As stated in the title, Grimoire is a throwback to the dungeon crawling RPG format we remember oh so fondly from the 1990's. Or perhaps it would be wrongful to describe it as a throwback, considering that it is a product of the era itself. It began development in 1994/5 and aside from a DOS-based alpha version that surfaced over a decade ago, there's largely been very little in the way of specifics regarding it save for Cleve's incredibly hyperbolic self-promotion of himself and the game on various usenet groups and RPG forums over the years.

It is, in effect, the Wizardry or Might & Magic game that never was. To me personally, it is that game that I liked to envision as possibly existing, an extension of that genre of game which always seemed to end or fall short on content too quicky. A more open world - item crafting - recruitable NPCs. It is infinitely more ambitious and substantive in mechanics, gameplay features and general content than the others in every sense of the term.

At the same time, I know a lot of people are wary about this, and I am too. I was only a few years old when work began on Grimoire and only in my later affinity for oldschool RPGs and DOS games did I learn about Cleve, who's the resident source of entertainment on the RPGCodex. He's apparently finally decided to release the game, after years of revisions and thousands of dollars' worth of personal funds having been thrown at contract artists and musicians to realize this game. A kickstarter was put up on IndieGogo today, asking for $250,000 for a game from another era that I guess many people wouldn't take seriously anymore. It's an unusual set of circumstances, but I've seen more extreme cases of commitment from people before.

A lot of people think that this kickstarter is a scam, or that the game is not truly as substantive as he claims it to be, that all the footage is cherry picked, but know this:

"Whatever the fund makes on IndieGoGo, Grimoire is coming out in May 2013. That means it will be a success because it is released." (RPGCodex Thread)

So in any case, Cleve is still going to be releasing a game in some form. The ambitious sum of money he's asking for is to make up his expenses over the years, not to fund development - unlike most kickstarter pitches, Grimoire (allegedly) IS already completed. He just intends to touch it up a bit. Unfortunately for whatever reason he claims Kickstarter still doesn't support transaction methods for people in Australia, so he's using IndieGogo which generally gets less publicity and has never really hosted any efforts as large as this.

I understand that this may not be of much interest to some people, or that you'll have difficulty taking the scope of this project seriously - but again, Cleve already has a game (in some capacity) finished, and I suppose I am just advertising here, but I feel compelled to spread the word. For those from the older crowd of the RPG community, this day is almost unreal - and it'd be amazing if Cleve received the recognition that he's deserved after having worked alone for almost two decades, and if he could produce a decent game at that after having basically ignored all the recent developments in the industry.

For specifics and the pitch video, why not see for yourself - http://www.indiegogo.com/grimoireforever.

And I suppose I'll just sit here, twiddle my thumbs and maybe we can cultivate a discussion about the game or clear up any of your questions regarding it.

I smell scam from a mile away.

Hahaha... yep.