CHUGGING ALONG
over 2 years ago – Sat, Oct 02, 2021 at 02:19:35 AM

Sloan pulled the entirety of her sword from the jaws of the plagurwocky. A final flurry of golden smoke spewed from its nose. Both its eyes had already been shot out by Agosta, and the mechanical abomination collapsed. Steam and murky water spilled from its wounds.

Sloan stepped back and examined her pristine blade. It, along with the charms dangling off, was forged from sterner metals; it would take a lot to chip, let alone break.

“So…what’d you think?” Agosta asked as he reloaded his weapons. “Impressed?”

“Yes, I handled myself with distinction,” Sloan said.

_________________________________________________________________________

The two entered the crutch bay of the guildhall—three stories of scaffolding, cranes, assembly cubicles, robotic arms, platforms, and hoists. It was coated in ivory paint with splashes of red and yellow within warning signs. The two descended a short flight of stairs and rattled the grates topping the drainage canals.

“Feels counterproductive to split us between two contracts,” Terri said. “They must be thin on lance commanders.”

“Count yourself lucky,” Noah said, “Philokalia is beautiful.”

“Wait, when did you see the contracts?” Terri asked. Noah reached into his pocket, then removed and offered a personal tablet.

“I checked them before picking you up,” Noah said.

“Why didn’t you open with that?”

“We got to talking about feelings and relationships like a pair of teenagers, and then the potential of cookies filled my thoughts, and I got distracted.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Kaiden wandered through the crowd, attempting to look inconspicuous and going about it very, very badly.

“Ainsley!” he shouted and waved to a local wheelwright. He then passed a weaver working a loom. “Nicolette, good morning.” And then a tanner. “Harbor. How are you?”

“Good…I guess,” the tanner said, confusedly.

Finally, Kaiden reached a butcher he knew.

“Samuel,” Kaiden said as he perused selection.

Poor town cutters often butchered mouflon and grunter; game was reserved for kings. This one offered minced meat in a bladder, kip legs, whole tied and boned racks of swine, and salted beef from the previous day before sold at a discount. Trussed fowl had been cut and killed that day.

“Kaiden…I’m Harbor,” the butcher said.

“Oh,” Kaiden said.

Harbor nudged behind Kaiden.

“That was Samuel,” Harbor said. “You didn’t get any of them right.”

_________________________________________________________________________

HEY EVERYONE

Another month, another update.

I attended my first fan convention in two years at Northern FanCon. Everyone was super friendly, and attendance was way up from my expectations. Perhaps normality is something to look forward to.

NOVEL

The novelization of Affinity has been completed at a rather shocking 152,000 words. Most of the jarring exposition carried over from the books was eventually removed in favor of dialogue and a more natural flow to the story. I have beta readers going over it now. 

If you want to volunteer to go over this version of the novel and have included the novel as a reward, send me a private message with your email.

The audiobook is in its early stages of development, and I should have an update on that soon.

PLAYTEST FILES

As some people might have noticed, shortly after the last update, based on some [polite] feedback, I rebuilt the playtest files. If you return to your downloads on Backerkit, you’ll find a zipped file contained separate files for each chapter. I’ve also removed the old backdrop to make it easier to read and print. In total, 18 PDFs can be found in this directory.

Once again, I need to stress that this in no way represents what the final product will look like.

ADVENTURES

With the rules in playtest and the novel being proofread, I have decided to move on to the three adventures as part of the last stretch goal. These are being presented as more traditional dungeon romps with battle maps and combat encounters with a narrative any GM can invest in as they see fit.

Here are the planned adventures coming:

VOTHRAGNA’S PLAGUE (PARADISE)

Players are forced to embark on a quest to a fallen moon to uncover the secrets of a new threat menacing the ungoverned badlands of a dead kingdom.

THE TAKING OF THE GRAND ODYSSEY (TORUS)

An infamous ghost train is spotted, rumored to hoard treasures behind threats of death. Anyone that has attempted to board the evermoving vehicle has never returned. Will you be next?

CONQUEST OF ARCADIA (CONESTOGA)

A captured bandit points players on a quest deep within the alien vessel in search of a legendary domed habitat few believe actually exist.

