Seriously thank you very much for backing Netcrawl RPG. I am honored to have you on the team.

I had a bunch of fun with Joey Royale as we slapped together a little crowdfunding show on Goodman Games Official Twitch. Thanks to Goodman Games for the use of the channel. And thanks to Alana Thompson for engineering the show.

We didn't end up playing through the conclusion of the adventure, but I promise to turn it into a little digital solo zine or something along those lines so you can finish it on your own.

So close to breaking the stretch goal for the GM screen, but I am in no way disappointed. We put it all out there! It has been an amazing campaign and exceeded my expectations. I'll certainly be providing some PDFs of player handouts, reference booklet of important tables, and the screen for you to print at home.

There's been several new people on the Discord and Patreon. Come on over and join us. A new mechanic of Access Control dropped on the Patreon a few days ago. I'm be talking about why and how to use it later this month in the Developer Diary. I'll be posting the Update Patch from the Patreon here every month (usually published on the 20th). 

I'm going to get some rest. Thank you all again. 
<3 
James

I will be presenting a play test of my 3rd level adventure at TTRPG Pickup Con #55 on Friday, May 23rd, 2025 @ 2:00 PM EDT. Generative Plot: The WorldNet has become clogged with new users who only seem to make everything more difficult or dangerous. Your investigation leads to someone or something wanting you dead. Get to the bottom of the mystery or get derezzed. (3rd level pre gens provided). Sign up to play: https://www.indecisionist.com/ttrpg-pickup-con-schedule/generative-plot

I met Doug many years back at a pre-Covid U-Con in Ypsilanti, MI. I helped Doug GM his 3 table insane party RPG, Inferno Road, with (alas now gone) Weird Realms owner Beckett Warren (Weird Realms, not Beckett -- he's still alive). Everyone had a blast. We also forged a good relationship. At my request, he contributed a full page piece to Angels, Daemons & Beings Between, vol. 2: Elfland Edition published by Shinobi 27 Games. Did the wrap-around cover for Cats of Rahtlü. Re-visited the Purple Planet with an early interior piece for River of Lies.

During the layout of the Avatars chapter of the Netcrawl core rulebook, I ended up with an empty full page. Andrey Garin(Banished Vault, Cloud Empress) did some beautiful drawings for the classes. The pixel artist, Helm, also contributed a full page piece to the chapter. Overall the chapter is 16 pages of some really great art. Who should I call on for that empty page? You are a clever lot! Of course it's Doug Kovacs! I'll be sure to tease the image when there's something to see.

I am about 90% through layout of the core rulebook. It's looking to be 172 pages. I even added a couple programs that I edited from Enchiridion of the Computarchs into Netcrawl format. I also roughed in Brendan LaSalle's adventure so I could get an idea of page count (another 20 page adventure). At this point, I am polishing the layout, looking for typos, making sure all the headers and whitespace is consistent, etc.

I have reached out to the CPU level supporting Patreon members to give them 1st access to the rulebook. If you are dying to see the work-in-progress (WIP), sign up to support at the CPU tier.

Commissions are continuing. Chapters 5 & 7 (Programs & Bestiary) are fully commissioned and pieces and sketches roll in from time to time. Each of the chapters will have a primary artist who does most the art or handles the spots for the introductory/rules text.

Here's a list of chapters and commissioned lead artists:

Chapter 1 - Introduction - TBD
Chapter 2 - Avatars (aka classes) - Andrey Garin
Chapter 3 - Daemons (aka equipment) - Del Teigeler
Chapter 4 - Brute Force (aka combat) - Christian Madsen
Chapter 5 - Repository (aka programs) - Stefan Poag
Chapter 6 - Sys Raid (aka adventuring) - Lucius Felimus
Chapter 7 - Netizens (aka bestiary) - Matt Sutton

Oazyzz, the patron AI of ciphomorphs by Colin Richards

Spread from the Daemons section of the Netcrawl RPG rulebook. Del whipped up some simple b/w line art images of the weapons. I manipulated them into glowing green cyber weapons on a grid point field.

Weapon Daemons by  Del Tiegeler

The 1st completed book of the project, In Space No One Can Hear the Robopocalypse is en route to Horse Shark Central (my house)! Each adventure is going to have a 500 copy run. After backers get their copies there will be a few hundred left to snap up. Once they are gone, I probably will not reprint them in the skinny adventure format. Retailers like hardback books, so several adventures, aligned in some sort of theme, will eventually happen.

Orders on the Backerkit have been locked. It feels like a formality, but a few backers realized that things were progressing and filled out their surveys.

I'm not exactly sure when I'll charge cards, but it will probably be in early July sometime. 

This is my public facing update to the WorldNet (and the backers on Backerkit), so I'd like to remind anyone who is not a free or supporting member, to consider signing up to see the May post which is a WIP download of the 4th level Netcrawl adventure, Battle at the End of Time, by Julian Bernick. Available to all free and supporting members. Also if you missed it, there is a free WIP version of In Space No One Can Hear the Robopocalypse back in the February post.

Fulfillment Goal: Join the Patreon!
Oh, hey how about a little fulfillment stretch goal? If 50 people join the Patreon (either as free or supporting members) between now and fulfillment, I will release the current WIP of the Netcrawl RPG rulebook on Patreon as a free post for all members. Step right this way: https://www.patreon.com/lectrotext.

Quick, before the Sick 16 round is over, please cast your votes for your favorite DCC RPG 3rd Party Publisher adventures and Supplements. Vote here! Two things I've written are still in the running: The House of the Red Doors and The Lesser Key to the Celestial Legion. Please help me get to the round of the Crazy 8s! Voting ends on March 21st at midnight!

Brendan LaSalle has turned in his 2nd level adventure and it is about to head to editing. I was able to play the adventure with Brendan on the Netcrawl discord server. Then I ran it during Precognition online convention about a week or 2 later. I was even joined by some of the backers! Pretty cool.

Julian Bernick's 4th level adventure is finished with layout and the art is starting to roll in:

341 / 387 have completed their survey. Have you? 

May 1st we will announce the lock of surveys.

May 8th the surveys will be locked.

When we lock those surveys we are also locking up the Pre-order Store. If you are sitting on the fence, now would be a good time to get in there and support Netcrawl. Books are absolutely going to be higher priced on the covers and in stores.