Here's a summary of everything that's been happening and why things are dragging behind:
New military job, new part of the state, moving constantly between hotels
Haven't printed the books because I haven't had anywhere to send them that's stable
Few updates on smaller games that weren't in print to pass the time
The Lulu test copy ended up at my old hotel and I moved, I haven't seen it
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years
Here's a quick summary to answer your questions:
The books are being sent to print tonight, I'm just going to send everything to my parents house and have them help me mail everything out this means I cannot sign any of the books, but it does mean that you'll be getting them much faster than you otherwise would
Same goes with the cards
There will only be one bookmark ribbon, after some back and forth that's all the new printer can do, if I try to find another printer things will take even longer to print, so let's just push forward with what we got, and the book is still great quality
I'm going to order another Lulu test copy, I'm more stable for now and that's a smaller risk to take than hundreds of books potentially being sent to an unhelpful address
Mud, Blood, and Stone is complete, but I had to get a new artist because the original one had life get in the way (totally valid). Most of the art is done in the new style now thanks to SilverNightingale, there's just two pieces left, here's some pictures:
Expect shipping in Mid-Late February. If I can get it sooner than that, that'd be ideal, but that's my "everything keeps getting in the way" timeframe.
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Crowns Jam is Concluded
We've had three quality submissions to the Autumn Winds Jam and the judges and after some testing, the winner is clear:
The Forsaken Fortressby acreecehands down wins both categories that had submissions: "Best Adventure Site" and "Best One-Pager".
I'll be reaching out tonight to pay them their winnings and see if he wants to work together with me on a revised version with additional art and formatting. We'll see how it goes!
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The Final Update and 2025 in Review
Considering I'm sending it to print tonight, I thought it'd be best to do one more read through. The Final Update of the text is live, and you can download it at itch.io. The Title Cards were updated to match as well, download them here.
On top of that, I wrote a massive blog post about everything that happened last year, and talked about my itch.io numbers for the year. If that kind of thing interests you, you can check that out here.
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Q&A
If you have any other questions ask them in the comments below! I'm down to reply to anything, this entire post was spurred on by a comment on the last post and an email sent to me at [email protected] . I was originally going to wait until I had a completed Mud, Blood, and Stone to release, but the user brought up that it had been long enough. I agree. I hope this clarifies the situation for ya'll!
Thank you guys so much for backing! To be continued...
You can playtest the game on our Discord with me and our awesome community! We don't bite! Reese Surles, Ward Against Evil
Here are some images of the test print for the deluxe hardcover:
Here are the edits I put in for:
The words were too close to the spine-gutter, so I'm pushing all the text out a 1/4" inch
The spine was miscolored and not aligned perfectly
Otherwise, this book is AWESOME!!! It looks a million times better than I thought it was, and I'm excited to get them printed and out to you guys!
The next print order is the MASS PRINTING. I'm waiting a week to get a paycheck from my new job as extra cushion, but we should be good to go!
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Print-On-Demand Copies
I have a test-print from Lulu on the way to my new home right now. Once I can make sure it's high quality and doesn't need any edits, I'll make it public and start mailing everyone their copies.
If you purchased the "Mud, Blood, and Stone" (MB&S) POD option as well, there will be a slight delay as I proof MB&S as well so you (and I) can save on shipping. That will be before the end of November.
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Submissions for the Autumn Winds Jam, Voting Begins
We've had three quality submissions to the Autumn Winds Jam and the judges and I are excited to test them out in the coming month to give them proper reviews! As a reminder, here are the cash prizes:
Best Adventure Site ($200)
Best One-Pager ($50)
Best Non-Adventure Site ($50)
Whatever product wins each category will also be showcased on the main Crowns 2e itch page forever. Check out the awesome entries by clicking the image below:
Thank you guys so much for backing! To be continued...
You can playtest the game on our Discord with me and our awesome community! We don't bite! Reese Surles, Ward Against Evil
The printer I was working with was unable to complete the book order because they lacked stitching, which is something I thought I had determined before partnering with them but that was on me, so I'm moving to another printer
The Core Rulestest-prints are slotted to arrive at my place on 10/21/2025, expect a video around then of me dissecting them
Title Card Deck test-print is also underway, ETA not yet determined
Artist Chaoclypse, the artist behind the "Mud, Blood, and Stone" cover art, is going to be doing the rest of the book (originally it was going to be someone else, but I decided to bring him in to finish it out in his same style), that's the next step in the completion of "Mud, Blood, and Stone"
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Where was I?
I just moved from North Texas to the US-Mexico Border for work. It was very spontaneous but not entirely unexpected. The food down here is great, but then again in most places the food is great if you get the right type of food.
Ihave a series of mandatory trainings, a friend's wedding, and my wedding anniversary in the coming weeks, the next update may be in November. Just keeping it real with ya'll. Luckily, at this point, we're just waiting on printing mostly.
