May Update

April was a good month for Blue Planet tech art, as the illustrations below attest. The first is an example of a heavy-lift orbital cargo shuttle making a water launch after refueling via its onboard hydrogen cracking plant. The second is of a sample of long john as it transitions from raw form to processing to medical-grade wafer.  The third is a spot illustration for the equipment chapter - the first from Vitaliy. I think it's awesome, and I can't wait to see what he does with the rest of the commissions. 

Cetacean Power Shell

In an effort to provide cetaceans with superior speed, range, and functionality, engineers at Hydrospan have developed a line of MHD sleds for use by the various cete species. The devices are essentially part hard suit, part open submersible.The user slips into the formfitting cowling, which snugs securely about their body. Oversized MHD drives provide superior speed and power. Sensitive linkages relay the pilot’s own instinctual muscle movements to the finlike rudder surfaces, allowing subtle, active control of the fast and nimble craft.

Power shells are essentially sleek minisubs that lack pressure hulls.They therefore increase a cetacean’s speed, endurance, and cargo capacity, but not their depth limits. Standard designs provide artificial gill life support as well as a variable suite of sensory and communication equipment. Interfacing with the onboard systems is usually accomplished through sonic trodes.

Most designs sport hardpoints where small cargo pods or weapon systems can be attached. Smaller cete versions typically have two, while larger pilot and orca shells can have up to four. Because power shells are inherently streamlined, each occupied hardpoint reduces the craft’s chase/evade ratings by 1.

Power shells are generally constructed of various bioplastic and ceramic composites. Most smaller cete shells are powered by rechargeable batteries, while orca shells are charged by small fuel cells. It’s a matter of public record that the GEO has contracted a line of military grade power shells with integrated weapon systems and armored cowlings. Therefore, it won’t be long before paramilitary power shell models are available on the open market.

DIMENSIONS: 320 kilograms and 4 meters long

DURABILITY: 1

POWER SOURCE: rechargeable batteries or fuel cell, MHD drives

FUEL RANGE: 800 kilometers/charge

CAPACITY: 1 rider/pilot, 200 kilograms divided among cargo pods

AVAILABILITY: uncommon

FEATURES: autonomous, hard points, sensors, warm interfacing

COST: 60,000cs

MODELS: Hydrospan Porpoise, Hydrospan Spyhopper, Hydrospan Hunter/Singer

MANEUVER MODS: Attack: 0 Defend: 2 Chase/Evade: 4 Performance: 2

Day Jobs and Delays
April was not a good month for my own production goals, however, and this spring has been too slow in general. Though Rachel continues her editing apace, Mark is killing it with the maps, great freelance assignments have come in and the first section is off to the layout artist Thomas Deeny,  my own work has been waylaid by my day job.

Most of you probably don't know, but IRL I am a science teacher turned mostly administrator. I manage the boarding program at a small independent school, which means I am responsible for the daily lives of about 125 teenagers from all over the world. To say it is a time consuming job under normal circumstances is an understatement, but life under COVID has only made it ridiculous - I frequently work 15 hour days, and yesterday was my first day off in six weeks. So, you can imagine finding the time and energy to work on Blue Planet is often hard if not impossible and the reason why we are not as far along on the project at this point as originally planned.  

Though the lives of writers of indie, hard sci-fi RPGs about the woes of colonizing water worlds may seem like it's all pristine alien beaches, glorious ocean sunsets and piles of Incorporate cash, my day job usually has to take priority if I am to keep body and soul together. Despite the long john boom, there's little money in RPGs, and game production is a slow, often tedious side-gig and requires extra time, energy and focus that are not always available.  

Suffice it to say that I continue the work as my schedule and energy allow, and despite the delays, the game continues to take shape. Thank you for your understanding, support and ongoing patience. 

