September update: Editing!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 06:48:38 AM

Dear Backers,

I hope you had a nice month of September.

I have a few questions for you at the end of this update, about digital fulfilment, if you can, please take a minute to give them a look

In the Skyrealms things are looking good. The book is being sent to the editors at the end of the week. It grew significantly in size. I copied the text in a google doc to facilitate the work of the editors, and it's roughly 12 000 words long, which is way more gaming content than expected!

Hooks

I love open worlds, modular games, and I tried to write Skyrealms this way, leaving space for interpretation, improvisation, and world building.

That said, I've added to the book a series of adventure hooks. They are simple suggestions on how to connect one adventure, one character, one location to other parts of the Skyrealms. These hooks are intended to help Game Masters build campaigns. I’m super excited about this feature, it makes the world more alive, more mysterious too.

I'll add a diagram, like a point crawl map, of possible connections, mentioning themes and page numbers. Something like this below. Consider it a proof of concept, rather than the actual thing.

Table of contents

What will you find in the book? A few things might change during the editing process but here's a simplified TOC:

• Credits
• The Skyrealms: intro, rumors
• Folks of the Skyrealms: Playable backgrounds
• Creatures of the Skyrealms: NPCs
• The Mist: navigating the Mist, encounters, drifting rock islands
• Rainbows: rainbow magic, spells, amulets, misspells
• Dungeons: A petrified family, The War Sigil, The last Cyclops
• More Skyrealms: Stuff, encounters, weather, and more!

Those are only the contents of the book! The gaming accessories will bring more to play with. Honestly I didn’t expect to write so much, but I’ve received such strong and enthusiastic support from all of you, that gave me a lot of energy and ideas started piling up!

Art, layout and timeline

I’ve commissioned more art pieces from the lead illustrator Evlyn Moreau. I should be able to show them with the next update. I just can’t wait. I might do a mini update only with art pieces as soon as I get them.

The book will be fully edited before the end of October.

Several backers asked if they could have a digital copy of the book before fulfillment starts. Of course I’m down to send early material to the backers, but I’m not sure how to proceed and I’d love to hear your thoughts.

There are a few options:

• I could send a preview PDF of the book as soon as editing is over, with a super bare bones layout, and little art.
• I could wait more and send a PDF of the book with the full layout.
• I could do both too.

What sounds best to you? Let me know what you think in the comments.

The Emiel Boven Bundle

I’ll be launching a little online store very soon. The store will carry some of my own games, but mainly zines, and special publishing projects made in collaboration with guests of The Lost Bay Podcast. The first project will be the Emiel Boven Bundle: four zines, and a sticker sheet by one of the coolest designers/illustrators of the indie scene, Emiel Boven, who is also a member of the Skyrealms team!

Unless you’ve opted out (see update #6), I’ve added your email to The Dispatch: The Lost Bay Studio mailing list. So keep your eyes peeled. You'll be receiving a newsletter on store launch: very soon!

That’s all for today. Dear backers and friends, thanks again for your support <3! I’ll talk to you soon with more news. Until next time, stay well,

Iko

August Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 24, 2022 at 02:05:32 AM

Dear Backers, here’s the Skyrealms August update. There’s been a lot of work happening in the background, let me highlight some of the design decisions we made and share a more detailed timeline.

The Atlas

With Bordercholly we talked a lot about how we should design the Atlas, the map of the Skyrealms. The main design objective is to give enough details to make the map fun and useful from a gaming perspective, but also to leave it somehow open to interpretation, to let you fill the blanks of the map with your own imagination. As we were jamming about the Atlas, Zedeck Siew, author of A thousand thousand islands, shared a fascinating thread about fantasy cartography. To sum up Zedeck's view, TTRPG maps should be in-game documents, and you should always know who drew the map you are designing. We decided to adhere to this philosophy and design the Atlas as a map made by one of the inhabitants of the Skyrealms: the Lostraunot. The Lostronaut is one of the main characters of the Skyrealms lore, at the same time a dweller of the Skyrealms and an outsider, this is exactly the viewpoint we are looking for! It’s going to be an exciting gameplay accessory!

Color Magic

I’ve been redesigning the magic system from scratch. Previously Skyrealms’ magic was a list of odd spells, they were fun, and wild, very much a la Troika, but lacked consistency. The redesign is not complete yet but here’s where I’m going: Magic will be associated with colors, the seven main colors of a Rainbow. Rainbows are a big part of the Skyrealms lore, they are no mere optical illusion, but ephemeral physical objects you can walk on, eat, or use to cast magic. The magic system is freeform. Each color has its own theme, and is associated with a set of words. Combining multiple colors, and thus words, you can craft powerful and versatile spells. I find this choice more consistent with the lore of the book, and also with its coloring theme!

Stretch goals, go go go!

I’ve decided to produce three additional stretch goals we didn’t reach. Because, hey, I want you to have a super cool book, and plenty of gaming opportunities. So here’s what’s going to be added:

2 more mini dungeons, a Furling Treecave, and a Petrified Sandram. You can expect two full spreads with dedicated items, encounters, events and traps.

Soundtrack. Batts is going to produce some original music for the game. We’ll share it digitally with you and upload it to the Youtube playlist Sam Leigh has already concocted. Expect some chill trippy electronic music sounds.

Timeline

Everything looks like we’ll keep our November fulfillment goal. Here’s some detail on the timeline.

Early September: the book draft is sent to Sam Leigh, the editor, and the other contributors, Emiel Boven and Bordercholly.

Fourth week of September: the conversion cards, the adventure pamphlet, the Atlas, the Almanac, the one-shot cards are produced, and are sent to the editor and to Armanda Haller who designs the solo game.

