Surveys Coming
about 8 years ago – Thu, Oct 27, 2016 at 10:12:08 PM

Hello Backers!

I have finally gotten the go ahead from Backerkit to send out surveys, but I wanted to give everyone the heads up about them. I plan on sending them out tomorrow. Best part is, the PDF downloads for anything of the books besides Empire's Reign will be available to you to download through the survey. 

If anyone has any issues with going through it, just let me know. (RE: SEND ME A MESSAGE). 

Until next time. 

We Did It!
about 8 years ago – Tue, Oct 11, 2016 at 08:33:29 PM

Hello backers!

It was awesome to cross the finish line with you on this project, and I want to give a shout out to all the fans who asked me to relaunch the project, promising that they'd make it happen. That shows a real dedication to The Ninja Crusade, and I hope to continue to earn our fans' fervor as we continue the line through the years!

Thanks so much, and await further updates coming soon! For now... I get to bask in yet another successful kickstarter.

Until next time.

Aggression vs. Fascination
about 8 years ago – Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 11:03:08 PM

Hey everyone,

We're at over 70%, which means we're almost there! I thought I'd talk a bit about some of the thought process behind the Assignments.

Aggression vs. Fascination

There's an interesting balance in Empire's Reign, between soldiers who are outright against the ninja, those who are fascinated by the ninja and those somewhere in the middle.

Looking at the assignments as they are written, there are a few that obviously take the side of aggression: 

• Executioners are the anti-ninja, learning techniques to destroy ki, negate jutsu and essentially take the ninjas' greatest weapons away from them. Their training, however, has been known to take a mental tole, leaving them with psychotic episodes that makes them uncontrollable. 
• The Enlightened are the monks who live balance in their lives, but theirs is a position of fear. The ninja follow a different philosophy, one that seems to take people away from the monastery at a staggering rate each year. It is a test to pit their skills against the ninja and see who is superior.

The two Assignments that push into the realm of fascination are: 

• The Iron Breakers have coveted the ninjas' friendship and relationships with Celestial Animals and looked for decades for ways to duplicate such a thing. Figuring out how to enslave the creatures was the next best thing, giving them even further insight into what the ninja have. 
• Golden Lions are the Empire's ninja clan, but do no follow a single clan way. Instead, they take the secrets of other clans, clans who have held their superiority over their heads for centuries, and turn their jutsu against the Lotus Coalition. They are the ones always looking to unlock new secrets, completely fascinated by each new ninja they meet.

The other four Assignments fall somewhere in the middle, with the Black Smokes and Engineers hating the ninja, but usually just do to the propaganda most of the citizens of the Empire have fallen pretty to. The Jadesmiths and Silver Blades are on the higher rung of the army, giving them access to more information, leaving them with an inkling to destroy the ninja, but also to study them.

Until next time.

Off to a Great Start!
about 8 years ago – Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 04:43:35 PM

Hey everyone!

We're super excited here at Third Eye Games to already be off to a great start! We're very close to hitting our goal, but it's a matter of getting the word out. Share this Kickstarter with as many of your friends and contacts as you can, so we hit it even faster! 

I've been talking with the team and we've decided that we'll be including more information on bandit gangs and how they influence the Empire as well. So, we're jamming even more awesome stuff into Empire’s Reign! Gonna make it one hell of an addition to The Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition.

If anyone has any questions/comments/etc., just let me know. Otherwise, I'm preparing a few other updates for the duration of the Kickstarter. 

Remember that the Empire’s Reign relaunch is only going for 20 days, so plan accordingly. 

Until next time. 

Mass Combat
about 8 years ago – Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 04:43:23 PM

Hey everyone!

I received the following question from a backer: 

"Can you describe what you have at your mind [for Mass combat], what things these will/shall emulate/do?"

While still in development, I can definitely tell you what we plan to do with Mass Combat rules for Empire’s Reign. First off, the main way to play will always be to have individual characters making a difference. You'll make your soldier or ninja type and turn the tide of war with your individual actions, of course. 

Mass combat rules, however, will give a new way to decide the fate of major battles in The Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition. Let's say that the Izou Army is descending upon a certain city where ninja are known to be. The rules will take certain things into accounts (i.e. strategy, general's skill set, environment, weaponry, numbers, etc.) and then, of course, some die rolls to determine the outcome of the battle. 

 The individual characters will also have ways to affect these things. For instance, A mission to halt one of the army's pathways to the city would reduce their numbers. Finding and destroying one of their nearby weapon stores would decrease their weaponry stats. Setting a large number of traps or jutsu in the area may affect their environment stats. There are a lot of different ways to approach the strategy, but the Izou War Machine is coming. There's no stopping it, but you can definitely work to slow it down. 

Once we have more concrete rules down, I'll definitely share them here!

Until next time!