April Update

Anniversary Gratitude

In a week (April 6th) it will be a year since we launched the Blue Planet: Recontact Kickstarter, and what a trip that was. I remember being apprehensive about making our $30k goal going in, and certain that if we did it wouldn't be until the final days of the campaign. Four hours after hitting the launch button I was never so happy to have been so wrong. I remain incredibly grateful to all of our generous backers and deeply appreciate your continued enthusiasm and patience as we work to get the game to press. That enthusiasm is what keeps me going!

More Art Previews

The thing I like best about the BP Field Guide is that we have always tried to make the flora and fauna of Poseidon seem truly alien, with a unique evolutionary history and a non-Terrestrial ecology. We have worked hard to avoid the writing pitfall of "like sharks but with tentacles." Whether or not we have realized that in the text, I think Ben has been doing a fantastic job of capturing the essence of alien-ness in his illustrations. A perfect example is his rendering of the "Hangin' Joe" - an arboreal mollusk analog and ambush predator. 

Hangin’ Joe (Unclassified)

Despite its rather innocuous name, this creature should be considered extremely dangerous. Described here based on only a few specimens, this organism is apparently well known to natives who frequent Poseidon mangrove islands. The animal appears to be a gastropod analog with a thick, muscular foot and a lumpy, thick-skinned visceral mass. Though arboreal mollusks are not unheard of, this creature is certainly unique, if only for its size. Hangin’ Joes are massive and can weigh in excess of 200 kilograms.

Their hides are a mottled brown, but are typically covered with a thick mat of moss and epiphyte analogs. Joes have 10 to 20 long, ropy tentacles that look remarkably like hanging vines. These limbs are powerfully muscled and can reach 30 meters in length. When the animal is moving or feeding, the tentacles are typically coiled near the body. When hunting, they hang below the creature’s arboreal perch. When close to the main body, the wary can sometimes detect a faint sulfur odor which can give away the creature’s presence.

Behavior: Hangin’ Joes move rarely and slowly, and only from one hunting perch to another. A hunting Joe flattens itself out, wrapping around a large supporting limb. Like many creatures on Poseidon, Joes are ambush predators. When hunting, they uncoil their long tentacles, draping them over lower branches or dangling them just below the water’s surface. Any hapless animal that blunders into the drooping “vines” is instantly entangled in a flurry of coiling tentacles. Joes kill by constriction and death can be slow, especially for larger creatures. Once dead, the prey is lifted to the Joe’s perch and tucked under the mass of the creature’s body, where radula-like mouth parts make short work of hide, muscle, and bone.

DISTRIBUTION: Topical zone Poseidon mangroves and some humid, coastal jungles

SIZE: Foot 2m to 3m, tentacles to 30m and 200kg to 250kg

ENCOUNTER RATE: 15%

RESOURCE VALUE: None - the flesh is rubbery and ammonia compounds make it almost unpalatable

THREAT LEVEL: High

ATTACK: Grapple and constriction (DR 2, slow suffocation)

ATTRIBUTES: -2/1/4

Peter has also been nailing his assignments with compelling and evocative style. This recent image does so much to capture Blue Planet's premise, world-building and tone in a single illustration I could not be more satisfied. 

The Timeline

No, not the production kind of timeline, the future history kind of timeline...

2187:  An independent biochemistry lab on Earth uses a xenosilicate “template” to conduct genetic manipulation of unparalleled precision. The new technique stops degradation of genetic expression and breakdown in cellular machinery, essentially arresting the aging process. A massive exploitative rush for the mineral, now popularly referred to as Longevity Matrix Ore or Long John, begins. Poseidon promises untold wealth and immortality to anyone who can harvest a share.

2188:  GEO contracts for three more interstellar transport ships are awarded, and Incorporate states and independent companies spend billions of dollars researching Long John harvesting technologies.

2190:  The first wave of Incorporate immigrants arrives on Poseidon. The limited facilities for receiving, housing and feeding them are strained to the limits.

The first floating city, Dyfedd, is built by Lavender Organics.

