about The Secret Fire (having never seen it or played it). Nor, speaking frankly, am I likely to have an unbiased opinion of it. But from what I've read it has a very different goal from L&L.

Do you like BECMI but wish its mechanics were cleaned up? L&L might be the game for you.

Do you like 3rd Edition but get sick of the long prep times and complexity? L&L might be the game for you.

Do you like 4th Edition because of the easy encounter building, the flexibility of page 42, and the dynamic feel of combat where people get shoved around the battlefield? But do you wish you could have all that with classic pre-2008 gameplay? L&L might be the game for you.

Do you love 3rd Edition and are skeptical that you'll ever want to play another fantasy RPG? L&L isn't the game for you, but it does include some really great tools that can be easily incorporated into your advanced 3rd Edition games. And you may find it very useful (as I have) for introducing new players to 3rd Edition (since it gives you a game that's 100% compatible with 3rd Edition that's easier for new players to handle and can then be scaled up with all the bells and whistles at whatever pace they're comfortable with).

Some people have been waiting years for Legends & Labyrinths to arrive. Now that it has, at long last, done so, I wanted to talk a little bit about the long road it's followed.

SIMPLY D20

The origins of the Legends & Labyrinths project actually go all the way back to 2003 when I began work on a project known as Simply D20. Simply D20 was a deconstruction of the 3rd Edition and Modern D20 rulesets into a basic, generic game system suitable for any genre. It stripped down the class list to a "generic core" of Expert, Fighter, Mystic, and Rogue. It would have included separate skill lists for Fantasy, Modern, Cyberpunk, and Space Opera settings. It would have included six "sample races" (Human, Dwarf, Elf, Saurian, Felines, and the Klingon-like Battaks). And so forth.

The project began running into development problems, however, because its design goals ended up conflicting with each other. I wanted:

1. A very small rulebook (50 pages).
2. A generic set of rules to handle any genre.
3. Compatibility with 3rd Edition

But these could not all be achieved at the same time. Primarily, the additional options required for a fully functional and generic ruleset made the small rulebook unattainable and maintaining compatibility with 3rd Edition an ongoing struggle.

The release of 3.5 killed the Simply D20 project along with a lot of other projects I was working on and, ultimately, drove me out of the RPG freelance biz for a few years.

SIMPLY D20 FANTASY

In the spring of 2006, the project (sort of) rose from the ashes as Simply D20 Fantasy. Naturally revamped to use 3.5 as a base, the game's main selling point was now "100% compatible with 3rd Edition!". Its core design principles were now fundamentally identical to Legends & Labyrinths as it exists today.

Now, however, I let the project get out of control in a different way: I wanted to include mass combat, siege warfare, naval battles, chases, social duels, tourney, castle building, and realm management rules... all in 100 pages!

My problem was that I had been seduced by a false vision of the "good ol' days". I wanted a rulebook like my old BECMI Basic Set and so I said: "That was only a few dozen pages! I should be able to fit the full rule system into 50 pages or so and then use the rest of the space to include stripped down versions of all these other rulesets (just like I'm stripping down combat)!"

But, of course, the BECMI Basic Set only included rules for levels 1-3 — which allows it to conserve a lot of space when it comes to things like magic items and spell lists.

I'd later face a similar design problem in trying to recapture the simple glory of "roll attributes, pick a race, pick a class" as a method of character creation. It took me a ridiculous amount of time to realize that the reason I couldn't capture that simplicity of character design is because it had never actually existed. (Legends & Labyrinths now features a character creation process which is pretty comparable to OD&D and BECMI in terms of the time and complexity involved.)

Problems like these bogged the project down and I laid it aside for awhile.

FINDING A NAME

When I returned to it in late 2006, I decided to abandon the name "Simply D20″. Instead I started chewing my way through alliterative titles trying to find one that worked: The game almost became Wizards & Warriors, but a succession of people had used the name and it had most recently been registered by a CRPG company in 2000 and I couldn't determine whether the mark was still in use. Other possibilities included: Warriors & Warlocks, Mazes & Minotaurs, Magic & Monsters, Wyrms & Warriors, Spells & Swords, Swords & Sepulchers, Myths & Magic, Nymphs & Nightmares, Fable & Fantasy, Runes & Reliquaries, Chronicles & Catacombs, Sword & Saga, Princes & Perils, and Swords & Scrolls.

