Descent into Midnight

Created by Richard Kreutz-Landry

A roleplaying game about community, family, and hope on an aquatic world. Descent into Midnight is a Powered by the Apocalypse game where the players take on the role of psionic alien sea creatures who are defending their home from an otherworldly Corruption.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Project Manager Hired
about 1 year ago – Fri, Nov 10, 2023 at 01:27:18 PM

Progress Since Last Time

The most important development since the last update is that I've hired a professional project manager with whom I have regular contact outside of this project to also manage this one. It's clear to me that I haven't been able to drive the project forward at the pace I'd like without outside help, and it's already been a very productive handful of weekly sessions with them. I'm using personal funds for this because it's a huge quality of life improvement for me to offload the responsibility of ensuring meetings happen and organizing tasks, and to have additional accountability for getting things done in a timely fashion.

We've made long-overdue minor updates to the website, fixed access to the email at the descentintomidnight.com domain, and organized the remaining tasks in a way that mirrors my day job, which has been incredibly helpful. 

In terms of progress on the book itself, we've continued iterations on Chapter 8 to make it fit properly into the layout while still preserving the essential examples of play necessary to demonstrate the game well. The writing team has had a bit of extra availability recently and with the onus of project management off our shoulders, we should be able to focus on the actual work of iterating on the text necessary to finish the layout.

Overview

  • Covers and frontmatter: Done (except for publishing info which we'll get once we have a final page count and can produce the meta data block necessary for libraries, etc)
  • Chapter 1 - Basics: Done
  • Chapter 2 - Safety & Accessibility: Done
  • Chapter 3 - Characters: Done
  • Chapter 4 - Moves: Done
  • Chapter 5 - Playbooks: Rewrites complete, needs to re-layout and brief editing pass
  • Chapter 6 - Campaign Play: Done
  • Chapter 7 - The Guide: Done
  • Chapter 8 - Running the Game: continuing iterations with layout
  • Chapter 9 - Making the Game Yours: To do
  • Appendices: Mostly done, waiting on a few final details

Finally

I can't overstate how excited and motivated I am by having realized I needed help, asked for it, and it having an immediate positive impact on the project. Thank you all!

- Richard and the DiM Team

Playbook Rewrites Done!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 16, 2023 at 09:19:01 PM

Progress Since Last Time

We've finalized Chapter 7 and continued iterations on Chapter 8 to fill space and figure out which examples are important enough to need a full page or even a two page spread. In the meantime, Rich has finished revamping Chapter 5 (Playbooks) including reworking the Traveler playbook into the Explorer. With as much inspiration as we've drawn from marine scientists, it only felt right to lean more heavily into the idea of exploration for the sake of knowledge.

Overview

  • Covers and frontmatter: Done (except for publishing info which we'll get once we have a final page count and can produce the meta data block necessary for libraries, etc)
  • Chapter 1 - Basics: Done
  • Chapter 2 - Safety & Accessibility: Done
  • Chapter 3 - Characters: Done
  • Chapter 4 - Moves: Done
  • Chapter 5 - Playbooks: Rewrites complete, needs to re-layout and brief editing pass
  • Chapter 6 - Campaign Play: Done
  • Chapter 7 - The Guide: Done
  • Chapter 8 - Running the Game: continuing iterations with layout
  • Chapter 9 - Making the Game Yours: To do
  • Appendices: Mostly done, waiting on a few final details

Finally

We're excited to continue to refining the Playbooks and smoothing out the game experience as we move forward with layout.

- Richard and the DiM Team

More Chapter 5 rewrites
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 10, 2023 at 10:14:03 PM

Progress Since Last Time

We've continued apace with the Chapter 5 rewrites, streamlining the Move text to slim it down a bit (the new temporary playbook printouts were getting a bit overstuffed) and making a few adjustments like swapping out a Playbook Move for a Core Move on one of the Playbooks to better fit our experience with it in play. We're about 70% complete with the rewrites, with just the last three Playbooks to go. We're expecting to have most of the done within the week.