2192:  Commercial flights from Earth bring a total of 30,000 people to Poseidon this year. Most native Poseidoners vehemently oppose the massive influx of Incorporate interests and personnel from Earth, but are powerless to stop the “newcomers.”

I know that many people consider timelines in RPG books low-utility space, but I have always loved them in games, and Blue Planet's has always been a big one as a result. To me a timeline provides a vital sense of verisimilitude and grounds a setting in its own history in a way other world-building techniques are unable to do. I particularly like the Blue Planet timeline for two reasons. The first is that we  tried very hard to make it plausible - realistic enough to support the science-based world we are trying to evoke. The second reason requires a little storytelling. 

Jason Werner in one of my oldest friends, and was the first person with whom I ever shared the premise of Blue Planet - before a single word had even been written. We were sitting in a dingy college bar in the early 90's after fencing practice (gotta hydrate), and I lined out the whole setting in a big expository dump. He seemed psyched about it, but what really blew me away was that at practice the very next day he presented me with a thick stack of papers - thousands of words - that he'd been inspired to write in less than 24 hours! Part of that stack contained the nascent timeline, and the clipped tone and fact-heavy style felt like a perfect fit for Blue Planet.

I have told Jason this before, but I think that had it not been for his stalwart enthusiasm, the original edition of Blue Planet might never have been published. His enthusiasm helped keep the project going whenever I faltered. His second most important contribution however, was the timeline, and so I was excited and grateful when he agreed to update it for Recontact. 

A lot has happened in the world since the mid-nineties and I had many refinements for the update, but Jason was game to play and I think he did a fantastic job. I just got his final file the other day and though it has not been to the editor yet - so please ignore any grammatical or typo issues - I thought it would be fun to share the raw text here. Much of the original text has survived, but there have been countless edits, tweaks and updates - some major, some subtle - and I am excited to share it with those of you who also love timelines. 

March Update

March already?!? Hard to believe we are closing in on a year since the Kickstarter campaign began. 

Art and More Art

I wanted to start by sharing a preview of what may be my favorite illustration for the project to date - an amazing image by artist Peter Johnston. They say "a picture is worth a thousand words," and this one evokes almost every aspect of Blue Planet in a single image - the ominous nature of an alien sea,  the majesty of powerful creatures, the ubiquitousness of empowering technologies and the rising threat of war. Perfect is not a strong enough word...

And this just came in yesterday, so there's no way I'm leaving it out. It speaks for itself as well...

I also want to preview one of my favorite field guide images to date - the sea ghoul. Ben outdid himself with this one and I love it! It even looks like it smells bad...

Sea Ghoul (Voro inferi)

This avian analog’s name is apparently a nod to their seagull-like abundance and marine scavenger ecology. In keeping with their name, ghouls are ugly creatures with mottled gray-and-white skin. They have long wings supporting flight membranes that are so thin they’re nearly transparent. The bird’s body is lean and provides so little buoyancy that when floating in the water, the animal’s snakelike head and neck are all that’s visible above the surface. Petite jaws match the species’ small head and are tipped with pairs of bony plates, which serve as a mix between a beak and conventional cutting dentition.

BEHAVIOR: Ghouls have a number of dorsal and ventral eyespots, but seem to rely mostly on their sense of smell to find carrion. Ghouls forage in small flocks of up to 20 birds, which gather into larger groups if abundant or particularly big carcasses are available. When such feeding congregations occur, the grunting calls of the squabbling animals can be deafening. Individuals appear to spend as much time fighting over food as they do eating it. Native Poseidoners have learned to avoid large groups of sea ghouls as they typically indicate the presence of a substantial amount of carrion, implying that either a large predator is nearby, or at the very least, that scavengers more dangerous than ghouls may soon arrive.

