Hey everyone, a slightly late acknowledgement of the fact that The Deepest Dark has funded! It's going to be real!!!! Ella had a migraine and it was Georgia's 30th birthday, so she was taking her boyfriend to see Operation Mincemeat. But what a birthday present!
Thank you, all of you, so so much for helping us make this happen!
What Now?
Now, Ella is going to go back into developing Solo Mode with our cross-collaborator Matthew Ayers (currently funding Blightfall), which everyone who's backed us above the 'Thank You' tier will be receiving a copy of.
What Next?
If we make it to our stretch goal of £6k, we'll be able to order more cassette tapes for backers who missed them. Based on your votes, these cassette tapes will be available as a £9 add-on to your pledge, if you want a physical copy of the album (with, of course, a case illustrated by the excellent Georgia).
We've still got over a week left on the campaign, so there's still a lot to play for - but for now, it's a huge relief to let you know that you will be receiving a copy of the game.
Hey folks - this is a special update to give you a heads up about our fellow campaigns funding for Zinetopia. Zine Month has become an annual event where TTRPG creators fund projects like this, but this is the first time Backerkit has done an official Zinetopia event, and we definitely want them to do it again!
Plus, if you back 5 or more projects you get an exclusive reward from Backerkit - a zine that all of us have contributed to (including team Deepest Dark!)
Without further ado, here's some awesome zines currently funding for you to check out
First up, The Wanderer's Bookshop! A mixed media solo journaling bookshop simulator; Guided by tarot cards, read books, solve a mystery, collect stories and journal your way to a keepsake.
I love this game as a way to interact with my personal library, but I also want to shout out the game's creator Lola Johnson for making these banner graphics for every other zine maker!
Our cross-collab project, Blightfall! Doomed villagers infected by darkness sacrifice shreds of their humanity for the power to defend their home. Combines collaborative worldbuilding, player-driven narrative, and strategic combat to tell stories of hope and tragedy.
I ran this game at a convention recently and really enjoyed the epic fantasy world we created together, this is a game of big swings and pyrhhic victories and I love it.
Three Punk Games is a fantastic looking project by Côme Martin. 3 small, angry, fast games, which stick to their own rules:
1. SEX/VIOLENCE/POOP 3 explores the limits of your bad taste. 2. HEX & THE PUNKS rebels against patriarchal systems. 3. We were punks goes back to an era where everything seemed possible.
I'm really into the game design going on here, so if you like abstract, punchy games that challenge how we play, definitely check this out.
Tales from the Cockpit is a Lost & Found solo game about a giant robot, its many pilots, and the passage of time. It's a Wretched & Alone solo game of a mecha mechanic. The campaign is now also funding The Cog That Remains!
H.O.M.E. Haven of Misplaced Existence is a tactical TTRPG set in a Cyberpunk Horror setting. Players take on the role of a party of adventurers affiliated with a Guild similar to those in fantasy manga like Goblin Slayer, with the same dynamics, in a futuristic dystopian metropolis divided between the corporate rich and the poor, isolated in an unreal dimension like Lovecraft's Dreamlands.
Worms! Worms! Worms! for Mothership RPG is five distinct sci-fi horror scenarios, each with a different flavor of worm-soaked disaster. Run them as parasite fuelled one-shots or drop them into an ongoing campaign!
Fang Dungeon Bestiary - this zine asks, what if children book illustrators designed the Monster Manual? The Fang Dungeon Bestiary provides 36 whimsical monsters to fill your Fangelsehala dungeons, with a stretch goal of a digital Dolmenwood monster stat version!
Wildest Shape is a 5E subclass that lets your Druid Wild Shape into themselves, but from another universe! The homebrewed Circle of the Fractured Path is a fun, powerful, and playable 5E subclass plus new spells, items, and creatures!
Great Hexpectations does what it says on the tin: hex based encounters and tables for your campaign.
I'm very happy to say that we're 75% funded and well within sight of our funding goal with just over two weeks to go! If just 100 more people buy the zine, we'll make it, and I think that's very doable.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us, and to everyone who's planning to support us and is waiting for the right moment to do so.
A reminder: if we fund, we'll be making a Solo Mode version of The Deepest Dark that will go out to all backers above the Thank You tier, for free as an add-on!
We'll be making this in partnership with our fantastic cross-collaborator Matthew Ayers, who's currently funding Blightfall. Go check it out!
Plus, if we exceed our goal, we'll be printing more cassette tapes of our incredible soundtrack album, composed by Amber Devereux over at Tin Can Audio.
It can be pretty scary funding a campaign like this, where we're asking up front for the cost of our labour, not only the cost of printing and shipping the zines. Not as scary as dying in a cave...
But I believe in a sustainable TTRPG industry where people get paid for their work, and I appreciate everyone who's supported this campaign and believes in that too.
Congratulations folks, we made it to 50% funded! We've also announced our first stretch goal: if we make it to £6,000, we'll order more cassette tapes of our soundtrack album, composed by Amber Devereux!
You'll get a notification in a few hours for the second part of our live-scored two part livestream, featuring Nathan Blades, MasqueWren, Poorna M., Amber Devereux, Ella and Georgia. It promises to be a gentle, bittersweet tearjerker, so come join us in the dark if you want to.
That's all for now, and remember - don't go in caves!
PLUS! Our game's composer, Amber Devereux, will be live scoring the game whilst we play! It's going to be pretty excellent.
Don't forget that you'll get special bonsues for backing the project in the first 48hrs, and special bonuses if you also backed Upriver, Downriver. The first 48hrs of a project are always crucial, so if you're able, we'll really appreciate your support.
