What's happening, Espers?! Good to see you! George from Three Sails Studios, here, with my first weekly update on the City of Espers campaign!
The End of Week One
And what a week it has been! If I'm honest, I've barely slept. Between the excitement of the City of Espers campaign launch and a jaunt to Edinburgh for the Tabletop Scotland convention, my mind has been buzzing (though I've been assured this isn't the onset of telekinetic powers; such a shame)!
At time of writing, 391 Espers have arrived in Zener City and are getting ready to build their Houses, reveal their psychic abilities to the world, and start making their mark on our technicolour metropolis. Together, we've raised a total of £17,944, bringing us to more than 200% funded!
From myself, Nathan (City of Espers creator), and the rest of the Three Sails Studios team, thank you for your support so far!
City of Espers On The Airwaves!
In Zener City, you can expect the House of Oracle to bring you all the news you need to hear. But there is also a rich tradition of pirate radio station, guerrilla TV broadcasting, and more handmade zines than you can shake a stick at.
Beyond Zener, though, you can count on City of Espers creator Nathan Blades to greet you whenever you open up YouTube.
While I've been busy promoting the game at Tabletop Scotland (thanks to all who stopped by to talk about the game, flick through the book, and to those who immediately backed the campaign on the spot!), Nathan has been the face around town, hosting a Crafting an Esper livestream, joining the team at Inside the Rookery for a livestreamed interview and answering questions from their always engaged community, and joining VTuber and TTRPG designer Mildra the Monk for an interview covering the ins and outs of the game!
If you want to hear all about City of Espers directly from the creator and designer, these interviews are a great place to start. I've linked them here in the update for your enjoyment and information.
With all the news from the streets of Zener you need to know, the House of Oracle have you covered! Illustration by Shane Melisse.
Signing Off: Every Little Helps
With one week down and three weeks left to go, we have entered what is commonly known in the crowdfunding space as 'the valley'. This is the point in the campaign where the initial peak of support has slowed down and we enter a much slower time for the crowdfunding campaign.
But, despite that, support for City of Espers continues, and we're very grateful to everyone who has chosen to support the campaign so far!
At more than 200% funded, I am very happy to say that City of Espers, in all its technicolour glory, is guaranteed to go to print! As with all Three Sails Studios projects, we'll be going to print the day after the campaign concludes and our excellent printers, MegaPrint, will do an amazing job on getting the game ready for your tables and shelves.
In the meantime, we are working towards our first Social Impact Stretch Goal milestone! When the campaign reaches £25,000, we'll be upgrading our solidarity donation from £1 per backer to a fixed £1,000, which will be donated to a youth homelessness charity.
This is part of our ongoing commitment as a design studio and company to support causes in need of our support. Each and every backer makes these donations possible, so consider increasing your pledge (from digital to physical, for example, or from physical to All In), sharing the campaign with your friends, communities, and online spaces, and just getting involved down in the comments below.
With that, Espers, I will sign this update off and get back to the day to day of running a TTRPG crowdfunder. We only have five more pieces of art waiting to arrive before the book is complete, so I'll be getting print files ready, reading and responding to your comments, and getting ready for my home game of City of Espers to kick off in the next few weeks!
Until next week, as always, keep yourselves safe and be excellent to each other!
In solidarity,
George City of Espers producer Studio Lead, Three Sails Studios
Zener Grand Station, flanked by Zener University and the RIDER Technologies building. Illustration by Jess Herron.
Once we reach £25,000 raised, we'll be upgrading our donation from £1 per backer to a guaranteed £1,000 (or whichever is higher). Our Social Impact Stretch Goal for City of Espers will benefit a youth homelessness organisation.