Anyways, I wish I had more to report, but hopefully, that will come with the next update. 

PEACE!

Chris

ART, WRITING, & GAMES
over 2 years ago – Sat, Aug 28, 2021 at 07:13:45 PM

Hey everyone!

I hope you have all enjoyed your summer (so far)!

PLAYTEST

As per the previous update, the playtest files for Affinity are now available, but I admit I have not received one piece of feedback from anyone. I hope for some soon…unless it’s totally perfect. I know it's not. Remember, you can send feedback via our Discord channel or as a direct message to me here.

NOVEL

The first draft of the Affinity novel was finished a few weeks back. At 140,000 words (and growing), it’s by far the largest I've ever written. I’m currently in the long process of editing and proofreading (as well as getting depressed and tossing entire chapters out…it happens). It will also include both a preface, postface, and appendices to ensure that readers DON’T need to read the RPG to understand the novel. They are meant to stand on their own.

I found the experience of drafting the novel satisfying as it created additional details I could work back into the gamebooks. 

ART

Yes, the artwork is finally coming down. My artist was hit with some tragic news, but I am hoping it won’t delay production. I am giving him time to deal with these issues because some things are more important. Thankfully, I do have some images to share…these are only sketches, of course.

BROTHERS BOND

A long time ago, some of you that have been around since 2019 may remember that I helped design a board game based on the Eisner nominated webcomic Brothers Bond. Well, after a nearly two-year delay, it’s finally moving ahead and should hit Kickstarter in the next few months.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tminus10/brothers-bond-the-game

Before anyone thinks it, I designed this game before writing either Affinity or even the Ultramodern REDUX project in 2019 (to give you an idea how long ago it was). And although my name is on this production, I am not running this upcoming campaign. Outside of a few hours here and there, my attention is still focused on Affinity.

That being said, it certainly is coming along nicely. I will have more information on it with my next update for those interested in a cooperative, anime-inspired, fantasy martial arts board game.

That's all for now! Have a great rest of summer, stay safe, and keep playing!

Chris

BUNCH O’ STUFF
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jul 23, 2021 at 08:25:37 PM

Just a quick update.

I did things the old fashioned way and sent out individual emails to the remaining backers that have neither closed their pledge nor entered in a valid credit card. This still leaves 26 people that have not closed their pledges. Obviously, a few are “No Reward” pledges that may never close, but a few are top-tier backers, and I would hate to have them lose out on rewards. I’m trying folks! The declined credit cards dropped to 4; hopefully, these will get resolved soon.

I think I can work with those numbers, so I went and sent out a bunch of digital rewards.

DIGITAL REWARDS

With the AFFINITY PLAYTEST, you would have received an email from BackerKit. Follow the link to their website and check out DIGITAL DOWNLOADS for the playtest files. Just to remind everyone. These are NOT EVEN CLOSE to final. The layout is pre-alpha, and all the fluff has been removed, leaving just the crunchy goodness. I not only welcome feedback, but I downright insist on it. I mean if you want. Please post feedback as a direct message here on Kickstarter, Facebook, or post it to our DISCORD channel. An Affinity group was just created.

https://discord.gg/NhSgcFpN

The digital editions of Ultramodern5-REDUX, Apex, and NeuroSpasta have also been sent out to backers that purchased them; however, these are not being distributed via BackerKit. Instead, they are being sent out via DRIVETHRURPG. Follow the link, and you should be able to complete your complimentary order and gain access to these files.

There are also PRINT ON DEMAND COUPONS for Apex and NeuroSpasta, but DTRPG’s system prevents me from sending those out to specific people without doing it ONE EMAIL AT A TIME.

Sheesh. Sooo, this is being done via Backerkit as well. Same as before, check your DIGITAL DOWNLOADS. Contained within will be a simple coupon link for DriveThruRPG. Copy/Pasting that link will take you to DTRPG’s page and the option to purchase the POD at a substantially reduced price.

So, that means for some of you, you will have received upwards of SIX emails (well, seven including this one). Check your spam if you are missing any. Yeah, I know, it’s a little clumsy, but that was the only way it could be done.

