Critical Core

Cards charged, digital materials distributed to Kickstarter and BackerKit backers!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 10:03:27 AM

Backers and Pre-Order Supporters,

We're so happy to be seeing the positive response to Critical Core's digital kit distribution!

As we mentioned last week, credit cards have now been charged through BackerKit, so if you were waiting to receive your digital kit because of an outstanding balance, you should now be able to access the digital download through BackerKit! If there was an error on your card, your digital download will be enabled once you log in and update your information.

If you have any issues with the download, please make sure to email [email protected].

Also, please email us your feedback and stories of your adventures!

If you missed the Kickstarter or BackerKit preorder, you can input your email address into this form to be notified when our webstore is live. 

Best,

Adam Davis

Executive Director, Game to Grow

Lead Author, Critical Core

Digital Downloads Out to Kickstarter Backers Today!
over 3 years ago – Sat, Apr 17, 2021 at 02:10:31 PM

We're here!  

After putting the final finishing touches on the digital materials, we've wrapped it all up in a bow and are sending out to Kickstarter backers today!

You should get an email from BackerKit providing you a link to the digital download.  If you have any challenges with the download, please send an email to [email protected].

If your card has not been charged yet, we'll process the cards on Monday through BackerKit and send digital downloads to Pre-Order BackerKit supporters on Monday!

We look forward to hearing your tales of adventure!

Adam Davis

Executive Director, Game to Grow

DOTS Encounter Structure in Layout
over 3 years ago – Fri, Mar 05, 2021 at 10:19:53 PM

Hello again, backers!

As I mentioned in the last post, we’re in the final stages of layout for the digital and printed materials. I wanted to take this update to share with you a piece of the Game Master’s Guide that outlines the unique module format within the Critical Core Starter Set.

As you can see, the module design, using the DOTS System of Narrative Construction, has each encounter laid out on a 2-page spread, which reduces the amount of information the game master has in front of them, so they can focus on the specific information most relevant in the moment. 

As we’re finishing up layout, we’re looking to have digital materials sent to the distributor in the next week or so. We’re excited to get digital materials distributed and to get manufacturing started!

‘Til soon,

Adam Davis

Founder, Executive Director

Game to Grow

We’re in final layout!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 06:42:39 PM

Hello Backers!

Adam Davis back again with another update about Critical Core progress.

A few of you messaged me after the last “Tale from the Real-World Table” update asking for an update on progress toward production and delivery. The digital materials are in the final layout phase, where the writing has been completed, tested, edited, re-written, and re-edited. We are finetuning the layout design to make sure that it is readable and navigable, with appropriate tables and charts laid out to be both engaging and useful. As Adam Johns said in a previous post, putting a decade of experience in therapeutically-applied RPG into a simple and easy to understand format took more than a few revisions. Some bits were clarified after the last round of tester feedback, and some less-accessible elements were removed entirely to be saved for a more comprehensive training program down the road. The perfect was becoming the enemy of the good, as the saying goes, so we refocused on the goal of an approachable and accessible “starter set” for applied role-playing games, and that’s what you’ll get!

I’m excited for you to get your hands on it!

As for physical distribution, we’re in the process of negotiating samples to make sure that cardstock is of the appropriate quality and thickness and that color and artwork will meet a high standard. I’ll keep everyone updated with details as they happen and as soon as a specific delivery date can be clarified.

I appreciate your positive feedback and continued enthusiasm for this project, and I’m still accepting your Biagofma backstories! Thanks to everyone who sent them in!

‘Til soon,

Adam Davis

Founder, Executive Director

Game to Grow

Building Biagofma
over 3 years ago – Sat, Feb 06, 2021 at 12:06:22 AM

Greetings Backers! 

“Other Adam” Adam Davis here again with another update from behind the screen. I received so much enthusiasm for the “Tale from the Real-World Table” that I shared in the last update that I thought I’d share another one this week. My players just reminded me about it last week, and the original story was in 2016!

As the heroes were exploring a dungeon, I paused before they entered the next room. I folded and put down the game master screen, which was the ritual to indicate that they would begin collaborative worldbuilding. I let the group know they would be creating the name of a fantastic troll of legend, one their characters had heard stories about as children. Using the collaborative spelling method (This is explained in the Facilitator’s Guide!)  they came up with a name: Biagofma.

The players were then asked to think back on their characters’ childhood. Of course, they had all been told stories about the horrible troll Biagofma. Perhaps they were cautionary tales, perhaps tales of reverence. Because the characters came from vastly different big cities and small towns, their stories did not have to complement each other. The players were given the ability to be boundlessly creative, and took turns sharing their ‘recollections’ of Biagofma.

“I heard Biagofma always lies. You can’t trust him.”

“My parents used to tell me that Biagofma eats kids who don’t do their chores, and if I didn’t sweep the porch, he’d snatch me from my bedroom window while I slept!”

“My parents said Biagofma would eat people who went too far into the forbidden woods.”

“My uncle would make me go into the woods and bury offerings to Biagofma! I never knew what was in those packages I buried under that tree…”

Of course, these players were all coming up with these ‘recollections’ in that moment. None of them had before ever thought about the stories their characters had heard in childhood about the monstrous Biagofma. I then set up my game master screen again to indicate that they would resume the story, and I described the next room.

“As you come inside, the room is barely illuminated by the remains of a torch on the far wall. In the center of the room you see a massive metal cage. Hunched inside it is a grotesquely large humanoid beast. His eyes glisten as if they contain embers of their own. He grins an eerie grin when he sees you.” I hunched over, squinted my eyes, jutted out my jaw, and in a booming voice said, ‘Well hello...Look who’s come to play...with Biagofma!’”

The players’ jaws dropped. It was as if they were actually coming face to face with the legend himself! Though Biagofma only showed up in that single encounter, the character became a shared history, a legend co-created by the players. Long after this particular session ended, the players would continue to make up legends and references. As players made new characters they would make sure to include tales of Biagofma from their new character’s backstory.

This story is a worthwhile reminder of how the stories we play stay with us, and how the ones we create and collaborate to build together stay with us for a lifetime. Collaboration is a key principle of the Game to Grow Method and is suffused throughout the Critical Core Facilitator’s Guide.

Do you have stories you remember from games years ago? Please share them in the comments!

I also invite you to create and share your own stories of Biagofma... you know... from your own (or your character’s) youth. Remember, there are no wrong answers!

Thanks again, for all of your continued support!

Adam Davis

Game to Grow Executive Director