Madness Spreads through Words!!
over 9 years ago – Sun, Oct 23, 2016 at 11:59:17 PM

Hi Investigators, We are happy to announce that the Spanish, French, and German translation packs have been unlocked. They will be offered as optional buys, the translation for core-box and all unlocked stretch goals is $10 and for each big expansion is $5.

The core box and expansions will still contain English components, the translation packs include all the components with text translated and printed. We will hire professional translators to ensure the quality of the translations. If you have friends that are waiting for the language add-on, please share the good news with them.

If you don't want to purchase the translation packs, we are also providing free printable PDF files for these components. You will find them in later updates. Please stay tune.

The multi-language survey will remain open. You can still vote for your languages.

https://goo.gl/forms/3o1BEcsp516PBFIl2

Thanks again for your continued support!

Living Large
over 9 years ago – Sun, Oct 23, 2016 at 05:15:12 AM

Hi Investigators! We have some cool stuff to cover today!

LARGER CARD SIZE COMING

When we reach $620,000 the search cards, madness cards, consciousness cards and scenario cards in the game are going to be updated from 41 x 63mm (or 1.6 x 2.5 inches) to 59 x 92mm (2.3 x 3.6 in), allowing for a better representation of the artwork and flavor text. There are over 160 of these cards in the core box, and that number keeps growing as we add more stretch goals! By the way, here are the sizes for our other cards: 

Monster card: 70 x 120mm (2.75 x 4.75 in) 

Room card: 41 x 63mm (1.6 x 2.5 in) 

Spawn card: 41 x 63mm (1.6 x 2.5 in)

CARD HOLDER BOX SIZE

Have you ever played a game where the cards ended up all over the place? We know we have, especially when we’re talking about a game with as many parts to keep track of as Deep Madness. In the core game there are over 200 cards, and that number grows with almost every unlocked stretch goal. To prevent “Cardmageddon”, we designed the card holder box. The box is comprised of two parts: a holder and a cover. In the game, the card holder keeps the deck nice, tidy, and in one place. After the game, the holder folds up to make a perfect container and organizer for all of your cards.

• Blue 46 x 68 x 75mm (1.8 x 2.7 x 3 in), which is suitable for 41 x 63mm (1.6 x 2.5 in) cards. It can hold up to 220 cards without card sleeves. With sleeves it holds about 140 cards. 
•  Red 64 x 97 x 75mm (2.5 x 3.8 x 3 in), which is suitable for 59 x 92mm (2.3 x 3.6 in) cards. It can hold up to 220 cards without card sleeves. With sleeves it can hold about 140 cards.

RING BASES

There are 46 bases in the core game: 40 black ring bases with slots, and 6 colored ring bases. The black ring bases with slots are for monsters. Excluding the Epic Monsters, all of the monsters in the core game have a 30mm diameter base, allowing the black ring bases to fit snugly around just about any monster which happens to show up in the game. It is very easy to install and remove monster miniatures to and from the ring bases without damaging them. The black ring bases have a slot for wound tokens which make it easy to record monsters’ hit points. No matter how many monster miniatures you will finally end up receiving, in any one game of Deep Madness there are usually only 6 types of monsters in play and only the monsters on the board will need ring bases. You can buy extra ring bases in the optional buys if you so desire.

Right now, in all of the unlocked stretch goals, Atrocity and Immortal have 40mm diameter bases, and each of these miniatures will come with a suitable ring base.  

The colored ring bases help players to identify their investigator figure on the board. Since players place any wound tokens received on their Investigator Dashboards, no slot is needed for the investigators.

If you're interested in purchasing additional ring bases or the card holder boxes (or if you haven’t added your Epic Monsters or expansions yet), please just click the "Manage Your Pledge" button on the Deep Madness Kickstarter page, then click “Change Your Pledge”, then add the amount for the items you'd like to get to your total and click “Continue”. We'll sort out what your extra money is going towards after the campaign has closed and we've sent out our Pledge Manager.

