Welcome to the April 1st Blue Planet update, and wow, do we have big news to share!
Lawyers from Lightstorm Entertainment contacted Biohazard Games in March. Apparently, they became aware of the undeniable similarities between Blue Planet and Avatar: The Way of Water (see previous update). As recompense for ripping off Blue Planet, James Cameron has invited me to co-write the screen play for his next sci-fi blockbuster. It’s an original, standalone story of ecological wonder and native uprising set in a distant part of the Avatar universe. The film is set on a desiccated world inhabited by giant, burrowing, CGI eels that poop priceless, hallucinogenic juice that mysteriously powers space mass transit. The working title is "Dum III," and I can’t wait to start work on this wholly original and unique project!
Ok, now that this important announcement is out of the way, let’s turn our attention to less serious topics.
Crowd-Sourced Perfection?
I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the proofreading of the various preview chapters. Backers submitted 346 individual error reports, covering everything from mis-used commas and missing words to rules-clarifying suggestions and more vernacular-appropriate German language model names for specific firearms. Most were great catches or suggestions. Many were tricky to enact without affecting the layout. Some were redundant as multiple readers reported the same issue. Some were simply not possible given the stage of the layout, and a few were simply beyond the scope of the error report process.
The process was slow and meticulous as each entry had to be located, confirmed, assessed, corrected, referenced and then explained for the layout artist. In the end, we made 240 corrections based on the errors you found. The process took much longer than I had hoped, but it undeniably improved the quality of the project. Thank you so very much for your help. (And a special thanks to Pawel D, who must have contributed 100 reports by himself!)
Layout
Layout continues apace, focused on stitching together all the chapters we have already previewed into the full core book versions of the Player’s and the Moderator’s guides. Given Robert’s crazy speed, I expect to see drafts of these any day. Once we have approved their final structure, we will start the slow but essential process of replacing all the (page XX) placeholders with the actual page references. Soon after that is complete, we should be able to share at least draft versions of the final PDFs with backers.
Storm Surge Update
March’s playtest sessions were high water marks for fun and consequences in the campaign thus far, and though I would love to spill all the saltwater tea, I don’t want to ruin things for the spoiler-averse. We have come to the part of the tale that is most revealing of the underlying plot and the direction the campaign takes the setting. Accordingly, I fear that as we close in on the end of the campaign, I will have to restrict myself to offering only the occasional story teaser, while talking mostly about the logistics of running such an atypically structured adventure.
For this month's update, it will have to suffice to share that over the course of the past two sessions, the three character groups and their three interweaving timelines came crashing together in an explosive set piece - literally. A harrowing firefight among the giant mangrove prop roots surrounding an abandoned GenDiver facility turned the slowly tightening spiral of events into a raging whirlpool from which no one escaped unchanged...
In unrelated news...
"GenDiver’s Santa Elena Long John refinery destroyed in surprise chemical attack, devastating the massive Incorporate…
…Incorporate City State colonies across Poseidon on high security alert as terror attack leaves Santa Elena utterly destroyed…
…eye witness reports claim the colony “just melted away over the course of hours,” leaving the surrounding forest in its place just as if “the city never existed…”
…though absolutely nothing remains of the city, initial reports claim there was no loss of life…even pets…
…expert claims aliens teleported Santa Elena to the Z Dimension as stock for human experimentation…
…Peacekeeper forces across the planet are on high alert - standing by in fast response status…
…Colonial administration and Incorporate leadership in special closed-door security session. Many fear war has come to the oceans of Poseidon."
Pledge Manager
We'll be using Gamefound for our pledge manager. Our publishing partner, Gallant Knight Games, has had lots of success with Gamefound and the flexibility of their tools, and we're excited to host the Blue Planet: Recontact late pledges there. To do so, Alan at GKG has to know the weight of each item in the pledge, so he is currently getting fresh quotes as we near printing so we can get more accurate shipping estimates.
A new and related hurdle is that GKG's previous EU and UK fulfillment partners no longer do fulfillment due to complications in the post-Covid economy. Alan is close to sorting EU fulfillment and is still working on it for the UK. Sorting these partners will help us finalize shipping costs and ensure we meet our commitment to VAT-friendly shipping.
We intend to offer upgrades and add-ons for the Player's and Moderator's Guide (upgrading to the slipcase edition, adding on extra copies, etc), as well as any appropriate digital rewards as part of the pledge manager. We'll provide more details as we finish building out the pledge manager, including a walk through on how to use it as we get closer.
Thank you for your patience.
Backer Online Games
Just after the Kickstarter campaign closed, I reached out to those backers who pledged at levels that scored them online games run by yours truly. Those who responded asked to wait until the books were available. Given that at least the PDFs are imminent, I encourage those who would like to schedule their games to reach out via the KS message system so we can get them on the calendar.
