I've been waiting to update everyone on Certain Fathoms due to two factors:
Announcements should be coming from down the mountaintop on the mega-pledge manager this week (possibly as early as today!). I wanted to wait until I had some concrete information on this before I spilled the beans.
I've been writing and re-writing and re-re-writing! Positively in the writing mines. Down in the depths of the writing sea, along with all the other writing fish. What was I talking about? Oh, right, writing. It's happening. A bit slowly, due to some personal stuff (not all bad), but I'll break that down below.
The (New) New Writing Schedule
So, life's been kind of crazy in 2026 huh? Between new shows and games and sickness and work and blah blah blah, writing has been slow but consistent. With time allocated for editing and formatting and everything else, I've adjusted the following delivery dates for:
Certain Fathoms → Pushed to April 2026
Hostile Takeover → Pushed to April 2026
Viewer Discretion → Pushed to April 2026
Secret Levels → Pushed to July 2026
Employee of the Month → Pushed to July 2026
Echo Chamber → Pushed to July 2026
That's... a lot of adjustments! Thankfully, it's mostly due to some extenuating circumstances that are resolved. Also, another thing is that Tuesday Knight Games has an official deadline for writing / deliverability / etc., so things can only get kicked down the road so far.
This isn't a situation where the items will get pushed further and further away, is basically what I'm saying.
For the visual learners:
Stuff Coming (Very) Soon and Getting Back to Work
When the mega pledge manager is available, all the green items (the Soundtrack, Otto's Buy Bin, the Bookmark Reference, and the Welkin Orbital Personnel Dossier) should be available as digital downloads. As new items get published and sent over, you should get an email notifying you of new downloads.
I want to highlight that there is almost guaranteed to be some technical glitches with this so please be patient as the Powers-That-Be figure out which things to turn on and off again, blow the dust out of, or just smack with a wrench.
As for me, it's back to the writing desk! I'll do another update when I've got more stuff to say, likely towards the end of April / beginning of May.
Hope everybody has had a good beginning to 2026! Things have been pretty calm over here now, though some family illnesses and daycare closures have thrown a wrench over the course of January. Here's hoping February is a bit less chaotic!
Not a ton to update everyone on this time - work continues on Certain Fathoms and its accessories. As we mentioned at the end of December, all of these are going to be delivered via the mega-pledge manager coming Soon™️from Tuesday Knight Games. Once that's available, you should be able to download what's been completed so far.
As a reminder:
"Ah!", you may be thinking. "Are Secret Levels and Employee of the Month delayed!?"
Well... yes.
But it's for a good reason. Let me explain.
First, Employee of the Month is an expansion that allows for running Certain Fathoms solo (or as a Warden with one player). I have a rough draft of these rules, but there are some folks in the solo-roleplaying space who I would like to show it for potential edits.
The last thing I want to do is make some solo rules that amount to a worse version of what you can get in a generalist book, like Mythic GME or something.
Second, Secret Levels is a collaborative effort between myself, Watt, Snow, Alfred Valley, and Sam Sorensen. If you hadn't noticed, all of those people are either currently running a crowdfunding campaign or are in some phase of fulfilling a crowdfunding campaign.
Not to mention all the personal things on my end that required my attention, we put a little life pause on this while everybody (mostly me) could get their bearings.
That said, things are moving!
Watt has finished their lovely floor, "The Operation", featuring a group of women stuck in an experiment that nobody bothered to tell them was shuttered. And I've gotten confirmation from everyone else that their floors are underway as well.
That said, I'd like to take a moment to shine a spotlight on them because they're so cool and nice and they deserve support:
Sam Sorensen: A FAMILIAR TOWER
Sam Sorensen is providing work on the very cool looking A FAMILIAR TOWER, an escape room / puzzle dungeon adventure for Old-School Essentials.
