Old Friend...

I received word a few days ago that an old friend had passed away. I knew him when he went by Shea, though he always signed his otherworldly artwork Blair Reynolds. We had not connected in some time, but there was a formative few years in the middle of my life when we were quite close. Shea was a unique soul - infinitely creative, deviously clever, brazenly hilarious and possessed of a dark nature that was simultaneously troubling, yet the source of his superpowers. 

He was an exceptional artist who created images no one else could conceive let alone put on paper. He illustrated the first edition of Blue Planet back when all we could print was black and white and his talent brought more life to those few drawings than all the colors of a rainbow. In fact, four of his originals - including the first image he ever sold for MegaTraveller - still hang on my game room walls. 

Shea was the most evocative GM I’ve ever had, and if I’ve any talent for that art it’s because he showed me what the role could be. As a teller of horror stories Shea was without peer, giving us genuine chills with just a few words and one of his trademarked facial expressions. Shea was also responsible for the most objectively horrific and hilarious 20 minutes of film ever made, and if you have the stomach for it, and get me drunk enough, maybe you can convince me to just tell you about it. I’ll certainly never show it to anyone. 

It’s been a long time since Shea and I last spoke - just drifted apart with time and distance. Knowing of his heart condition I have often wondered if he would be there if I reached out, and I kept telling myself I would, sometime. Now, as I type this, I’m surprised by how deeply the news of his passing saddens me. There are so few truly unique people that we are lucky when we actually get to know one. It’s cliché that so many pass on too young, but it feels true - especially tonight. It also feels true that such people take something essential from the world when they go…

August Update

Hard to believe it's time for the August update already - the summer is going faster than a wormhole transit! 

This update contains two illustration previews,  a little design goodness and a quick reminder. Because I do not know how far down the average backer reads updates,  I am putting the reminder at the top.  We sent out a backer survey through Kickstarter last month. If you have not filled it out yet, please do so. If you did not get yours for some reason, please message me through KS and I will sort it out. 

Now for the design goodness...

I want to share the work-in-progress for one of the equipment illustrations. Though a sort of try-out image, I think Erin nailed this cete remote and I can't wait to see the final, color version. 

Speaking of illustrators nailing it, it took all my willpower to wait until this update to share Ben's latest, but wow! The Greater White is the most iconic predator in the seas of Poseidon and it feels like Ben reached in and yanked this right out of my imagination! He is killing the Field Guide illustrations and this is definitely my favorite so far!

On a related design note, we have decided to include silhouette scale indicators with each of the Field Guide illustrations. As you can see, the greater white is pretty...great.

As another design insight, I wanted to share that I have decided to include Reputation in the Character Profile. I have long thought such a stat would fit well with the frontier ethos of the setting and we are playtesting it now. 

"Reputation - Poseidon is a big planet so with only two million inhabitants regional populations are very small. Accordingly, a person’s actions often earn them renown, esteem or even infamy across the frontier, and certainly within their communities and professions. Reputation provides character hooks for both players and moderators and impacts social maneuvers depending on the type and scope of a given reputation and the particular circumstances. 

If a character attempts a social maneuver that could reasonably be positively influenced by the scope and nature of their reputation, they may add their Reputation bonus to the associated test. If their reputation is of sufficient scope but counter to what they are trying to do, they must add their penalty to the test instead.

In addition to spending them on general character advancement, improvement points earned through reputation also grow a character's renown. Players should keep a running total, and as their reputation rank grow, so does the size of the associated social maneuver bonus or penalty the character earns."

Last, but certainly not least, I am super-excited to share that we have hired Rachel Lapidow to be the editor for Recontact. You might think super-excited is a strong response for securing an editor but first, let me emphasize that editors can make or break the quality of a large project like this, and second, Rachel is one of the absolute best. She jumped in and saved the Upwind editing process, and proved to be one of the most diligent professionals with whom I've ever worked.  As players you should be excited too!

Thank you for your continued support for the project, and see you next month!

July Update

Welcome to the July production update! In the midst of this super-hot summer we have some super-cool things to share...

First, you should receive your Kickstarter backer survey in the next few days. There will be a pledge manager survey when the manager goes live (next spring) but there is some info we need now so we'll start with KS.  In addition to the basics, if you backed at a level that includes an online campaign consultation or game, the survey will include some questions to help us pin down what you want to chat about/play and when. If you backed at a level that includes cartographical naming rights, be ready to submit your selections. Please note:

1. You will be asked to submit three potential names in order of priority. There could be overlap between backers and providing extra names will prevent a lot of back and forth, confusion and delay.