Ghouls are abundant throughout the Pacifica Archipelago. They are edible but have a gamy, unpleasant flavor that keeps them relatively safe from native hunters. Ghouls are regularly eaten by people in survival situations, but care should be taken even then. Though their meat is edible, their liver organ analogs are rich in various chemicals that are highly toxic to humans. These chemicals are thought to be metabolic byproducts of the poisonous bacterial wastes that accumulate in the rotting foods they consume. The GEO has lost a number of soldiers and field biologists to ghoul liver poisoning, prompting the inclusion of this otherwise harmless species in this report. Sea ghouls are not otherwise a threat to humans, nor have they ever been documented attacking anything larger than a herring.
         DISTRIBUTION: All coastal and open-ocean habitats planetwide
         SIZE: 20 cm to 50 cm long and 1.5 kg to 2.2 kg
         ENCOUNTER RATE: 100%
         RESOURCE VALUE: Low
         THREAT LEVEL: N/A
         ATTACK: N/A
         ATTRIBUTES: -1/4/-3

Politics and Games

Those who follow such things may be aware that one of the current threads in RPG discourse is about the role of politics in games - whether games should reflect political agendas and how that question relates to escapism, storytelling and art. If you backed Blue Planet you likely did so at least in part because you appreciate the environmental and anti-colonial themes featured in the game.

Two weeks ago I contracted with an artist I had recently met via social media, to draw the tech illustrations for Blue Planet. His name is Vitaliy, this is his Artstation gallery, and he lives in Ukraine. I share this story because of the parallels in last week’s invasion of Ukraine to the anti-colonial themes in Blue Planet and the sad irony of an artist being unable to make art for the game because of real-world imperialism.

Politics in games is inescapable. What games we choose to play and how we choose to play them say much about who we want to be and the kind of world we want to live in. In whatever small way it can, I hope Blue Planet will encourage people to resist injustice and greed across our own blue planet.

February Update

Production on Blue Planet continues to gain momentum and for the first time I am beginning to see the light at the end of this very long wormhole. 

The field guide text has gone through a final edit with Rachel and the creature art is nearing completion. As soon as it's done that section will go to layout, initiating that next step and passing an exciting milestone.  And yes, we plan to share draft pdfs with backers as they come out of layout so those who have offered to track down typos and other errors can go hunting. 

Speaking of the field guide art, here are some more teasers. Ben has managed to make even the flora (Poseidon potato, Poseidon Mangrove and Pharium) cool, alien and evocative. And his polypod is simultaneously beautiful and terrifying - just as it should be!

Speaking of art, the interior illustrations continue to come in, each one cooler than the last. I hesitated to share this next image because it sets the bar so high (so deep?), but it's just so damn good I couldn't resist. Peter from the Sigil Entertainment art studio killed this split-level image of Lavender Organics' floating city of Dyfed. 

As a text update, we reached another milestone last week. 

I had been delaying sending off the game mechanics files for editing as I wanted to put some distance between them and my brain so that I could come back to the text with fresher eyes for a final once-over. I finished that final edit last week and then shared the files with Alan at Gallant Knight in hopes that his expert designer's eyes will catch any grinding gears that I have overlooked. Once he's taken a pass and we've resolved any potential issues, the rules will go off to Rachel for final editing. I can't help but feel like that will be a meaningful step forward as well.  

Thank you all for your ongoing patience and enthusiasm and if you would like to see more frequent sneak-peaks and insights to the BP production process follow me on Twitter at: @BiohazardJeff

January Update

A happy and healthy New Year to everyone! 2022 sure sounds like the future, and though 2199 still seems a long way off, Blue Planet: Recontact is getting closer!

This month's update consists of two previews. The first is of the amazing cartographic work being done by the incomparable Mark Richardson. In this case I'll just let these work-in-progress images speak for themselves...

The second preview is the draft text for Down-Home Station - one of the three setting facilities created as stretch goals - and the recently completed illustration inspired by it. In this case, the picture is worth way more than just 1000 words...