Snow: SCREAMING METAL: VECTOR SOUL
Snow is (and has been) working on... well, I'll just let her describe it:
Screaming Metal: Vector Soul is a mecha ttrpg about toxic lesbians piloting living machines for exorbitant amounts of money so they can live lavish lifestyles before being torn to shreds by the poisonous arms of hyperspace. Click here to download the playtest and read for yourself!
Anybody that knows me knows this is right up my alley. Might even get to play it with some folks soon!
Alfred Valley: BRUTE FORT
Alfred ran a campaign for BRUTE FORT late last year that's still accepting late pledges last I checked!
Exactly what you'd expect from the Valley of Alfred: stylish, clean, deadly simple to pick up and play. Plus you know I can't help myself when I see a soundtrack...
Watt: RUST WINGS
On March 3rd, Watt's launching the crowdfunding campaign for Rust Wings, a ghibli-inspired adventure ttrpg where you play as misfit teens who build and pilot their own planes from the scrap around them. Abandoned cities, sky pirates, and more await!
The inspirations (Castle in the Sky, Arcane, and Mega-Man) got me curious but the fact that it's an adaptation of the Mausritter rules has my attention. Very excited to see this!
Also, just have to shout out Watt for fulfilling all the Cloud Empress stuff - two campaigns! We always have to give creators a hand when they deliver on what was promised. Also the books are gorgeous and dripping with flavor and inspiration.
Obviously we live in a world of things costing an exorbitant amount - and increasing all the time. But when we have the opportunity to support indie creators, especially ones associated with the work we do, it's on us to show support in any way we can.
If you have the discretionary funds, please consider backing one (or all) of these projects!
Samand Snow's projects are currently underway as a part of Zinetopia 2026 here on BackerKit, so now's your chance to get some of the goods while they're hot!
Meanwhile, Alfred'sproject is taking late pledges like I mentioned!
Following Rust Wings from Watt will ensure it has the strongest possible start when it kicks off.
If money's tight, there's other support you can give! Just sharing the projects around, getting the word out, and even reaching out to ask how you can help may make a big difference.
Anyway, that's about it for the update this month: continuing to work on Certain Fathoms, getting things ready for the mega-pledge manager, and trying to stay warm & healthy.
Oh, and finally getting around to trying Expedition 33 - what a game!
It's the very last day of the very last month of the year and I've got an update that has 75% great news and 25% middling news.
Let's start with the good stuff.
The digital files, according to our RevisedTimeline, are good to go! That means:
The Certain Fathoms Soundtrack (MP3s)
Otto's Buy Bin (PDF)
Reference Bookmark (PDF)
Welkin Orbital Personnel Dossier (PDF)
Will be available to backers! ...
(here's the middling news)
... juuuuust as soon as the mega-pledge manager is available.
A Quick Aside about Pledge Managers
So, you may have read in other places how Mothership Month projects are handling the pledge manager - the place where you can include add-ons to your order, catch items you may have missed during the campaign, etc.
In Mothership Month, we're doing a mega-pledge manager.
Which will allow you to do everything I listed above but for all your Mothership Month projects.
As far as we're aware, the mega-pledge manager is being built out specifically for Mothership Month (much like 2024's MoshMo was the first collaborative campaign on the platform). That means we're not just the first ones to use the mega-pledge manager - it's literally being built for us on the BackerKit backend.
(This is why you weren't given an email about surveys or filling out shipping information yet, in case you were curious.)
But! The wait is almost over. My understanding is that the mega-pledge manager is finished - it's just a matter of TKG putting in everyone's SKUs so that people have the right items attributed to them. I don't want to assume how long that will take, but my guess is that it will be Soon™.
All that said, you'll have to wait just a little bit longer for the files. As much as I would like to share the files some other way, I think best practice is to just wait until the manager is available and we can distribute files in an official capacity.
What I can do is give you a little peek at the files that are available so you can get an idea of what's coming to you shortly. That will be below, reserved exclusively for backers.
Closing and Next Update Timeline
I hope you've all had wonderful holidays or, at the very least, some ample time off to play some games and spend time with loved ones. Maybe getting some Mothership in, hm?
