Hey, everyone! Nat here, writing to update you on fulfillment status for Assemblage. I've been sending packages out from here in NYC, and it's been delightful to mail real, live copies of my game to everyone who supported it during Pocketopia last year.
Packages Outgoing
We've shipped several big waves of packages already, and continue to send games out as you complete your surveys. As I write this update, I'm visiting family for the holidays, but will be back at it with daily visits to the post office on January 5. You should receive a notification when your package sends out that includes a tracking number. If you encounter any issues with receiving your reward, please don't hesitate to get in touch!
As of this writing, there are still about 45 people who haven't completed their BackerKit surveys. You must complete your survey in order to receive your reward! Check Promotions and Spam to be sure you haven't missed it. We send reminders out for months and endeavor to get you your goods if at all possible. But we can't send you anything if we don't know your address!
How to design games that resist hierarchical power structures
The challenge of creating truly collaborative play spaces and why "GM-less" doesn't always mean "leader-less"
Building game mechanics around collective grief and difficult choices
Using rigid design rules to enable creative freedom
The journey from pandemic-era online play to published game
If you get a chance, please give it a listen, and check out everything Tabletopped does. Nick has such a great perspective on all things TTRPG, and is a dynamic and creative podcast host!
That's all for now, folks. Stand by for your copy of Assemblage if you haven't gotten it already, and tag us @scryptidgames on IG and Bluesky with your game photos and thoughts on play!
Hundreds of copies of Assemblage, Nat Mesnard's card-based TTRPG of World Building and World Breaking, are officially crossing an ocean to make their first stop in New York City before heading to homes all over the world next month!
Check out this rad article that Nat wrote about Assemblage for Edge Effects.
"This project in particular has taken me on a weird (and wonderful) journey toward relating more intentionally with my own power. Increasingly, understanding such dynamics has felt to me like a matter of queer survival—which is why, I think, Assemblage ended up telling stories of strange organisms who contend with world-breaking cataclysmic change..."
A Special Update from Nat on Assemblage Bonus Content
Dear Assemblage Backers,
I've been working with Laurie Blake, the author of Why We Fight, to develop our "Collective Action" expansion and design a hybrid experience that merges dice-based, GM-less fascist-fighting TTRPG mechanics with the squishy story game design of Assemblage.
We've been meeting weekly to make progress on the design for the expansion. Our design conversations have ranged from a mutual love of Scavenger's Reign, to exploring ways to apply crunchier mechanics to story game cards, to imagining eco-horror endings. It's been so much fun.
Recently, I had the opportunity to take our in-progress design to Metatopia, the game designers' conference in Morristown, NJ where I playtested two sessions under the name "Solarpunk Naturalists." These playtests showed me a lot about where the join between the two game systems resonates most, and benefited from the perspectives of designers with expensive experience in TTRPG, LARP, sci-fi writing, and more.
There's still more work to do following those playtests, but I think we have a really exciting game on our hands — and Laurie and I are already imagining new things we can do with this hybrid system, which I'm calling a "system of encounter" since it lets groups embody both a human team and the environment they're investigating and exploring.
I can't wait to show this game to you. The tentative release date for this exciting expansion is early next year, but we'll keep you in the loop as things evolve!
We just received our proof copy of Assemblage, and we are blown away.
Nat shows off a demo copy of Assemblage.
Look how gorgeous it is!!
The Assemblage box, cards, and guidebook
We are especially grateful to our brilliant artist Jill Colbert of Manfish Inc. for bringing Assemblage to life on the box, cards, and guidebook, and to layout artist Andrew Klein for capturing the weird and wonderful vibes of the game in his graphic design.
We will be sending our final design tweaks to the printer this week, and then we’ll update you with a delivery timeline. Tariff gods willing, we should have these beauties headed your way just in time for the holiday season! That means there is still time to pre-order the game (or add another copy to your order).
Thanks again for making Nat Mesnard’s fabulous game a reality! We are so happy you are part of our assemblage!
Hello, friends! It's been a busy few months for the Assemblage production team. Nat has been hard at work finalizing the game text, Pat has been researching manufacturers, and Brigitte and Dustin have been collaborating with our layout artist, Andrew Klein, and our illustrator, Jill Colbert of Manfish Inc., to design the cards and guidebook for you.
All of these moving pieces are finally coming together, and we anticipate ordering a prototype from our manufacturer in the next few weeks. If that prototype looks good, we'll order the games, and, if the tariff gods are on our side, we should be able to fulfill this project by later this fall.
In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at some of Jill's gorgeous card illustrations so you can get as excited as we are!
Belly of a Titan
Psychic Disturbance
Sapotroph
Commensalism
We'll send another update when we can show off the card designs and game prototype!
We can't wait to build (and break) new worlds with you soon!
<3 The Scryptid Games Team Nat, Brigitte, Pat, & Dustin
We are halfway through Pocketopia, and you've already unlocked our second Assemblage stretch goal! Now every backer who chooses the physical game will get a slicker luxe version of Assemblage: High quality black-core cards, more illustrations, and a more tactile, durable guidebook. We are now working toward our third stretch goal, which will level up the game to include full color tarot-sized cards!
To celebrate, Assemblage creator Nat Mesnard is live streaming with Viditya Voleti, the creator of A Land Once Magic at 6:30pm ET this evening! Nat and Viditya both teach game design, and they've both created unique world building games for Pocketopia.
