Introducing SKYREALMS by Iko and Evlyn Moreau! A system-neutral RPG fantasy sourcebook and coloring book, full of misty floating islands and weird creatures. Compatible with Troika, DCC, Cairn, DURF. ** Shipping fees will be calculated and charged later, a few weeks before fulfillment **
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Hey Dear Backers, here's a quick and short mid-December update.
TLDR: layout is in the process of being done, last drawings and maps are to be delivered soon, PDF of the book will be sent out this month.
Before starting the last layout pass, I did some research on old books. I'm talking about several century old pharmaceutical books, as well as other old textbooks, I had the chance to observe on several occasions during work trips to the city of Florence, Italy.
I was struck by the beauty and simplicity of those books: little kinds of typefaces and font sizes, high readability, strong emphasis put on the illustrations, and single-column layout.
This was highly influential over my layout process: I’ve set up an extremely simple two columns grid, and I stick to one column as much as possible.The book is a tabletop RPG sourcebook as much as it is a coloring book, this is why I’ve tried to give space to the illustrations and use a lot white space. Readers should have the possibility to color and doodle the white areas of the book. And reading it should emulate somehow an exploratory experience. This, as well as all the extra content I’ve put in it, will result in a slightly thicker book than originally planned. (not accurate, much bigger actually).
Here’s what it looks like, I’m sharing three spreads, editing is not final as we’ll do one last pass on the fully laid out PDF.
An Haything, a creature of the Skyrealms. There are 14 folks/creatures in the book.
And this is a spread from one of the adventures, The War Sigil. Each room is contained in one page, important rooms can have a full spread, room connections are labeled in the footer.
You’ll notice a little map insert. It’s a placeholder as the map for this adventure is still in the works, but I’m happy to share the map for another adventure, called A petrified family.
The map is by Bordercholly and features a ginormous sandstone ram-house. We’ve set on a map drawing style that is complementary with Evlyn’s art. The maps have very light or no textures that makes them colorable like the rest of the illustrations!
All the team is putting all their heart into the project: Bordercholly is drawing amazing maps, Emiel Boven has concocted a super fun adventure, The Chromatic Flute, that will take you to the depths of the Crystal Kingdom, Sam Leigh the editor is doing a super meticulous job to streamline all the book texts, and Evlyn is giving us more amazing illustrations, like this one, featuring Sandogs from the Sleepless Plains.
That’s all I got for you folks today. I’m still aiming at sharing with you the PDF version of the book in December, yes before the end of the month, and the physical versions in January, late January most probably. We’re almost there!
As always, thanks a lot for your support.
Have a great day and week,
Iko
Dear Backers,
This October update is coming a little late. I apologize, I’ve spent the whole month writing so much additional Skyrealms content, putting all the other projects on hold, and just diving into the world of the three tiny floating islands. I must say I was taken a bit by surprise as the book kept growing. I think I wanted to be sure that you would be happy and have enough to play for weeks. Well, we’ve reached that goal now!
The table of contents is roughly the same as the one announced in the September update, but a lot of chapters got much more depth than originally planned. More tables of things, situations, creatures, hooks, rumors (for specific locations). Most of them are D6 or D36 tables. Some entries have D6 options. I’ve tried to find a balance between giving a lot of content, and keeping the book fluid, easy and fun to read. Basically the zine is disseminated with sparks, hooks and simple mechanics that facilitate emergent narratives.
The very last addition are a series of tables at the beginning of the book: Islands topography (1 x Island), Islands encounters (1 x Island), Reasons for visiting the Skyrealms, Weather (lots of weather tables in the zine actually).
Speaking of content I’ve put together a mini zine with D36 Skyrealms’ Stuff. 36 weird things and their effects/weird properties. It’s free for you to download here. The mini zine features a new drawing by Evlyn Moreau, it’s A4 and ready to be printed.
This extra amount of game design is going to postpone shipping of the physical books a little bit. I’m still doing the best I can to send them before Christmas but it’s safe to assume fulfillment will start in early 2023. I’m sorry about this delay, I hope you will be ok with this, considering you will get a lot of super cool gaming and coloring content!
November will be dedicated to fine-tuning layout. And as I mentioned in the previous update, I’ll be fulfilling digital rewards as soon as layout is finished, most likely in early December. Digital fulfillment will get you all you need to start playing (conversion cards included), print at home and coloring.
I’m expecting the two final pieces from Evelyn. For these two Evlyn will roll/pick the subjects on actual random tables of the book, I’m super excited to see what will come out of this exploratory drawing process. I’m sure that, as always, Evlyn will surprise us.
Bordercholly is going to draw the zine’s dungeons in addition to the Atlas, and a few extra drawings, beasts and items. I love their art, it strikes a cute vibe and is super complementary to Evlyn's. So more art for Skyrealms which is good news!
That’s all for today. As always, thank you so much for your support. I’m really so grateful that we can bring this zine into reality and with such an incredible team.
Have a great Sunday and until next time, stay well.
Iko