NOVEL

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on the Affinity novel, which is actually shaping the setting in ways I hadn’t expected. For one, Paradise originally had a much larger story, but in my insistence that the novel be split three ways equally, I have had to add way more content for the other two. The plan was to reach 100,000+ words, but I am nowhere close to a resolution as I passed 70,000 today. Soooo…don’t be shocked if there’s a cliffhanger.

Anyways, enjoy your summer and stay safe!

Chris.

PLAYTEST AND NOVEL
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Jul 12, 2021 at 12:43:37 PM

Hey everyone. I hope your summer (for those in this hemisphere) has been fun and without the killer heat and toxic smoke that has been plaguing my province.

I got a few things to share.

LOCKDOWN

Backerkit has started the process of locking orders. Don’t worry about final addresses. Those won’t get locked until before we ship. So, if you are worried about that, don’t be. There have already been a few credit card issues, so please check your emails and follow up if you are one of those backers.

As I have mentioned…sigh…seemingly a dozen times by now, there were a few backers ineligible for the “upgrade” pledges that selected them. Despite numerous direct messages on Kickstarter and emails after the campaign, a few issues have not been fixed. Further, a few closed their pledge, meaning their credit cards will be charged for a reward they won’t be receiving.

Remember, everyone. (RANT ALERT) Kickstarter is a crowdfunding service, not a pre-order store. There is no infrastructure in place to coordinate refunds. I have tried my best to ensure everyone is satisfied, but I can’t help backers that won’t respond or listen. As I said, this really only applies to the…well, actually, just four backers that never updated their pledge. So the remaining thousand or so you of you are all good.

The biggest issue lies with where on backerkit you can change your pledge. I had my wife go on to check, and even she clicked past the first page without thinking. THAT first page is where you change your pledge if you so desire. But even when I explained that to people, some STILL clicked past the first page, assuming the option to change the pledge was later, like during the questionnaire portion. It isn’t.

I really wish Backerkit made this option more prominent because many people got mixed up by this.

The process for locking the backers, I imagine, will take a couple weeks.

PLAYTEST FILES

True to my word, now that orders are being locked, the first DIGITAL download will be ready.

The Affinity Playtest Files are available to anyone that purchased the three games in any form and has closed their order successfully.

As I stated, these files are pretty rough and do not reflect the final layout. There is also no setting content: these are rules only, so some readers may be confused over context.

Feedback is not only welcome and appreciate but also requested. You can private message me here, on Facebook, or on Dias Ex Machina’s discord channel.

Not going to lie; there is a lot of content.

Paradise is 143 pages

Torus is 133 pages

Conestoga is shocking 162 pages.

That’s 438 pages of new rules for everyone to play with.

I look forward to everyone’s feedback.

The other digital downloads (for books already published) should be coming down slowly over the next week.

THE NOVEL

The Affinity novel has been an enlightening experience. I originally started writing Paradise as a single narrative, then followed that up with Conestoga, then Torus. The narrative as presented in the game books is cyclical—meaning it begins with a character dreaming of the end of another setting, with the end of that story containing the beginning of the other.

This stresses the fact that there is no order in which these three books should be read. No matter which one you start, you will read what happens after the end of one and get a prologue for the other.

The novel can’t work this way, given it’s a single book. Instead of creating an infinite loop with the game books, all three timelines in the novel are told simultaneously. Each chapter is titled by its setting to prevent confusion (ala Game of Thrones). I believe this is the best way to read the series and has resulted in considerable rewriting. Whole sections are being retooled. Elements of the novel are being re-injected back into the game book to better explain the setting. In a way, both the game books and the novel will contain nearly exactly the same content (save for more story in one and rules in the other); they are just told in different ways.

ANYWAYS, that’s me out for now. Hopefully, by the next update, I’ll have some artwork to share.

CHRIS

BACKERKIT LOCKED & SHIPPING
almost 3 years ago – Sun, Jul 04, 2021 at 09:44:10 PM

Hey everyone.

Happy Canada Day…for those in Canada. For everyone else…YAY JULY.

