Hey folks, Rhi here! I'm going to start this update with a little game of good news bad news...

Good news:
We've been polishing the book, fine-tuning some of the beefier mechanics, and playtesting the campaign mode! We even have some new sketches to show you AND a little surprise from the Tabletop Arts Fund 👀

Bad news:
We do not have the updated PDF as promised, as we've been out of action for 80% of the month so far... Between being taken out by a particularly bad bout of Covid for two weeks (despite us still taking precautions! Mask up and sanitise, people), and our dog having to undergo complex emergency surgery, we've been struggling to find the time and energy to keep up progress on Why We Fight. We've also yet to send out the surveys, but we are working on it. 

Back in March, Laurie applied for a grant towards our accessibility consultancy expenses. As a company we strongly believe in making our games as accessible as possible, and have commissioned the wonderful Chris Hopper to help us achieve this! Not only will this grant help with the costs, but the comments from the judges have absolutely made our year. 

This is their responses to a preview of the Core Game Book, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't keep us grinning all day. Comments like this tell us we're heading in the right direction with our design, and that the game is being received exactly how we hoped! I'm also very excited to say that the Core Game preview is something we intend to release to our wonderful backers in July! 😍

While myself and Laurie have been going through the wars this month, our illustrator Rob has been carrying the torch for us and has smashed out a BUNCH of new sketches! As always, we're blown away by his ability to take our prompts and run wild with them in all the best ways.

So, without further ado...

First up, we have Mediation - one of the six Approaches crews can take when faced with a Situation. Here we have two faction leaders staring each other down in a very tense situation... In the background, a Community Alliance member is attempting to mediate the scene and find a solution that benefits all sides. This approach has had a lot of work put into it, to ensure players have a clear impact on the Situation, while also creating tension through risk, with narratively satisfying results. 

This page is a double spread scene introducing you to Mission Scenarios. It features multiple Community Alliance members organising and preparing for a mission! This piece is going to be utterly stunning once it's complete, there's so much detail for Rob to play around with.

Finally, we have the polished sketch of a drone above our Community Alliance crews! The original sketch has been in our preview PDFs for a long time, so if you've been following Why We Fight on its development journey, you may recognise this one! (You may also recognise some of the faces staring up at you... Let us know in the comments 😉)

Disclaimer: The text and sketches above are not the finished product, and may well change! That said, if there's anything about them that you've noticed seems a little off - please let us know in the comments, on discord, or via email.

Now that we've all oooh'd and aaah'd at Rob's sketches, it's probably time for me to get back to work! Between writing my own adventures and giving feedback on our wonderful guest writers first drafts, I've certainly got a full plate... 

Hey Ecopunks! It's May and we're back with news on Why We Fight!

This first post-campaign month has been a lot of planning, organising, and recalibrating. That last one is very much because of the various folks who got in touch and shared their experiences, both positive and negative, of trying out our teaser edition of Direct Action! 

First off, I'd like to say a huge thank you to them! The feedback and session notes we received were invaluable, and especially in the context of people playing the game without being led! Crafting a game book is very much about crafting an experience, and we've put a lot of work into creating an easy to use, low barrier of entry rulebook. Alongside this feedback we also received a lot of praise for our layout and overall display and readability!

After going over the reviews carefully, we've determined the biggest barrier for DA is its speed. Or, rather, lack thereof. So we're making some major changes to the Direct Action edition Situations to allow you to jump straight into the action. As it currently stands, combat situations take almost as long to set up as they do to resolve! We've taken the time to rewrite our Missions and Situations, streamline a few other common sticking points, and should be able to give out an early version of the full-fledged PDF by next month. 

I'm particularly excited for this because we'll also be releasing a bunch of other Peaceful Situations, because while it is called Direct Action, Why We Fight isn't just about making a difference with your fists. 

Meanwhile, we've been putting the finishing touches on the Core Book's Campaign supplement, which will be a roughly 38 page supplement at the back of the book allowing you to build your very own community trying to survive in the ever-changing world. You'll see your community change in the face of both your actions and those around you, and different challenges will arise depending on what needs are met. All this while scavenging and rewilding the world around you!

We've designed it to be relatively numbers light and with developing complexity, so you won't be tracking precise food usage vs population size or deciding who sleeps where, but instead you'll create cultural aspects and raise quality of life, using resources scavenged and surplus created to create more stable access to what you need, upgrade production areas to higher tech levels, and in time, drive out the White Fist once and for all.

While it's not yet been turned into glorious beauty of beautiful layout, we've decided to share the google doc early draft (in the Backer Only Content below) so you can try it out! It won't be fully playable without the Core Book, but you can use it to create your own settlement, and share the results with us! While not the live document we're working from, we've left comments open, so you can leave your thoughts and feedback within, if you like :)

Last of all, late pledges are now open! So if you know anyone who missed the campaign and don't want them to miss out on their chance to make a brighter, greener future, send them along to THIS page!

