For nearly two centuries, the town of Hallowford has served as burial ground for the bodies of the great and good. Under its streets sit magical catacombs which preserve the dead indefinitely, maintained and managed by the powerful Cryptkeeper’s Guild.
Now, something has gone horribly wrong.
From the dark depths beyond the mapped tunnels erupt mobs of the once-dead, animated by some cruel and impossible force. These are not like the dead buried above: their forms are withered, their limbs distorted. The weapons they carry and the ragged clothes they wear are nothing like what has ever been seen before, and they attack with an almost-feral ferocity. Overwhelmed, the Cryptkeepers have called for help. Keeping the crisis a secret from the town, they have put together a plan: assemble a force to descend into the deep passages, find the cause of the threat, and end it. For this, they have enlisted a number of skilled and veteran adventurers to lead the way, and save the town from the danger beneath it.
Adventurers like you.
Welcome to the closed beta recruitment thread for The Cryptkeepers of Hallowford.
Hallowford is the sequel to last year’s high-fantasy novice-adventurer simulator The Hero of Kendrickstone. With the prologue and the first two chapters of the story mostly complete (clocking in at about 50k words), I am now looking for fresh pairs of eyes to give this early version a look.
As such, I am looking for a medium-sized (about 20-30) group of enthusiastic forum members willing to serve as beta testers through the course of development. Mostly, I’m looking for high-level feedback and criticism: stuff relating to things like plot holes, narrative direction, characterisation, difficulty, and general design issues.
That being said, there are specific sorts of testers I’ll need for various reasons, either because of the human experiences they can bring to the table, or due to the general directions I want to focus on:
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People who are familiar with the tropes of High Fantasy, and especially those who also have experience in high fantasy worldbuilding or related stuff like DMing tabletop RPGs. I’d like a few fresh sets of eyes to augment my own experience.
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Anyone with knowledge of either Medieval West African and Late-Period (post-1683) Ottoman history, or experience in Modern West African and Turkish culture. I’ve got a little bit of an academic understanding of the Late Ottoman period, but I am certainly not an expert, so I could use someone with a more solid background than what I have.
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People who identify as something other than cisgender, especially people who are non-binary. I’m on pretty shaky ground here. My academic understanding is minimal, and I have (for obvious reasons) no real-life experience to draw on, and I really don’t want to get this stuff wrong.
If you qualify as any of the above, and are interested in joining up, please mention it when you reply to this thread. While normally, these things are first-come first serve, I will be giving priority to those who meet one more of the above criteria.
As usual, if you’re interested, just reply in the thread.