If you’ve never played the game before there are three levels which should be of interest.

The Revised Edition (US$99) gets you a copy of the revised edition base game. This should provide at least 30 hours gameplay for one play of the base game campaign on normal or adventure (easy) level. The campaign takes in eight scenarios and features branching paths though so you can play many different versions of the campaign without repeating yourself. Successfully navigating each scenario will require you to try different combinations of heroes, making every game different. With 27 scenarios already included in the game (more could still be unlocked), a typical game lasting around two hours and replays needed to complete a scenario in a shape you’re happy with, you can see that we’re talking well over 100 hours to experience everything just the base game has to offer. This is a complete experience, nothing has been left out.

For US$179 you’ll get the base game as well as The Hideout expansion, which features an extra double-sided gameboard and hero, as well as a mini-campaign for that board. It also includes The Traitor Guard expansion that we Kickstarted last summer. This includes yet another hero, and some additional scenarios with different victory conditions for the campaign in the core box, adding yet more options to those branching paths. Some extra wound cards, a painting guide and a thematic audio track complete the experience.

Finally, after the campaign started we added the Almost Everything pledge level (US$249). This includes the remaining stock of our 1st edition ‘Gamer’s Bundle’, which came with The Hideout and another expansion, Witch’s Grotto (also containing another hero, additional double-sided gameboard and scenarios) included inside the box. Fans have asked for this to be reprinted but for the time being this remains the only way to get Witch’s Grotto. It also includes two resin miniatures to replace two victim tokens and a promo deck which provides another way to play the acolytes, giving them unique personalities, as well as everything in the lower pledges. Since it is based on stock we have now, most of this pledge level will ship in the next month or two.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

The add-ons are mostly things that our fans have asked us for. We’re very pleased to have so many loyal fans who ask for more content and don’t hesitate to back our campaigns for it. Unless you’re a completionist you probably don’t need this content straight away but we’d recommend you to look over the graphic and ask in the comments if you have any questions about any of it.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

A lot of designers and companies will tell you that their game is ‘innovative’ or ‘unique’. You’re probably sceptical of that. You should be. I am. Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift was inspired by a belief that dungeon crawlers are tired. We love HeroQuest - we love a lot of ‘crawlers (just look at our backer records) - but, honestly, isn’t it strange that these games have essentially not changed in nearly 30 years?

Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift was designed from the ground up. We didn’t simply pick the dice-chucking and levelling-up mechanisms off the shelf and wrap them in a ‘unique’ theme. We went back to basics and wondered what it would really be like delving in a dungeon - what would draw you there? What would happen and how would that affect you? As a player - what mechanisms would best reflect these themes?

Let’s take the second of those questions first. We assume the dungeon is occupied (by someone or something), otherwise there wouldn’t be much of a game. That occupant is hardly going to be happy with your presence and is going to try and kill you. It might not succeed but it probably will hurt you. Which takes us back to the first question - what drew you there? It could be treasure, of course, it might be any of a number of personal or selfish motives or it could - like for our prophet, Simma - be a calling (real or imagined) to defeat an enemy or save the world.

None of that, to our ears, sounds very nice. As much as we felt that the market was crowded with high fantasy themes, we also believed that if we were taking a more naturalistic approach to dungeon crawlers a grittier world was necessary - something more like the worlds of Warhammer Fantasy, The Witcher, Game of Thrones or Malazan Book of the Fallen than Dungeons & Dragons. That naturalistic approach led naturally to the conclusion that if someone hits you you’re going to get hurt. You don’t just lose a health point in Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift, you get weaker. You’re also going to have to work together to survive - and we don’t just mean ‘you go in there and hit them, I’ll heal you, you hit them again, etc.’.

The best way we found to implement this enforced cooperation was the rondel, something familiar to medium and heavy Euro-gamers but never implemented in thematic games before. We feel it’s highly thematic. There is no turn-order. At the beginning of the turn, as a group, you must evaluate who can do what and the order that needs to happen in - also looking ahead to the next round, setting yourselves up for a big hit back or a run for the exit.