Additionally, we've had another iteration on Chapter 7 and 8. Chapter 8 will probably need a bit more work to fill/trim space since it has large examples that will likely be whole pages or two page spreads. It's the chapter that has the most in-depth examples that require demonstrating a back-and-forth and more of the tone.

Overview

  • Covers and frontmatter: Done (except for publishing info which we'll get once we have a final page count and can produce the meta data block necessary for libraries, etc)
  • Chapter 1 - Basics: Done
  • Chapter 2 - Safety & Accessibility: Done
  • Chapter 3 - Characters: Done
  • Chapter 4 - Moves: Done
  • Chapter 5 - Playbooks: Rewrites (adding context, removing unnecessary mechanical bits, 70% done)
  • Chapter 6 - Campaign Play: Done
  • Chapter 7 - The Guide: Final iterations
  • Chapter 8 - Running the Game: first layout pass complete, needs significant iterations
  • Chapter 9 - Making the Game Yours: To do
  • Appendices: Mostly done, waiting on a few final details

Finally

The team is continuing to move forward with the work and the pages we're iterating on look absolutely fantastic. We hope everyone is safe and comfortable as we head into the warm summer months here in the northern hemisphere.

- Richard and the DiM Team

Chapter 5 rewrites, Chapter 7 progress
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jun 03, 2023 at 04:38:19 PM

Progress Since Last Time

Over the last two months, we've made significant progress on the layout. Chapter 5 (the Playbook chapter) has been undergoing rewrites. Originally, everything that was on the printable Playbooks you would use during play was being reproduced in the chapter, but we've moved toward adding more context and letting some of the mechanical bits live just on the printable sheets, where they're most needed. We're adding a bit more information about each Playbook and how to make it shine as a player.

In addition, we've reviewed the Chapter 7 updates and should be in the final rounds of minor iterations for it.

Overview

  • Covers and frontmatter: Done (except for publishing info which we'll get once we have a final page count and can produce the meta data block necessary for libraries, etc)
  • Chapter 1 - Basics: Done
  • Chapter 2 - Safety & Accessibility: Done
  • Chapter 3 - Characters: Done
  • Chapter 4 - Moves: Done
  • Chapter 5 - Playbooks: Rewrites (adding context, removing unnecessary mechanical bits)
  • Chapter 6 - Campaign Play: Done
  • Chapter 7 - The Guide: Final iterations
  • Chapter 8 - Running the Game: To do
  • Chapter 9 - Making the Game Yours: To do
  • Appendices: Mostly done, waiting on a few final details

Finally

I'm really excited about the revisions to Chapter 5. Rich has been taking the lead on the updates and his vision for the Playbooks has really been shining through in the new content. I'm still getting used to my new position at work (my first time in management) and helping support family through medical issues. I'm grateful for the team and for all of your support.

- Richard and the DiM Team

Chapter 4 Complete, Chapter 7 in Iterations
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Mar 01, 2023 at 11:32:41 PM

The Update

Like it says on the tin, we've now had our accessibility pass on Chapter 4 so it's fully complete!

In addition, the Chapter 7 edits are still in iterations (edits means reflowing means more edits, etc). Now that we've made a number of cuts and reorganized things slightly, we should be ready for a few more of the styling decisions as things slot into place.

Example - Embracing the unexpected

As promised, here's another one of our samples that may be left on the cutting room floor:

PLAYER: "I don't know, all I can think of is that scene from the animated Robin Hood movie where Sir Hiss is flying around the archery tournament in a balloon trying to find Robin Hood in disguise.”

GUIDE: “Actually, with all the biotech available, there’s literally no reason we can’t have a sea snake who wears a living dive helmet and swims around in it.”

PLAYER: “Great! Yeah, so this scout is a sea snake who wears a genetically modified jelly that acts as a combination dive helmet and rebreather. They can be from the mangrove city nearby in the shallows. Maybe we trade with them for some sort of moss or fungus that grows above water on the trees?”

Finally

I'm very excited about the progress we're making and the smoothness of the workflow at the moment. We've been posting more regular updates between the monthly updates on the Twitter account (@DiMRPG) and Facebook, so if you'd like a little more detail as we go, you can follow us there.

- Richard and the DiM Team