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Newborn Games
3 days ago
Pick Up Your Dusk's Embrace @ RLX'26
Newborn Games Is Coming to Rolisboa '26!
Silent Læke is leaving the woods for the weekend.
Newborn Games will be at Rolisboa '26, with our own booth and copies of Demon Ninja and Asilo available for purchase.
But for Silent Læke backers, there's another reason to come say hello.
🌅 Pick Up Your Dusk's Embrace
If you backed Silent Læke at the Killer, Homecoming Queen or Homecoming King level, your pledge includes a physical copy of Dusk's Embrace.
Normally, that copy would ship together with the rest of your physical rewards in 2027.
But if you happen to be in Lisbon and come to Rolisboa... you can pick it up right now.
Just come to the Newborn Games booth, tell me your BackerKit username, and I'll check you off the list and hand you your copy.
No need to wait for the lake to come to you.
And yes, I'll happily sign it if you'd like me to. 😉
📖 Not a Killer, Queen or King?
You can still take Dusk's Embrace home.
Physical copies will be available at the booth for €25, whether you're a Silent Læke backer at another pledge level or someone who completely missed the campaign.
Dusk's Embrace is a standalone prequel to Silent Læke, so you can already start playing.
All you need besides the book is a regular deck of playing cards.
No need to wait for the full game.
☕ Come Say Hello
Even if you don't want to buy or pick up anything, please come by.
Seriously.
Seriously.
Come talk to me about Silent Læke.
Ask about the mechanics.
Ask about production.
Ask when things are coming.
Ask about something weird you noticed in Dusk's Embrace.
Take a photo.
Get your magazine signed.
Or just introduce yourself and tell me your BackerKit username so I can finally put a face to one of the names I've been seeing for months.
That's part of the fun of doing this in person.
🧵 Meanwhile, Back at the Lake...
Development hasn't stopped either.
Book of Threads is currently undergoing an intense round of proofreading and refinement. My readers and I are going through the mechanics carefully, improving both the clarity of the rules and the language used to explain them.
Meanwhile, I'm writing Book of Whispers — the People, Places and Stuff of Silent Læke, and the final Book of Part I: To Everyone Who Conquers.
And there's more artwork coming.
I've already approved the sketches for Ludmilla V.'s chapter divider illustrations, and if everything continues according to plan, I hope to have another glimpse of Silent Læke to show you within the next few weeks.
But that's a story for another update.
For now...
come find us at Rolisboa '26.
The Newborn Games booth will be waiting.
And so will I.
See you there.
Or, as always...
see you at the lake.
– A Máquina do RPG
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Newborn Games
18 days ago
August Production Update
August is over, which means it's time to open the curtains again and show you what's been happening behind the scenes in Silent Læke.
And this month, one particularly big thread finally reached its end.
🧵 Book of Threads Is Finished
This one actually got its own update earlier this month, but it deserves its place here too:
Book of Threads is finished.
I had originally hoped to get there in July, but Silent Læke's mechanics turned out to need a little more time, care and refinement than my calendar would have liked.
So part of August went into finishing it properly.
And I'm very glad it did.
Book of Threads is the mechanical heart of Silent Læke. Scenes, spreads, the Oracle, Beautiful Darkness, Melancholic Horror,
Now that the writing is complete, the Book has moved into the next stage.
✏️ Proofreading & Sensitive Reading
And this is already going very, very well.
My readers have been working hard on Book of Threads, helping me refine it from two different but equally important directions:
- On one side, we're looking closely at the rules themselves: whether explanations are clear, whether procedures are easy to follow, and whether what makes perfect sense inside my head also makes perfect sense to someone encountering the game through the book.
- On the other, we're refining the language: tone, sentence construction, idiomatic expressions and all those little things that separate understandable English from natural English. I am Portuguese, after all.
And writing an entire RPG in English occasionally means discovering that a perfectly reasonable sentence has apparently never been uttered by an English-speaking human being.
This stage isn't about changing what Silent Læke is.
It's about making sure the book communicates it as clearly, naturally and confidently as possible.
And my readers are doing wonderful work.
🤫 Meanwhile... Book of Whispers
While Book of Threads is being scrutinised by people with considerably fresher eyes than mine, I've already moved on to Book of Whispers.
I had hoped to finish Whispers during August. That didn't happen, simply because part of the month still belonged to Threads.
But slowly isn't stopped.
And Whispers is now underway.
This is the fourth and final Book of Part I: For Everyone Who Conquers, covering the People, Places and Stuff that make Silent Læke more than a set of rules.
Once this Book is finished, the entire Player-facing portion of the core rulebook will be written.