Some of these got rejected because they were already in use. Others because they sucked. Others because they didn't feel as if they represented the totality of the game. Eventually I settled on Legends & Labyrinths (which had only been used previously in the early '80s for a shareware Japanese CRPG that was long since defunct).

At this point, however, the project was still stuck in the same development trap it had been stuck in before. And I decided to add another bit of developmental stupidity by trying to go all-inclusive with my simple, stripped-down game. The race list now included: Humans, artathi, centaurs, dwarves, elves, gnomes, goliaths, half-elves, half-orcs, halflings, orcs, reptakkens, and siarrans. I was also trying to include not only every class from 3rd Edition, but also cavaliers, duelists, psions, psychic warriors, scouts, and spellsongs.

There was a method to this madness, but it wasn't negating the fact that the project was still fighting with itself. After struggling with the project in this state for several months, it was collapsing under its own weight. In early 2007, however, I changed direction and began stripping everything back down to the simple core it was always supposed to be.

LEGENDS & LABYRINTHS

But then 4th Edition was announced at GenCon in August 2007.

The announcement prompted me to put Legends & Labyrinths on hold. Remember that this same project had been killed by the 3.0 to 3.5 transition, and I felt it didn't make much sense to get burned again in the same way. At this point my plan was to wait for 4th Edition to be released and then release Legends & Labyrinths as a 4th Edition game.

This, of course, was predicated on the assumption that: (1) 4th Edition, like 3rd Edition before it, would be a continuation of the same game that had existed since 1974. (2) That WotC would continue supporting the OGL.

By the end of May 2008, it was clear that neither of these things were true. At this point I decided to put L&L back into development. By late June it looked like everything was falling into place: I had a draft that was 85% complete. I had lined up some beautiful cover art. I had put together a significant art budget that would allow me to purchase reprint rights for existing, high quality fantasy art.

Based on previous projects, I knew that I had roughly 2-3 weeks worth of work ahead of me. I also felt that, with 4th Edition coming, I needed to strike while the iron was hot and let people know that the game was coming. So I rebranded my existing OGL products, announced a July 15th release date, and got down to work.

EVERYTHING FALLS APART

What follows may sound like a litany of excuses. They're not meant as such. It's meant to be simply a description of what happened. I hope it can be taken in that sense.

In early July 2008, my computer crashed. This turned into a nightmare: I had all my data backed up, but I couldn't recover the machine. So I spent money like a drunken sailor to buy a new computer... only to discover that the versions of Quark and Acrobat I owned wouldn't run on Windows Vista. So then I tried to install Windows 2000 on the new computer, but necessary device drivers didn't exist for Windows 2000. So then I spent more money to get my old computer reconstituted. (If I recall correctly, it turned out that both the motherboard and the auxiliary hard drive controller had burned out.)

By this point, I had lost 10 days of work. After describing the situation, I rescheduled the release date for Legends & Labyrinths to July 31st and continued work.

... which is when I contracted Lyme disease. (I was apparently bit by an infected tick while working at an outdoor Shakespeare company.) The Lyme disease turned into its own little odyssey: The first doctor I saw prescribed 10 days of antibiotics. I took them... and then, a few days later, I started getting sick again. So I went back to the clinic. This time I saw a different doctor, who promptly opened a medical reference book, looked up Lyme disease, and read: "Prescribe 14-21 days of antibiotics." The first doctor had under-prescribed and the antibiotics hadn't actually wiped out the disease. Since I had been off the antibiotics for several days at this point, I needed to start the regime over from scratch. And since the remaining disease was probably more resistant to antibiotics (having survived the under-prescribed round of treatment), I'd need to take a full 21 says worth of pills. (I did do and fully recovered; but by the end of it my kidneys weren't too happy with me.)

By this point the deadline had slipped again. This time I simply announced that it would be "done when it's done". I also decided to take advantage of the extra time to retrench, rewrite some problematic sections of the book, and tweak the layout.

In late August 2008, however, it all fell apart.

To be continued... (Dun dun DAH!)

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Justin, are there any preview bits up anywhere that would give a feel for the direction you're going with?  "Third Ed stripped down and faster, yet still compatible" is the sort of statement that piques my interest, but it's also very easy for me to assume that L&L does 'exactly' what I want it to do, but that's all projection.

Quote from: VectorSigma;474389Justin, are there any preview bits up anywhere that would give a feel for the direction you're going with?  "Third Ed stripped down and faster, yet still compatible" is the sort of statement that piques my interest, but it's also very easy for me to assume that L&L does 'exactly' what I want it to do, but that's all projection.

