The Story

My name is John Berry, and I've been roleplaying since I was 15 years old.  

And for much of that time, there has been one game I have always wanted to play: a dungeon crawler in space.  

Hooked on the dungeon experience by John Garwood's fantastic Monsters & Mazes and countless video games, and on D&D by its 3rd Edition, and later on the older forms and the rise of the retroclones thanks to the Old School Rennaissance movement, I loved the dungeon crawl as a mode of play, and the sandbox between dungeons, but I wanted something else.

I have been a sci-fi fan since I was in elementary school.  I wanted a game that gave me that classic dungeon-crawling and exploration and looting and levelling, but with a sci-fi flavor instead of a fantasy one, yet game after game took D&D, moved it to space, then put the dungeon and the loot and the fun as the first thing on the chopping block in favor of being "serious."

Hulks and Horrors seeks to change all that, presenting a classic dungeon crawl experience with a mashup of gonzo sci-fi and space opera tropes from the golden ages of the genre, with a touch of good humor, shocking horror, and good old fashioned fun.

What We Need & What You Get

The good news is, I've already got a finished prototype.  Closed playtesting is ongoing as we speak.  The rules are complete, and the game is playable.  

But to make a truly stunning game, and make Hulks and Horrors shine and stand out as the game I feel it is meant to be, I need your help.

By pitching in, you can help me bring Hulks and Horrors to life the way it deserves, illustrating its vivid world and the imagination therein with excellent illustrations from the trio of excellent artists and layout persons l have lined up, as well as allowing me to make the final polish and editing of Hulks and Horrors a paid full time job.

And what do you get for your coin?  The game, for starters.  Every tier of funding for this project grants immediate access to the playtest group once the project is fully funded, and additional tiers are offered that include pre-orders for PDF and print-on-demand copies of the final edition.

Further funding beyond our target will enable the team to add more quality art, budget more time and polish for the text and layout, promote the book via advertising on popular RPG websites, take on tech assistance to expand the Hulks and Horrors website to include community features like a forum, and may even go to help fund the rumored "Expansion Set." The more you give, the more places we can go, it's all up to your generosity. 

The Game

Hulks and Horrors is a game of space exploration, treasure hunting, and horrific peril, set in the abandoned places of space.

Centuries before mankind and its new allies reached the stars, a great galactic plague wiped out all sentient life, leaving the galaxy littered with the ruins and wealth of entire civilizations.  But the plague also left behind the plague horrors, terrifying creatures twisted by the mutagenic plague into atavistic monsters that crave only the flesh of other life.  

Characters take on the role of one of seven classes: the battle-hardened Soldier, the brash and dextrous Pilot, the clever genius Scientist, the meditative master Psyker, and their alien allies, the tribal Bearmen, the brilliant ameoboid Omega Reticulans, and the nimble Hovering Squid.

The core rules are inspired by the classic editions of the world's most popular roleplaying game, and easily convertible to and from most major retroclones.  Core resolution is based on a simple roll-under system, designed to keep the old-school flavor of the game mechanics while streamlining them for a newer generation.  

Extensive DM tools are included for designing spaceships, dungeons, monsters, and whole sectors of space, as well as ideas for optional house rules, and a generous selection of monsters ready made for your campaigns.

Omega Reticulan, by Evan Palmer

What will it look like?

I've enlisted the help of two fantastic artists, Tim Sievert and Evan Palmer, who already have been generous to provide some fantastic art samples of what you can expect to see in the final edition, which you can see in the embedded images here and at our imgur album.

In addition, my layout genius Sam Drost and I have been assembling a host of ideas for a classically inspired layout that will be familiar to old school lovers of the great dungeon crawlers of the dawn of RPGs. We hope to make a book that would feel at home on the shelf of your friendly local game or comic store, circa 1979.

Hovering Squid, by Evan Palmer

The Team

The Hulks and Horrors team is composed of the following people:

John Berry, myself, the author and designer of Hulks and Horrors. I have been a roleplayer since I was 15, and a game design tinkerer since I was in the 3rd grade.  This will be my first commercial project, having been preceded by my free Warcraft-inspired game Drums of War.  

Sam Drost, layout designer extraordinaire, who was responsible for the layout of Drums of War.

Tim Sievert, cartoonist and comic artist, creator of the excellent sword and sworcery comic Clandestinauts, and the critically acclaimed indie comic That Salty Air.

Evan Palmer, comic artist, creator of the jaw-dropping Sucker Monster Creatures tumblog, and the quite good Doctor Mystery fantasy webcomic.

Other Ways You Can Help

Obviously the first way to help is to give early, and give generously, but for those who can't for whatever reason, we urge you to share our vision with as many people as you can.  Send this link across your Twitters and your Facebooks and your Google+ pages.  Let all your friends know about Hulks and Horrors, because the more people see it, we believe, the more people are going to just go as bananas for it as we are.  

If you have a podcast or a gaming news site, we'd love to hear from you, and I am always eager to do interviews or offer comment.  Drop us a line at questions@hulksandhorrors.com

We're also present on the web at http://www.hulksandhorrors.com/, and on Google+.

Important Note for International Contributors (** UPDATED **)

The pricing of all Paperback Edition rewards includes the cost of Media Mail shipping to the US, or 2nd Class Royal Mail to UK customers.

If you live outside of the US, and are ordering the Prestige Edition, or outside of the US and UK for those ordering a Paperback Edition, please add an additional $10 to your contribution to cover the increased cost of shipping to your location.  

Our apologies for any inconvenience.