Things my be a little quieter on whenitsready.com than normal as I’ve been moving my board game updates to Board Game Geek. Though their blogging biosphere isn’t the busiest, I have a better chance of getting feedback if I go to where the customers roam. A few BGG patrons have aleady straggled across my blog, so it’s encouraging. The blog’s title, Building a Better Dungeon Crawl, describes my overall thesis that I’m attempting to achieve what Blizzard accomplished with Diablo, bringing RPGs to a broad, casual gaming audience. Admittedly, it remains to be seen if I’ve accomplished that heady goal.
The blog includes Blizzard’s game design philosophy, and because a lot of it is controversial, I’ll need readers to work out the kinks of my ramblings.
It begs the question—why start another blog? I’m using it as a open space to organize my thoughts. I’ll ultimately polish my posts into a booklet for my board game’s Kickstarter (somewhere in 2026). It makes sense to call it The Book of Dungeon Diary, where I’ll outline my desigin decisions in making the competitive RPG deckbuilder. It’s nonfiction, so it’ll take iteration to connect the dots, illustrate my ideas, simplify my arguments, and cut away irrelevant or repetitive paragraphs. I feel confident there’s enough content to make the booklet worthwhile.
Hype isn’t the only thing I’m slinging. Today, I’m wrapping up artwork for my Origins Game Fair playtests. I even got a head start on the card art. Below are frames of player starter decks, and I’m satisfied with the overall results.
Below, you’ll see I’ve also made frames for item cards in ascending order of value—burlap, canvas, worn leather, tooled leather, and metal. The materials represent the equipment dungeoneers might haul and collect and ties in with the tableau’s backpack theme.
The crazy thing about the above imagery is that I didn’t use Photoshop—a new paradigm for digital art. The above images are 3d renderings. Check out the detail of the burlap sack below. I surrounded the thick threads of the burlap with thin, jagged, six-sided cylinders giving them a worn, fuzzy appearance.
This post’s final note concern my series, The Book of Dungeons. I recently recieved over 400 pages of feedback from my top beta reader, and will start on them tomorrow.
After I implement his comments, I will have my books ready for recording and can devote myself exclusively to finishing my board game. I still need 133 background images for my cards and monster art for my board game’s 16 enemies. It’ll take months to create, but it’ll be worth the effort.