Convention Note: Unfortunately, I have decided to cancel Biohazard's events and attendance at OrcaCon 2022 next weekend. I am super-bummed as it's a great convention and I was fired up to participate, but the nature of my day job requires I be extra-cautious regarding COVID and set a good example of personal responsibility for my students. OrcaCon is doing everything they can to keep people safe, but the local rise in case numbers means I can't justify the risk of attending. Apologies to any who were excited to play Upwind or Blue Planet at the Con. Let's hope we can return in 2023? 

December Update

Already time for the December update, and there’s a lot to share...

Art Update

Let’s talk art first. Ben is nearing completion of the field guide art and here’s some works-in-progress for a couple of the most recent images - the hexaboar and leviathan but not too scale.

Ben is so awesome to work with and it’s increasingly likely he will also be doing the tech art. Here is his rendering of a basic cetacean CICADA. He offered various design options and folks picked their favorite over on our Twitter feed. Let us know what you think?

In other art news, I have been cranking away on art direction for the general interior illustrations, greatly helped and inspired by the suggestions backers made as part of our illustration survey (108 entries!). Some I've assigned almost word-for-word - like the cyclonic rescue and Second Try images from the November update. There was a lot of overlap in the suggestions however, which meant there were also many important aspects of the setting that were not represented in the entries. Accordingly, I've tweaked and combined elements of many of the suggestions to fill those gaps - everything from asteroid mining in the Serpentis system, to sperm whale observance of the whale song to the new COAP sky hook on Earth (see below). So, if in the end you don't see your specific suggestion as a fully rendered image in the final books, know that it will certainly be in there as essential inspiration.

Maps Update

In case you didn't know, Mark Richardson, the artist responsible for the new map render of the Pacifica Archipelago in the Recontact primer, makes his living as an actual real world cartographer. He is using his considerable expertise to help lend Poseidon even more verisimilitude by rendering a bunch of maps for the project using professional map making science and technology. He has been sharing his process via Twitter, and I've reposted some excerpts here just to show you how cool it is!

"Yesterday I managed to find a process that gives fairly solid DEM results from Points with Heights so now I have to build up a database of points for the world. I'm doing this at 3,000 metre depths so points are either 0, -3k, -6k, -9k, -12k and a few -13/14 for the extra. One more thing I'm using a trick I learned from Surveying work, change your colours to bright vibrants and your background to BLACK, it makes it all POP and is actually easier on the eyes for long bouts of drawing. What you draw doesn't need to equal the end state."

"Forty minutes of points later... I'm a little unsure how the it will suss out. Too much or not enough detail is gonna be weird to nail down with so much interpolation. Moar points = more data, I only have a few depth values outside of Pacifica Archipelago which is why you get this pattern but this looks like it's going to work really well for the the Globe."

Text Update

We are making some additions throughout the text of the new edition to improve the science, update the technology and increase the socio-political tensions. Thought I'd share a preview of some of the latter here.

"In 2139 a limited conglomerate including representative divisions from a majority of Incorporate and national states surprised the world by announcing its intention to build a second Earth skyhook. Frustrated by restrictive lift schedules, capacities and GEO regulations, Atlas Materials, Biogene, Hanover Industries, McLeod Enforcement and the Chinese government led an unprecedented, cooperative initiative. Design, financing and construction took almost 10 years, and given the extreme security at the time, observers could only speculate on the internal politics that must have plagued the project. Driven on however, by the vast increases in capacity and profits a larger, unregulated skyhook would provide, the project was eventually completed and the first payload was delivered to orbit in early 2149.

Unimaginatively dubbed the Cooperative Orbital Access Project, the COAP has proven to be even more profitable than anticipated – though exactly how those profits are distributed within the conglomerate remains proprietary. With a transport capacity almost twice that of the Ecuador hook, the COAP vastly increased the Incorporate exploitation of the Solar system and unexpectedly provided essential facilitation of the Long John rush to Poseidon.

