With all physical rewards save Affinity at distribution, we’ve moved on to current digital projects.
THE PHANTOM STAGE
The next adventure, and penultimate effort by William Miller, is our weird west adventure. After discussing it with a few friends, we decided to remove the pretense and go with our original plan; instead of setting it in a location inspired by a local period-specific town, we opted to have it set in the ACTUAL town. As a result, The Phantom Stage has been renamed…
We threw in some direct references to real Barkerville history and even included a bunch of “vintage” photos we took from our numerous visits there. To make the adventure accessible to everyone, we carried over the antiquated firearms inspired by Torus, along with a few new rules regarding the use of dynamite.
Backers due to receive this adventure should see it in their downloads directory by the end of the day. If you don’t receive the link, head over to Backerkit and check. As I send out an announcement via DriveThruRPG, you’ll also see an email inviting you to purchase the adventure; obviously, you can ignore that.
This leaves only one adventure remaining for William, Clonefall, assuming that name doesn’t change as well. I know it’s been fully play-tested, but that’s all I know so far. The man’s days away from being a father, so I’m giving him some breathing room.
THE RETROVERSE CHRONICLES
Which brings us to my final adventure tied to this Kickstarter, the honestly provisionally titled Retroverse Chronicles. Before going into detail about my plans, I wanted to bring up a previous publication connected to this crowdfunding campaign, Threshold.
You see, Threshold was designed to just be a campaign setting. But I’ve always been a fan of narrative art books / illustrated novels. While many people believe this genre began and ended with the books written and illustrated by Simon Stålenhag, in truth, they have gone back decades. I remember the Terran Trade Authority handbooks written by Stewart Cowley and published from 1978 to 1980, which presented a fictional history of the human race and their encounters with alien species. Threshold took inspiration, blending space exploration with cosmic horror, a hybrid not seen enough, in my humble opinion.
Threshold was a risk, but I was limited in my previously allotted budget. I was only supposed to create a single book, not a hybrid RPG supplement / illustrated novel. As a result, I could only afford a handful of new illustrations, mingling them with recycled art from Ultramodern and Amethyst. In the end, I’m pleased with the result and believe it a much better book than a single campaign book. As it has been out for a few months, I would love to receive feedback regarding whether it was a success.
This brings up Retroverse Chronicles.
I’d like to do the same as Threshold, creating an illustrated novel separate from the RPG aspects. However, I don’t want to recycle artwork again outside of the two images that provided the core inspiration. I am left with two options.
1. Create it “as is” using the original art budget, which will limit it to only a few new illustrations.
2. Create a crowdfunding campaign to raise the additional funds required to fulfill this project’s potential.
Those who have followed me for years know I’ve done this before.
Affinity was such a project. It was initially meant as three 100-page books with black and white artwork and no physical print edition and was unlocked as a stretch goal for 2018’s Ultramodern5-REDUX campaign. Following its own successful crowdfunding, it turned into three 250-page books with full-color artwork and physical books, including a leather box set.
This won’t be as large, but I’d like Retroverse to be a 10x10 illustrated novel with the aforementioned digital RPG supplement.
Like with Affinity, any backer due to receive the original Retroverse will still receive the RPG book. This is for people wanting the accompanying illustrated novel and for the RPG supplement to be expanded.
The Retroverse Chronicles involves the crumbling alternative world of the late 1970s, where the injection of alien knowledge gave rise to “spark plugs”—devices able to inspire users to create singular, powerful pieces of technology. This promoted the creation of advanced biotechnology decades before the introduction of computers or the internet, including the GELF slave races, the BAAL biomechs, and the colossal “Hekaton” BRUTs, subsequently leading to the decimation of the planet through rising geopolitical conflict. By the late 1970s, little of the recognizable modern world remained.
In the campaign setting, players would assume the roles of humans and GELFS as they struggle to survive among the monstrosities dismantling the world around them. In the novel, our protagonist is pulled into this world possessing the most sought-after knowledge—the capacity to create more spark plugs. As they travel across America, they discover the dying world around them, looking for a way to return home.
The question is, would you pay more for a physical illustrated novel and an expanded campaign guide, or do you just want the originally promised campaign guide? Please comment below.
