Project Scope Change, Added Pages, Designer's Commentary Unlocked, and Oops All Magicians Actual Play
about 1 year ago – Wed, Feb 01, 2023 at 08:00:24 AM

We've got a lot to cover in this update, and I have a lot to show you! Let's hop into our usual stretch goal updates before taking a look at a detailed preview of the setting book.

Designer's Commentary Unlocked

At 60K we unlocked a Designer's Commentary! With this stretch goal, I'll sit down with each book and discuss the creation process, design choices, and setting page by page in an MP3 audio format.  Thanks for the suggestion to create this stretch goal in a previous update discussion! 

At 65K I can support our lead art team Kattapulka (pbbeta and Garin) with some well-earned bonuses for all their work on the project so far.

Project Scope Change & Added Pages

Even though the Cloud Empress Kickstarter is in high gear, I've still been getting a ton of work done on the game itself.  Over the last two weeks, I've been mapping out both the Rulebook and Setting Book, and I've unfortunately run into a problem - there's too much stuff to fit. Now that I'm waist-deep in a rough layout, I believe I'm forced to cut the Deadlands biome from the setting book. 

What does this mean? 

First, each book is getting about 8 more pages to bring each book's page number up to 60 (from 52 pages) to accommodate all I have planned. That's 16 more pages of Cloud Empress! If I could fit the Deadlands into the Setting Book I would. Staplebound zines really shouldn't get larger than 60 pages so I'm trying to cap each book at this number. 

I'm not willing to sacrifice the level of detail each area demands (I would need to make drastic cuts to all the other biomes to fit the Deadlands in), so I'll be saving the Deadlands for a release next year. You'll still get 5 adventures (including an expanded battle at Fort Snek), and all the spreads shown in the Kickstarter campaign so far.  The location of the Deadlands will still be shown on the world map (with fewer details) so players can still access the pamphlet adventure, Labyrinth of the Bride.  

I do not like to make scope changes mid-flight, and I hope you understand my reasoning.

Hex Crawl Preview

Given the slight change in the project scope, I wanted to come back with a visual example of why I'm making the change.  Here's a WIP preview of the Rustbucket biome including its description, encounters, hexfill, relics, and major NPC movement within the area. 

All artwork, writing, and layout are WIP (and rather rough!).

Take a look at how great these spreads are shaping up! I've also uploaded the spreads in a PDF format at worldsbywatt.itch.io/cloudempress so you can take a closer look.

I want to note a few things about the biomes in Cloud Empress: first, each biome has its unique encounter table and 2-3, unique creatures to its area.  Second, major NPCs move throughout the world with developing storylines (inspired by Dark Souls). Finally, the hexes will have a number of legendary relics and spells hidden throughout the hexes enticing players to dive deep as they travel. 

Putting these spreads together has me more excited than ever to get you your copies. I hope you feel the same way! 

Oops All Magicians Actual Play

If you've wanted to see Cloud Empress magic in action, look no further! We had an amazing time over on Twitch with Jon Boyle of Resident Bard during an 'Oops All Magicians' actual play. 

Discussion Question: Which Cloud Empress job are you looking forward to playing most?

With the rate we're going, I'll be back in no time with more stretch goals and project updates. 

In the meantime, of the four jobs: Lordling, Sellsword, Magician, and Courier, which are you most looking forward to playing?

Players' Aid Unlocked, Why Mothership?, and an interview with Kienna Shaw
about 1 year ago – Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 06:45:27 AM

Players' Aid Unlocked

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Since our last update, we successfully passed our $55,000 stretch goal and unlocked a players' aid postcard for all physical backers (digital backers will get a downloadable version too). 

The players' aid became an idea when I heard about a Mothership warden using the backside of a GM screen to passively remind players of some of the principles of Mothership. GM screens aren't my style so I thought about other ways I could remind players on the table. Here's the current draft of the Cloud Empress players' aid. 

The Cloud Empress players' aid highlights some handy rules and emphasizes how to approach Cloud Empress.  There are big differences between lethality and how much information is shared with the player in Cloud Empress compared to many other RPG systems. The stakes are high in Cloud Empress and a single mistake can get you killed. The world around you is not locked by perception rolls encouraging players to ask loads of questions to define the world around them.  I hope this player aid helps orient players to the unique play experience.

Our next stretch goal (which we're hurtling towards) was actually a comment made in a previous update. At 60K I'll be recording a designer audio commentary. 

Why Mothership?

Of all the possible systems, why did I choose Mothership? This is probably the most common question I received throughout the campaign. Here's what I told Sean McCoy (the creator of Mothership) in a recent Cloud Empress interview on his blog win conditions.

