Early on day twenty-three of our Kickstarter campaign for a "Platinum Edition" of Skirmisher Publishing’s City Builder: A Guide to Designing Communities, just as we entered the last week of the campaign, we were pleased to unlock a very special Stretch Goal! 

* When we hit $20,000, rather than simply add a new type of place to the Platinum Edition of City Builder, we decided to create for backers a completely new system-free thematic companion book! 

“In the Footsteps of Hercules” will be a specific example of a Pilgrimage Route that will be at least twice as long as a regular entry of this sort (e.g., 3,000-4,000 words). It will include an overview of the trail and its history, synopsis of its twelve stages and the prevailing terrain and conditions associated with them, entries for all the major communities along it, and a number of adventure hooks. 

For every $1,000 we reach after that we will add one new specific place that can be found along this pilgrimage route (e.g., a Temple devoted to Hercules, a Shrine dedicated to the goddess Hera, the Tournament Ground established by Hercules for the Olympic Games). 

“In the Footsteps of Hercules” and its contents will be compatible with any traditional fantasy campaign setting and storytellers will be able to use its contents, in whole or in part, either in the country described within it or in any other settings of their choice. Storytellers will, likewise, be able to easily swap out elements in this book for ones related to their own campaigns (e.g., Hercules can be easily replaced with any god of strength, warriors, or hunters). 

PDF copies of this book will be made available to backers who will be receiving City Builder in that format and both PDF and at-cost print copies will be made available to backers who will be receiving hardcover editions of the book. These will be provided automatically and there are no additional steps backers need to take. 

* When we hit $21,000 we will unlock Paleo Mykenae, a specific example of a pilgrim Hostel located on the Footsteps of Hercules Pilgrimage Route. This entry will include a detailed description of the hostel and the various amenities associated with it, information about the non-player characters that can be found there, a custom map/floorplan, a custom full-color illustration, and two or three adventure hooks. 

Thanks to everyone who has come on board with this project and helped bring it to this exciting point! We very much hope you are pleased with and looking forward to the great things we are doing with it.