Survival of the Able Now Infecting Kickstarter

The Black Death has come to your village. Everywhere around you people are succumbing to the plague. Quarantines are doing little to stem the tide of decay that is coming your way. Worst of all, you and the others in your almshouse have been left to fend for yourselves.

Oh, and did we mention plague victims are rising as zombies?

In Survival of the Able you’re a person with a disability living in a European almshouse when the Black Death arrives. Little is known about where the plague originated …
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Survival of the Able Update

Last month I launched a contest for Survival of the Able, and upcoming game I’ve been working on. Unfortunately the contest didn’t have any entries, but the character sheet was downloaded nearly two dozen times and I did receive a few pieces of feedback at least.

In the coming months I’ll talk more about the game and its design decisions. For now, here’s a brief overview.

Background and Goals

My primary goal for Survival of the Able is to give players an experience of what it’s like to have a disability. Most RPGs treat disabilities and drawbacks, hindrances, faults, etc. and assign them numerical penalties to ability checks–and that’s exactly what I wanted to avoid with this game. Being blind shouldn’t just be a -4 penalty to ranged attacks. Being deaf shouldn’t just be a 20% chance to miscast spells with verbal components. It’s so much more than that. And as for naming …
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Survival of the Able Update 2

Introduction

Has it really been three years since the first (and only) Survival of the Able update?

A lot has happened in my personal life since then and progress on the game’s development slowed, but it hasn’t halted. In fact, the current draft of the manuscript has about 30,000 words and is nearing completion.

I plan on bringing a demo version of SotA to GenCon Indie this year, so I recently whipped up a spreadsheet to help me track my milestones and stay on top of how much time I have left to get everything completed. By my estimates, I have about two months to finish the manuscript so I can have something to share by August.

By setting a goal for myself, I finally took SotA off the backburner and brought it back into focus. For the next few months, it is going to be the focus of any time I set …
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Survival of the Able First Draft Complete

I first started thinking about Survival of the Able about four years ago. Since then, progress on the project has been slow going thanks to some major life events, but I finally set a goal to have a preview out by GenCon so I have been focused lately on delivering that.

Now I am proud to say that the first draft of the game’s manuscript is complete. From here, I’ll read through it a couple times and make sure there isn’t anything else that must be included in the GenCon preview, then it’ll be on to layout so I can prep an ashcan edition.

What’s an ashcan, you ask?

An ashcan is a beta copy of sorts. A simple book without all the artistry and pagentry of a complete release. The ashcan will be distributed in hopes of building some recognition and gaining some feedback before I finalize the book.

You don’t have to …
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Survival of the Able Glossary

Introduction

I recently added a glossary to the Survival of the Able manuscript. This wasn’t included in the first draft, but I feel it adds a lot to the overall readability of a book so I decided to include it even for the ashcan.

This glossary offers a broad overview of what you can expect to find in terms of game mechanics, so it makes a great overview. It is posted here so you can take a quick peak for yourself.

One thing to note: This game shares a lot of terms with Fudge and Fate Core, but it doesn’t use those systems directly. You may be familiar with Fate Points, for example, but they dont’ work identically to the same mechanic in Fate Core. They’re similar enough that I thought using the same name would help people tie the concepts together in their …
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Survival of the Able Beta

I recently finished the layout on the Survival of the Able beta. The content is almost identical to the First Draft I posted about previously, but this time it is in an easier-to-read, easier-to-navigate PDF.

Currently I am looking for beta readers and playtesters to give it a look and provide feedback. For anyone who can offer their time, I am offering:

• Your name in the Special Thanks section of the final book
• A complimentary PDF copy of the final book
• $10 credit toward Accessible Games products on DTRPG if you read and provide feedback
• $20 credit instead if you are able to playtest the game and provide feedback

I need to capture email addresses so I know who to send appropriate coupon codes to, so I’m not placing an open download link here. If you are interested in beta reading or playtesting the game, please use the form on the Contact …
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Survival of the Able Interview Round-Up

In support of Survival of the Able, I have appeared on several podcasts and written a Designer’s Diary. Here’s a list of all my appearances and interviews. I’ll update it as there are more.

Interviews and Press

• A Couple of Characters Ep. 59: Survival of the Able
• Interview on Miskatonic University Podcast
• Interview on Plus or Minus Podcast
• Interview on The Redacted Files Podcast
• Interview on The Story Told Podcast
• Designer’s Diary Article at Roleplayers Chronicle
• Text Interview at Tessera Guild
• Before and After Impressions at the Plus or Minus Podcast

Stay tuned for more!

Survival of the Able Ashcan Now Available at DTRPG

 The long-awaited ashcan edition of Survival of the Able is now available on DriveThruRPG. You can get it here.

We didn’t let a little thing like a global pandemic stop us from getting this to you, even if we were moving like a shambling zombie. After some COVID19-related print delays, we finally received our proof copy of the book and it looks great. Now we’ve made it available for you to get a copy of your own.

As a refresher, this is a complete version of the …
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Coming Soon – Survival of the Able Kickstarter

Survival of the Able is returning from the dead to invade Kickstarter.

Todd Crapper (Broken Ruler Games) and I are teaming up to re-launch the campaign at the end of September. It will run through the month of October and finish on the Day of the Dead, November 1st.

You may remember Survival of the Able from the interviews, podcasts, and articles I have post about the game before. In short, it’s a game about people with disabilities working together to overcome a zombie plague.

You will play as …
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Rising Soon – Survival of the Able

On Kickstarter September 28th through November 1st, 2021

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