2. For each name, you will be asked to designate a specific type of cartographical feature - island, mountain, plain, bay, sea, current, seamount, sea floor plain or ocean trench. We will pick a currently unnamed matching location on one of the maps and assign it the new name. Note that there are only so many islands to go around, so consider selecting other features if you want the best chance of getting your first choice. 

3. We reserve the right to edit or even refuse selections to maintain the tone and brand - no "Boaty McBoatface", "Jeff Barber's Island" or anything that could reasonably be judged as inappropriate. To support this intention, think about the kinds of names the Athena Project members would have assigned as they conducted the original surveys of Poseidon. Suggest names from real-world maps, names that evoke realism or just sound appropriately cool. If you want to feature your children, a significant other, pet or other personal aspect of your life, that's great - just couch the reference in a setting appropriate way. Example - Instead of Jeff Barber's Island, maybe something like Old Surgeon's Bay or El Rey Cove.

Second, I am pleased to share the news that Graeme Barber (no relation unfortunately) of POCGamer fame has agreed to write the World of Hurt stretch goal! A former soldier and commercial/archaeological diver, a wise voice in all things RPGs, a skilled game designer, and the author of his very own abandoned-water-world-sci-fi roleplaying game, Wave Chasers, I could not be more excited about the expertise and enthusiasm he is bringing to the project. We've already had our first brainstorming session about the supplement's structure and content and you are going to love what we are building. Graeme is the perfect writer to bring this book to life.

Last in this update, but very definitely not least, I am giddy to introduce Ben Sigas, the artist for the BP field guide. Ben illustrated Biohazard's "The Prophecy of the Grand Amplifier" and "Three Breasts" campaign books for our Upwind RPG, and simply put, he is amazing. He is already well into the Field Guide project and producing brilliantly alien images.

Don't take my word for it - judge for yourself!

BLOOD HUNTER (Venator emeritus)

Illustration Inspiration

With art direction for 70+ interior illustrations pending, and 1600+ backers with cool thoughts about the parts of Poseidon they want to see brought to life, I thought it would be fun to solicit ideas for possible illustrations. Not all ideas will be used and it's not practical to credit inspiration as there will likely be a lot of overlap in ideas, but if you think this would be a fun way be involved, please make a submission through this link. In fact, feel free to submit as many suggestions as you would like.

By the Numbers

28 day campaign ✔︎

4 hours to fund ✔︎

417% funding goal ✔︎

2 core books ✔︎

25 stretch goals ✔︎

700 sci-fi-filled pages ✔︎

1657 backers ✔︎

125,341cs ✔︎

Countless thank yous! ✔︎✔︎✔︎

This campaign has been unbelievably successful because of the enthusiasm and generosity of the Blue Planet community - by both the old crew and new friends. We are excited at the promise the exceptional funding holds for the world of Poseidon and can’t wait to get started on the whale-sized project you have just handed us. The real work is about to begin, and if you want all the details, check out the latest update on our Kickstarter page.

3rd and Final Wave

Check out the final three stretch goals for the Blue Planet: Recontact Kickstarter. They will complete an amazingly successful and satisfying campaign that is the direct result of backer enthusiasm and support. Thank you to all who have invested in the game and if you are still thinking about it, check out the story here. Time is short as we are about to break orbit for Poseidon!

One Week

One week to the end of the Blue Planet: Recontact Kickstarter, and it's been a surprising and gratifying trip! If hard sci-fi roleplaying on a contentious, frontier water world with a dangerous ecology and undercurrents of alien mystery interests you, check us out.

BP Q&A

What: Blue Planet-Recontact live Q&A

When: Saturday, 4.24, at 2p Pacific Time

Where: Discord (https://discord.gg/663PtKrvcX)

Join us for a voice chat to discuss the new edition, the Kickstarter, water-world-building or whatever other marine sci-fi goodness you want to explore!

KS Updates

Check out the Blue Planet: Recontact Kickstarted updates. We blew through our initial funding goal in just 4 hours, knocked down 19 stretch goals and just passed $80k! The Blue Planet community is killing it, the books are going to be gorgeous, Wormhole and World of Hurt are both getting made and we still have two weeks to go!

Kickstarter Loves Blue Planet

Thanks to the support of our awesome community, Blue Planet: Recontact is now a “Project We Love” on Kickstarter. This means a higher profile on the site, more potential backers and even more stretch goals going down. Thank you Crew, you are killin’ it!

BP Kickstarter is Live!

The Blue Planet: Recontact Kickstarter is now live. If you appreciate deep world-building and character-focused mechanics you’ll love the fully-realized ecology and sociopolitics of the ocean planet Poseidon and the reimagined, character-centered system in this definitive edition of the classic, hard sci-fi game.

Tomorrow

Click here for notification of when the Blue Planet: Recontact KS launches tomorrow morning.