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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
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
PROJECT UPDATE
Newborn Games
CREATOR
about 2 months ago
Project Update: 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
PROJECT UPDATE
Newborn Games
CREATOR
3 months ago
Project Update: 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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