Backerkit concern for $30+ pledges!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Sep 03, 2020 at 01:05:15 AM

A small note only of concern to people who ordered the complete edition or higher!

I noticed a large number of people checking out on backerkit and adding Stellar Remnants zine to their order despite already including one in your pledge! I sent a handful of emails, and while a couple did intend to get additional copies, most were duplicate orders made by mistake. Wanted to bring this to your attention in case you are one of the 70-80 folks who are currently signed up for multiple copies of Stellar Remnants and it may be an accident! You do have time to amend your pledge, cards won't be charged for another three weeks, so head to necronautilus.backerkit.com and make sure you are signed up for what you wanted and didn't accidentally buy doubles. Because the zine is campaign-exclusive, I'm only printing as many as are needed, so won't be offering refunds on extra zines come December if you don't fix the error now. 

Everything else is good, writing, editing, layout, and art are all being done smoothly! Because the campaign did so well, I'm now bringing on my friends Austin Knight and Corey Stroffolino to write content for some pre-made planets in the book! Excited to learn about some witches and angels and weird stuff going on that they're bringing to the table. 

Thanks again! Talk soon! 

Backerkit Surveys Sent!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 06:37:44 PM

a very brief update to say surveys went out to ALL backers now after the successful smoke test. You should have received an email from backerkit with the subject "Response Needed - get your rewards for Necronautilus..."

if for any reason you didn't get that email or can't find it in your spam folder, please go to https://necronautilus.backerkit.com/ and recover your survey access that way! 

as a reminder, I need your survey to be filled out by Sept 25 or I can't guarantee the availability of variant covers and shirt sizes after that. you'll be able to change you mailing address until mid-November, so don't sweat that aspect. 

Progress! Surveys, spotfoil, and Shel's art
over 3 years ago – Fri, Aug 28, 2020 at 10:39:25 AM

Things are moving along nicely on the Necronautilus front! It has been a couple weeks since the last update as it takes a while for Kickstarter to process your cards and deliver funds, now I have them and I'm spending them, so here is some NecroNews:

Some Surveys Sent

As mentioned in the last update, because of the scope of this project I'm turning to BackerKit to handle your pledge surveys. It took me a while to get it all set up and looking nice, I sent out what's called a smoke test yesterday, meaning 5% of backers got surveys sent to make sure everything works smoothly. I'll wait a few days to make sure there are no issues then send the rest to everyone! It is very important that surveys are completed by the end of September so I know how many of each cover and each size of shirt to order. If your survey isn't complete in time, you run the risk of losing that choice! I'll of course print some extras of each cover and each size shirt but can't guarantee the availability if your survey isn't done on time. Which brings me to the topic of variants:

Cover Art

Shel's art is complete and looks fantastic! I've decided that this will be the cover going forward, so the placeholder psychedelic skull that I made will be a campaign-exclusive variant since some of you voiced wanting it. You will choose which cover you want in the backerkit surveys. And, as an upgrade that I just decided I want to do cause it's cool, both covers will have spot silver foil over the Necronautilus logo to make it pop. Here are mockups of both covers with that foil (note: the mockup here of Shel's cover doesn't have a byline on it yet, but it will not impede the art!):

Other Updates

Everything else is moving along. I'm doing writing, art, and layout myself, just bouncing between each depending on my mood and capacity that day. Vi Huntsman is editing the text and we're well on pace to meet the print deadline (knock on wood). Testing has continued, spacefaring tests went really well and I'm very happy with how play is balanced and sort of rhymes between on-planet and in-space play.

 I also am still kicking out monthly small releases at patreon.com/worldchampgameco in the interim, including my next release EXCOMMUNICADO next Wednesday (Sept 2), a violent action rpg about life on the lam for 1-2 players and a GM in a concise and stylish 8-page zine. Working on some sort of cool poster/game/horror hybrid for October similar in execution but different in theme from last month's release Hell Cabin.

 I'll be in touch as things continue to move but now is deep dive work time! the next update will likely be in 2-3 weeks as a reminder to answer your surveys and get this thing ready to print.

-AV

Campaign Succesful, What's Next?
over 3 years ago – Fri, Aug 07, 2020 at 11:17:33 PM

I'm still in shock we got over ONE THOUSAND backers on this project. It was quickly my biggest release within the first week of launch but now has more than doubled what was my most popular release before (Cobwebs RPG)! I know you all are eager to enter the post-death universe, so let me lay out a roadmap for the future of this project!

Pledge Manager

You all will soon be getting links to the Backerkit for this project that'll import your pledge, charge shipping if you didn't pay enough (only international backers who didn't update their pledge should have to deal with that), buy add-ons from my catalogue (which are also available faster and with more available games at worldchamp.io/store), get additional copies of the book, and otherwise mess with pledge stuff. Kickstarter usually takes about 2 weeks to send me money cause they're sorting expired credit cards and ghosting backers and all that, so expect the Backerkit launch promptly once that clears.

If you missed out on this book during the campaign but want to pledge now, you can do so via the Backerkit, that link is https://necronautilus.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Writing & Art

I'm still developing the game and will be doing so full-time til we go to print. Frankly, it is a lot of work, but I'm up to the task. I'm doing all the writing, art, and layout myself, and this is a huge endeavor, so please be patient! I'm running weekly tests, that will probably increase in frequency soon to stress test some new mechanical stuff before slowing down in the late summer as layout & art take precedent. The game is good, I can assure you, but I want it to be GREAT.  I'll try to chime in at least biweekly til we go to print. As mentioned, I'm active on twitter @WCGameCo and I'll be posting succinct progress updates there. 