And then we cross the line into Part II: By Demons Be Driven.
That's where Players should stop reading.
👕 T-Shirt Fulfilment
There's one piece of August business I didn't manage to move as far forward as I wanted.
There is still roughly one third of the t-shirt fulfilment left to complete.
I deliberately prioritised finishing Book of Threads this month, which meant some of the remaining fulfilment work had to wait a little longer.
That's next on the list, and I expect to get those remaining shirts moving very soon.
As before, this concerns the t-shirts included with Killer, Homecoming King and Homecoming Queen pledges, as well as those purchased as add-ons.
If you're still waiting for yours: I haven't forgotten you.
🌲 Looking Ahead
So August wasn't quite the month I had originally drawn on the calendar.
Book of Whispers isn't finished yet.
But Book of Threads is.
It's being proofread, challenged and refined.
The next Book is underway.
The first chapter divider sketches have been approved.
And Silent Læke is slowly making the transition from something that has existed in my notes, documents and imagination for years into the book you'll eventually hold in your hands.
September begins with Book of Whispers.
People to meet.
Places to go.
Stuff to find.
And plenty of things in Silent Læke that probably shouldn't be there at all.
Devagar não é parado.
Or, since I'm supposed to be improving my English:
Slowly isn't stopped.
See you at the lake.
Yours,
– A Máquina do RPG
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Newborn Games
about 1 month ago
One More Book Closes
Remember when I told you I didn't quite manage to finish the Book of Threads in July?
Well...
it's finished.
The third Book of the Silent Læke core rulebook—and the big one dedicated to the game's mechanics—is now fully written.
All the Scenes.
All the cards.
All the Beautiful Darkness.
All the Melancholic Horror.
All the strange little threads that make Silent Læke actually work at the table.
They're finally woven together.
And now?
Book of Threads goes to proofreading.
📖 Next: Book of Whispers
While someone else gets the unenviable task of finding all my mistakes, I'll be moving straight into Book of Whispers, the fourth chapter of the core rulebook.
This is the Book of People, Places and Stuff.
The people you'll meet.
The places you'll visit.
The things you'll find, buy, carry, eat, drink... and occasionally wish you hadn't.
But there's something else significant about this one.
Book of Whispers is the final Book of Part I: To Everyone Who Conquers.
In other words, it's the last Book intended for both Players and the Director.
Once it's finished, the entire Player-facing portion of the Silent Læke core rulebook will be written.
And then...
we cross into Part II: By Demons Be Driven.
Book of Mirrors.
Book of Echoes.
The beautiful and darker secrets.
The things only the Director is supposed to know.
The things Players probably shouldn't even know exist.
So enjoy Book of Whispers while you can.
After that...
Players should probably stop reading.
See you at the lake.
Yours,
– A Máquina do RPG
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Newborn Games
about 2 months ago
July Production Update
Another month has gone by. And while I don't have a spectacular reveal to share just yet... I do have plenty of progress to report.
Book of Threads
My main objective for July was to finish Book of Threads—the mechanics chapter of the Corebook.
I didn't quite get there. But it's close. Very close.
It also turned out to be considerably larger than I originally anticipated, which I'm actually taking as a good sign. This is where Silent Læke's ideas finally become a playable game, and I want to make sure every rule is as clear, elegant and enjoyable as possible.
I'd much rather spend a little longer polishing it than rush something you'll be reading and playing for years.
T-Shirts
Most of the t-shirts included with Killer, Homecoming King and Homecoming Queen pledges, as well as those purchased as add-ons, are now in their owners’ hands. Seeing backers wearing Silent Læke before the game itself even exists physically has been a surreal feeling. There are still a few shipments left to complete—roughly a third of them.
If you receive an email from me over the next few days, don't panic!
It'll most likely be to confirm an address, clarify a shipping detail, or simply make sure your t-shirt arrived safely.
New Artwork Is On The Way
One of the things I've been working on behind the scenes is commissioning a significant amount of new artwork from the incredibly talented Ludmila V., whose illustration you already know from the cover of Dusk's Embrace.
This time she's helping bring the chapter dividers of the Corebook to life. Each one has its own atmosphere, symbolism and identity, and I genuinely can't wait to start showing them to you.
The moment I have artwork I'm allowed to share...
I absolutely will.
❤️ Thank You
One thing I've learned over the past month is that making a game isn't only about writing.
It's editing. Commissioning art. Reviewing proofs. Answering messages. Packing shirts. Planning production.
Making hundreds of small decisions that, taken together, slowly become a finished game.
Sometimes progress looks like pages written.
Sometimes it looks like a package arriving safely on someone's doorstep.
