Skies of Fury

The printer's proof was finally delivered last evening, CST2 "Skies of Fury," the promotional booklet for CC1 "Beyond the Skies" Kickstarter.  I posted a series of pictures below, but beware: if you plan on being a player rather than a referee (and have not ordered this booklet), you might want to skip this part.  I'm including here some of you who will join my demo game at Gamehole Con in Madison WI, this November.  Seats are still available.

Two adventures are included, one which is entirely new, save to a handful of players for whom I've had the pleasure and privilege of game refereeing at NTRPG Con, last June.  You know who you are.  You will recognize a few things here and there as you cycle through the pictures.  For a closer look, click on an image.  For a full view, right-click on the mouse and select View Image.  The second adventure had originally been written for this blog (removed since), and was featured at VCon two years ago. A special thank you goes to Thorfinn Tait who completed CST2's layout despite real life obligations at home and at work, and managed fantastic work nonetheless. 

Both "Out of the Dark" and "The Black Blood" are written using generic game stats, which are explained in CC1 "Beyond the Skies." Since the book is offered exclusively to Kickstarter backers, there is no chance (at this point at least) that someone won't have CC1's guidelines.  I'll make those available as a file on Facebook's Calidar chat group.  Remind me if I forget.  If you are a backer of CC1 or CAL1 and want to order either CST1 or CST2, please contact me privately--likewise as regards the two poster maps.

I expect to receive another ten boxes via UPS this evening, and a few more Monday.  These are Kickstarter rewards for US backers (CAL1 "In Stranger Skies," CC1 "Beyond the Skies," and CST1 "Under the Great Vault" -- softcover and hardcover copies as appropriate).  Rewards for backers outside the US will ship individually out of the UK (except Admiral Level rewards, which must come from me so I can autograph books).  Since CST2's proof copy is good to go, I've now ordered those as well.  It'll be another 10 days or so before I receive them.  Meanwhile I'll start stuffing and labeling everyone's mailers.

Of Dreams, Mice, & Way Too Much Time

What does a game designer do while waiting for a last component to arrive from the printer before he can fulfill his latest Kickstarter rewards?  But of course: he works on his next project, with the (perhaps false) impression that he has all the time in the world since he really should be doing something else but can't.  So much for "way too much time."  Never mind that next year's project is really only a few months down the road.  Honestly.

So, I had this idea in "Beyond the Skies" of a flying circus that traveled the Great Caldera--not the sort that Manfred Von Richthofen would imagine, but rather one a fantasy roleplayer would come up with.  Imagine this:  a huge triple-decked, flying platform with a circus on top (big garishly-colored tent and all), surrounded with fun-houses, food vendors, a ghost train, a roller-coaster, and a great wheel powered by diminutive fellfolk running within cables and crossbars like hamsters in a spinning wheel, all of this surrounded by a ring of multiple-level houses inhabited by the circus people and perched precariously at the very edge of the platform.  (Okay, you can breathe now.)  Add giant masts protruding from the sides, fitted with gargantuan sails and massive ropes to anchor them and the big tent at the center, amid a ballet of levitating barges bringing townsfolk from down below to attend the fabulous exhibition: The Greatest Show on Calidar.