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The Autumn Wind Jam Continues!
If you're looking for an opprotunity to make content for Crowns 2e here it is! The Autumn Winds Jam is a free-to-enter adventure/content jam for Crowns 2e! You can submit anything you want (adventures, magic items, monsters, etc) as long as its Crowns 2e compatible.
There are cash prizes for the best in each of three categories:
Best Adventure Site ($200)
Best One-Pager ($50)
Best Non-Adventure Site ($50)
Whatever product wins each category will also be showcased on the main Crowns 2e itch page forever. So feel free to hop in and utilize all the goodies in the Creator Kit!
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"Specialist Handouts"
The idea I've been passing around for the past few updates about specialists having their own little supplements is coming to fruition. The goal is that they're going to be one-page handouts you can give the players when they arrive at a town. One is the generic handout that has all of the basic items, weapons, armor, how much does it cost to stay the night, etc. Other than that, every specialist type will have their own handout which explains what items/services they provide and gives additional items/services from the core book.
Think of them like little pop-up boxes in a video game. This will be a series of free supplements, I don't think they'll provide enough content to warrant charging for them.
More to come.
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"Seeker"
Solo Rules. Short and simple. My dream is for a one-pager on exploring dungeons and the wilderness alone, but it may have to be a series of one-pagers about exploring different types of wilderness and dungeons alone. That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.
More to come.
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"The Remains of Elfkind"
This is a new adventure, similar to "Mud, Blood, and Stone". It will be in the Hex-Flower series (started by "Mud, Blood, and Stone") and will be for Veteran to Expert Seekers (mid-level). It takes place in a forest, and is essentially what happens if you stumbled upon Rivendell from LOTR but decided it was conquered by rivalling beast-kin factions battling over the ruins. All the elves have long since left or been slain (it's unclear which).
It's going to feature a lot of Beast-kin, and fantastical Animals. It think you guys will really like it. It won't be coming out for a while though.
More to come.
Thank you guys so much for backing! To be continued...
You can playtest the game on our Discord with me and our awesome community! We don't bite! Reese Surles, Ward Against Evil
The PDF of Crowns 2e is complete in content and editing. The final version has been uploaded to the Crowns 2e itch.io page! Claim the keys that have been sent to your emails and follow this link to download it right now! https://ward-against-evil.itch.io/crowns-2e
I am extremely pleased with how it turned out! All the credit goes to my editor Gavin Smithers and the artist InkedGas for helping make the book a more readable product.
I will begin the process for getting everything uploaded to LuLu for the POD option and I've already contacted the printers for the offset-printing. If everything goes great they'll be completely printed in 2-3 weeks. I'll keep ya'll updated.
Your cards were charged for your orders. Your orders are now locked.
Addresses will be locked when we get closer to shipping (hopefully, about a month out from now). I'll give you more details as they arrive. ---
The Creator Kit Has Been Released
The Creator Kit for Crowns 2e has been as an optional download on itch along with the Core Rules. This is the entire Affinity Publisher 2 file of the game, with a separate side folder including all of the art assets used (and some still unused) in the book.
This exists for three main reasons:
1. It's to show newer game developers how finished products look under the hood, and how messy they can be, especially at the end of a project.
2. To give access to the exact formatting/text for anyone who wants to make products for Crowns 2e that look similar to Crowns 2e/quote from Crowns 2e.
3. To give access to all of the art assets used in the book for anyone's projects.
Crowns 2e is under a Creative Commons BY 4.0 License, meaning you can: - Share, copy, and redistrubute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
!!!BUT!!!
You must give ATTRIBUTION to these three individuals:
Reese R Surles (the Author)
Gavin T Smithers (the Editor)
InkedGas (the Artist) Follow this link for the specifics: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Oh, and this part isn't a rule, but there are COMPATIBILITY BADGES included with the Creator Kit. Feel free to put them on your projects to show that they are compatible with Crowns 2e! ---
The Autumn Wind Jam Continues!
If you're looking for an opprotunity to make content for Crowns 2e here it is! The Autumn Winds Jam is a free-to-enter adventure/content jam for Crowns 2e! You can submit anything you want (adventures, magic items, monsters, etc) as long as its Crowns 2e compatible.
There are cash prizes for the best in each of three categories:
Best Adventure Site ($200)
Best One-Pager ($50)
Best Non-Adventure Site ($50)
Whatever product wins each category will also be showcased on the main Crowns 2e itch page forever. So feel free to hop in and utilize all the goodies in the Creator Kit!
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Title Cards Update
The Title Cards will be completed next week and ready to print/upload to itch. Once that's done, I'll send all of you a download link for them.
Here's their finished look (taking in all the feedback ya'll have given so far):
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Help Found!
