The duo are using itch to raise money for Bastardized Classics.
Q: Easy question first: Give us the elevator pitch of your project. Tell us about it in two sentences or less.
A: The Bastardized Classics attempt to recreate classic modules with a modern sensibility. Experience adventures as old as the hobby in a compact format, with a rules-lite design ethos. Designed with Micah Anderson’s Bastards. system in mind, The Bastardized Classics are easily adapted to any version of dragon games. Vault of Doom reimagines the much acclaimed S1 Tomb of Horrors while Peak of Woe gives a new set of eyes to the wonderful S2 White Plume Mountain.
Q: Is this your first ZineMonth project or have you done it before? If it's your first, talk a bit about what inspired you to give it a shot this year. If you've done it before, what's something you've learned from previous crowdfunding projects that you may be doing differently this time, or, if you're not doing anything differently, talk a bit about your previous projects.
A: Jon Davis has done two previous projects for ZineMonth: In the Light of a Setting Sun: Saddlebag Edition, and Wild Blue Yonder #1. Setting Sun was his first foray into crowdfunding and he learned a lot from that experience, mostly to keep his goals realistic. Wild Blue Yonder was Jon’s second project and he would say it taught him to come to the table with a finished product; Jon stresses how much time and effort would've saved if he had worked on the manuscript for just a bit longer before launch.
Matthew Morris has ran/been a part of three Kickstarters (two of which were Zine Quest) and had one very successful project for ZiMo last year - Lilliputian: Adventure on the Open Seas. He has definitely learned a lot and would encourage others to work in groups of creators when possible. This community is full of awesome people with shared interests, this sea of potentially great partnerships can and should be leveraged; not only can cool products come as a result - but friendships can be formed.
Q: Finally, tell us something about your current project that really excites you but the average backer may not be aware of. Maybe a twist to an old trope, a new way of presenting something, or maybe just something you've never tried before that you're using this as an opportunity to try out.
A: In these older modules, you really don't get much of the surrounding area around the adventure location. You might get some names and some setting detail, but there's nothing really for your players to interact with. With Vault of Doom and Peak of Woe, we really strove to make the hexes surrounding the titular dungeons just as interesting, if not more so. In addition to a better fleshed out surrounding, Vault of Doom and Peak of Woe are just two of the four Bastardized Classics coming in 2023. Summer will see the release of Vale of Stars (S4 Expedition of the Barrier Peaks) and Cave of Fiends (S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth). And, there’s more! We’ve already released our bastardization version of B2 Keep of the Borderlands; it can be found for FREE on itch.io titled Bastion on the Frontier.
Jon Davis (@sivads_santum) and I are running this project together. HODAG RPG is doing artwork as well.