503 Update: Ennies, Seacat, VotBO (Patreon)

Dear 503 Heroes!

Welcome to the end of June. I wasn't sure I'd get this post ready in time, but I barely staggered to this finish.

What a June.

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First, a warm welcome to everyone who's joined us. We are now over 500. That is utterly incredible. It is utterly mind-boggling. I don't make 5E items or NPCs or easy to use maps ... I write mind-bent rpgs about strange heroes plumbing the edges of vast lands turned brittle and weird with time and space.

And we are now over 500.

A thousand and six thank yous. Two for each.

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Second, it is Ennies 2020 season. We're in for best art and best cover. I was hoping for a best setting nom, but I won't sour grape these two nom noms.

There's a lot of wonderful products on the lists this year, many real passion projects and dozens of beautiful works. I look forward to going through them in more details. I will also almost certainly remind you to vote once or twice. I hope you will forgive me bothering you in that manner.

To coincide with the Ennies 2020 and Free RPG Day I'm also working with Exalted Funeral to put out a softcover version of UVG. It'll have a different cover and one fixed typo (embarrassing), but otherwise it'll be the same book.

For Free RPG Day EF will also be giving away some misprints of Witchburner. The book is readable, but some of the borders are off, so into the free-bin they went.

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Third, on a personal note, this June has been hectic. While I was locked down in Europe, my wife started a new job. After getting back to Korea and getting out of quarantine we set about moving back south, from Seoul to suburbs, to cut her commute from a hundred minutes each way down to fifteen. At the same time I'd committed to teach a short summer class in the north of Seoul. Besides moving, it was I who ended up with a two hour commute each way.

Let's say these weeks have been hectic, yes.

Why all this personal stuff? Because it leads directly to the next item.

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Fourth, I'd hoped to completely re-layout out SEACAT to fit the style of the UVG and ZOA. Turns out the layout is just that much more powerful, and Affinity Publisher completely smashes most word processors (cough ... Pages ... cough). However, I didn't succeed in doing the entirety.

The Rules book is nearly whole. I'll be adding travel, environment, crawling, and conflict rules, but everything required to create and understand heroes _should be there_. Comments and suggestions are welcome. I think you'll find the advancement mechanics quite fun. I'm not sure how much I wrote here ... but it was a lot

The Archetypes (formerly Heroes) book is still completely undone. It's been renamed so the whole ensemble gets called SEACAT RAT because I have a Dr Seussian approach to rhymes. But ... it needs a cover, and it needs a revised layout. That said, with the advancement section in Rules complete, and the list of skills, abilities, and gear in Things ... Archetypes should be the most rules-lite and optional of the three books.

The Things book is not very done. I completed most of the skills (that's the attached fragment), but updating the rest of the layout and adding all the spells ... not quite yet.

I'll be honest: writing rules is much slower than writing adventures.

And I haven't even started on getting around to doing some sort of SRD. Eventually, I guess! Suggestions welcome. Open to collabs. All that jazz.

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Fifth, I needed a break from rules. I needed something lighter and more palatable. In these heavy times, Red Sky didn't do it for me so ... I picked up my old Voyages of the Black Obelisk notes and sketches.

I guess you'll have to be satisfied with two non-canonical destinations for your off-label UVG 2. Specifically:

The Grim Pyramid — a mysterious big dumb object in the Far North. Also introduces the strawheads and the lasters, the Final Cathedral culture, and the Ill Nano plague.

Ministry — a high plateau out-of-time, surrounded by ineffable walls, and home to the ministers mentioned in RRYPO.

I will get back to Red Sky soon-soon, but for now, this was just a beautiful chance for me to relax and invent again after weeks of polishing rules and tables, then commuting and teaching.

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Longa longa update this time, eh-a?

Well, again. Thank you. A thousand-and-six-fold thank you. All this is only possible because of your kindness ... and impeccable taste, of course. ;)

—sincerely, Luka