Kickstarter - Dungeon Alphabet 4th Printing (Goodman Games)

I love the Dungeon Alphabet. Each printing adds more stuff and seems to come closer to perfection than the one before. There hasn't been a new printing in over 4 years.

Now its back with the Dungeon Alphabet 4th Printing Kickstsarter.

What's new? Well, the pricing is insane in a good way. Print plus PDF is only 12 bucks plus shipping. Seriously. Black Friday special and all that.

The book now stands at 80 pages. Third print was 64 pages. First was 48 pages.

It funded in less than 12 hours.

I'm quoted in the Kickstarter ;)

I stand by those words...

What Is The Dungeon Alphabet? 

The Dungeon Alphabet is a book of fantasy inspiration. It is filled with random tables that are themed to letters of the alphabet. For example, A is for Altar, B is for Books, and C is for Crypts. The target audience is dungeon masters and anyone who wants ideas for dungeon design. We have heard over the years that many players also enjoy looking through the book as well. 

Each page of The Dungeon Alphabet uses a letter of the alphabet to provide inspiration. In the first printing, so many years ago, there were 26 entries for the 26 letters. With each new printing, we have doubled-up on select letters to add even more material. This 4th printing is now up to 41 entries, including 2 completely new ones and others collected from our annual Gen Con Program Guides, to add a total of 7 letters that are new since the 3rd printing: 

C is also for Crypt
G is also for Guardians
H is also for Hazards
L is also for Levels
O is also for Omen
Q is also for Quests
U is also for Underwater

Mini Review - The Dungeon Alphabet - Expanded Third Printing

+Vincent Florio another post with Ashley, just for you ;)

I have the original printing of The Dungeon Alphabet packed away somewhere, but I saw the expanded third printing last Friday when I was at The Complete Strategist here in NYC. I had to grab the new copy.

The shit rocks even more than before.

Like tables? It's got you covered.

Michael Curtis captures a piece of the soul of the OSR and smacks it down on a page and then does it again and again, consistently.  Did I mention the Erol Otis art?

The PDF version on RPGNow says it has 48 pages, but it's actually updated to the 3rd edition - so it's 64 pages or so. If you bought it in PDF back in the day like I did, you can download the updated version for free. That's damn cool!

If you don't have a copy, you probably should.

From the blurb:

An A-to-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design

Now updated to the same text as the third printing! This newly expanded version includes 16 additional pages of content, new endsheets, and new interior illustrations!

Designing dungeons is as easy as A, B, C! The Dungeon Alphabet compiles twenty-six classic dungeon design elements in one place to assist the game master in creating subterranean challenges. A is for Altar, B is for Books, and C is for Caves: the Dungeon Alphabet has advice, hints, and randomized tables that bring new life to your adventures. Suitable for any rules system, the entries are accompanied by outstanding art from classic fantasy illustrators, with a foreword by noted game designer Zeb Cook

By the Letters...

There have been a good number of reviews of The Dungeon Alphabet since its release.  I even did one on the PDF version, which I liked alot.  I found the dead tree version on Amazon for 10 bucks, free shipping, so I had to bite.

As much as I enjoyed the PDF, the dead tree version is a killer with its artwork.  Any one of these pieces would look fine on my wall as a framed print.  They are that good, and that evocative of my gaming years when I was a teenage gamer.

If you can find yourself a copy in hardcover, do yourself a favor... grab it!

On a side note, this is day two of my country getaway.  Wheee!

Tomorrow I may give a short write up of Friday nite's C&C game I played in via Fantasy Grounds 2.  Or perhaps another review.

After-Snow Day

So, I left the house with the intention to take the subway and get some reading in... but then I noticed my car was barely snowed in.  So I brushed it off, shoveled a little bit, and drove to work.

There went my idea to get some commuting reading time in on the DX.

Still, I was drawn back to The Dungeon Alphabet during my lunch.  I'm amazed at how well the DX reproduces the artwork from the book.  Might have to use the included table in my One Page Dungeon if I ever get closer to finishing it.

Oh, JoeTheLawyer has twisted my arm, so I will be at the Compleat Strategist in NYC on March 27 (damn, though it was in 2 weeks for a bit there).  Joe has the details here.  Not that my showing up is all that big a deal, but maybe a few more will show up and make it a BIG deal ;)

Snowy Reading Day

Otherwise known as the Blizzard that wasn't.  I hear the wind right now, and there is some blowing snow, but its not the 15+ inches they were all harping on.  I'll be surprised if I wake up to 8 or 9 inches in the morning.

All that being said, I still had to drag my lazy ass to work today.  It was one of the rare times I wasn't driving into Manhattan.  Nope, today I enjoyed the wonders of the NYC Transit System.  Not to be confused with the NYC Transient System (although I think I did spot one homeless person keeping warm and dry and sleeping on  the train) it is better run then it was in my college days.  Probably safer too.  Probably.

Now, there was one advantage to not driving in to work (besides saving on gas):  I had about an hour to and from that I was able to read some gaming goodness on my Kindle DX.  Yes, I gripped it tight, but use it I did.

Finally got around to giving The Dungeon Alphabet a good read.  I am truly amazed at how well the artwork is reproduced on the Kindle DX.  I did have to rotate the screen orientation to make the viewed page large enough to be read comfortably, but that is a minor quibble.  I kinda lost myself in the tables and art and before I knew it it was time to change trains from the express to the local... nice little time warp.

Tonight I need to move some of my more recent  PDF purchases to the DX.  Tomorrow looks to be another train day.  I plan to make it work for me ;)