I thought I’d write a quick update to apologise for my silence, both here and on my socials, so far.
The truth is I’ve been so quiet because I’ve been incredibly busy working away on the art for this project.
The fathomless depths are full of unexpected dangers.
David has set me a huge number of creative challenges with this book — ones that have occasionally pushed me outside my comfort zone, but have also been enormous fun to work through.
Stay safe while gigantic monsters and mecha battle it out!
Since mid-spring it’s been all Island of Weirdhope in my studio, and I’ve had a blast exploring the water world of Eco Mofos, as I’ve brought it to life in images for you all.
This has been a dream job — my inner 12-year-old is happy as a pig in s*#t watching the mecha and kaiju pour from my pen onto the previously unsullied pages of my sketchbook.
The game mechanics allow you to craft your own boat.
Choose from a wide range of items from the practical to the sublime.
The core book is basically in the bag now, with the adventure and other bits not far behind. David and I are both certain it’s a massive step up from our last one, in terms of design, writing, and overall quality.
I can’t wait for you to see it in all its glory — and I can’t wait to get these ink-stained hands on a hard copy myself.
Explore strange technicolour ports throughout your adventures.
Here’s a selection of finished artwork and final spreads. Some of it you’ll have seen in rough form already — I hope you enjoy seeing it in its final, technicolour madness.
Populate your crew with fantasic characters...
...& sail away to distant shores.
First of all, apologies for the delay in this update. Each time we reached a new milestone, I kept thinking "why don't we just nail this bit before showing everyone".
Anyway, here we are. The art is almost finished, and Zedeck's edits are well underway. We're really happy with how it's coming together, and with the new cover. We hope you like it too. We wanted to capture adventure, weirdness and joy, and I think Dan absolutely did that here. Don't worry, you can still see the previous cover as a major spread in the book.
With Zedeck's help, everything is being refined, and I think you'll agree the art that Dan has been pumping out is pretty special. Playtesting has helped hone down some of the procedures, and we now have 36 Schemes, written with the ECO MOFOS!! aficionado and font of ideas, Caelin Araven.
The main book is so nearly there. We're still aiming to get the finished pdf to all backers by the end of the month. As soon as that's locked down, we're concentrating on Four Fathoms Deep, which is also well underway. I've laid out most of it, and there's so much in there. Everyone has produced such incredible writing for it, I'm actually blown away with how they've run with ideas from the core book and taken them to places I would never have imagined. They're beautifully varied, but each is full of flavour and life. The two books together feel like such a vibrant weirdhope world, of future lives and communities.
We can't wait to get the final book to you, it's so close now.
We hope that 2026 has gotten off to a good start for you.
Better at least than it did for poor old Dan. Have you got your violin out? We hope so, because this is a tale of woe. 10 minutes before the spirits of '25 where ushered out, Dan, in his joyful revelry, managed to slip and fall down the garden stairs and broke a couple of ribs. This injury was swiftly followed by a bout of the flu and then a chest infection. January was not a happy month in the Dan household. Because of these mishaps our drawing gnome has only now found his way back to his drawing board, his happy place.
Perhaps it was a product of his fever, or the inevitable lunacy that's long been expected for him, or the fact that he spent much of the festive period drooling over the painted pages of Akira, but Dan has decided to paint the double-page spreads in this new book. As a result, see here the development, from sketch to pencils, to the application of the first colour washes, for the first double-page spread of Islands of Weirdhope!
The original pencil sketch
Here is the original pencil sketch. This drawing was made during the campaign, in Dan's A4 sketchbook.
The finished pencils
Dan developed the original sketch into this pencil drawing. Dan uses a mix of blue and graphite pencil, it's a strange way to work and definitely not the most efficient, but the habit is set in and it's how he unknots mistakes or coaxes the lines into order.
The finished pencils with the first colour washes applied.
And here is the start of the application of the colour. Dan's working with spirit pens, watercolour and inks. There still a long way to go before this image is finished but we'll be sure to share more progress and behind the scenes as we go.
Along with Dan's feverish drawing, the writing has continued apace, and we're hoping to get a new updated pdf to you all within the next few weeks. Talking of writing, David's blog, where he talks about his game and setting ideas, has been nominated for a Bloggie! This is high praise indeed, and if you'd like to vote for it please do, by following this link, being sure to select "Don't Write Lore, Write Tables" if you're feeling kind.
Thank you so much for embarking on this journey with us, we're so excited to get the final books in your hands.
It's been a crazy final few days, as we set off to Dragonmeet in London, met so many amazing people, and Zedeck wrote a beautiful blog about the development of his adventure.
So, just to recap, the project finished in the early ours of our morning yesterday, and a last surge took us roaring past a couple of stretch goals.So, earlier in the campaign, we confirmed that Ennie award winning Will Purves (Dodocahedron Games) is adding an adventure to Four Fathoms Deep: Quick Winds & A Quiet Palette Rival artists race island to island, risking dangerous crossings to create visionary works in the wilds of the Weirdhope Sea.
