The Cryptkeepers of Hallowford - BETA TEST

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:

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

20 Likes

I’m interested in helping

I’m very interested in helping out too. Fairly well-versed in High Fantasy (my wasted youth), but more of a Byzantinist when it comes to history.

Super interested into testing

I’d like to help! I’ve DM’ed a low fantasy, written a High Fantasy novel and am transgender.

I’m interested in helping

I will help as needed and meet one or more of the above criteria :dolphin:

Please sign me up @Cataphrak!

I am interested in helping

I qualify for two of what u need. I don’t wanna specify sense it’s personal, but I can help.

Fair warning: I’ll also be prioritising people who’ve given me frequent and well-considered feedback in the past. Since I can only manage a few dozen testers, I want to make sure they can all give me stuff I can work with.

1 Like

Hi! I don’t want to test since I get way too distracted and never manage to send my thoughts on time, but I’m nonbinary and I’m at your disposal if you have a question or something.

If you need a tester in about 30 days (since I’ll be busy with the CSComp judging), I would be happy to toss my hat into the ring.

High fantasy tend to be my forte (have an old WIP buried here somewhere…done the DMing bit too XD

I have tons of free time to dedicate to the project and I do have experience with two of the bullets

Me me me. I also happen to be in the editing stages of the first in a series of novels based in my own world.

Also i freaking loved Kendrickstone. It got to the point that I meta-gamed to get the best ending I could, ngl.

I would like to be part of the beta test. I have some familiarity with High Fantasy tropes.

I’d like to participate, I have some knowledge of the high-fantasy tropes, but I can mostly help with plot related things or grammar.

Can I beta test it too?

Good luck!
I’ll be excited to buy it on release!

I am nonbinary and familiar on an amateur level with high fantasy tropes (no DMing or anything like that, I just read and write a lot)