Status Update December 2023
about 1 year ago – Sun, Dec 03, 2023 at 04:06:53 PM

As I’m writing this update I am traveling at 223 km/h, at a depth of 95 meters below sea level, in the tunnel that crosses the English Channel. I’m in the Eurostar train, my luggage weighs a ton, and is packed with zines that I’ve grabbed at the Dragonmeet convention in London. I'm headed back to France for a few weeks.

At Dragonmeet I had the chance to meet a few internet-RPG-friends, including Alfred Valley, one of the Outer Rim Uprising designers, who was trading at the slickest booth of the convention. 

I mean look at that yellow! (btw if you want to see more Dragonmeet pics, check this thread https://twitter.com/thelostbay/status/1731451810559177030)

At Aflred’s booth I could snag a copy of Known Frequencies I, the prequel to Known Frequencies II that is included in ORU. The good news is that you’ll be able to snag it too, very soon, and with it many other zines from the ORU crew’s back catalog, as well as ALL the individual items included in ORU.

That’s right, the Outer Rim Uprising pledge manager/pre-orders are going live very soon. They're loaded with a gigantic cargo of nearly 50 items! Only kick-ass Mothership zines and supplements. I’ll be shooting you another update in just a few days with all the info you need to access the pledge manager, so keep your eyes peeled.

In a nutshell: everything is going smoothly and as planned, we’re on track. Below you’ll find a dev and production recap for all the bundle entries. As you can see we are full green on quite a few items. During the month of December we'll fine-tune the Campaign Handbook, and for the next Status Update (January) I should be able to show you more art/spreads.

That’s all I got for you today. I’ll get back to you as soon as the pledge manager/pre orders are live.

Again, and always, 10^10 thanks for your support.

Have a great Sunday

Iko

Thank you and what's next?
about 1 year ago – Thu, Nov 02, 2023 at 11:04:51 AM

And so we’re funded!

Thank you for the fantastic show of support! It’s really amazing, we’re so happy!

We’re super excited and can’t wait to get the bundles printed.

What’s next?

You can expect to get roughly one update per month, or whenever there’s an important notice to share.

The next steps will be pretty standard. A few weeks after funds are collected, we’ll set up pre orders and load your data into the Pledge Manager. If you’ve never used a Pledge Manager before, don’t worry, I’ll send a detailed how-to update when time comes.

If you want to keep in touch, you can find me mostly on twitter, bluesky, or you can subscribe to The Lost Bay Studio newsletter The Dispatch.

It’s been a hell of a ride, and a pleasure to share it with you!

I’ll talk to you super soon

Cheers

Iko

21 hours left + solo goodie
about 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 01, 2023 at 07:21:56 AM

Hey folks!

I’m super excited to let you know that we’ve added a cool additional goodie to all pledge levels (either in PDF or printed). It's intended to facilitate solo play and features both the Semiotic Standard, an oracle, and a solo procedure designed by our solo gaming specialist: Alfred Valley. This bundle is packed with gaming goodness!

We’re a few hours away from the end of the campaign!

Now it’s time to spread the word, DM your best RPG pal, call your friends, tell everybody about Outer Rim Uprising! Let’s gooooo!

Cheers

Iko

Spaceships!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 24, 2023 at 11:04:15 AM

Hey space dwellers!

We have 8 days left before the end of the campaign, and a few super cool things to announce to you.

But before moving to the news, let’s recap what happened in the last three weeks:

• We love you, we’re over 1100% funded, that’s freaking unbelievable, thank you, thank you!
• We’ve added a Warden Screen to the Guerilla Bundle tier and above. It’s illustrated by Evangeline Gallagher and recaps the essential info of the Campaign Handbook.
• We’ve added a digital Character Keeper. Think of it as "one online doc to rule them all" and keep track of all your campaign info. It’ll be free and accessible to all tiers. It's designed by Josh Domanski. 
• We’ve added a new tier Full Digital Bundle. It contains all ORU adventures and supplements in PDF. We are big advocates of printed matter and zine nerds, but we understand that some members of the community would prefer a full digital reward, and we want to support that.
• If you’ve backed any of the physical tiers (Insurgent Bundle and above) you still can access any of the add-ons: Character Sheet or Crew Patches. BTW if you backed early, but you’re not sure if you’re eligible to the first 48h bonus Crew Patches, shoot me a DM and I’ll check for you.
   