The planetside terminal was sited at the equator southwest of the vast urban sprawl of Mombassa, Kenya. Already an Incorporate stronghold as the home of McLeod Enforcement headquarters, the east African location provided ready access to a vast workforce, abundant carbon resources and standing security infrastructure.

The most prominent political and anti-colonial voices in Kenya, among the surviving international community, and even in the GEO went unheeded. Despite protests, boycotts, political censures and sanctions, in the end little consideration was given to the long term economic and social consequences of anchoring the skyhook in a region still struggling to recover from the Blight

The economic boom the Incorporate hook brought to Mombassa is unprecedented, but as feared, this has not proven a universal boon. The largely unrestricted urban sprawl that has rapidly grown around the planetside terminus, known as Obiti Jiji, has brought with it all the benefits, troubles and tragedies boomtowns have always created. Densely populated, poorly regulated, lacking adequate infrastructure, “Orbit City” has become an object lesson in the excesses and failures of Incorporate urban management."

Hope you like what you see, let us know in the comments and join us on Twitter for more frequent updates and chances to even influence the project.

November Update

Blue Planet: Recontact production is sailing along. We've been receiving exciting submissions from both the writing and art crews. The revised and updated future history is in, drafts of most of the campaign archetypes are complete and all the PC species and station stretch goals are done. The editor has completed an enormous section of the moderator's guide and sent it back through the wormhole for initial approval. The field guide images are nearing completion, the tech spot illustrations are spinning up and the interior images we have received so far are inspiring.  I also had a meeting last weekend with the map maker, and want to note that Mark is using actual cartographic calculations, projections and software to build real maps of our made up world.  How cool is that?

There is still a leviathan's weight in work left to do, but we are cruising. In fact, there is so much in progress that I want to remind backers of something we hope was clear from the Kickstarter. Given the size and timeline of the project, we are focusing on the physical deliverables first, and leaving the digital and PoD items for a second phase that we'll focus on once the files for the physical books are at the printer. This is the most efficient use of our resources and we just wanted to be clear about that plan.  

Art Previews

The interior illustrations are starting to come in even as I continue to frantically generate art direction. I thought it would be fun to preview a couple of those pieces alongside the crude sketches I provided  with the written direction I sent the artists. The stark comparisons show how the illustrators are truly making magic happen. So awesome! 

Text Preview
We also recently received drafts of several of the campaign archetypes and wanted to share a couple teasers here.

Shenley ERT

Emergency Rescue Teams (ERTs) operate everywhere on Poseidon, even in the back end of nowhere. Shenley is a small town in the Endeavour Islands, developed by the GEO to spread people across Poseidon. It's a base for Long John prospectors, HIST survey teams, and others.
All these people get into trouble, far from anywhere. That's where you come in. Shenley's Emergency Response Team (ERT) is a combination of search-and-rescue team, paramedics, and flying doctors. When things go wrong, you pick up the pieces and save lives. You've got a huge patch with people scattered all over. And the nearest backup is 20,000km away…

C33 RECCE

“No Respite for the Foe”
Motto of 95th Mobile Combined Arms Regiment
Listen up and listen in. Something dirty is going down in this Sierra Nueva War. GEO backed the wrong agreements and we’ve been in active counter-insurgency across the whole damn Northwest Territory ever since. GenDiver, the local Incorporate on the scene, has us running their Ops while doing their own dirty work. The Marshals have their hands tied. The story we’re telling them is that we’re reinforcing 33rd infantry, setting observation posts, getting serious about the entire operation. Our real job is to gather info and evidence about what GenDiver is doing, and move it higher. Yeah. Actual recce work for once, right? Hell no, we don’t catch breaks. The Natives don’t know or care, and if GenDiver gets a whiff, we’ll be catching it from both ends. And the whole damn island is against us with its weather. So stay sharp.

- Squadron Sergeant Major Miles Sullivan to the members of 95th MCAR’s Recce Squadron after establishing Patrol Base Roja, Isla Verde.