Both matter.
And both bring Silent Læke one step closer to becoming real.
Thank you for your patience, your enthusiasm, and for continuing to walk this road with me.
See you at the lake.
Yours,
– A Máquina do RPG
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Newborn Games
3 months ago
The First Silent Læke Packages Are About to Leave the Nest
Today was a good day.
I finally received the production proofs of both Silent Læke t-shirts from our fulfillment partner, Sticker Mule.
And I'm happy to report...
I'm really pleased with the quality.
(Yes... I had to wear one of them to test it. Purely for scientific reasons, obviously. That's why one of them is slightly wrinkled in the photos. 😄)
Watch Your Mailbox
If you're a Killer, Homecoming King, Homecoming Queen, or added either t-shirt to your pledge...
you may soon receive a package from Sticker Mule.
Don't panic. It's from us.
Open it proudly.
Wear your SLHS Phys. Ed. Tee like you belong.
Or wear your In Loving Memory tee while mourning your latest failed Dialogue spread during Dusk's Embrace...
...and later, during Silent Læke itself.
(Yes, the bonus still applies. 😏)
Haven't Filled in Your Address Yet?
No worries.
As soon as I have your shipping information, your t-shirt will join the next shipment.
And if you'd rather do things the old-fashioned way...
If you're near Lisbon, feel free to contact me.
I'm more than happy to meet for a coffee and hand your t-shirt over in person.
I always enjoy putting faces to names.
One More Task Off the List
Every package that leaves is one less thing on the production checklist.
One more promise becoming reality.
Slowly...
but surely...
Silent Læke is making its way into the real world.
See you at the lake.
– A Máquina do RPG
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Newborn Games
3 months ago
The Road Ahead
It's already the end of the month.
The crowdfunding campaign may be over, but in many ways, it feels like the real work has only just begun.
First of all...
thank you.
Once again.
Your support didn't simply fund a game—it gave me the opportunity to dedicate myself to making the best version of Silent Læke I possibly can.
So I thought it was the perfect moment to give you a proper production update.
What's already done
A surprising amount, actually.
Dusk's Embrace v2
The Quick Tour has already received its first post-campaign revision, incorporating several refinements and clarifications. Physical copies will be available for purchase soon on the Newborn Games website.
As a reminder:
- Followers who were following the campaign before launch receive the PDF for free.
- Killer, Homecoming King and Homecoming Queen backers receive both the PDF and the physical edition.
- Those physical copies will ship together with the rest of your rewards, although if you meet Newborn Games at conventions before then, you're welcome to pick up your copy in person.
Design work completed
Although not yet manufactured, the following items have already been fully designed:
- Coffee & Shadows deck (including the box)
- SLHS Phys. Ed. T-Shirt
- In Loving Memory T-Shirt
- Homecoming King jacket
- Homecoming Queen jacket
- Patches
- Stickers
The next step is transforming these designs into physical products.
I'm currently waiting for production proofs of the t-shirts before giving the green light.
The main priority: the Corebook
Everything else revolves around this. The physical game comes first.
Always.
Silent Læke's core rulebook is divided into two major parts, spanning six thematic chapters we call Books.
Part I — To Everyone Who Conquers
(For Players and Directors alike.)
- 1. Book of Dusk
- The town, its atmosphere and its history.
- 2. Book of Faces
- Character preparation.
- 3. Book of Threads
- The complete rules.
- 4. Book of Whispers
- Places, People and Stuff.
Part II — By Demons Be Driven
(For the Director's eyes only.)
- 5. Book of Mirrors
- Beautiful secrets.
- Dark secrets.
- Your deepest fears.
- 6. Book of Echoes
- The mysterious side of Silent Læke.
- Consequences.
- How everything comes together behind the curtain.
Current progress
1. Book of Dusk
- Written
- Proofread
- Sensitive Read
2. Book of Faces
- Written
- Proofread
- Sensitive Read
3. Book of Threads
- Around one-third complete
4. Book of Whispers
- First draft completed
5. Book of Mirrors
- First draft completed
6. Book of Echoes
- First draft completed
Development Roadmap
The current goal looks like this:
July
- Finish Book of Threads.
August
- Finish Book of Whispers.
September
- Finish Book of Mirrors.
October
- Finish Book of Echoes.
November
- Editing, proofreading and layout.
Current Target
If everything goes according to plan...
I'd love to deliver the digital Corebook in December 2026.
That gives all of you time to read it, play it and send feedback before it goes to print.
Current schedule:
Digital Corebook
- December 2026
Printing
- February–March 2027
Fulfilment
- April 2027
Naturally, publishing is full of surprises, so these dates may shift slightly—but this is the roadmap I'm working toward every single day.
