Steamforged Games Apologizes & Reprints Dark Souls Books

Steamforged Games has come under fire recently for the high level of errors in the hardcovers of the recently released Dark Souls RPG. The errors ranged from major rules inconsistencies to typos and spelling errors--for example, knights were not strong enough to use their own starting equipment. In other places, there are references to D&D classes, such as the paladin, despite that class not being in the Dark Souls game. There is more detail in this post on Reddit.

The hardcover is out in the UK, although it is not due for a US release until next month.

The company has released an apology and promised to replace the books already purchased.

We at Steamforged Games would like to issue a sincere apology regarding the errors that have come to light in the DARK SOULS™: The Roleplaying Game. We want to thank the community for all the feedback we have received through our customer support channels and online. We are listening to your comments and recognise the importance of the issues that have arisen.

We want to make it clear that we take this matter extremely seriously and therefore have decided the best course of action is to order reprints of the book, issuing replacement copies to those customers who have already bought or pre-ordered the Standard Edition and/or Collector’s Edition.

The same applies for the PDF version we previously announced. Every customer who buys a copy of the printed rulebook will get a free PDF copy, with a release date and details on how to get your copy coming soon.

We ask for a little patience as we gather more detailed information regarding these reprints, the timescales involved, and how best to ensure we resolve this for each affected customer. As soon as we have these details, we will release them. In the meantime, if you have any issues or questions, please contact us through our support hub.

 

[eyeheartawk]

So instead of a game that actually works and respects the source game they made a D&D game with Dark Souls trappings. And that was so badly done that they need to print a replacement immediately ?

Anyone else getting d20 shovelware flashbacks......

I will stay away from purchasing further games of that company. Their Dark Soul boardgame I backed on kickstarter had issues as well.
Not with the delviery just to be clear. I got everything I backed and I respect that but the game itself doesn't play that well.

Yeah, like, putting aside my distaste for using 5e for a Dark Souls (or similar game) one of the benefits of using it would be to not only speed up your development of the game but to also make it easier and more error free, as it would require less development and playtesting. So what I guess I'm saying is: lol.

 

[Zehnseiter]

What baffles me, is that I can't imagine the license for Dark Souls was cheap. Especially with the recent popular Elden Ring. So if you're gonna spend that kind of money on a license, why in God's name wouldn't you take the time to adequately playtest and edit?

Well 5E like with d20 glut back then is so popular that you can just slap that 5E sign on almost anything and still make money. Save on writing and playtest cost because the licence was expensive. It has 5E on the cover and will sell. If Dark Souls wouldn't be such a beloved IP with a hardcore fanbase it probably would have worked quite well. Instead the Dark Souls fans make unhappy noises and they need to react. Also with Elden Ring so popular there are probably more eyes on the game then usual.

We are at the stage were I don't back anything per crowdfunding that has 5E slapped on the cover because I know that publisher are tempted to save costs and half arse things. Better wait for reviews in a glut phase.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

When I played it at Gary Con, I didn't think of it at the time, but in hindsight it's telling that the pregen's character sheets had some incorrect bits on it that dated to prior discarded mechanics.

The game ran smoothly for a one shot, though the DM didn't have a book or anything beyond a few pages of notes. Which kinda makes me think that a lot of these problems come from what I've said before - our brains fill in missing things. So that we can look at "radient" a million times and not catch that that "e" should be an "a," or that a point of strength needs to be added here and there.

It sounds like I'm going to get a flawed standard copy at the usual ship time, then at some point in the future a corrected copy. While I hope for the corrected copy sooner than later, it sounds like they're going to have a lot to go through and fix. If they want to make a better impression, the revised book is going to need to be flawless.

 

[Retreater]

They do make adorable doggo minis.

 

[Derulbaskul]

It reminds me of when Mongoose utterly botched the first d20 version of Conan.


I've never trusted Mongoose since.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So apparently this is now available. And apparently those of us that purchased a copy the first time around should expect to receive them before Christmas (whether that expectation will be fulfilled remains to be seen).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So, yeah, I just got a shipping notification last night that my copy of the Dark Souls RPG is finally heading my way!

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

And boom!

 

[Weiley31]

And boom!

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I wonder if the errata improved any. I remember when buyers go the PDF after the delay, there was STILL some errors in it, and this was AFTER they confirmed that the PDF that people were getting was gonna be the final errata.

 

[Sacrosanct]

So, yeah, I just got a shipping notification last night that my copy of the Dark Souls RPG is finally heading my way!

Mine still hasn't been shipped yet