The goal is to send the book to print by October 1, fingers crossed. Print & ship turnaround is projected at 9 weeks, so that gets books to me at the end of November/early December, which was what I expected. Digital edition will be able to go out mid-October if everything else falls in place correctly. Zines, maps, and shirts can go to print at the end of November to arrive around the same time.

Because the book is all me and the expansion zine is not by me, both can be developed in parallel. In fact, Maria Mison shared a draft of her piece with me today already and it is beautiful, such a cool and different perspective of the post-death universe I can't wait for everyone to read!

Play Report

I ran another session of the game yesterday! This had our Agents crash landing on a forest planet with trees so tall they touch the atmosphere. Agents were tasked with punishing a sect of flea people (fleaple) who were terraforming the antlers of 40 story elk-like creatures by forcing them into perpetual battle and mating states, a crime against Death's rule. Our players:

• manifested angel wings to prevent the spacecraft from crashing
• asked the sun for help and instead lit the forest canopy on fire
• tried to absorb the sun's rays to dampen the fire and instead were immediately immolated
• recalled their final moments of life, jilted at the altar by a would-be spouse and deciding to become a death agent instead of facing reality
• crawled through reality and soul space to ascend to the tops of these elklike behemoths
• purged the fleaple from their antler homes with blood flooding
• taught them how to refine uranium and let them destroy themselves 

it was great. As always, these sessions help me refine the rules and setting, but I also get to share with you the wild potential this game has for incredibly cool moments of action and discovery.

More Stuff

I'm hoping to create a mini-game as part of the What's So Cool About game jam to introduce everyone to the universe sooner than later. This won't be Necronautilus, just a different way to interact with the setting and start getting excited about the bigger things to come. Since the core game won't be available for a few months, I want to keep everyone as excited as I am in the meantime. I'll share that with you all as I make progress on it. 

The Necronautilus universe is heavily anti-canon, a concept I learned much about through the works of Luka Rejec (Ultraviolet Grasslands) and Chris McDowell (Electric Bastionland). Basically it means there is some information to get you going, but the world you create is your own. Between a galactic map that you get to draw on and procedurally-generated planets & people, every Necronautilus universe will be unique, so there is no concern about getting it "right" when running it or interacting with it. The in-dev mini-game I mentioned above and the entries in Stellar Remnants hope to drive that concept even further and allow you different perspectives within that galaxy. 

Today I released a double feature of gm-less horror games called HELL CABIN, based on movies like Evil Dead and The Rental. It's available as a two-sided poster at worldchamp.io/store and as a bundled pair of screen-friendly PDFs at https://itch.io/s/33851/hell-cabin-double-feature. I plan on continuing to make and release small games monthly via my patreon as long as they don't interfere with Necronautilus production! Consider becoming a backer there to support me in the long term and get weirder short rpgs every month in the mail.

that's all I can think to share for now. Thanks once again! Keep an eye out for backer surveys in about two weeks.

-AV

Answering Some Shipping Questions
over 3 years ago – Mon, Aug 03, 2020 at 03:32:10 PM

Just over 24 hours from now, this campaign will end and your pledge will be locked in, so double check and make sure you're at the level you want right now!

Hey y'all, I wasn't planning on posting another update til after the campaign ended but got a bunch of questions in the last 24 hours about shipping and want to make sure everyone sees the answers! While most of this is international-focused, there is some stuff about late-pledges, pledge manager, and merch, so US backers can read this too.

First off, VAT stuff. Because we're just doing books, there should not be VAT taxes on incoming packages for y'all UNLESS you are pledged at the INTERNATIONAL DEATH AGENT level. Because of the shirt, it will throw things off. My understanding is only the shirt will incur the tax and the value of the books won't be considered, its an extra $4, and I will cover it. I'm looking into how to do so in advance instead of you having to deal with it and getting reimbursed, but I won't know the full truth of it til shipping happens, still projected in November.

PLEDGE MANAGER. I wasn't going to use one, this project blew up, now I'm gonna use one. I'll be getting it setup asap to accommodate late pledges and book pre-orders. This will also allow me to charge those intl backers who didn't change their pledge for the correct shipping, it'll also allow people to add books & zines. 

MORE ABOUT SHIRTS. I will NOT be including t-shirts in the pledge manager because of the above tax issue it might create, so if you want a shirt, make sure you are at the Death Agent/International Death Agent pledge level before the campaign ends tomorrow. To make up for it, I'll be releasing a couple print-on-demand shirts through the World Champ teespring store, they won't be as nice as the screen printed campaign exclusive but teespring prints & ships in both america and europe so it can often be more accessible. On that subject, I also have a Necronautilus facemask in the store now, I got mine in the mail today and it looks very cool and feels shockingly soft and nice:

CANADA, I had someone ask if they have to up their pledge because while still international, Canadian postage is generally less than overseas. My wishy-washy answer was no, you don't have to update your pledge if you're in Canada. In the event that the shipping cost is higher, it'll be sorted through the pledge manager mentioned above. If you did switch and this results in overpaying, I will reimburse you.

I think that is everything, if you have further questions, leave a comment, send a message, or get at me on twitter @WCGameCo. Thanks one more time for your continued support!

-AV