Backerkit Survey still on the way!
over 5 years ago – Sun, Oct 25, 2020 at 08:56:26 AM

Greetings, backers! Not a lot to talk about, but wanted to update anyway.

The process has bee progressive, but slow-going. Thus far, we've been spending a lot of time running playtests with our Discord community and editing/rebalancing/reflavoring some of our lore, while also paying close attention to the release of next week's Halloween Cryptid Expansion. We've been tweeting sneaky little previews of it, and even updated our Twitter banner to reflect that. So, keep your eyes peeled for that!

EDIT: Also, I'm working on implementing Late Pledges to this campaign. More info on this VERY soon!

It also looks like we settled on both a printer for the books AND a manufacturer for the cards, both of which are HUGE reliefs for me. We also have nailed down our fulfillment plan for the R&R books, which means MUCH less stress and work for the team (because shipping out Murka books is nothing but stress, let me tell you).

Yesterday I spent a lot of time at a bank getting our accounts configured for moving forward. Let me tell you, I am NOT looking forward to filing taxes next year - this entire process has SEVERELY complicated things. Still totally worth it, but that's my two-cents on the matter, anyway.

I'm waiting on Kickstarter to send me the funds. I'm actually currently waiting on an email back from them specifically regarding that, because I want to make sure the funds go to the right place, and I also want to make sure I get to pay everyone still waiting on payment. One of the many downsides to putting your dream project on a credit card and sinking yourself into massive debt on a whim is realizing that, eventually you max that card and then you're boned, lol. Again, no regrets - this Kickstarter has reinforced just how worth it that risk was. And, ideally, future projects won't come with quite as much risk as this one did. 

Jaron, what are you doing for self-care? Mental health is important, don't overwork yourself!

These are the cries of my coworkers every time they catch me online at 1 AM, or when I go silent during a Discord call and they put 2 and 2 together and realize I'm trying to sneak in some work. So, here are the things I'm doing right now to try and curb my workaholic nature.

Genshin Impact. I'm currently Adventure Rank 29, and having a BLAST playing this game. All the best parts of Breath of the Wild meets Dragalia Lost. I'm super into this one.

Phasmophobia. This game is TERRIFYING as HELL, but also really fun to get spooked with your friends. So, I do that.

Spending time with Kingston. Action Ficiton's unwitting (and wit-lacking) mascot, our dog Kingston, is absolutely my support beam at times. Here's a photo of CJ playing with him on our couch from last night, which we successfully convinced CJ to use as his Tinder profile picture.

There are a few other bits and bobbles that keep me going, like Adelaide's kindness and INCREDIBLE constant support, incredibly loving and supportive messages from my very close friends, hilarity ensuing in our Discord, and encouraging vlogs from Autumn Ivy, who was our Path of Gainz Barbarian in the core Murka book.

Also, the comments y'all leave, I read every single one personally, and share many of them with the team. Not a single message or comment has gone unread - you are all the very best. Looking forward to providing you with a more substantial update sometime very soon.

Warm regards,

Jaron R. M. Johnson

jrmj

Custom art backers, check your Kickstarter messages!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 04:43:03 PM

Custom art backers, check your Kickstarter messages!

If you backed at a tier where you should be getting custom art, either for your personal use or in the book, please check your Kickstarter messages! They include a link to a private Google survey, where you can provide us with a description and reference images!

Short update, as that's all I've got for you. More soon!

Cheers!

Jaron R. M. Johnson

jrmj

KICKSTARTER IS OVER - What happens next?
over 5 years ago – Wed, Oct 14, 2020 at 10:41:22 PM

Well, gang - we did it.

We made it to the end of the Kickstarter, and we survived. Which is a huge relief, because boy howdy was it INTENSE at times. This Kickstarter was way more successful than I had hoped - my expectations were to hit about 2x what we hit on the first Kickstarter, but we actually hit 5x the first Kickstarter. And with almost 6x the number of backers!

So, that brings us to the big question...

What happens next?

Big wall of text incoming. Sorry, not sorry.