"Sean: We haven’t released it publicly right now, but a lot of our third party games I’m encouraging to go as Panic Engine releases rather than Mothership content. Specifically, I want people to focus on Mothership 3pp content that can be dropped into a bog-standard Mothership game tonight without any disconnect. “Vanilla” Mothership, essentially. For everything else, new fantasy games or whatever, I want to start directing people to the Panic Engine, which is just a stripped down version of the upcoming Mothership SRD. These should be standalone games, with their own lines and their own settings. Games that you wouldn’t particularly know are related to Mothership in any way. You and I have had this back and forth a couple of times actually. I pushed, I think, for you to do Cloud Empress as more of a Panic Engine thing, but you’ve stuck to your guns to keep it as a Mothership expansion. What guided you to that decision?

watt: I’ve gone back and forth several times about whether Cloud Empress would be a Panic Engine game or branded Mothership content. I may change my mind later, but for the Kickstarter launch (and the foreseeable future) Cloud Empress is designed as a Mothership experience (instead of a Panic Engine game). Here are the four primary reasons (ranked in priority) why Cloud Empress is a Mothership expansion:

1. Horror elements: The Cloud Empress hex map and adventures are filled with a bunch of scary, disturbing stuff. There’s some freedom to avoid certain horror locations in its world, but Cloud Empress’ regularly plays with the body horror of creating magic, the horrors of war, ecological extinction, and some giant psychic cicadas. There’s humor and adventure throughout, but horror is just as crucial an ingredient.
   
2. Current Mothership community: Although it sounds like a lot is planned for the Panic Engine, there’s currently an active Mothership Discord, subreddit, and 3rd Party publishing community. These elements all form a powerful infrastructure.
   
3. Mothership wide-reaching audience: With Mothership 1E coming out in 2023, there’s this big new Mothership audience looking for new content. My primary interest in crowdfunding and physically publishing games is to get them to a wider audience than those I reach with digital releases. Many folks I talk to at conventions recognize the name Mothership but would need an explanation about the Panic System underneath the hood. I’m happy to ride on the coattails of success you have created and create new avenues of play for a hungry audience.
   
4. Making a better game: Finally, Mothership is a treasure trove of great content. There are so many great resources, generators, tools, and rules I can point to when writing Cloud Empress (like the Warden’s Manual for example) instead of needing to take up space in my books, where I would likely be writing redundant content better covered elsewhere."

Interview with Pamphlet Adventure Writer Kienna Shaw

1. Tell me a little bit about the pamphlet adventure you are currently working on? (we can use the existing summary or something different here)

The Emperor's collapsed monument has called for a new bride, and the surrounding temple of broken glass opens its doors for the first time in 10 years. Guests delve into the guts of ever-shifting halls and trapped rooms to find ancient treasures and grasp for archaic favor. A mockery of a banquet is staged by royal servants of stone-grafted flesh as the betrothed hides in her bridal chamber, building her substitute of chalk and poisoned flowers.

2. What’s most exciting about writing for the project/something set in the world of Cloud Empress?

There's some really compelling themes, locations, and politics happening in the setting, and so it's really exciting to come into it and find threads to pull and weave into a living extension of the world. 

3. What’s most challenging about writing for the project/something set in the world of Cloud Empress?

Just as it's super exciting to work in an existing world, it's also a challenge to bring something in that will not only fit with the rest of the setting but also bring something that the players can actively engage with. It's a challenge I welcome though!

4. What inspirations are you drawing on for your pamphlet adventure?

Grimms' Fairytales, Elden Ring, Bluebeard's Bride (the TTRPG), and Greek mythology.

5. Where can people find you online?

I'm everywhere on the internet as KiennaS, and my site is kiennas.carrd.co.

 6. Finally, what’s your favorite Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki film (if you have one)?

Howl's Moving Castle will always have my heart.

Discussion Question: Favorite horror film?

Given that I talk a bit about the horror elements of Cloud Empress, I'd love to know, What is your favorite horror film? Post your answer in the comments! (my favorite is 2018's Suspiria by Luca Guadagnino).

50K!, Hot Stuff on Shore Leave add-on, Alfred Valley interview, Cloud Empress actual play, and more
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jan 26, 2023 at 06:53:23 AM

50K Stretch Goal Unlocked

The Cloud Empress project continues to unlock stretch goal after stretch goal! At 50K we have started to pay watt (me) for my time. Cloud Empress has always been a labor of love. I knew the project could be successful, but I had no idea so many people would support my ecological science fantasy Mothership setting. Let me pull back the curtain on the life of an indie tabletop roleplaying game creator. Since June, I've worked an hour in the morning (from 6 am to 7:00 am) and an hour at night from (9 pm to 10 pm) on Cloud Empress. Two hours a day for 26 weeks is roughly 364 hours already invested in the project. My time estimate doesn't include doubling or tripling of time needed during the preparation and launch of the Kickstarter campaign. We still have another six or so months ahead of us for project fulfillment. I don't share these numbers to complain, I love I have the time and energy to work on a creative project as fulfilling as Cloud Empress. With your financial support, we're starting to make Cloud Empress a more sustainable project for my personal life and one I hope to continue for years to come. Thank you again for your help.