We had a few applicants and we are now working with an amazing gentleman who will be creating for us three things:
A Character Generator (that can convert into a PDF)
A web page where you can save Character Sheets, move around your inventory, and track all the things you would on a character sheet (mobile and desktop)
A Treasure Generator (using all the tables in the book)
I'll give more updates on the release of all this as things progress. Stay tuned!
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Mud, Blood, and Stone Update
I am formatting the last few pages now, and this book has a lot of content! I'm really excited to show it to you guys! I'll be releasing the PDF in the coming weeks for ya'll to look over, the final zine is going to be 20 pages (including the cover). It will include:
1 refuge to call home
7 adventure sites to discover and explore
3 major factions in conflict (and 2 more minor factions causing problems)
Some dynamic boss battles, and many fully detailed NPCs
Random encounter, weather, and hex-exploration tables
I'm really pleased with this adventure module, and I'm excited to create more in this style. I'm confident ya'll will like it too. Here's a sneak peak of the updated area map at the beginning of the zine (SPOILER WARNING): ---
Fear the Landshark!!!
I released the first one-page Monster Hunt for Crowns 2e for free on itch! These are one-off boss battles your players can go on that are intricate and fun. Check out the first one here: https://ward-against-evil.itch.io/fear-the-land-shark-mh1
This is just one type of content I hope to making for Crowns in the future! I've also been considering collapsing all the micro-expansions I had in mind into a single series of Specialist Expansions. Basically, these supplementary one-pagers you can download (one for each type of specialist) that gives you advanced options for what each one can do/sell. For example:
Coiners always have Lapidaries with them, gemstone specialist who can (through utilizing sacred geometry) slot gemstones you find into your weapons/gear in order to give them small buffs and bonuses
Apothecaries have many more special herbs and remedies on them, including kinds that can be turned into special blade-oils that give you an edge when fighting outsiders, or can be turned into ointments that hide your smell from undead
Bathhouses might be known to sell some more illicit substances that can cause a high in small doses, or poisonous effects in larger ones, not to mention other amenities that can alleviate conditions you may suffer from in the dungeon
These would totally optional for the GM to add, and not necessary by any means. Just think of them as additional options your players can get access to as they explore the world and use its specialists.
These are all underway, but my main focus is getting the books shipped and out the door! I'm sure you want your hands on these texts as much as I do!
Thank you guys so much for backing! To be continued...
You can playtest the game on our Discord with me and our awesome community! We don't bite! Reese Surles, Ward Against Evil
The full art PDF of Crowns 2e has been released to the masses! If you already on it on itch.io, it has been updated to contain the newest PDF. If you backed this project, you'll find it in the back-exclusive content at the bottom of this page.
There will be one or two more updates in the coming weeks, changing a few pieces of art and editing the text for clarity, but at this point, the book is basically done! I'll send it to print a test copy in about two weeks (the artist Inked Gas is taking this week off to record an album with his band, I'm sure he'd love to talk about it if you ask him on the Discord).
Here's some more of the new art:
The First Crowns 2e Jam!
Okay, it's time to play more Crowns! The first Crowns 2e jam starts on September the 3rd (the same day ya'll will be getting charged for your add-ons and, hopefully, itch.io keys will be distributed). Click the banner above to go straight there, here's the simplified rules:
You can submit anything, but there are three winnable categories: Adventure Sites ($200), One-Pagers ($50), and Non-Adventure Sites ($50). Each has a cash prize listed next to it for winning, and will get promoted on my blog and the Crowns 2e page permanently after winning.
The Themes are: Omens, Decay, and Folk (humans as monsters).
You have from September 3rd to November 3rd to submit your products. Feel free to make as many as you want.
This is all of your big opportunities to get in on the scene, and make some cool OSR content! Work alone, or with groups, and feel free to post updates in the Discord, we love to see that kind of stuff there!
I'll be submitting some of my own content, to the jam as well (don't worry, I can't win, none of the judges can). If you submit something it will be reviewed on my Blog, and I'll be honest. If you have a great product, I'll tell the world, and I'll promote it however I can.
I highly recommend you enter and try your best to win!
Prepare your Wallets
I'll be charging for the Backerkit survey items on September 3rd, so be ready! If you can't make this hit time, there will be a second round later that month, exact day is still to-be-determined.
Help Wanted!
Also, as a reminder, we reached the stretch goals for Virtual Tabletop Integration and Web Tools. The VTT integration I'll work on myself, but I'm looking to just hire someone to:
Make a phone app for apple and android for Crowns 2e Character Sheets with Title Cards Integration, preferably this will also be a place we can link a bunch of community made content as well so people can see what adventures and supplements have been released for Crowns 2e
Make a website that functionally does the same thing but also makes the sheets easy to print as well
Contact me at [email protected] if that sounds like it could be you!
Thank you guys so much for backing! To be continued...
You can playtest the game on our Discord with me and our awesome community! We don't bite! Reese Surles, Ward Against Evil