Navigating the Nest
over 9 years ago – Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 07:03:56 AM

FRANKLYN CHRISTIE – THE NAVIGATOR

Franklyn was the hot-shot athlete to top in high school, and upon graduation he received a full-ride athletic scholarship courtesy of the Leng Corporation. It looked like he would be moving on to the pros, but a shattered shinbone quickly put that dream to an end. When it became clear he would never play professionally, Franklyn turned his focus to piloting. He worked at it until he was as good at piloting as he had been at sports, and it wasn’t long after graduation that the Leng Corporation hired him.

Franklyn became the foremost pilot for the Leng Corporation, and the fact that he kept his mouth shut no matter what earned him the prize of being one of the only pilots to learn the location of Kadath. He and David are now two of the only people alive who can confidently navigate to and from the deep sea facility.

Franklyn takes great pride in his work. He knows he’s the best at what he does, and he makes sure others know it as well. Because of this, he is largely disliked among those who are fortunate enough to travel with him. But with David’s submersible damaged, the other investigators will be hard-pressed to leave Kadath without him.

NEST OF MIND EATERS

The Husks approach you in a shambling, spastic gate, their chest cavities yawning as their bellies belch out far too many tick-shaped Mind Eaters, each one spanning a foot or two in diameter. You open fire on the small, erratic monstrosities and their warped, deformed incubators, trying desperately to keep the parasitic swarm from reaching you.

“There’s so many of them!” your partner says from behind you.  

“Where did they all come from?” you ask, frantically backpedaling as the multitude seethes implacably onward.

Your partner’s only reply is a choking, gurgling sound. You glance over at him, and you scream.  

The monster you see before you is gigantic. Its body undulates like a slug; its multitude of legs skitter like a centipede. And the giant needle/spear emerging from the middle of its gaping, fleshy face, the thing that must be its mouth, has pierced the top of your partner’s skull. As you watch, blood oozes from your partner’s orifices and eyes as his stomach shrivels inward. You realize his internal organs are literally being liquefied and sucked up out of his head. But then something changes, and his stomach begins to bulge instead. It swells and swells – and then it bursts. Mind Eaters pour out of the gaping, raw flesh, and run right up your legs.

In the core game, investigators encounter the cavernous Husks and the swarms of Mind Eaters that pour from their warped, wasted bodies. But the Husks didn’t start out as incubators for the Mind Eaters. They were once people. However, that was before they met the Nest of Mind Eaters.  

Nest of Mind Eaters’ power is not to create, but to eliminate. It empties a person of their mind, their brain, their bodily organs, and opens a space for its brood to inhabit and hatch. At this point a Husk is born, and the infestation within follows suit shortly thereafter. When Nest of Mind Eaters attacks, all the investigators within range receive damage. Furthermore, it is possible that any of the wounded investigators could become infected. If they are, Mind Eaters will hatch out of their bodies, doing further damage, and at the last the infected investigators will die and truly become a Husk. When both a Husk and Nest of Mind Eaters are on the board, watch out! You’re about to be up to your knees in the parasitic Mind Eaters!

Back in August we held a campaign on our Facebook page where someone could share a specific post and then receive a free Epic Monster. However, we know many of our backers may have missed that event, so when we reach $500,000 we will give all backers their own Epic Monster: Nest of Mind Eaters!  

And remember – if we reach 5,000 backers before November 1st, we will give everyone a second Epic Monster, Unbound! That’s two gargantuan Epic Monsters for everyone, so keep sharing the campaign and help us reach 5,000 backers!

Immortality’s End
over 9 years ago – Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 09:50:31 AM

IMMORTAL

The terror is a flying, writhing mass of tentacles. Screeching, it launches towards your head. You dive for the ground and roll, firing everything you have into the beast’s squirming body as it sails over you.  

The thing collides with the wall, gurgling and squawking from the mouths at both ends of its body. It struggles to stand, but you don’t give it the chance. Slapping a new clip into your gun, you step over to the creature and fire round after round into its quivering form. Blood and ichor spray up into your face, but you just grin around gritted teeth as it slaps and splashes on your skin.

Turning, you swagger away from the softly smoking corpse. And that’s when the world rewinds. As your mind scrabbles against the impossibility of what’s happening, you find yourself moving backward. Then your bullets are being sucked back into your gun. Then you’re rolling on the ground and coming up exactly where you were before the monster flew at you.  

