3 days left!
over 5 years ago
– Wed, Aug 08, 2018 at 01:38:05 PM
Hi everyone
There's three days remaining in the Flotsam Kickstarter campaign. It's been a great experience so far - 530 of you coming together to make Flotsam happen. Your support means a lot. Thankyou!
Over the course of the campaign Flotsam has featured in a bunch of media interviews and articles:
We're just a few hundred pounds off our next stretch goal, which is Mo Holkar's The Big Hot. As trailed in the last update, there's two more stretch goals in the pipeline.
You can help
You can help to make them happen, and make Flotsam the best it can be, by spreading the word on Twitter, Facebook, or wherever else you spend time on the internet.
Word of mouth is so important to the success of crowdfunding campaigns, and many people don't really wake up to them until the final few days. So take a minute to share one of the above links, or say a few words about why you're excited about Flotsam - it could make all the difference.
Thanks for your support!
Cheers
Josh
The hottest news
over 5 years ago
– Tue, Aug 07, 2018 at 05:51:05 AM
Hi everyone
Lots of exciting news to report today! Last night we ticked over £11.3k, and have since shot past that. We also reached 500 backers earlier today. It's wonderful to have so many of you supporting the game. Thankyou.
This also means we've unlocked Terpsichore's Vaunt by Grant Howitt, yay! And of course that also means we're on our way to the next stretch goal, which is The Big Hot by Mo Holkar. We'll unlock it if we reach £12.3k ($16.3k).
Mo Holkar is a British role-player and larper who thrives on co-creative story experiences. Recently he contributed scenarios to the Kickstarter campaigns of Lovecraftesque and of Cthulhu Dark. You can download a bunch of his small-scale larps from https://www.holkar.net
They're calling it The Big Hot -- the cooling systems down here have been broken for so long, people can't hardly remember what it was like not to be drenched in sweat. The smell of the vents is sharp and tinny. But life goes on, like it can't break the habit -- people gather to argue, to drink, to race flitterbugs. Some band together for strength, others for love. Some take Rigorous, to get away from it all. But you can never truly get away. The Big Hot will find you -- cook you -- maybe burn you up.
Little did Mo realise when he wrote that blurb that he was preparing to write a documentary. But while the current global heatwave will eventually end, the Big Hot never stops blazing. Cool stuff.
On top of all this, I'm excited to announce two new stretch goals. They are:
-
Best Served Cold by Helen Gould, about a station where political exiles sent to the Below plot against their enemies Above. We'll unlock this scenario if we hit £13.3k ($17.3k).
-
Carceres by Khelren, about a galactic prison where the worst criminals in the galaxy are sent. We'll unlock this one if we reach £14.3k ($18.6k).
Full descriptions for these are on the Kickstarter page, and of course I'll share them in full as we approach them.
Finally, Flotsam got a nice bit of exposure as Becky and I were interviewed by Dave Chapman for RPGaDay. You can read the interview, and find out more about RPGaDay, here:
http://autocratik.blogspot.com/2018/08/rpgaday2018-day-1-what-do-you-love.html
With just under a week to go on the campaign, let's see how much more great material we can unlock for Flotsam!
Cheers,
Josh
Art preview
almost 6 years ago
– Sat, Aug 04, 2018 at 08:34:03 PM
Hi everyone
I've been a bit quiet recently - we hit a bit of a lull in activity on the campaign, so I haven't had a lot to report. But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy! In fact, I've been working with Anna to start production of the interior illustrations for the game. I thought you might like to see some sketches she's produced:
I'm excited to see these shaping up, and looking forward to seeing the finished products.
We're about £150 off Grant's stretch goal now, and I've been quietly reaching out to some additional stretch goal authors, in case they're needed for the final, uh, stretch. More news about this soon.
Cheers
Josh
A Gateway opens
almost 6 years ago
– Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 08:14:36 PM
Good morning everyone!
I woke up this morning to find we'd hit our first stretch goal, which is to upgrade all of our illustrations from black and white to full colour. I am so happy about this. Anna and Claudia's art is beautiful in any format, but to my eye it's the colour that really makes it sing. Thanks to all of your support, this is going to be a very nice looking book indeed.
By the way, I'm meeting with Anna and Claudia this very weekend, to kick off work on the first batch of illustrations.
This also means we're heading towards the first of our scenario stretch goals. The basic deal with these is, each will contain a set of Primary characters, already created and with charged relationships that are at a turning point; and Situations, rich with setting detail and potential external challenges for the characters to engage with. They enable you to skip an hour or so of setting things up and jump straight into the action, which enables the game to be easily played as a one-shot, or sets you up for a campaign that will start with a bang.
Less than £900 off is Emily Care Boss, writing Gateway.
Emily is a Diana Jones Award-nominated designer, the creator of the Romance Trilogy and a fellow GMless game enthusiast. If you look at her games she is squarely in the space where Flotsam lives: interpersonal relationships, emotional drama, or as she says of her work "games about the human spirit". She was an obvious choice for Flotsam.
Gateway is the jumping off point for a newly charted binary system. Will you find your fortune or make a home in this unique crossroads among the stars? To me it has some of the optimistic energy of Babylon 5 - but this is Flotsam, so we'll see a different side of that in the scenario.
We'll unlock Gateway if we reach £10,300. Let's get to it!
One last thing: I'm excited to see that there's some Flotsam playtesting going on. It's wonderful that the game is out in the wild already! If you play it, do let me know - I love to hear about my games being played.
Cheers
Josh
To the core!
almost 6 years ago
– Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 08:13:46 PM
Hi everyone
I'm delighted to say that we've just hit our second stretch goal. Emily Care Boss will be writing the Gateway scenario! I'm really pleased, and very much looking forward to working with Emily. Thankyou for making it happen.
This also means we're on our way to our next scenario stretch goal. If we reach £11,300 ($15k), Grant Howitt will write Terpsichore's Vaunt. Grant has a ton of great game credits to his name (for example, One Last Job, Goblin Quest and most recently the Spire) and I'm really excited to have him work on the project. Terpsichore's Vaunt is a floating hulk where the haves build on the exterior, damning the have-nots to a life of crushing poverty and deprivation. As the Vaunt nears the path of a sacred comet, a religious zealot has arisen amongst the poor folk to lead them to freedom, but are their aims as noble as they claim? I don't know about you, but that sounds like an incredibly evocative and drama-filled scenario to me.
In other news, Flotsam was featured on Boing Boing yesterday:
https://boingboing.net/2018/07/23/flotsam.html
We also got a very lovely preview article on Boards & Booze:
http://www.boardsandbooze.com/kickstarter-preview-flotsam-adrift-amongst-the-stars/
Cheers
Josh