What about Solo Mode and Campaign Mode?
They're still happening.
Nothing has changed.
However, I've made one important decision:
I don't want these modes to delay the Corebook.
The Corebook is my absolute priority.
Whether Solo Mode and Campaign Mode end up inside the printed Corebook or as separate digital supplements will depend on how development progresses over the coming months. If including them in the Corebook risks delaying the physical release, I'd rather publish them as standalone PDFs first.
Either way...
you're getting them.
Later on, I'll probably ask the community what you prefer through a poll before making that final decision.
Original Soundtrack
The soundtrack is also moving forward.
The plan is for it to combine carefully curated licensed music with several original pieces composed and performed by yours truly—and perhaps a guest musician or two.
Like the additional game modes, though...
the soundtrack will never delay the Corebook.
The game comes first.
Everything else builds around it.
King's Sheriff Car & Queen's Secret Diary
These are passion projects.
They're smaller, handcrafted pieces that I'll develop alongside the main production.
They shouldn't affect the overall schedule.
Looking ahead
The crowdfunding campaign lasted only a few weeks.
The journey to bring Silent Læke to life will take many more months.
That's the nature of making tabletop games.
Every page.
Every illustration.
Every line of text.
Every proof.
Every correction.
Every decision.
I'm looking forward to sharing that journey with you.
And now...
it's time for me to get back to work.
Thank you once again for believing in Silent Læke.
See you at the lake.
Yours,
– A Máquina do RPG
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Community Leaders
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PROJECT UPDATE
Newborn Games
CREATOR
3 days ago
Project Update: Pick Up Your Dusk's Embrace @ RLX'26
Newborn Games Is Coming to Rolisboa '26!
Silent Læke is leaving the woods for the weekend.
Newborn Games will be at Rolisboa '26, with our own booth and copies of Demon Ninja and Asilo available for purchase.
But for Silent Læke backers, there's another reason to come say hello.
🌅 Pick Up Your Dusk's Embrace
If you backed Silent Læke at the Killer, Homecoming Queen or Homecoming King level, your pledge includes a physical copy of Dusk's Embrace.
Normally, that copy would ship together with the rest of your physical rewards in 2027.
But if you happen to be in Lisbon and come to Rolisboa... you can pick it up right now.
Just come to the Newborn Games booth, tell me your BackerKit username, and I'll check you off the list and hand you your copy.
No need to wait for the lake to come to you.
And yes, I'll happily sign it if you'd like me to. 😉
📖 Not a Killer, Queen or King?
You can still take Dusk's Embrace home.
Physical copies will be available at the booth for €25, whether you're a Silent Læke backer at another pledge level or someone who completely missed the campaign.
Dusk's Embrace is a standalone prequel to Silent Læke, so you can already start playing.
All you need besides the book is a regular deck of playing cards.
No need to wait for the full game.
☕ Come Say Hello
Even if you don't want to buy or pick up anything, please come by.
Seriously.
Seriously.
Come talk to me about Silent Læke.
Ask about the mechanics.
Ask about production.
Ask when things are coming.
Ask about something weird you noticed in Dusk's Embrace.
Take a photo.
Get your magazine signed.
Or just introduce yourself and tell me your BackerKit username so I can finally put a face to one of the names I've been seeing for months.
That's part of the fun of doing this in person.
🧵 Meanwhile, Back at the Lake...
Development hasn't stopped either.
Book of Threads is currently undergoing an intense round of proofreading and refinement. My readers and I are going through the mechanics carefully, improving both the clarity of the rules and the language used to explain them.
Meanwhile, I'm writing Book of Whispers — the People, Places and Stuff of Silent Læke, and the final Book of Part I: To Everyone Who Conquers.
And there's more artwork coming.
I've already approved the sketches for Ludmilla V.'s chapter divider illustrations, and if everything continues according to plan, I hope to have another glimpse of Silent Læke to show you within the next few weeks.
But that's a story for another update.
For now...
come find us at Rolisboa '26.
The Newborn Games booth will be waiting.
And so will I.
See you there.
Or, as always...
see you at the lake.
– A Máquina do RPG
PROJECT UPDATE
Newborn Games
CREATOR
18 days ago
Project Update: August Production Update
August is over, which means it's time to open the curtains again and show you what's been happening behind the scenes in Silent Læke.
And this month, one particularly big thread finally reached its end.
🧵 Book of Threads Is Finished
This one actually got its own update earlier this month, but it deserves its place here too:
Book of Threads is finished.