In terms of scheduling updates, from here on out I think it makes sense to move to a once-a-month update. No doubt we're all getting enough emails as it is and frankly you don't need me telling you every week "Yep, still working on stuff!".
So, with that said, the next update will be at the tail-end of January in the new year. After that will be another one in February, then March, and so on. And then, before you know it, you'll be getting a very big, very magenta box on your doorstep, full to the brim with awesome stuff to run one hell of a Pound of Flesh campaign.
Hello all! I hope you've had a less eventful month than me.
What was supposed to be a month of action and getting ahead in writing was mired by weeks of family illness, day job shuffles, and culminated yesterday with us having to put down one of our little furballs who's been with us since 2016, due to an extremely aggressive stomach cancer that wasn't picked up on X-rays just over a month ago.
He was my boy most of all, so this hit me hardest. I've never had a cat love me (nor me love a cat) the way we had each other. He's irreplaceable.
All that said—and while I truly appreciate any words of commiseration or kindness—I say all that not to get pity but to explain why a few things in the production line are shifting around.
Namely, the delay of the core zine and EXP.4: Employee of the Month from December 2025 to February 2026.
This is a a bummer to be sure. I was really hoping both of these would be done before the end of the year, but with everything going on I just don't see how it's feasible without it being a disaster at home or you receiving a half-baked product.
I figure you're owed a transparent (and early) heads-up rather than things getting announced last second (or like many projects, not announced at all).
In any case, the soundtrack, bookmark, and pamphlet digital files will all still be released by the end of the month—as will the special pre-launch reservation "Welkin Orbital Employee Dossier" PDF.
As a brief aside, due to the delay on the other items, I'm working on making the dossier available as a small add-on ($5) for all backers and pre-order supporters, instead of just those who made pre-launch reservations. Those folks still get it for the discounted rate they already paid.
Hopefully this all makes sense to everyone.
Even so, you're allowed to be frustrated at the change!
I know some folks were planning campaigns set in Prospero's Dream and having Welkin Campus play a role. But know that it is still coming and it simply means your February 2026 will be filled to the brim with digital releases.
Here's the revised timeline:
Projects changing highlighted in MAGENTA
In the meantime, give your family (furballs and all) a hug, play some games, and enjoy the holidays (or extra time off from everyone else celebrating holidays).
I'll be posting an update once the digital files for December are ready to download, but otherwise it'll be a little quiet over here as I put my head down and work.
We ended the campaign at $36,483 - 912% of the original $4,000 goal. That is simply incredible. Thank you all so much for backing the project and seeing this thing through. Literally couldn't have done it without you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Okay, moving on to everyone's favorite topic: when you actually will get your stuff!
As stated throughout the campaign, my goal has been fairly aggressive in that I want to make sure you have as much of the digital files as you can before end of year 2025. That's only a little over a month away!
Thankfully, I've been working on things pretty diligently since ending my addiction time in OVER/UNDER and finding myself heading into a (hopefully) somewhat quiet holiday season here in the states.
So, all that said:
Or put in text form:
December 2025
Certain Fathoms (PDF)
Soundtrack (MP3)
EXP.4: Employee of the Month (PDF)
Otto's Buy Bin (PDF)
Bookmark Reference (PDF+JPG)
WO Employee Dossier (PDF)
February 2026
EXP.1: Hostile Takeover (PDF)
EXP.3: Secret Levels (PDF)
(Not Shown) Soundtrack (FLAC)
April 2026
EXP.2: Viewer Discretion (PDF)
EXP.4: Echo Chamber (PDF)
The print stuff heads out in early/mid summer 2026. Since it's going to be a bit of a logistical nightmare on Tuesday Knight Games' end, expect printed zines and goodies to arrive between end-of-summer and end-of-year.
Regardless of what happens there, rest assured I'll be regularly updating as to my movements.
That's really it for this update - pretty short and sweet. If you backed the project, read on to find what won the community-voted breaches and anomalies from a few weeks back!