OrcaCon

Finally, in case you are local, COVID precautions permitting I will be at OrcaCon in Bellevue, WA, on January 7th-9th. I have a Blue Planet: Recontact and an Upwind session already on the growing schedule, but would be excited to run a backer only game if there was interest.  Let me know in the comments below if you will be attending and would be interested in playing BP together. 

October Update

October already? Wow! The Recontact project continues apace... 

Art Updates

In the art department, Ben continues to slay the creature section, and here are a couple more works-in-progress as proof - the Hangin' Joe and the Trident Fish.

In the spirit of full transparency, I also want to share that for reasons beyond our control we have lost a couple of artists from the project - a primary interior illustrator and the artist we had lined up for the tech section images. This is a bummer, but we are working to spin up a number of new folks and I hope to be able to share previews of their work soon.

Writing Assignments

We had a bunch of freelancer writer deadlines in mid-September, and their sections are all on track. I also have brought on Tyrone Cawston (@LammaticHama) to write the Native insurgent campaign archetype, and if they dig doing that my hope is they might take on some additional assignments. I hope to be able to announce a couple more awesome freelancers for the new section on future-culture and the Outback stretch goal soonest.

For my own part I have updated some big sections and passed those on to our editor Rachel. I have been plugging in new content here and there to dress things up and to hide a few textual Easter eggs that tie together backstory elements. One such egg is a bit of foreshadowing regarding the wormhole. 

The 14 Minute Conundrum

"In 2192 HCST astronomer Eden Wu and her team published some unlikely findings regarding long-recognized but trivial discrepancies in astronomical positions when measured on either side of the wormhole – discrepancies that until Wu’s study were thought to be within the margin of error for the available instruments. Wu’s work however, corrected for this error and lead to her discovery of a 13 minute, 57.43 second discrepancy between the positions of the astronomical bodies when observed from the Sol system and when observed from the Serpentis system.

The release of the study initially made Wu and her team laughing stocks and almost cost Wu her career. She stood by her science however, and after the subsequent introduction of new observatory technologies and independent verification, her conclusions were confirmed. Though the discovery caused a short-lived media sensation, the facts were too nuanced, the science too rarified and the practical consequences so irrelevant that the public quickly lost interest. The astronomy community however, was not so quick to move on, especially those studying the wormhole. Suddenly, fringe hypotheticals and ephemeral mathematics understood by only a handful of physicists in either system, become the focus of a dozen new lines of excited inquiry into wormhole research.

Now, in 2199, some scientists – at least those who understand the math – are beginning to think that it is possible that dense theories about the relativistic velocity of wormhole termini and temporal displacement might be true. Simply put, the Serpentis system might actually exist approximately 14 minutes into the Earth’s future."

I have  completed final drafts of the three new player character stretch goals - the Skink, the Xeno and the Sperm Whale. I have also all but completed drafts of the three new high-pressure station locations and have been sharing short previews on Twitter. Accordingly, I thought I would close out this update by sharing the rough draft of the entire Proteus Landing station gazetteer entry. 

Hope you enjoy the previews! Follow us on Twitter for more frequent insights and snippets, and see you in November. 

September Update

It seems like I just posted the August update, but I already have more cool Blue Planet things to share. This update contains previews of the new Incorporate logos and more field guide art and a sneak peak at some of the background for the sperm whale PC option.

Logo Preview

James Stowe is a graphic designer of rare creativity who puts unique levels of thought and layers of meaning into his work. He did all of the illustrations for our Upwind RPG, but perhaps most notably he drew the in-game navigational chart of the known skies, creating an entirely original number writing system and over a dozen national flags steeped in the setting lore - just as simple graphic garnish! He has brought that same attention to detail and lore-based creativity to the Incorporate logos stretch goal for Recontact. I believe they are so good that those who are familiar with the Incorporated City-States can probably guess which logo belongs to which company just from the images.