Otherwise, we're preparing to send out surveys to all of you to finalise your pledges and allow you to purchase any add-ons or adjust your pledges. If it all goes well, 5% of you should receive your surveys this month as we roll out the smoke test and iron out the issues. If you receive the survey notification, please fill it out asap! You've been chosen by the magical BackerKit algorithm to guide the rest to the promised land of Functional Surveydia!

All jokes aside, we've tussled with Backerkits survey forms once before, so it should all go fine.

That's all from us this month, but we're happy to answer any questions in the comments below, or on our Discord server! If you've tried the preview edition out and have Feelings, please get in touch! It doesn't just need to be struggles, we like hearing your Crew's adventures too ;)

Until next time, Ecopunk friends!
~ Laurie & the SDR Team

Hey everybody! If you're reading this, you're likely one of our 428 new favourite people! With your help, we've got the funding to make Why We Fight a reality, printing runs of both versions of our books, a whole host of extra goodies for our bundle backers, and we unlocked an amazing collection of stretch goals!

We three here at team SDR are truly blown away by the incredible support and excitement you've all shown for this project, and we're so so excited to get the final product into your hands. Of course, now that the campaign is over, you're likely wondering to yourself "I've just backed this amazing idea for a game, so... what happens next?"

Well worry not, we're here to put your uncertainties to rest! So, buckle up eco-punk friends, here's the plan for how it's going down! (There's also a brand new art piece at the end you do not want to miss!)

From here on we'll be putting out an update on the project status and expectations every month moving forwards, along with our plans for what we'll be working on in the month ahead! These will not be set to a specific date, as life is chaos and strict deadlines are for corporations, but it'd be reasonable to expect it sometime within the first week of each!

We will of course be happy to answer questions throughout the month, though responses will be faster in places that actually notify us that people have commented (Backerkit discussions or posts do not, I don't know why, we have to go looking). These places include direct comments to the most recent update, Discord, Bluesky, any of our Instagram posts, or good old-fashioned email to [email protected]!

Rhi here! Dropping in with some social goal STATS for ya! We included social goals because we'd rather donate money to an amazing charity like TreeSisters than be stuck spending advertising budgets solely on the cess pit that is M3ta. Thanks to you folks rallying round, spreading the word, and sharing our posts, we were able to save £40 in our TreeSisters donation pot! 🎉

As a thank you to all of our backers, we've decided to DOUBLE that donation, and have sent them £80 towards their incredible work, as true guardians of the natural world and all who live in it 🌱🌲

Starting from next month, we'll be releasing the Quick-Start and Core PDFs to those who purchased them in an early-access version that gives you the chance to try out the game before it's finalised, and in turn give us feedback on your experiences. We figure that since you've purchased the game, you should absolutely get the chance to play and have a hand in its development!

Both versions of the game have been heavily play tested internally and with groups, so it's definitely a complete and playable experience, but there's always stuff that's noticed by fresh eyes, wording that confuses certain people, ambiguous messaging, or just straight up errors that get overlooked by the people who've read the books so many times it's a bit of a blur by this stage (me). The more of this we hear about before it's inked into permanence upon a book, the better it is for everyone honestly, so if you encounter anything weird, confusing or inconsistent, please do let us know! 

A part of this will also be adding in the campaign chapter, the final section of the book which looks at running your own community, building up stability, learning about your people and their Maxims, and trying to make change before the White Fist work out where you are (and dealing with the consequences of them discovering you). This has been tested (internally and with groups) almost entirely via a google doc, and we're in the process of turning it into proper book layout. 

I'm really excited to get the core book in front of you all, and to hear all the amazing stories people create and discover! 

Last of all, while Rhi and I have been diligently promoting the campaign, Rob has been working hard on putting pen to tablet and creating the amazing new scene that will be the centre-piece for determining Local Area Discoveries before you create a combat scenario. Feast your eyes, and get ready for more as we update you in the future!

The final poll of our micro CYOA is also live, so if you've been playing along throughout the campaign don't forget to vote in this one!
That's all from us this month, but we'll be back in May with plenty to share! A huge thank you once again to all our wonderful backers, we're so glad to have you along with us on this journey! 💚

~Laurie & the SDR team

*Not actual footage that was a lie I'm so sorry

The whole team is both relieved and a little sad that this will be over! Sharing this project, talking to our awesome backers, joining live streams and interviews and actual plays has all been an amazing experience for us, and we cannot WAIT to finish up and get this off to print so that you can enjoy the game as much as we've enjoyed designing it 😁 

 First off, there's a new interview up by the wonderful Christopher Hutton of TTRPG Insider which can be found here!

We were also included in the Tabletop Gaming magazine in their Best of the Scene RIGHT NOW!!!?!???!   

Getting sent this photo whilst in a van during our house move from South London to Scotland certainly put a pep in our step! Big thanks to Iain McAllister for including us. 