An Infinity of Ships

Now the Campaign Handbook. This big boi keeps growing. It’s going to be such a versatile tool, especially in conjunction with the Character Keeper and the Warden Screen (yes, shameless plug here). And today we're super excited to announce it will feature a rebel spaceship, designed in collaboration with the STATIONS and illustrated by Rob Turpin. The ship is called Button Masher and her crew belongs to the rebel faction Knob Adjustment, featured in both the Campaign Handbook and in Marco Serrano’s Professional Rebels supplement.

This below is the kind of space art Rob Turpin does.

If you are a tabletop RPG sci-fi nerd like me, you might wonder: but Iko, is this the crew behind the kickass ship generator toolkit An Infinity of Ships that is Kickstarting right now? You bet it is!

We are super excited to announce that we’re doing cross-lore with the team behind An Infinity of Ships. Button Masher will be featured both in the ORU Campaign Handbook and in An Infinity of Ships, expanding even more your gaming possibilities.

An Infinity of Ships is just fantastic. It’s a toolkit to generate ships, techs, factions, and more. It’s packed with tables and generators, but comes also with predesigned ready to go ships, like our cross-lore Button Masher. 

AIoS is system agnostic, and fully compatible with Mothership. It plugs in so well into your Outer Rim Uprising modules, particularly if you’ve pledged at the Guerilla Bundle level and above. You can use its ships to do faster than light travel with BLINK, to access and infiltrate off-world facilities with A Saboteur’s guide to Cidus II, or to explore the sector(s) featured in the Campaign Handbook (if you do so, beware of fractal worms). We’re talking about cross-project implied setting, here.

I’m familiar with the STATIONS’ work. They pour creativity and dedication in anything they do, and An Infinity of Ships has been an instant back for me. Look at those ships, aren't they stunning? Go back it here.

To conclude this update, we have two cool actual plays to share with you.

The Hunger in Achernar AP with The Weekly Scroll. A classical "Survive, Solve, Save" Mothership adventure. Warning: only the brave, and the lucky, will survive.

And for our French-speaking friends, Ils ne nous mettront pas en cage, or They won’t cage us by Tim Obermueller and Josh Domanski, wardened by Pierre-Philippe Renaud at Coup Critique, and played by Chris Airiau.

That’s all I got for you today.

Thanks again for being here, you are amazing!

Iko

Warden Screen, and Character Keeper
about 1 year ago – Sun, Oct 15, 2023 at 10:44:48 AM

Hey dear backers,

we’re almost halfway through the campaign and we’ve passed 1100% of our funding goal. This is totally WILD! Thank you again for the amazing show of support!

Remember we said no stretch goals? We said we want to keep the campaign simple and deliver ORU as quickly as possible, right? That’s still valid. But I’m a big tabletop RPG nerd, and I love cool and nifty tools. And as a thank you for the massive support we’ve received, we've decided to add two new items to the bundle. I’m sure you’ll like them.

Imagine a document to keep track of all your campaign info, like a big fillable digital session sheet. 100% editable and online. Our very Josh Domasnki will make one for you. The Keeper will be public and freely accessible to all tiers, although it’ll be more useful when used in conjunction with the Campaign Handbook.

You don’t play with a tablet and prefer paper and pen? What follows is for you.

Yes! That’s right! A kick ass Warden Screen illustrated by Evangeline Gallagher, collecting and referencing the essential info of the Campaign Handbook. Now we’re talking! Prepare for eons of play, and light years of travel, exploration and fight in the Outer Rim. The Warden Screen will be added to the Guerilla, Uprising, Archivist, and Ultimate Bundle tiers. The Screen and the Campaign Handbook, used together, are the perfect combo to shoot your Outer Rim Uprising game to another level.

Hey, we love gaming, and we’re here to serve you, and we’re super excited by these two new additions.

Speaking of gaming, be sure to sync up to the Weekly Scroll YT channel because Ryan and Hunter will be releasing an actual play of The Hunger in Achernar very soon. The actual play features the two hosts of TWS, in addition to Caleb Zane Huet, and Josh Domanski as a Warden. The Hunger in Achernar is a classical "Survive, Solve, Save” Mothership adventure, where the characters find themselves on a mission to a derelict ship, close to Achernar, a star emitting a weird and uncanny light. And yes, Achernar is a real star, and I cannot confirm nor deny that D. Kenny the designer of the adventure has actually traveled to that distant system.

That’s all I got for you today.

Thanks again for being here, you are amazing!

Iko