Greetings Backers!

It appears that the BIAB cannot be stopped--except by the glass on the beaker. Or the stopper at the top of the beaker, which is actually stopping it in a literal sense, I suppose. Nonetheless, the BIAB (that's Brain in a Beaker) cruised to a landslide victory over the Banelash in the final quarterfinal matchup of the Monster Madness tourney! And the BIAB seems poised to be the favorite moving into the semi-final round! But as a wise man once said, "it ain't over until the cows come to sing!" ...or something like that. Look for the semi-final matches on Monday as we inch closer to the finish!

Last night we unlocked another Stretch Goal: The Xx-xtchx Beetle. These are beetle-like humanoids with an unpronounceable name, and a flurry of leg attacks. But if it brings them all to bear on the hapless characters, it suffers some drawbacks. Plus that art....

Today we pull back the curtain on Advanced Advantage! Most backers of this campaign will get Advanced Advantage Playtest Packet #2. Advanced Advantage is our in-house 5E Rules Enhancement we've been distilling in the Goodman Games 5E Game Labs for nearly two years. Backers of our previous campaign received Packet #1 (also available as an add-on during this campaign). We plan to release two more packets this year.

Naturally, Packet #2 will focus on monsters. In addition to a mini-manual of monsters using Advanced Advantage rules, we would like to introduce the Battle Box! Back in previous editions, we often talk about "economy of words". How did game designers cram so much action into an 8 page book (see the classic giant's adventures, for example)? Well, one of the ways using "shorthand" to convey lots of game rules. In those old classic adventures, a monster's stats were typically 2-4 lines long. And you still had everything you needed to run the encounter.

And over the decades the stat boxes got bigger and bigger. Here is a picture of a Troll stat box from The Temple of Elemental Evil (1E):

It's not even 4 lines long! Now, here is a Troll stat box from the 5E Monster Manual:

So, one of the design philosophies of Advanced Advantage was the return of monster/NPCs rules information presented in a shorthand form. This requires many fewer words, and takes up much less real estate on the page. At the same time, we want to make sure its still functional at the game table. Nobody enjoys flipping back and forth to access needed game stats during a heated combat. Or worse, having to pause the action, to consult a different book.

I offer to you fine backers, the Battle Box, as presented in Advanced Advantage, using the Troll as an example:

As you can see, our Battle Box takes up roughly 4 lines in a book (and it's in a box!). Yet nearly all of the relevant information is (at least) listed. Sure, you need to know what Keen Smell does, and it doesn't include all of the regeneration rules. But in the heat of an encounter, it's enough to remind the GM, "trolls have excellent smell, they regenerate 10 hp/turn, and have one Bite and two Claw attacks per turn". You could "wing" the rest at the game table, or look up the relevant details of these traits before the session begins.

Now, is this the perfect solution? No. Not yet. That is our final goal. But we feel it's a step closer to where we want to be, as opposed to more rules sprawl. Since Advanced Advantage is very much evolving, and backers get a chance to provide feedback during the process, we expect a few more tweaks before we arrive at the final Battle Box.

Granted, the above example is a relatively simple creature. How does this apply to a complicated creature, such as a dragon? Well I'm glad you asked! Here is the Battle Box for an Ancient Bronze Dragon with innate spellcasting, Legendary Actions, and all!

It looks like we are right back to rules sprawl with this one. But take a look at the Ancient Bronze Dragon stat box in the Monster Manual. Its easily 3/4 of a page and clocks in at 585 words. Our stat box is a mere 169 words which is about 30% of the original. We feel this is progress in the right direction.

What changes would you like to see? How can we make it even better? Tell us in the comments. Or better yet, pick up a copy of playtest packet #2, and participate in the playtest!