I'll be posting more substantive previews over the course of the funding project. They'll be getting linked here and at the 8-Bit Funding page. You can also check out my website (The Alexandrian), which gets updated in a more timely fashion (since I can automate it).

THE LONG ROAD CONTINUES...

I'm continuing the story of the long road which Legends & Labyrinths has journeyed from its earliest inception, through its many delays, and finally to its release a few days ago.

We left off in July 2007: The original release date of July 15th had been delayed due to a severe computer crash and the revised date of July 31st was delayed when I contracted Lyme disease. Although I publicly announced that it would be "done when it's done", privately I was anticipating a release date in early September.

In late August 2007, however, it all fell apart.

The cover art I had arranged for the original cover of Legends & Labyrinths had been painted by a Russian artist. I had discovered his work on DeviantArt, gone to his website, sent an e-mail, negotiated a contract, and then sent payment according to his instructions. It had been a done deal for months.

... or so I thought.

Because apparently the Russian artist's website had been compromised by hackers. When I sent him an e-mail, that e-mail was intercepted by the hackers. It was with the hackers that I had negotiated a contract and it was to the hackers that I had sent payment.

The details of how this got resolved are... messy. The short version was this: I had no cover art and the budget I had established for art in general was gone.

It's at this point that the development of Legends & Labyrinths essentially went into hibernation. In October 2008 I released Spells of Light and Darkness in a silent attempt to raise money for L&L's art. But it didn't sell well enough. (I was also attempting to save money from my personal finances, but during this time I was first buying a house and, after that, getting married.)

THE 2010 REVISION

In February 2009, I ran my first session of the 1974 ruleset. It was supposed to be a one-shot, but the game proved so successful that my players asked to play it again. And then again. And again. And again.

Over the course of that year, I rediscovered the open gaming table and my old school campaign expanded to include 20+ players and dozens of PCs. At some point in the near future I'm likely to discuss in more detail how these old school sessions influenced the design of Legends & Labyrinths, but for now let it suffice to say that they did: Over the course of 2010, I was slowly revising and reworking the L&L manuscript and material from L&L was being playtested at my old school tables.

By late 2010, several freelance editing projects were meeting with particular success and with major personal expenses now behind me I was able to start putting some serious money towards an art budget. By early 2011, I was ready to bring Legends & Labyrinths out of hibernation..

2011: THE FINAL LEG

Unfortunately, the long odyssey of Legends & Labyrinths was not yet complete. Just a few days before I was scheduled to start contacting artists, I was notified of a major legal impediment that someone was attempting to create which would threaten not only the release of the game, but all of the game supplements I've published and kept in print since 2007.

I am not yet at liberty to go into much detail regarding this matter (although it probably wouldn't take much ingenuity to figure it out), but I was basically forced to take my newly re-established art budget and dump it into legal fees.

At this point I was near despair. Even with the legal issue resolved, I was right back at square zero as far as getting the book into print was concerned.

During 2010 I had considered the possibility of using Kickstarter to raise the art budget. But I hit the impediment that the book had already been vaporware for 2 years: Could I really expect people to put money towards a project that was already so late? Not really.

But now, in early 2011, I had the idea of creating the Black Book Beta rulebook: It would let me put something out there and say with authority, "No, really. This thing does exist. It's real."

So I spent the next 2-3 months revisiting the entire manuscript. In June 2011, I transitioned to layout. The layout took much longer than I anticipated: Partly because I was learning Adobe InDesign, partly because I had forgotten how time-consuming the SRS system is, and partly because those delays ended up carrying the whole thing into the middle of a major theatrical project.

But, at long last, it was done!

... and then Kickstarter rejected my project proposal.

So I swapped over to 8-Bit Funding, created the Legends & Labyrinths project (which is actually cooler than the Kickstarter project would have been), and then waited several days for it to be approved.

Which brings us to today.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There's a large part of me that wished Legends & Labyrinths had been properly released way back in July 2008.

But, on the other hand, I honestly think it will have been worth the wait. I also think Legends & Labyrinths is a much better game because of the extra development it has received in the interim.

On the gripping hand, however, I'm glad to have this monkey off my back at long last. Not only because I'm excited to see what you'll do with the game now that it's in your hands, but also because it will free me up to pursue other RPG projects that have been long dormant while I've struggled with the project that would (seemingly) never end.

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