Rise of the Yōkai Koku - RELEASED!

[RosenMcStern]

After his defeat at the hand of Oda Nobunaga, the great Daimyo Azai Nagamasa commits seppuku. The only hope for what is left of his retinue is a secret alliance with the Takeda clan, the only one strong enough to oppose Nobunaga. However, Takeda Shingen demands a hostage to guarantee the loyalty of Nagamasa’s former retainers. The hostage must reach the Shinano province without Nobunaga being aware of his presence, but the road passes through Oda territory. A group of brave adventurers must accompany the hostage in his dangerous journey.

 

So begins the Rise of the Yōkai Koku campaign, a Revolution d100 roleplaying adventure set in the Sengoku period of the Japanese middle ages. Many adventures await our noble heroes on their path to restoring their clan fortunes, and not all threats will be human in nature.

Rise of the Yōkai Koku was originally intended as a low-cost PDF using vintage artwork from 17^th to 19^th Century Japan and a stock picture as cover. However, if this crowdfunding campaign succeeds we will publish the 10-episode campaign booklet in print, too, with a shiny new cover drawn specifically for it. We will add other artwork and goodies as stretch goals if the funding exceeds our minimum target.

 

 

Rise of the Yōkai Koku will start crowdfunding in the first half of June 2018, so keep your tachi well oiled and your prayer beads at hand.

Edited June 1, 2019 by RosenMcStern

[Runeblogger]

I'm looking forward to reading this material.

[RosenMcStern]

The crowdfunding is now live! Face political intrigues and supernatural threats.in a fantastic journey to Sengoku Jidai Japan.

 

https://www.ulule.com/rise-of-the-yokai-koku/

[clarence]

Good to see, Paolo!

[soltakss]

Backed at PDF level, as I don't buy paper books any more.

[RosenMcStern]

As you can see, this campaign has not funded. Rise of the Yōkai Koku will appear, but in electronic format only. A pity, but not a catastrophe.

You may have noticed that we have not pushed the campaign much in these last days. Maybe you are wondering whether a massive advertising campaign might have changed the final outcome. Perhaps, but there is a consideration we have made during the first half of the crowdfunding period. Unlike other projects, contributors to this one chose mainly the electronic format for their reward. In other words, even if the idea did generate some excitement among players, the format which this campaign intended to fund (a printed supplement) was not perceived as the best one for Rise of the Yōkai Koku. Please note that the number of contributors reached, if the usual percentage of 80% had chosen a printed reward, could have been sufficient to fund the project. With a percentage of 50% choosing the paper version, funding was much harder.

With the basic premise of the campaign in doubt, we decided that it was not a good idea to use pure marketing techniques to reach the goal. If the majority of players preferred a PDF, then giving them a PDF was the way to go. And this we can do even without a successful crowdfunding.

Now, the contributors who pledged for a physical copy will certainly ask one question: what about a print on demand version? Well, it is not entirely ruled out, but at the moment we have not organised any POD version for any product in the Revolution D100 line, except the combat cards. And the cards have sold poorly as a POD item, whereas the small print run which we have sold directly on RPG Meeting has sold out. That said, POD is possible, but not a priority. Especially with two other crowdfundings still to fulfill, for a total of five books and two accessories yet to produce. Let us go back to these before thinking about POD of other products.

[clarence]

I’m sorry to hear that, but nice to get a digital version. Keep up the good work. 

[TheHistorian]

I didn't pledge because I didn't know about this project. Did you send messages to backers of prior projects?

 

[RosenMcStern]

Maybe I forgot. But do not worry, we basically aborted the project because it became clear that the supporters were way more interested in the PDF edition than a hardcopy. So this crowdfunding became a big market survey, instead.

The campaign is now ready for publishing, Ken Spencer managed to send me back the edited version before leaving for GenCon, so you will be able to purchase it in September, at most. I will keep everyone informed.

 

[Zit]

when do you expect the pdf to be ready ?

[RosenMcStern]

Hopefully September. Ken managed to finish the editing pass before GenCon and I am laying it out right now. However, we are laying out three books at the same time so it will take some weeks.

[xalabin]

I'm interested on it when it will be available but i wasn't enough for wait all the crowdfunding process.
Still, it is a sad notice but i hope it will be finished soon.

 

[mitchw]

Any updates on when this will be ready and how it will be sold?

 

Thanks.

[RosenMcStern]

Drivethru, PDF only; within the end of September. Layout is in progress.

[xalabin]

Nice.

[mitchw]

Waiting (in)patiently with hand of the hilt of my katana.....

[RosenMcStern]

We will not be able to finish production within a couple of days, so the September deadline cannot be kept. The new temptative date is mid October to end October.

[mitchw]

Any updates on Yokai Koku?

Thanks.

[RosenMcStern]

Unfortunately, finishing the Ninja Crusade in two different languages took much longer than expected and it will take another two weeks at least to have Yokai Koku ready. We are all leaving for Lucca in a few hours so we cannot be quicker than this. The good news is that I might be able to reuse some of the new graphic solutions we developed for Ninja Crusade to make it look nicer.

[mitchw]

Any updates?

 

Thanks.

[RosenMcStern]

Still in the layout process. I would hate to delay it beyond Christmas, but we wish to do it right. Even if the product will sell only some dozens of PDF, it will serve as a template for the improved Revolution D100 "Look&Feel" we plan to adopt for all upcoming products.

[RogerDee]

Is this still available on Drivethru as i cannot see it, anywhere. Unless I am missing something?

[RosenMcStern]

I am revising the layout at this moment. The campaign will be available on DriveThru and RPG Meeting in a short time.

[RogerDee]

3 hours ago, RosenMcStern said:

I am revising the layout at this moment. The campaign will be available on DriveThru and RPG Meeting in a short time.

I did find Ninja Crusade in French on D-thru. I presume this is the same item?

[RosenMcStern]

Not at all. Ninja crusade is a Third Eye Games product which we translated. Cool stuff, but nothing to do with d100, it uses a d10 pool.