You stand there dumbfounded as the nightmare chirps at you, once again completely whole and unfazed. This time, it aims low. You never stood a chance.

Sometimes madness can seem to be Immortal: when you feed it even a little, it can rise stronger and more sadistic than ever before. And even if you kill it, what can stop it from rising again?  

Immortal has the ability to rewind time on devoured room tiles. In fact, Immortal can fully heal itself from any wounds inflicted on it by investigators at the end of the game round. Even death can’t necessarily stop Immortal. So next time you kill an Immortal, ask yourself: is it really dead? Or is it just collecting its time.

THE "TRUE ENDING"

What if, in waking from a nightmare, you unintentionally brought it with you into the real world?

What if you defeat the enemy you have been striving against, only to discover that its image has been burned into your soul?

When you close your eyes, you see the evil that you have defeated spreading like a plague over the world. What if that plague is going to be spread by you?

Kadath is crumbling around you, crashing down with the screeches of metal and the roar of water. You don’t have much time left. You have to make a decision.

When we surpassed $400,000 we unlocked a brand new, Kickstarter-exclusive scenario for Deep Madness: the “true ending” to the game. Now you’ll be able to finish the fight. And now, perhaps, you will also learn if redemption is a tangible, reachable thing, or just another hollow fairy tale.

The final chapter is unlocked. God help us all.

A Halloween Treat
over 9 years ago – Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 11:39:06 AM

With Halloween just around the corner, we thought we’d put out a very special stretch goal for you guys! Ready for it? Then here it is. If we can reach 5,000 backers (combining both the early bird and investigator levels) by midnight on Halloween night, then we’re going to unlock a very special Epic Monster – Unbound! This nasty monstrosity is going to be an incredible addition to Deep Madness, so if you’ve been wondering whether to jump in or not, now is the time!

UNBOUND

You and your fellow investigator, Franklyn, step into the spotless laboratory. Stainless steel surfaces cover everything, and harsh lighting reveals every nook and cranny of the room. It’s clear.  

Franklyn leans up against an examination table. “I can’t keep doing this, man. I can’t keep going. It’s too much.”  

“We’ve got to keep going, Franklyn!” you say. “If we stop, we die! And what if these things got out of here? Would you be okay with innocent blood being spilled because you gave up?”

Franklyn shakes his head, turning away from you. “Better them than us. I’m done, man. I’m throwing in the towel. This is your fight now.”

The lights flicker, and the floor quakes. You inhale sharply. “Uh oh.”

The floor tiles begin erupting upward and thick, meaty tendrils slither up into the room. The lights explode one after the other as squirming things push out of their fixtures.

“The room’s being devoured!” you cry. “We’ve got to get out of here, man, before it gets us!”  

“Too late,” Franklyn whispers. “And you know what, bro? It feels good.”

Franklyn turns toward you, a ghastly grin spreading across his lips. His eyeballs pop out of their sockets, and tentacles push out to fill the empty cavities. The tile to Franklyn’s right erupts upward, and a terrifying amalgamation of squid, insect and human pulls its massive bulk up from under the floor. The multitude of heads growing out of its whipping, writhing body all speak at once: “Congratulations, Franklyn. You have unbound yourself. Join us.”  

Turning, Franklyn steps toward the horrible conglomerate. The thick serrated tentacles wrap around him, drawing him into the liquid meat. Tendrils and tendons wrap around him, absorbing him, until only his head with its tentacle eyes remains.

The unreal horror swivels towards you, each of the faces smiling as they say, “You wouldn’t believe how freeing this is, my friend. You really must join us.”  

Screaming, you open fire.  

It is easy to feel shackled by fear, especially for the miners and investigators trapped inside the Kadath deep sea mining facility. They wake from nightmares every night, and fight all day long against unreal, unholy terrors. With the influence of the Sphere weighing down upon their minds, fear has the very real chance of dominating any rationality that remains. Some fight through. But others just give in. They embrace the fear and the otherworldliness and the truth of the Sphere. Suddenly they feel free; unencumbered. There is no more fear. They have become Unbound.

What are you waiting for? I know you want this figure to join Deep Madness as much as I do! Spread the word! Let’s make this happen!

(And thank you for your incredible support of this game. You are the best backers on the planet!)