We dragged Elaine kicking and screaming out of the viscera filled pit of Ways and Means development to talk about how things are going with the project. Contained within are her most coherent blood-flecked ramblings.
Greetings Delvers! It's been a hot second since the campaign ended and I’ve been COMMANDED AT GUNPOINT to give a quick roundup the past few weeks development. So strap in for a quick fire round of COOL SHIT that’s going into this wonderful book.
Art, Art, Art!
Sar's been working away like an absolute monster this whole time to make Ways and Means the most art dense and gorgeous Heart book to date. There’s a gargantuan mountain of illustrations to squeeze between the covers, and we did unlock stretch goals to include even MORE! So there's no shortage of pretty pictures to ogle at.
Below is just one of SEVEN spot pages Sar's made for the equipment chapter, which is frankly nuts if you ask me. As of writing, there’s light at the end of the parasitic train tunnel, with just a handful of larger pieces left to make and then we'll be done!
Words, words, words!
Not to be outdone by all the pretty pictures, we're been writing some JUICY WORDS to hurl at the page too. A lot of words, actually! The first draft of the book is due to go off to editing this week which is a huge milestone and a perfect moment to thank all our freelancers once more for all their hard work. They're all invoicing for their contributions, and thanks to YOU my dear delvers, they're all getting a SWEET SWEET bonus too.
As a treat, here's an excerpt from one of the new animal companions you can take with you on your delves, penned by Thomas Manuel:
Heartsblood Horse
People have a long history with horses. It goes so far back that there’s a kind of mental kinship that forms that won’t be denied. Some people will go a long way to pretend they have a horse. They'll ignore the fact that it has six legs or three eyes or a second head at the back. If they can ride it, they will and they'll vehemently deny that it's only a wretched imitation of that noble equine beast they yearn for.
But it’s not just people who have romantic notions about horses. These twisted creatures share the same delusion. Deep down, they all dream of being a noble steed — the romance of it has filtered down into their very blood via the Heart. In their minds, they’re all stallions, champions of war, unsung heroes. They want nothing more than to carry their dying owner on their back for hundreds of leagues across enemy territory to safety. On one hand, this is deeply touching. On the other hand, it’s bizarre, verging on the self-destructive — which isn’t a quality you typically want in a horse.
Apart from making sure that it knows how to synchronise all its limbs, the trick to buying a heartsblood horse is making sure to do a thorough inventory of its organs beforehand. Buyers who don't take the right precautions might find out in the worst way possible that their steed has a second kidney where their liver should be or vice versa. Every heartsblood horse is a medical miracle on the verge of not being one anymore. While there's no way to eliminate the risk of sudden and total bodily collapse, ensuring that the horse has at least one of every essential organ goes a long way in ensuring it doesn’t die in the middle of a leap across a canyon.
Horrors, Horrors, Horrors!
We've been in cahoots with all of our Make Something Horrible pledge tier backers, and I'm happy to say that everyone has come up with some TRULY HORRID arcane artefacts to add to the book. We've got powdered death you can snort for fun and profit, an unsettling ragdoll cursed with a gestalt hive consciousness you can cram your feeble mind into, and a box full of spiders that string up a lyre so you can literally play with fate!
We've ten in total going into the book, and each one is in the process of fine tuning and illustrating. So you can expect to see more from them soon!
Pledge, Pledge, Pledge!
We're putting the finishing touches on our pledge manager and I'm happy to announce that it should be live before the end of the week. We've put a great deal of time into it both due to the complexity and number of items you can pick up, but also because for the first time ever, we're adding community content to our offerings!
Community, Community, Community!
That's right, for the first time you'll be able to grab some of our favourite community expansions for Heart right from the bleeding edge of the Ways and Means pledge manager. Namely we're adding two top tier fan supplements to the offering:
Heartsong: a fanzine filled with articles covering new landscapes, heavenly delves, renowned weapons, legendary adversaries, and an entire new class - the demon-tainted Xanthous Zealots.
Ichor Drowned: a massive fan supplement featuring an alternative take on the Heart that’s flooded and bursting with new classes, landmarks, adversaries, and even vehicle rules!
There really are some amazing designers in the Heart fan community, so this is our way of shining a spotlight on their work and hopefully landing them a sweet payday too. This is a bit of an experiment for us, but we'd love to do more like this to promote community creators of Heart content in the future. So if that's something you want to see, make sure to show them your support when the pledge manager goes live!
That's all for now folks. You'll hear from us again once the pledge manager is live. If you can't contain your excitement and need people to gush with, why not pop your head in our Discord and meet some fellow delvers. I might even see you there!
C-can I go back to the pit now? I HAVE TERRIBLE THINGS TO WRITE!