What's next? I'm excited to bring you a players' aid card. I still need to put a draft together, but I imagine the players' aid card as a useful resource that can be handed around the table instead of flipping through a rulebook. I also imagine, not only a rules reference but also some high-level reminders for successfully surviving a session of Cloud Empress.

New add-on Hot Stuff on Shore Leave

Hot Stuff Shore Leave is a solo queer vacation module for the Mothership RPG roleplaying game. In Hot Stuff on Shore Leave, you'll explore Port Taxico alone between sessions of Mothership. Hot Stuff on Shore Leave was successfully Kickstarted and fulfilled in 2022. It's A5 and 34 pages with vibrant reds and oranges (I'm starting to think I have a thing for the color orange). You can find out more about the game on its itch page worldsbywatt.itch.io/hot-stuff-on-shore-leave

To grab your copy of Hot Stuff on Shore Leave, increase your pledge amount by ten dollars $10 USD!

Actual Plays Galore

I was thrilled to be interviewed on The Weekly Scroll podcast. The Weekly Scroll is one the best indie tabletop roleplaying game podcasts out there and it was a great time talking about the development of Cloud Empress. In the second half of the video, we dive into the Rustbucket in an industrial, horror-centered adventure called "The Last Proxy." Some body horror, confined spaces, and creepy dolls.

The equally amazing podcast Nobody Wake the Bugbear posted their finale of the Cloud Empress introductory adventure the Last Bean Barge. It's full of chaos, comedy, and moving moments. Nobody Wake the Bugbear has been an early and consistent supporter of Cloud Empress. Please show your support for this amazing actual play series! 

Dave Kenny Interview

I was also interviewed by Mothership creator, extraordinaire on the Nirvana on Fire: Expanded Edition Kickstarter. We talk about what Cloud Empress' success might look like two years out! You can read my interview here.  Plus, Nirvana on Fire: Expanded Edition is an amazing project worth checking out.

Project You Might Like - Constellation

As we near the start of Zine Month/ZineQuest I want to highlight some amazing crowdfunding projects. The first is from Cloud Empress' own Sebastian Yue with Hit Point Press.  One of the major issues facing the indie-tabletop roleplaying game scene is how quickly amazing zines are lost to the overwhelming release cycle of new content or don't have the required funding for continual circulation. Sebastian's new project is a great way to solidify the amazing work coming out. Constellation is an anthology of 12 indie RPG zines. Packed with action, horror, and intimate emotional experiences, Constellation includes new adventure settings and games for one, two, or more players. Back this amazing anthology on Kickstarter today!

Interview with Alfred Valley 

In the upcoming updates, I'll talk with some of the pamphlet adventure writers about their Cloud Empress adventures and inspirations. 

• 1. Tell me a little bit about the pamphlet adventure you are currently working on?  My adventure is about a monumental tower that's been buried by dirt and time so that the only way to get to it is to descend to the bottom of a hole in the wasteland. It's a mysterious place that draws people from afar despite its serious perils.  
• 2. What’s most exciting about writing for the project/something set in the world of Cloud Empress?  The original Dune movie was a key part of my childhood - it was something that my dad shared with me and we would watch it often. I was always gripped by the richness of that world, and this is a quality I later discovered in Ghibli films. Expansive, detailed, colourful worlds that have this dreamy, almost nostalgic mystique. The way Cloud Empress seems to channel these two influences feels like it was made specifically for me.  
• 3. What’s most challenging about writing for the project/something set in the world of Cloud Empress?  I want to do the setting justice. All the details I read evoke a world that has been very consciously created, that blooms with life and lore. I feel like I need to really immerse myself in Cloud Empress in order to add things that feel fresh and yet like they belong. It's an enjoyable challenge.  
• 4. What inspirations are you drawing on for your pamphlet adventure?  The setting was inspired by The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe. There are also some details that have been inspired by "necrobotics", after I saw a video of scientists using a dead spider as a hydraulic claw machine.  
• 5. Where can people find you online?  I publish games and game-related things at alfredvalley.itch.io. I'm on Twitter: twitter.com/ValleyOfAlfred. I make game and graphic design videos at tiktok.com/@alfredvalley
  
  6. Finally, what’s your favorite Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki film (if you have one)?  Right now Princess Mononoke. I think it was the first Ghibli film I ever saw. I rewatched it recently and reminded myself how good it is.
  

Today's Discussion Question: Advice for new players

As I start to put together a draft of the players' aid postcard...

What is one piece of advice you'd give to new RPG players? (Or advice you'd give a new Mothership player?

