I've had a big idea...
about 3 years ago – Sun, Mar 28, 2021 at 01:03:42 AM

Hey Roomlanders, I’ve had something of a big idea.

This last week has been huge for work on the expansion modules, Oceans, Battlements and Cities and they are nearly complete from a rules and writing perspective. But as I was writing the rules, and finalising the mechanics I kept coming up with more and more ideas for this world and this system.

Colostle is so much bigger now, thanks to all of your support. And because of that support, we had all the stretch goals which allowed me to expand the game, something I never planned to do originally. With each expansion, I want it to be more than just the new class and new prompts in your exploration table, I have added new mechanics in these regions. Playing on the Oceans is different to playing on land, and the Battlements are different again. The Cities expansion is easily the biggest and adds loads of new functionality to the game, including a Quest Generator for the Rook Hunter’s Guild!

The thing is, the more I wrote, the more I came up with. I came up with new settings, new rules and mechanics, new story and world and lore and mythos elements. Colostle is a huge part of my head now, I am having BIG ideas! But there isn’t enough room in the books as they stand. And I can’t just make the books bigger because there isn’t any room in the budget to pay for it!

So, here’s the idea: I’m considering a Patreon. For those of you that don’t know, Patreon is a monthly subscription platform, primarily for supporting creatives and their projects. As a Patron, you sign up and pay a small amount every month, and every month you receive something in return, but most of all it allows creatives to actually realistically build an income out of what they do and make, and get it into the hands of the people who really want it.

Here’s my thinking: £2 a month subscription gets you a digital document that adds more to Colostle, EVERY MONTH! It could be new rules, new lore and mythos, new illustrations, an ongoing monthly story campaign that your character can play along with, or even, a fully illustrated story set in the world of Colostle (I’ve already been having ideas for this).

I know you haven’t even received the base books yet, so I’m definitely not asking anyone to commit to this idea yet, but I thought I’d put the word out to see what people think.

Does this sound interesting?

If so, what would you prefer? New expansions, an ongoing campaign, or an illustrated story? Or all of the above?

A patreon would be a huge support to me as an artist and a creator. It would allow me to make more, not just for Colostle, but for other games and artwork that I have planned too. I know its early days and I’m sure most of you want to play some Colostle before you commit to anything like this. But let me know your thoughts in the comments, that’s all at the moment. And then, if it sounds good, we can all start to get excited about it, together!

Right, that was a pretty long one, so I’ll leave it there. Thanks again team, more from me soon!

Nich x

Gargoyles
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 18, 2021 at 10:41:20 PM

Hey Roomlanders,

Thanks to all of you who have filled in your surveys and opted for some add-ons! A good amount of you have done it which means the whole process will be able to move without any delays when its ready to go, so thats great!

I've been working away behind the scenes on the book and all the artwork. There's still a lot to do but I'm getting through it, and once it is all complete I will make the digital pack available to you all and then start with the physical production side of things.

In the meantime, I want to share with you one of my recent illustrations and tell you a little about it... introducing, the Gargoyles.

The Gargoyles are strange, stone creatures that are rarely seen. All that is known about them is that they come from above, it is assumed from a place called the Rafters, high in the ceiling of Colostle rooms. Although they are made of stone like the Rooks, they are different with much more organic forms, like statues carved from stone, rather than robot-like creatures assembled from stone parts.

As so little is known about them, the people of Colostle have no idea what they are or what they want, but they are feared. If a Gargoyle swoops down on someone they are never seen again, carried off up into the clouds. Maybe they're taken to the rafters, or maybe they're taken to a nest to be fed to a family of Gargoyles. Who knows?

As such, there are no combat rules for fighting Gargoyles in the game. They are a prompt that might happen to your character on an adventure. It is up to you where they take you and what they want, or who they are. An opportunity for some mystery in your adventure, and maybe a chance to discover the mysterious rafters...

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So there you go, hope the Gargoyles fill you with inspiration for your adventures!

More to come,

Nich x

ALL SURVEYS ARE GOING OUT!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Mar 10, 2021 at 09:18:01 PM

Roomlanders! The time of surveys is at hand!