You will need to develop a strategy for each scenario - evaluating it and deciding on the best combination of heroes, with their unique abilities, to carry that strategy out. You may fail. Unlike the heroes, you get another chance - reset, adjust your strategy and try again. The enemy rondel, meanwhile, ensures that every play will be slightly different, necessitating tactical agility as well as strategic planning. Governed by a known-distribution response deck (a bell-curve for all you stats fans out there) the response deck, just like the hero’s decks, drives the game with input-randomness rather than the output-randomness that is typical of many thematic games.

If this sounds interesting or if you’re still not sure, we’d urge you to watch some of the many playthroughs and reviews of Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift on Youtube. Some of these are of games we supplied a review copy for, none of them are paid for.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

We’ve given this a lot of thought and approached it from many angles. We want to make the game as accessible and affordable as possible. Unfortunately, whichever way we approach it, there’s no getting away from the fact that a standees version will not reduce costs, in spite of how it may appear, from the outside, that it obviously would.

As a small company forced to make small print runs, a new version of the game isn’t saving anything from the manufacturing cost. A standees version would require new art as well as incurring a minimum print-run additional to the standard version. Instead of offering a cheaper option, this could in fact mean an increased price for the standard box. In short, a standees version would at best have exactly the same price as the version with miniatures and at worst increase the cost of both.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

The interest for PnP has been too low compared to the work required. We have all files prepared for the printing press and making separate “home printable” versions would take effort that we would rather spend on other PM:AR related tasks.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

Yes, we have heard your problem and we try our best to help you. Paypal the pledge + postal fees to: [email protected] and send an email to: [email protected] with your full name, address, phone number and pledge and we’ll add you manually to Backerkit.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

Our pre-campaign research suggested that people felt that it’s misleading and a bit odd to include these in the Upgrade Pack as the majority of those who’d like to get that do not currently have Hideout. We have opted to add those as an add-on.

Following consultation with our backers during the opening days of this campaign, it has been decided that the fairest compromise is to offer these stretch goals as free digital downloads (pdfs) for existing owners of the The Hideout expansion. They will also be available as physical copies in Backerkit once the campaign is over.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

Good question. As it’s an older expansion to which we don’t plan to make any changes other than the addition of a box, we kind of forgot to explain it in detail. That is, however, easily remedied as details can be found on our website, here: https://perditionsmouth.com/hideout/

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

People often ask if it’s just the rulebooks, or if everything is translated if they choose the localized version at the end of the campaign. The stretch goals that unlock the specific languages mean that you will be able to get a FULLY localized game. This includes all cards and printed materials (rulebooks, scenarios…) that contain text. Only the core game will be translated. The Hideout expansion will only be available in English. If your language does not get unlocked, you can still have a look at https://perditionsmouth.com/abyssal-rift-rulebook/ , where you may find the digital version of the rulebook in your preferred language. Additionally, some printed rulebooks are available for purchase in the DDP store and will be made available in BackerKit.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

We’re always happy to talk to retailers about stocking our games but Kickstarter rules prohibit doing so through this platform. Please email us at [email protected] and we’ll make sure to respond quickly.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01

Witch’s Grotto was an expansion included in the Deluxe and Gamer’s Bundles from the first Kickstarter campaign for Perdition’s Mouth: Abyssal Rift. Up until now this has been the only way to get that expansion and we have added our last remaining stock of the Gamer’s Bundle to this campaign (the ‘Almost Everything We’ve Ever Made for Perdition’s Mouth Abyssal Rift’ Pledge). The majority of people that backed the project during that campaign backed for one of these two bundle levels, so that was what we produced (at the time we had to be careful how we spent your money, and we still do) and so we know that the majority of existing owners of the game have this expansion.

We would love to make it available as a separate, boxed, expansion - giving it the same treatment that we are giving The Hideout expansion in this campaign - and we know that many people have asked for it. To make it financially viable though we have to increase the number of people who own the base game. If we hit 500 backers of the base game (i.e. not upgrade packs) during this campaign we will look at a way to make this available again.

Last updated: November 16, 2017 10:01