I'll also be adding a starter adventure island to Islands of Weirdhope: Bluestone Isle, where weird things are happening in a quarry near a sleepy village. This is already accessible (in its "in-progress form) in the latest Quickstart (feel free to download this from the Backerkit page to start playing).
The extra elements that have been unlocked by the campaign are another adventure island for the Islands of Weirdhope book:Dino Island, pirates have taken over an old Jurassic- themed adventure park. ALSO the awesome Amanda Lee Franck will write Sand Trap - a rickety mobile resource extraction plant has inadvertently gathered a collection of people, animals, and junk in its interior.
All 12 Monsters (Kaiju) and Mecha will now be illustrated in full colour in the Islands of Weirdhope book, and now a Solo Play Card will be added to all copies of Islands of Weirdhope and PDFs, an A5 gloss card packed with diagrams, procedures, tables and rules for your solo play to complement the solo rules in the book.
Hopefully all of that makes you as happy as it does us. We've got the support now to make all these things happen, so for that we're very grateful. But first we need a bit of a lie down.
We'll be keeping you up to date with monthly progress, plus I'll be writing in my blog and we're constantly hanging out in our Discord if you want to say hello.
But first we wanted to let you know about a great campaign that's just finishing now. They helped us out during the campaign, so we thought we'd repay the favour.
Flights of Fancy is a new Mausritter campaign, set in the forest of Feathertail Falls. A strange mix of tangleweed and pocket lint has covered the forest floor, and the mouse settlements are in dire need of adventurers brave enough to soar from tree to tree to aid their fellow mice.
You get 5 adventures complete with item cards, an updated setting booklet for the Feathertail Forest, plus weird & wonderful means of flight for your mouse to use.
There's only a day or so left before the crowdfunder ends.
Well, it's been a fine weekend, augmented by reaching our next stretch goal - We have now added a new starter adventure island, added to the Islands of Weirdhope book: Bluestone Isle, where weird things are happening in a quarry near a sleepy village. I've updated the Quickstart, so you can read it by redownloading from the here.
The next goal is to add a second adventure island for Islands of Weirdhope:Dino Island, where pirates have taken over an old Jurassic- themed adventure park. Hopefully we can get there soon, with your continued help. If you love the project, do let your friends know, it makes all the difference.
In the meantime, here's what Dan's been working on today- a sketch of two Titans, a Mecha and a Monster, watched by a couple of wary punks.
The poll about the poster came back with some definitive results- the Dolphin image (So long and thanks for all the fish) and Arrival were clear winners so they will occupy the two sides of the poster. Great stuff.
Our big thing this week is taking our stuff to Dragonmeet- we had a great time last year, meeting so many other makers and players, and really can't wait for Saturday. In case you're able to make it, here's a map of where we'll be (M15, next to Soul Muppet, Peregrine Coast Press and Forbidden Psalm). Come say hello, we might even have an early version of the finished book to look at... Jog Brogzin made this fantastic map- can you spot our stand with the flowerpot on top?
ELSEWHERE: Now we have a couple of great projects by our friends that we wanted to tell you about.
First up is Run from the Dark, By Will RD (maker of Forbidden Psalm, who we'll be tabling next to at Dragonmeet!). The campaign ends very soon, so check it out:
Run from the Dark is a roleplay game about folk horror, the things that go bump in the Dark and existential dread. In Run from the Dark, the Dark literally kills you. It is a malevolent force that consumes and takes all who are lost in it. In Run from the Dark you play as the Walkers who go out into the Dark, with lights of various kinds, forging your way through the bleak world, connecting towns and facing the horrors that call the Dark home.
Run From the Dark uses an the easy to learn custom roleplay system, that is narrative focused and designed to create interesting and unique characters. Or if you want you can use Run from the Dark as a horror setting for your favourite roleplay game.
The other project is The International Player's Review Annual, a magazine for gamesmasters, players, and anyone who spends more time drawing dungeons than doing homework. The Annual is a collection of the first four issues in print for the very first time. Totalling over 100 pages across four issues, every spread is a portal to a lost world of retro gaming. This collection of the first year of The International Player's Review includes tons of rad content, including:
Unruly tables and chaotic generators for old school and modern games.
Interviews with creators who've shaped our hobby both then and now.
A slew of adventures, lite on word count, big on action.
Complete TTRPG rule sets. Including the heist caper RPG, Easy Money, and the wildly historically inaccurate caveman simulator, Year One Hundred Million BC.
The debut of the sci-fi issue, only available during this campaign.
Plus hand drawn comics, pure pulp stories, and so much more!
Thanks for reading and the support, we really appreciate it,
