The Crypt Has Opened has been in development for approximately 3 years at this point. A project I started around the beginning of the pandemic that’s been so fantastic to watch grow from its initial design phase to where it is at now.

Fairly early on I’d landed on the dice resolution mechanic. I was so happy with it and it felt great to roll the dice and watch the outcome play out. I’d landed on something I felt was unique and played super well into the themes of the game. After three years I felt like that aspect was locked in stone. Play tests had gone well and people seemed to enjoy it.

Then I had another designer recently go over the rules and they bounced a bit off the resolution mechanic. It took them a few reads to grasp it. Which I have to admit has been a issue from day one. It has been a mechanic that once shown people pick up quickly. It’s just been hard to explain textually. Even so I listened to their concerns and then they pointed me to Ironsworn RPG which had a very similar mechanic as mine but a bit more streamlined.

Talk about getting put back on your heels.

A mechanic I hadn’t planned on looking at again was once again requiring more scrutiny. And rightly so. Folding in a bit of what Ironsworn is doing into my game may actually make it even stronger! I’m excited to playtest this new method against the old and see which one feels better.

It just goes to show you that nothing is done and everything deserves a second, third, and fourth look.

If you’re interested in trying out The Crypt Has Opened for yourself, you can get the play test rules for free on our Itch Page. And thank you to Binary Star Games for their amazing input.