Three Week Update
over 7 years ago – Sat, Mar 18, 2017 at 07:52:39 PM

It’s been three weeks since we closed the kickstarter campaign for Sig: Manual of the Primes. I thought it would be an appropriate time to update you on the project. I currently have three major elements of the book that need to be finalized before I can send it to press, and I am working on all of them.  

Firstly, I have been in discussion with my hard-working printer to finalize the physical elements of the printed book. We have settled on the interior paper selection, end paper, colour headbands (purple) and ribbon (also purple). We are likely going with some spot-gloss and potentially some foil on the spine, but we are still negotiating the specific. I suspect that this is going to be absurdly gorgeous.  

Secondly, working on the text of the book. I would love to thank folks who gave feedback on the text, pointing out the typos and asking key questions. I have recorded all of those responses, and scrutinized the book one more time. I have also run another three one-shot game sessions of Sig since we funded, and recorded any remaining points of friction. This means that I will be tweaking the influence economy somewhat, adding some additional explanation of how one-shot games work, and generally improving the text.  

Lastly, I am revising the map of Sig. The map will be included on the endpapers of the book, so it’s important to get it right. As soon as I have the revised map ready, I will send it out to the Benefactor and Faction backers, so we can name the streets together. The final version of the map will also be reflected in the small neighborhood maps in chapter 4.  

Now, it’s time for me to get back to work and make this happen.

Jason Pitre, Genesis of Legend Publishing

City of Victors
over 7 years ago – Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 10:51:02 PM

We did it.

I don’t have any better words to describe how happy your support enthusiasm has made me over the course of the campaign. As a game designer and publisher, all 454 of you just gave me the greatest gift I could ever receive. You reminded me of why I create.  

Best birthday present ever.

Freebooters Arise!

You recall that, in my previous backer update, I offered to adapt the rules system of Blades in the Dark for the city between, in a new product titled Freebooters. The reaction I got to this announcement blew me away, and we saw a surge in backers large enough to break kicktraq projections. I saw one backer, generous soul that he is, offer to personally refund the value of five new backers at the visitor tier, just so we could reach this stretch goal.

We care more about people than arbitrary numbers. We will proceed with Freebooters, once the core book is sent out and the other stretch goals are complete. It may take a while to pull it together, but we will do our best to bring your planar blades in the dark.      

What’s Next

My first priority with regards to the game is to get the book itself ready for press. In order to make that happen, I have a few things that need to be done.

Firstly, I will be asking all of you fine folks for your feedback on the current version of the PDF. A few folks have identified portions of the text which were unclear, typos discovered, or problems with some of the graphic design. I would love it if backers could take a look at the PDF and tell me about any of the problems they encounter. Once I know about the problems with the pdf, I can correct them and ensure that the print copy is as good as I can make it.  

https://goo.gl/forms/ztuxuK86cEnE0goo1

Secondly, I will be making a number of improvements to the graphic design of the book. I will be adjusting backgrounds slightly, updating the character sheets to fit the new style, and generally applying some polish to the layout.

Thirdly, I will reach out to all backers at the Benefactor and Faction levels and invite them to join me in naming the streets of Sig! These changes will make their way onto the updated maps in the book. I will contact each of them separately.

Fourthly, I will finalize the specific technical details of the printing job. I will continue to chat with our printers to make the book as luxe as I can manage!

When all of those elements are done, I will move onto the two decks, the quickstart, and the Roll20 character sheet.

That is the plan. Let us celebrate tomorrow, and get to work tomorrow. 

Final Stretch Goal - Freebooters
over 7 years ago – Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 06:54:22 AM

We have almost achieved our fourth stretch goal and I am confident that we have an Origin Deck! Now it is time to reveal the fifth and final stretch goal. This is a big one, which is why I set it for the last.   

Final Stretch Goal 5 –  Freebooters

Sig is a rough city. It’s a home for cutters and bashers, hungry for coin and glory. It’s a battlefield between the city factions as they fight over territory. It’s a city of gods, demons, and stranger things which lurk. No wonder that scoundrels flock to the city between.

Freebooters is an adaptation of the Blades in the Dark system by John Harper and One Seven Design. If we manage to reach 475 backers in total, we will unlock this new product which adapts the Blades in the Dark system for the Sig setting.  This system will allow us to explore the criminal underworld and faction politics bound into Sig. It will enable planar heists, political maneuvers, and more cults than you can shake a stick at.

This is an exciting goal, but it will also be a great deal of work on my part. If we hit our ambitious goal, I will invest the time to make this awesome for all of you.

Now let’s drag more folks into Sig. There ain’t much time left till we lose the tether. 

Stretch Goal 4 - The Origin Deck
almost 8 years ago – Wed, Feb 22, 2017 at 09:50:46 PM

We are in the final days of the kickstarter campaign, and we have blown past out third stretch goal! The physical copies of Sig will have a good excuse to make the printed book as luxurious and impressive as I can. This is going to be extremely impressive and I look forward to getting a copy in my hands.  

We only have two stretch goals remaining. The final stretch goal is, I think, one of the most exciting ones. It shall only get revealed if we hit stretch goal 4 though!

Stretch Goal 4 – The Origin Deck

Everyone seemed to enjoy stretch goal 2, where I offered to create the Sig Planar Reference Deck for all backers! That deck of cards would be used for reference during play and to speed up character creation. There is more than that.

If we reach 400 backers, we will design a second custom deck of cards for backers. This new play-aid will be known as the Sig Origin Deck, and allow you to create your characters quickly through a draw of the cards.  The origin deck will contain Parent Cards and Profession Cards. Each character will have their talents defined by the combination of two Parent Cards and one Profession Card. It means you can quickly create your characters and their families on the fly, and the GM can also use it as a deck of NPCs during play.

The real reason why this is awesome is what happens when you combine it with the Reference Deck and a few index cards. With those elements combined, you can run the game without character sheets. It makes it even easier to start the game and to run it, anywhere and anytime.

The only thing more awesome than the Origin Deck is stretch goal 5. Why don’t we hit 400 backers so I can reveal the dark of it?

Stretch Goal 3 – The Deluxe Upgrade
almost 8 years ago – Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 09:42:46 PM

I launched this kickstarter campaign with the ambitious goal of funding an offset print run of hard-cover, full-colour books. I wanted to boost the production values as much as I could, and make them beautiful additions to our bookshelves.

If we get our 350th backer, I will make them even better. All of the books will be upgraded with additional features to make them both more attractive and more functional in play. We will include silk ribbon bookmarks with every book to help you navigate the shadowed pages. We will include printed endpapers at the front and the back of the book, so that we can include a couple beautiful maps of the City Between there for your use.

I will even work with the printer to see if there are any other shiny extras that we could provide. I want to pull out all the stops and make the book as ridiculously awesome as I can.  Can you spread the word in the final days of the kickstarter so that we can smash past this goal?