45K, more art, upcoming actual play, and another stretch goal
over 1 year ago – Sun, Jan 22, 2023 at 06:48:05 PM

Two arms away  

First, thanks to everyone who contributed to our last discussion question about units of measure used in Cloud Empress. While not unanimous, the majority of folks were excited about using a unit of measure that was based on the naturalistic world, using arms, fingers, heads high, stones, fields, etc. as units of measure.  This system of measurements should be fairly easy to learn and makes Cloud Empress more accessible to backers worldwide. If there's space in the book, I'll look to sneak in some conversion tables or put something on the Cloud Empress website CloudEmpress.com

More art unlocked

We did it! Another stretch goal was unlocked on a Sunday night! At 45,000 we'll commission five new pieces of artwork from the artist Garin. 

As I mentioned in the last update, Garin's creative talents are being used to express the vast and wide world of Cloud Empress. Here's a taste of some of Garin's incredible work so far.

In this image we see strange statues amassing outside of Bravo City in the Deadlands biome. 

What's next for our stretch goals? Given the current pace of the project funding, I expect we'll unlock several more stretch goals before the end of the campaign. One recurring theme from backers in a previous discussion question on their preferred stretch goals was to further support the Cloud Empress team with our funding. At $50,000 we'll start paying me (watt) for the time I am working on the project. Cloud Empress is a labor of love, but it would be amazing to help support the countless hours that have and will put into the project. I very much appreciate the tone and support of Cloud Empress Kickstarter community, and I promise we'll have more goodies in store for you backers. 

For example, at the request of someone in the comments...

All backers will also receive a free PDF copy of the two-sided poster as a digital file with their pledge! 

"Oops all magicians" actual play 1/23

Tomorrow at 5:30 PM CST (GMT-5) I'll be running a somewhat goofy "Oops all Magicians" actual play of the Last Voyage of the Bean Barge with fellow indie ttrpg creator Jonathan Boyle at https://www.twitch.tv/residentbard Watch the players and I kick the tires Cloud Empress' magic system. 

Discussion Question: Previous Mothership Experience?

Finally, our discussion question until the next update is about the Mothership sci-fi horror rpg. 

• If you've played Mothership before, what's your favorite module? 
• If you're new to the Mothership d100 system, what drew you to Cloud Empress?

Bingo Bounty Card unlocked and industrial horror actual play with the Weekly Scroll
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 07:05:06 PM

Content warning, some art with zombie-like exposed flesh below.

Wow! The Cloud Empress campaign keeps chugging along. For those newer to Kickstarter, the first and last days of a campaign tend to be the biggest spikes of activity, but over the last two days, we've still picked up about fifty new backers each day! If you're new to the campaign, welcome! We've got lots of cool stuff in store. 

Thanks to everyone who shared ideas about what future stretch goals might look like. There were a few ideas that seem out of scope for the project, but I am planning to add several ideas shared to the list of stretch goals as the project progresses. Again, my primary goal is delivering the project on time, and endless stretch goals are the number one delay for Kickstarter fulfillment in my experience as a backer myself. 

Industrial Horror Actual Play Tomorrow 9 am CST

Join us tomorrow at 9 AM CST at https://www.twitch.tv/TheAdventureArchive

Up until now, I haven't shared many of the horror elements in Cloud Empress. That changes tomorrow! Join me and the hosts of the Weekly Scroll Podcast as we talk about Cloud Empress and hop into an actual play in the industrial wasteland biome called 'The Rustbucket.' The Weekly Scroll is one of my favorite podcasts and an invaluable resource for navigating the indie RPG scene. Our players will meet Vanni, the Last Proxy, as they crawl into the maw of the machines.

40K - Bingo Bounty Card Unlocked

At $40,000 we unlocked a printed 4x6" postcard of a "bingo bounty card." These are in-world papers created by the League of Frog-Dogs with the names and pictures of wanted individuals printed on them. This real-world card can serve as a valuable reminder for the Warden and their players to remember who is who with so many detailed NPCs. 

Here's an early draft of the Bingo Bounty Card I put together! Names, pronouns, summary descriptions, and stat lines will be added later underneath each headshot.

Our next stretch goal will be more art from Garin. Garin's artwork is the centerpiece for the hostile landscapes of Cloud Empress. at $45,000, we'll commission five new pieces from Garin to further enrich the world of Cloud Empress' landscapes.

Discussion Question 3: Which unit of Measure???

This a slightly odd question, but I've been torn between two units of measure in Cloud Empress. 

Would you rather have listed Cloud Empress measurements as:

• Option 1: arms, fingers, heads high, fields, stones, and boulders (measurements related to the human body and sizes related to the natural world)
• Option 2: imperial measurements -- feet, inches, acres, miles (there are lore reasons why the system wouldn't be metric)

Please share your preference between option 1 (arms, fingers, heads high, fields) and option 2 (Imperial) in the comments!