The majority of the surveys have now gone out, and you should be receiving them in your email inboxes as I type this. If you want to upgrade your pledge, or add add-ons, your survey is your gateway to do this. If you have any questions at all please don't hesitate to ask me, either here or on Backerkit and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

I haven't decided exactly when I will lock the surveys and charge for any add-ons, as it depends on when I get the artwork completed and am ready to start production. However, as soon as I know a date, I will let you know here via an update, and I will ensure to give you plenty of time if you still haven't got around to completing your survey at that point.

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In other news, I would like to share with you the artwork for one of the new classes from the expansions, The Mounted.

The Mounted ride an adapted mechanism taken from Rook parts, as a vehicle or mount to allow them easier traversal across the land and sea of the Colostle. Typically this involves taking a part of the Rook responsible for its locomotion and disconnecting it from the main body, turning it into something that can be operated with crude controls, mechanisms and levers. The Mounted’s mounts can vary from horse-like creatures to boats and even bikes.

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Hope you dig this latest tidbit, and there will be much more for you soon!

See you in the surveys...

Bye for now!

Nich

The survey process begins...
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 04, 2021 at 08:43:59 PM

Roomlanders, I have some exciting news!

But first, your name! Thank you so much for all your amazing ideas for what I should call you intrepid explorers of the Colostle. There were some amazing suggestions and some really complex thought through ideas too, which I loved. I love how much you guys are thinking about this world and the stories within it, its so exciting!

A very close runner-up was 'Colostsouls' suggested by Rew King, which I thought was brilliant! But the winner (in my eyes anyway!) was 'Roomlanders' suggested by Ross Emery! I love the fact that it describes the unique aspect to the world and it just sounds so flipping cool! Well played Ross, well played.

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The big news is that the surveys are starting to go out! Backerkit has a process called a 'Smoke Test' where it sends surveys to 5% of my backers to check to see if everything is working ok. I don't get to see who this 5% are, they are chosen at random by the system. 

So, if you have received a survey, please go through the process as you normally would, adding on any add-ons if you want any, and completing with your address and payment details if required. If you encounter any problems or issues please let me know either here on Kickstarter, via a message or comment, or via Backerkit and I will get back to you and sort it out.

Once we've ironed out the kinks (if there are any) then the surveys will roll out to everyone and you can start adding add-ons to your heart's content!

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Thats it for now, but you'll be hearing from me very soon when all the surveys go live. I've also got more artwork to share, AND I want to start sharing tidbits from Colostle Lore and Mythology to get you excited about what's coming, so keep your eyes out for that!

Ok Roomlanders, happy adventuring, and take care out there!

Nich x

Cities artwork!
about 3 years ago – Mon, Mar 01, 2021 at 12:55:58 AM

Hey Explorers of the Colostle! Colostlenauts! Colostle-venturers...

I need a name for you guys! A word for those who would explore the Colostle! If you have any ideas please comment below, the best one will become the new term for how I refer to you all!

I promised you I would come back to you with the title artwork for the Cities module, and I'm sorry its taken this long, but hopefully when you see it, you'll see why! There was a lot going on in this piece and it took me a while to establish a colour scheme that I loved... but anyway, without further ado, I present... the city...

The cities of the Colostle are incredible places, because the people of this world are not yet at an advanced enough stage to build places like this. The city can only exist by virtue of using husks of long dead Rooks as buildings, clustering them together as districts and city blocks and using stone harvested from their bodies to pave the roads between.

Within the cities the people use smaller core-Rooks as workhorses, and adapted Rook body parts as wagons or canal-boats. It is a place that affords a modicum of safety in a somewhat unpredictable world and you will find a lot of people making their lives within it or around it, to benefit from that security.

I hope you like the artwork, I am super proud of it!

Other than this, most of my time on Colostle lately has been spent on improving the rules and writing new stuff, but I will be doing some more illustrations for the book very soon and I will share some of those as soon as they're done, maybe some work-in-progress shots as well!

Also, I got the email from Kickstarter telling me the funds will be transferred in the next couple of days. Once I've got the money, I can open up the Backerkit surveys and pre-order store and you can all get to choosing your add-ons so expect to hear from me soon with news that all of that is ready for you!

Hope you are all keeping well and I will be sure to have some more Colostle news for you all very soon!

Nich x