June Update
about 1 year ago – Wed, Jun 28, 2023 at 06:28:32 AM

Hey!

With most of you having filled out the BackerKit survey and the beta rules PDF completed, I've just send out a download link to all backers who pledged for a tier that includes the second issue. I'm incredibly excited for you to get your hands on this, and to hear about it if you use these new rules and procedures in your game!

June itself was mostly spent setting up the Backerkit and finishing the beta rules (and updating the TEA#01 PDF) in time to send them to you. So let's take a quick look at some highlights of the beta rules :)

First up, downtime actions! Each Interlude, players can take downtime actions working on personal projects, preparing for the next expedition, or just blowing their ink on drugs and parties! 

One thing I did not have enough room for in issue 01 was hirelings players could employ, so that was something I wanted to remedy in Issue 02.

Another thing I did not have room to cover in more depth in the first issue was warpgas, a mutagenic vapor which is created when ink is heated to extreme temperatures. The beta rules include rules for how to handle exposure to warpgas and a table of warpgas mutations!

And finally a little treat I kept secret until now: even though we did not hit the stretch goal which would unlock it, I could not resist adding in a spread about various Ornish drugs to indulge in :) 

There are a bunch more things hidden inside the beta rules PDF, but I'll leave that to you to discover! Have fun! If you have any feedback you'd like to share, feel free to send me a message, or join the Discord to share it in the #feedback channel :)

Again, thank you for making this happen, and enjoy the beta rules!

Talk soon!

- Emiel

BackerKit Survey and late pledge option
about 1 year ago – Mon, Jun 19, 2023 at 03:48:15 AM

Hey!

After a successful smoke test, I've just hit "send" on the remaining BackerKit surveys, so go check your inbox to get access to the BackerKit! 

The BackerKit is how I'll be distributing the beta PDF at the end of this month, so if you haven't received a survey invitation or run into any trouble, please let me know! (Note for Merchant pledge backers: you will not get an invitation to the BackerKit, I'll send you a personal message once the zine is done.

Pre-Order Store

For those who missed the Kickstarter and would like to late pledge, the pre-order store is now live as well!

I'll talk to you again at the end of this month when the beta PDF is ready :)

Thanks again for your support and stay safe!

Cheers,

- Emiel

BackerKit Smoke Test
about 1 year ago – Wed, Jun 14, 2023 at 01:05:02 AM

Hey!

As promised in the last update, I've just sent out the smoke test for the BackerKit. This means that 5% of you will have an invitation to the BackerKit Survey in your mailbox! This small test will give me a chance to troubleshoot things that might come up before sending out the survey to all backers later this week.

Some more info about the BackerKit process:

In BackerKit you will be able to upgrade your pledge through add-ons. If you backed at a Physical reward  level (or backed at a Digital Only pledge level and now add physical copies as an add-on) you will be asked to fill in your delivery details and will be charged for shipping later this year once fulfillment begins.

Regarding shipping costs: I'll have a better idea how much shipping will cost once the project is close to being shipped out. At that time, I will update you about the final shipping costs and you will have a chance to alter your BackerKit details accordingly before your order becomes locked for shipping. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

That's all for now. If all goes well with this smoke test, I'll be sending out the rest of the surveys next week.

Talk soon!

- Emiel

May Update
about 1 year ago – Wed, May 31, 2023 at 01:10:46 AM

Hey!

It's almost June, so here is a quick update on how the project is going! 

Dungeons

I spent most of my time this month working on the two smaller adventure locations. Both of them are now in a playable state (meaning a rough map, NPC stats, and a solid draft of all room keys) and I have been play testing them with two different groups for over the last two weeks. They still need to be made more presentable and condensed to fit the available pages before they're ready for publication, but I'm very pleased with how they play! They both highlight some different aspects of the setting and it has been fun to see how players interact with them. I plan on playing these a few more times with different groups in the next months while I'm working on the third location, an eldership buried in the dunes outside of Titan Port.

Here's a little sneak peek at both of them in the form of my terrible early notebook sketches:

BackerKit & TEA 02 Rules Beta

Over the last two weeks I've also been setting up the BackerKit for this project. There are still some things left to do, but I'm aiming to do a smoke test sometime in the first two weeks of June. For those who don't know what a smoke test is: BackerKit allows you to "smoke test" your project by sending the surveys to a randomly selected 5% of backers, so you can work out any errors that might occur before sending the surveys to all backers. I'll write an update about this closer to when I'm ready to do the smoke test.

If the smoke test goes right, I'll send out the survey to everyone, and once that is all done, I can share a beta PDF of the new rules of TEA 02 (which I talked about in more detail in last update) with you all through BackerKit! 

Here are some of the illustrations I commissioned to go along with these new rules:

That's all for this month. For now, enjoy these illustrations and we'll talk again soon :)

Thanks!

- Emiel

PS: If you would like to know more about what I'm doing besides working on this project, check out my monthly newsletter, Lizard Mail. It has been neglected a bit because I had my hands full with this Kickstarter, but I plan on writing a new post soon, which will recap the last few months! :)

April Update
about 1 year ago – Mon, May 01, 2023 at 12:21:41 AM

Hey!

April was very busy, but I'm incredibly satisfied with the work I did. I finished what I set out to do this month, finishing the draft of the rules section of the second issue of TEA. I hope to share this section with you all in a beta PDF in June. I'll be sending it on its way to Ava for a first editing pas later today, but would love to give you a run down of what it contains at the moment. It is currently a little over 8000 words and contains the following things:

• A procedure for random events during Downtime Turns (which have been renamed to "Interludes" to prevent confusion with Exploration Turns)
• 10+ Downtime actions players can take during an Interlude. Things like learning new Talents, martial training, creating their own faction or enterprise, crafting, trapping spirits in voidglass, spending their ink drops on partying, etc.
• Rules for hiring different types of hirelings.
• Rules for foraging additional rations while traveling. 
• More guidelines for the Seer on how to deal with dangers, such as: fire, falling, drowning and panic.
• A better look at warpgas and a table of mutations for players who manage to survive breathing it in.
• A few new skills for the Fixer, new maneuvers for the Vagabond and an alternative Level 5 feature for the Warlock.

There are a few more little bits and bobs in the doc I'm sending to Ava, but I'm cautious about mentioning them here in more detail, since I'm not sure whether they will make it to the final zine yet.

While Ava is taking a look at my writings, I'll be spending the next two months working on the three adventure locations that will be featured in the zine and sending out some early art briefs for illustrations to accompany the rules I talked about above.

Thanks again for your continued patience and support for the project!

Talk soon!

- Emiel