Rob has been working HARD on a new and very important art scene for the book. In this image, a crew is discovering a Situation in an abandoned city... Upon arrival, Guiding Hand drones descend from the sky and alert any local White Fist thugs to their location!  

As you can already see, this highly detailed scene is going to look absolutely GORGEOUS when finished, and we cannot wait to share it with you! Everyone give our illustrator Rob Ingle a round of applause for having the patience to not only translate our ideas into beautiful works of art, but also for having the patience to do such detailed line art! 👏👏👏

For anyone new to the campaign, here's the synopsis for the Adventures our five fabulous guest writers will be creating over the next few months:

Tanya: The Battle of the Broken Pane
Deep within Guiding Hand territory, The House of Glass is under attack! Your occupation must face down batons, dogs, gas, drones, and worse. The decisions you make force past and present to collide in a single day. Within the 24 hours of an attempted eviction, class sponteneity will be anything but spontaneous!

Benjamin: Optics
In this scenario, your Crew are attempting to damage a major fibreoptic trunk cable that connects Guiding Hand surveillance infrastructure to a data center that provides the computation for facial recognition and machine-learning intelligence systems.
The Community Alliance are working with several large community groups in the area to stage a mass protest which will give cover to the attack, and the Crew must confront sectarianism, peace policing, White Fist aggression, the moral challenges of a diversity of tactics and the siren call of violence and revenge, to achieve their goals.

Muse: Foraging For Freedom
Your community has a food crisis on its hands. With your numbers increasing day by day, keeping track of food resources has fallen by the wayside in the flurry of getting newcomers settled, warm, and fed - and now you're running out.
In this scenario, you and your crew are tasked with a critical operation: forage, dig, and fish for what food you can to bring home to the community, and gather seeds and other resources for expanding the community garden to keep everyone fed, all while avoiding the seeing eyes of the White Fist!

Hamnah: TBD 
But we'll be letting you know as soon as we have a synopsis! Given that we contacted Hamnah very close to the wire, we feel it's only fair they're given the time they need to work on their idea. You can't rush art!

Sinta: Harnessing Hydropower
The crew ventures out into the wilderness in search of anything useful to the commune -- fresh water being the priority. After going deep into the nearby woods, a babbling brook eventually opens up to a wide river, with an old, broken down powerplant perched right at the mouth of some low waterfalls. A real fixer-upper, but with some scrap, know-how, and determination, a hydro powerplant could be exactly what the commune needs to fill in its growing needs for power and electricity. Can you and your crew secure the area and get it up and running?

Over the course of the campaign we've unlocked SIX of our EIGHT stretch goals, and we aren't far off of unlocking the 7th! With a final push we could unlock an immersive soundtrack by transfem experimental pop songwriter/producer Lisathebeautyqueen! She's already sent over the preview and it sounds perfect to draw players into the solarpunk future they're fighting for ✊

It's getting very late here and we still have almost an entire day left to go, so this is Rhi signing off on probably our final update while the project is still live... It's been amazing folks, thanks for joining us for the ride!

Hello everybody, this is Laurie here reporting in from within the fort of cardboard boxes that contains our yet-to-be unpacked belongings! That's right, we've just moved house! In the middle of a crowdfunding campaign! Because when life throws lemons at you, you just kinda have to learn to appreciate that citrus-y freshness and keep on going.

The good news is, a bunch of really cool stuff happened while we loaded a van, drove over 400 miles, then unloaded it again, and I am here to tell you all about it!

Top of the list under 'The Best of the Scene Right Now', we were absolutely blown away by this unexpected inclusion in Tabletop Magazine, and we're very proud to see ourselves in print publication. A huge thanks to them, we'll be sure to prove ourselves worthy of the spotlight! 

If you've recently joined us thanks to reading about us there, be sure to say hello! 

The incredible first part of Maddy Searle's podcast Actual Play of Why We Fight is brought to its stunning conclusion! If you didn't get the chance to listen to that first part, it is without question a fantastic introduction to the game, and I'm absolutely thrilled by this second part. With each part a mere 10 minutes each, you do not want to be missing out this extremely tight, beautifully produced content.
I daren't spoil it, so just go check it out here!

If you're eager for more content, or just want to see four people having a great time with Why We Fight, then you're in luck! I recently ran the game for three excited Crews, all of whom were pretty eager to get out there and kick some White Fist butt! That isn't all they got up to, but I'll let you see for yourself below!

The second poll for our micro choose your own adventure is now up! Previously, you chose an Ornate Bridge as the discovery, now let's see where it leads...

Alright, that's it for me. I'm going to get some well earned sleep, but once I have a PC up and running I'll be updating the story page and we'll be back with more in store for our last few days, including a teaser for our next exciting stretch goal!

In the meantime, please do share the game and help us get Why We Fight out there. We haven't been able to keep up the outreach these last few days, so if you haven't yet checked out our social goals, we'd love to knock those banners up with a few more trees once we're fully back in the campaign driving seat!