Left to right by row: Anasi Systems, GenDiver, Dundalk Shipbuilding, Hydrospan, Nippon Industrial State, Atlas Materials, Biogene, Hanover Industries, MacLeod Enforcement and Lavender Organics

More Field Guide Previews

Ben Sigas, the field guide illustrator continues to kill it with his renderings of Poseidon's wildlife and am I excited to share a couple more with this update. Here are the entries for the the Bad Mojo, the Dune Creeper and the Chub - the last of which is so perfect I am not sure if I want to cuddle it or kill it with fire.

Sperm Whale Characters

I'll admit that I was dubious about including sperm whales as a player character species, but I found something compelling about the idea of two dozen members of a previously extinct and physically massive species finding their way in a strange new world while managing the overwhelming fame such an existence would incur. It's a roleplaying challenge I though some would enjoy and that would add interesting adventure options for GMs. I didn't want them to seem a joke or feel like an over-the-top addition to a setting that otherwise strives for real-world verisimilitude, but in the end I think I was able to strike just the right tone. Here is some of the background text, explaining their addition to Poseidon.

Pod 21

"On a balmy summer day in 2190, the colony world was shocked when 21 frightened and malnourished juvenile Terrestrial sperm whales swam into Haven Harbor seeking aid. They seemed to have little practical knowledge of the wider colony world, and spoke only the unique language developed among the first uplifted belugas. It is impossible to impart the full scope of the media storm this event created and the political controversy that followed. Suffice it to say, the members of Pod 21, as they became known, are the most famous cetaceans in history, and have remained reluctant celebrities since that day.

In the end, investigators determined the whales were somatic clones, produced from archived DNA models, using xenosilicate templates and oversized artificial wombs. The project had been carried out somewhere in the Copper Islands on the eastern edge of the Dolphin Sea, but to date no one has been able to locate the mostly automated, semi-aquatic facility the confused teenage whales described. It has yet to be determined if this was an Incorporate experiment, the project of some egomaniacal beluga benefactor, an insurgent plan gone wrong or even the goal of a cult. The only certainty is that it had been a massively expensive undertaking, with considerable infrastructure, that went entirely unnoticed in the vast obscurity of the frontier for most of a decade.

The whales described how one day the handful of human and cetacean techs that had apparently created them simply shut down the creche, boarded a hopper and flew away. As they departed, one tearful human stuck a trode interface with navigational software to the side of one of their heads and told them to, “Swim to Haven.” This strange abandonment only added to the mystery of their origin and the fevered nature of the media coverage.

The whales shared that there had originally been 24 clones, prenatally modified to produce 12 reproductively male and 12 reproductively female individuals. One died during gestation, one shortly after being decanted and one was killed by a lesser white as the pod made its way across the frontier to Haven. The clones are exactly that, 21 somatically identical “siblings” who not only share the expected emotional ties but the additional bonds of being the only extant representatives of their species.

The trauma and stress of the sperm whales’ unique situation can not be overstated. They are members of a once-extinct species who have no parental bonds or cultural heritage. They suffered profound childhood trauma, have been hounded by the media and special interests for most of their lives, and now have to find their ways on a cut-throat colony world where civilization is often more dangerous than the wildlife of the frontier.

In 2199 the strange story of Pod 21 continues. A few have become reality stars, appearing at media events, speaking as pundits or in one case hosting a Poseidon travel show. Several are very active in cetacean rights and the Church of the Whalesong, two have joined the GEO and one of those is now a Peacekeeper. Several others have simply disappeared and there is varied speculation that they were lost to even larger predators, joined the insurgency or simply left civilization behind. The rest seem to be trying to live semblances of normal lives across the frontier, despite their individual fame. The challenges are considerable and despite their immense size, Poseidon is an even bigger place, apparently with room enough for even them."

See you next month, and remember - if you want more frequent Blue Planet updates, follow us on Twitter, and if you want to dive deep into various BP discussions, join Pawel and crew on the Biohazard Games forums.

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)