I had originally hoped to get there in July, but Silent Læke's mechanics turned out to need a little more time, care and refinement than my calendar would have liked.
So part of August went into finishing it properly.
And I'm very glad it did.
Book of Threads is the mechanical heart of Silent Læke. Scenes, spreads, the Oracle, Beautiful Darkness, Melancholic Horror,
Now that the writing is complete, the Book has moved into the next stage.
✏️ Proofreading & Sensitive Reading
And this is already going very, very well.
My readers have been working hard on Book of Threads, helping me refine it from two different but equally important directions:
- On one side, we're looking closely at the rules themselves: whether explanations are clear, whether procedures are easy to follow, and whether what makes perfect sense inside my head also makes perfect sense to someone encountering the game through the book.
- On the other, we're refining the language: tone, sentence construction, idiomatic expressions and all those little things that separate understandable English from natural English. I am Portuguese, after all.
And writing an entire RPG in English occasionally means discovering that a perfectly reasonable sentence has apparently never been uttered by an English-speaking human being.
This stage isn't about changing what Silent Læke is.
It's about making sure the book communicates it as clearly, naturally and confidently as possible.
And my readers are doing wonderful work.
🤫 Meanwhile... Book of Whispers
While Book of Threads is being scrutinised by people with considerably fresher eyes than mine, I've already moved on to Book of Whispers.
I had hoped to finish Whispers during August. That didn't happen, simply because part of the month still belonged to Threads.
But slowly isn't stopped.
And Whispers is now underway.
This is the fourth and final Book of Part I: For Everyone Who Conquers, covering the People, Places and Stuff that make Silent Læke more than a set of rules.
Once this Book is finished, the entire Player-facing portion of the core rulebook will be written.
And then we cross the line into Part II: By Demons Be Driven.
That's where Players should stop reading.
👕 T-Shirt Fulfilment
There's one piece of August business I didn't manage to move as far forward as I wanted.
There is still roughly one third of the t-shirt fulfilment left to complete.
I deliberately prioritised finishing Book of Threads this month, which meant some of the remaining fulfilment work had to wait a little longer.
That's next on the list, and I expect to get those remaining shirts moving very soon.
As before, this concerns the t-shirts included with Killer, Homecoming King and Homecoming Queen pledges, as well as those purchased as add-ons.
If you're still waiting for yours: I haven't forgotten you.
🌲 Looking Ahead
So August wasn't quite the month I had originally drawn on the calendar.
Book of Whispers isn't finished yet.
But Book of Threads is.
It's being proofread, challenged and refined.
The next Book is underway.
The first chapter divider sketches have been approved.
And Silent Læke is slowly making the transition from something that has existed in my notes, documents and imagination for years into the book you'll eventually hold in your hands.
September begins with Book of Whispers.
People to meet.
Places to go.
Stuff to find.
And plenty of things in Silent Læke that probably shouldn't be there at all.
Devagar não é parado.
Or, since I'm supposed to be improving my English:
Slowly isn't stopped.
See you at the lake.
Yours,
– A Máquina do RPG
Includes Backer-Exclusive Content
Newborn Games
CREATOR
18 days ago
PROJECT UPDATE
Newborn Games
CREATOR
about 1 month ago
Project Update: One More Book Closes
Remember when I told you I didn't quite manage to finish the Book of Threads in July?
Well...
it's finished.
The third Book of the Silent Læke core rulebook—and the big one dedicated to the game's mechanics—is now fully written.
All the Scenes.
All the cards.
All the Beautiful Darkness.
All the Melancholic Horror.
All the strange little threads that make Silent Læke actually work at the table.
They're finally woven together.
And now?
Book of Threads goes to proofreading.
📖 Next: Book of Whispers
While someone else gets the unenviable task of finding all my mistakes, I'll be moving straight into Book of Whispers, the fourth chapter of the core rulebook.
This is the Book of People, Places and Stuff.
The people you'll meet.
The places you'll visit.
The things you'll find, buy, carry, eat, drink... and occasionally wish you hadn't.
But there's something else significant about this one.
Book of Whispers is the final Book of Part I: To Everyone Who Conquers.
In other words, it's the last Book intended for both Players and the Director.
Once it's finished, the entire Player-facing portion of the Silent Læke core rulebook will be written.
And then...
we cross into Part II: By Demons Be Driven.
Book of Mirrors.
Book of Echoes.
The beautiful and darker secrets.
The things only the Director is supposed to know.
The things Players probably shouldn't even know exist.
So enjoy Book of Whispers while you can.
After that...
Players should probably stop reading.
See you at the lake.
Yours,
– A Máquina do RPG
Community Leaders
Become an active participant Learn more