Next up, we'll continue running public playtest games for several weeks. If you'd like to participate in the playtest, all you have to do is join our Discord and let us know you're interested! You can make your own character or we can do some pre-gens for you. Additionally, you'll get to look at ALL of our mechanical content as it is right now - monsters, subclasses, spells, items - the WHOLE kit and kaboodle.

This week, I myself will be stepping away from Restaurants & Retail so I can work on fulfilling hardback books from the first Kickstarter. For me, this looks like purchasing and printing shipping labels for ~150 people, then packaging books and coins for each of them, and dropping them off at my post office.

Work on the APs has already begun; Tim and I sat down and started spitballing ideas for the overarching story of the campaign, and I'm waiting on Tim to put together an outline before we can step forward on that one. After Tim puts together an outline, we'll start working on a solid writing template and building our writing team, ensuring we put together a diverse and talented team to tell stories in Murka. Then, that can go fully into production!

The Cryptid Chronicle is also at the mid-way point of production - we just spent last week conducting some internal playtests for monsters, spells, and our Bloodhunter subclass. That's slated for release at the end of this month, so if you're looking for a Halloween one-shot to run, we'll hook you up with all kinds of spooky Murka material for it!

I've gotta put together the BackerKit material for this Kickstarter. My GOAL is to have this done by Friday, but it's a lot of very boring administrative work, and I am a human who likes to sometimes have fun, so this might take me slightly longer. At any rate, we'll be putting together the BackerKit to include all the relevant information for add-ons, for shipping rates, and even for pre-orders if you happened to miss out on this Kickstarter! There are also some very boring meetings I have to have in order to make this a reality - conversations with fulfilment groups, printers, etc. to make sure we know what the entire process will look like beginning to end. Scaling up for Action Fiction is exciting, but also very daunting for a simple Ohioan bumpkin like me.

And,  all of this has to happen while I'm working my day job 40 hours a week. So, please have patience with me and the team - we're an incredibly small, incredibly new-to-the-industry and new-to-business team, and none of us are doing this full time yet (hopefully someday!). We try to respond very quickly to inquiries, and we try to remember to follow up with all of you when you have a question - but we are human, and sometimes humans err. If we've missed a question or an email of yours, please don't hesitate to shoot us a follow-up message/email. We really don't mind polite follow-ups, it helps us keep track of everything and make sure you have everything you need as backers!

Onwards and upwards.

Thank you all for making this possible. I'll try to keep you updated on every turn of events we experience. Transparency is a big goal of mine, so if you EVER have questions about our process or anything like that, please don't hesitate to ask.

Warm regards,

Jaron R. M. Johnson

jrmj

LIVE ON TWITCH RIGHT NOW!
over 5 years ago – Sat, Oct 10, 2020 at 01:15:49 AM

WE ARE LIVE ON TWITCH RIGHT NOW!

I am playing Phasmaphobia with some other members of the team, and I'm about to be scared out of my mind. I've never played it before, so wish me luck.

8 HOURS REMAIN! Livestream this evening! The Deck of Stories!
over 5 years ago – Sat, Oct 10, 2020 at 01:11:58 AM

WE'RE SO CLOSE TO THE FINALE!

Thank you all so much for being part of this journey. I am completely blown away.

Spooky Horror Livestream Send-off

Apropos of nothing, we'll be livestreaming Phasmagoria this evening as a send-off. I have never played it, and I am a jumpy whiny child in spooky situations, so I am willing to bet it'll be hilarious. For those who don't know, Phasmagoria is a horror game with voice controls. I'll be playing it with Adelaide and Snails, starting around 8 P.M. EST! Come hang out and watch me get super friggin' spooked.

The Deck of Stories and NPC Cards, a brand new storytelling tool in the DM's arsenal.

The Deck of Stories is a collection of interesting and captivating game hooks for you to use in your home game. The cards work together to make unique story arcs perfect for anyone trying to run a One-shot or write the next part of their campaign.

Also available are their NPC Cards, a collection of Pre-generated beautifully illustrated characters for you to use in your home game. Each NPC has a handful of traits that help define the character, yet still keep their background vague enough for them to be cast in any role. They could be a Noble, a Bartender, a Bandit. You name it!

If you're looking for a little bardic inspiration in your next game, check out the Deck of Stories HERE