Early October: the soundtrack production starts. Additional drawings are commissioned. The solo game is sent to the editor.

Mid-October: fine-tuning the layout. I am doing layout as I write the book and other materials, I literally write the the game in the desktop publishing application, as opposed to a text processor, because as Skyrealms is also a coloring book, the text and coloring areas must fall in the appropriate places to ensure the best coloring/drawing experience.

Last week of October: the book and accessories are sent to production, and as many of you requested: we fulfill the digital copies!!! Production should take between 7 to 10 days, we’ll need 10 additional days to dispatch the copies to the fulfillment partners.

Last week of November: fulfillment of the physical copies starts!!!

December: you play and color Skyrealms with friends and family during a cozy winter if you dwell in the Northern hemisphere, or a sunny summer if you are a denizen of the Southern hemisphere.

I hope this update is not too long :) I am super impatient to share and print the book, and as always I thank you warmly for your support!!!

I’d love to hear about you, what are you playing, writing, drawing? Let me know in the comments.

Lastly I wanted to boost two cool projects that are Kickstarting right now and that you might like.

Filmmakers without cameras the Trilogy, an anthology of games and texts about games and movies by an international roster of writers and artists. I’ll be one of the contributors and write about the genesis of The Lost Bay, a 90s suburban horror RPG.

Lilancholly: a guide to a secret world, by Batts, an experimental Lyric game by one of the most creative authors of the scene!

That's all for today! Have a great week and take care .

Iko

Thank you and what's next?
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 03:56:20 PM

We made it!

And that's thanks to you, to your support! I'm so grateful, thanks for backing this project, and helping us bring Skyrealms into reality! 

What's next?

We'll spend the summer fine-tuning the book and the accessories to fulfill as soon as possible this fall. In the next few days your backer info and contact email will be imported into the pledge manager: Backerkit. There you'll be able to grab a few add-ons if you wish: additional copies at a discounted price, T-shirts, Stickers. I'll publish an update as soon as the pledge manager is live. So keep your eyes peeled!

Updates

I'll send you regular updates as the work on Skyrealms proceeds. But I won't flood your inbox, expect roughly one update per month, unless there is some specific matter that requires you to take action.

Newsletter

Unless you tell me otherwise (feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] or DM me on Kickstarter) I'll add your contact to The Lost Bay studio newsletter: The Dispatch. We're working on some really cool games and The Dispatch is the best way to stay updated about our TTRPG stuff. You can expect roughly an email per month.

Coloring!

To celebrate the end of the campaign and the successful funding here are a few Skyrealms illustrations colored in by backers and friends. Thanks again and have a great day!

Iko

Skyrealms T-Shirts and Stickers are LIVE!!! Go! Go! Go!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jul 02, 2022 at 01:23:47 PM

A quick but important update: the Skyrealms T-shirts and Colorable Sticker Packs are available as add-ons for the Standard and Deluxe tiers.

You can now expand your Skyrealms experience wearing cozy and beautiful Screen Printed T-shirts featuring the eerie Skyrealms floating island created by Evlyn Moreau, and color cool stickers of the Skyrealms and the creatures that populate them, and stick them wherever you like!

We've chosen to Screen Print the T-shirts on premium quality fabric to ensure the best possible restitution of Evlyn's drawing. The T-shirts are available in two colors: pink and white.

If you have already pledged, just click on the Manage your Pledge button top right corner -> click change your pledge -> select your pledge level -> pick the Add-ons. If you have any difficulty finding the add-ons do not hesitate to send me a DM or write a comment. 

 Have a great day and weekend!

Iko

FUNDED! and new bonus illustration
almost 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 01, 2022 at 08:04:16 AM

The Skyrealms Goddess is dancing and the magical rainbow shines like a diamond. We made it! Skyrealms is funded, and that happened thanks to you! I can't thank you enough for your support, for backing the project and for tirelessly promoting it on social networks. THANK YOU!

First Strech Goal

We are a few steps closer to our first stretch goal: Troika + DCC + DURF + Cairn conversion.

Skyrealms is a system neutral book. What does that mean? All the mechanics are written without any explicit reference to stats. That makes the book and its content usable with any game, but might require a little prep. To facilitate the GMs work the first stretch goal is a conversion to 4 different systems. For every of these 4 systems/games we’ll add a digital companion with detailed stats for every creature/beast/NPC/background or class, as well as some guidelines on how to use the book and its accessories with your favorite game.

Here’s quick tour of these 4 systems:

•  Cairn: is a lightweight 3 stats only D20 system designed by Yochai Gal (and inspired by Knave and Into the Odd). Cairn stats will allow you to use the book with any D&D adjacent game, with some minimal adaptation
•  Troika: a mind-blowing D6 powered space fantasy RPG published by the Melsonian art Council. Ideal for any weird and trippy setting.
•  DURF: a fast to use lightweight fantasy ruleset by Emiel Boven, who is a member of the Skyrealms team and will write the Crystal Slug adventure (more in that on a further update)
•  DCC or Dungeon Crawl Classics a game inspired by older D&D games with a strong Sword and Sorcery feel.

The Cyclops

And to celebrate the funding here's a new original illustration by Evlyn Moreau for you to color: the mighty Cyclops. You can download the hi-res image here. Cyclopes are fallen merciless deities of the Skyrealms. Some believe they will soon come back from the dead and reign once again on the three little magical islands. But probably it’s just an unsubstantiated rumor and there’s no reason to worry. Happy coloring ;)

Thanks again, stay tuned for more updates soon, and have a great day/night.

Iko