Still SOON
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jul 03, 2018 at 11:51:40 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

SOON (Fulfillment Starting Soon)
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jun 26, 2018 at 11:32:39 PM

The last of the books are now on their way from the printer to the warehouse, which means that we’re going to be starting fulfillment! In 48 hours I’m going to lock down BackerKit surveys, meaning you won’t be able to make changes. If you need to update your address or change add-ons, please do so within the next two days!

There are also about 20 people who haven’t done their surveys yet. Granted that means 98% of backers have done their surveys, but of course we need your shipping info to send out the books you’re owed.

On the plus side, 220 people have ordered a total of $5,466 in add-ons and preorders, which is going to take some pressure off us monetarily and make me a lot less paranoid about shipping costs, so yet again thank you all for your support.

Meanwhile in Japan

I got my hands on the new issue of Role&Roll (vol. 165), the one that includes a 2-page article on the forthcoming new version of Golden Sky Stories. The article is aimed at people who aren’t already familiar with the game, and explains the basics rather than going into detail about what’s new. The only glaringly new thing it mentions is that it includes seven kinds of henge, adding mouse henge to the six types that appeared in the original version. We already translated the mouse henge (which is now a part of The Colors of the Sky), though given that Chika (the signature mouse henge character) is totally adorable, I’m kind of hoping there’s going to be some new art.

Also, where it was originally published through Sunset Games (which specializes in Avalon-Hill style board wargames), it’s now being produced by Incog Lab and published through Shinkigensha. Shinkigensha is a publishing house that puts out a wide variety of books, with an emphasis on geeky stuff, including TRPGs. It’s a thing in Japan that a lot of TRPG developers get their books published through a larger publisher, hence Shinkigensha already offers some of Kamiya’s other games, as well as TRPGs from Adventure Planning Service (the company behind games like Meikyuu Kingdom and Shinobigami) and others.

So far there’s no indication that the new version will have anything so new that we’ll be missing out with our English version based on the original edition, but needless to say I’ll be watching closely and looking for ways to bring whatever new stuff is in the new edition to the English-speaking world.

Kodama Art

Ella Kurki finished the kodama artwork, so meet Momo!

Progress and Developments in Japan
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Jun 19, 2018 at 09:35:07 PM

Twilight Tales is currently in transit from the printer to the warehouse, and the reprint of Golden Sky Stories should be going out fairly soon. That means we’re around a week or two out from starting fulfillment!

What’s Happening in Japan

It’s been a little bit of a weird situation, but Golden Sky Stories has actually been out of print for a while in Japan even as our English version keeps going (and other translated versions are in progress). Ryo Kamiya has been working with a new publisher called Incog Lab for a while now, but he’s been busy with new projects—four RPGs and a card game!—so it’s taken them a while to come back around to GSS. Now they’re planning to release a new version of GSS, under the title ふしぎもののけRPGゆうやけこやけ, or “Mysterious Mononoke RPG Yuuyake Koyake,” with an article about the changes to appear in volume 165 of Role&Role magazine, and a release some time this summer.

This doesn’t endanger our English version or anything like that, but it’s hard to say what exactly it will mean for us until after it drops. We’re in the process of reprinting the core rulebook right now, so it’s probably going to be a few years at least before we’d be ready to publish a new core book. We may be able to distill the new material into errata and/or supplements, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Regardless, we’re definitely planning to publish the two remaining Japanese supplements (Hitotsuna Komichi and Kore Kara no Michi) to complete the product line of the Japanese first edition. I have a first draft of the translation of Hitotsuna Komichi already done, and I’m about a third of the way through Kore Kara no Michi. We haven’t started planning how to go about publishing these, but since we have our feet under us now (and we’ll have a substantial quantity of the core book in the warehouse), doing them without depending on Kickstarter is an option for us.

Mary, a Little Lamb

Finally, I’ll again leave you with a peek at the artwork we’re getting done. This is Mary, our signature sheep henge character, drawn by Kamapon:

Fulfillment Progress + Sheep Henge Draft
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Jun 09, 2018 at 11:06:13 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Twilight Tales Print Proof!
almost 6 years ago – Thu, May 31, 2018 at 05:24:42 PM

The printer proof of Twilight Tales came! I'll be going over it today, and hopefully approving it so the printing company can do their thing. Assuming all the pieces come together right, we’re looking at starting full-on fulfillment sometime in late June or early July. Given how long tabletop Kickstarters can take to fulfill, I’m feeling really good about how we’re on track to actually deliver more or less on time.

Since we had the time and budget for it, I decided to adapt two earlier pieces for the eventual PDF compilation. Both of these are getting professional layout from Clay and original art by Joe Bush (of Voidspiral Entertainment, publisher of Heroines of the First Age), and will be sent to Twilight Tales backers and included in the Colors of the Sky POD book.

• Cop Out of Water is the scenario I originally wrote for the Tabletop Day 2013 demo, and I’ve put together a revised version of it that fits better with the full version of the game. It’s essentially about the henge befriending a GSS version of Simon Pegg’s character from Hot Fuzz, a weirdly driven and precise policeman who’s on vacation in the countryside and needs to relax.
• Engine Sky is a mini-setting by Viral, of Viral Games Publishing. It’s a short GSS adaptation of his game Engine Heart, and it lets you use GSS to weave stories about robots helping the surviving humans in a post-apocalyptic setting. Engine Heart is available from their site as a free PDF and in print from select retailers.
  

Those, along with Land of Illusions, are off to Clay for layout, so I’m also feeling pretty good about getting the stretch goal stuff done in a timely fashion.

Anyway, that's all for now. As always, thanks for your support!