As you might be aware, many of us on the west coast are in the throes of a heatwave. In my Northern BC town, we broke two heat records on consecutive days, with peaks above 41 degrees centigrade. Of course, I was not in my hometown; rather, I had previously planned a belated bachelor trip with my best man to Oliver wine country. That region recorded highs of 45 degrees. This is based on air temperature; my car registered a high of 50. That’s 122 Fahrenheit for those few people still using that system (smirk). Suffice to say, we appreciated that everywhere we visited had AC. We avoided the beach and didn't take too many strolls.  I only returned back yesterday with lots of stories and lots of wine.

THE PLEDGE MANAGER

The meat of this update concerns the pledge manager. As I have said previously, unlike CrowdOx, which charges cards when backers complete orders, Backerkit doesn’t until I lock the pledge manager. I thought this was odd and still do, and some of you have asked why their credit cards have not been charged.

Well, it is official. We have decided that the PLEDGE MANAGER WILL LOCK ON MY BIRTHDAY, JULY 9th. This is when everyone’s cards will be charged. I will be giving out final notices to everyone soon. We still have at least 10 backers that have not completed their surveys which is mandatory to ensure product delivery.

Additionally, I will be making a FINAL attempt to ensure everyone that has selected an UPGRADE pledge is eligible, as I know there are STILL people that have that are not.

DIGITAL REWARDS

Most of the digital rewards will be going out immediately. This includes all PDFs and POD coupons for products already published, and the playtest files for Affinity, which are finished. Please be patient as I work through the list over the next few days. If you DO NOT receive emails from DRIVETHRURPG within a week, reach out to me, and I will ensure everything works. The playtest files will not be sent out through DriveThruRPG. They are not available for retail and will be going out directly through the pledge manager.

THE FACT ABOUT SHIPPING

It’s been common knowledge among the hundreds of social media channels related to board games that there is currently a “squeeze” going down regarding the price of shipping. Publishers are seeing upwards of a 300% or more increase in shipping, a spike they (and we) could not have foreseen.

Why is this occurring?

It’s not one thing…well, actually it is. COVID-19.

Because of this, the docks lack staff, boats are stuck in a queue, and there is a shortage of shipping containers.

The game industry, simply put, cannot survive given the current skyrocketing rates. While some large companies are eating the difference confident they can recoup costs with later projects, smaller publishers like us lack such an option.

I am including a quote from Patrick Leder from Leder Games:

“I am writing this on behalf of the smaller publishers out there. Recently prices to ship from factory to depot (typically a shipping container or part of a container on the ocean) have skyrocketed. We are looking at 300 to 600 percent increases. There is no way any of us could have budgeted for this. We were fortunate we could absorb the loss and continue shipping at a great cost. Some small publishers may have decided to wait out the price hike, which is a reasonable assumption. Covid-19 is driving a lot of this price increase, and as things smooth out again, we should see a drop in prices. Please, please be patient with smaller publishers. They are having to make some hard decisions right now. Your game will still arrive at some point, and punishing them for it now is not going to help. I can assure you they are already punishing themselves.”

AFFINITY

So how will this affect Affinity? Honestly, we don’t know yet. The one advantage of Affinity is that it is a book series, not a big-box board game: it’s a much smaller size. We are also not publishing a large number of extra copies. Additionally, so many people opted for digital rewards, which are not affected by this crisis. Combine that with the fact that shipping of physical products for Affinity is not planned until 2022, and I am confident this project will circumvent the brunt of this calamity. Thankfully, as every pledge level included digital editions of the books, everyone will still receive this content in time.

As I said, I am confident, but the worst may still come to pass. I won’t entertain options as of yet and won’t until we are closer to production. And to be honest, if these prices continue rising or even flatlining at their current rate, the entire industry will be facing collapse.

I wanted to be upfront and honest with everyone now.

Here is a great video to watch that explains this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9UvLhjTIsI

I will not be vanishing. I will continue my updates regularly.

CURRENT WORK

Outside of the aforementioned weekend vacation in the middle of a heatwave, I have been working on the novelization, while Nick Greenwood has been working on the art. The next update, and later ones, will hopefully be sharing the fruits of these projects.

I hope everything stays safe and cool during this summer. The world is more interesting with all of you in it.

(Yes, I just paraphrased Hannibal Lecter)

CHRIS