Hello Ultra Backers!

There are moments it feels like we just started this campaign, but in truth we've been running for since the start of the month and we're now officially in our FINAL WEEK COUNTDOWN!

Over this final week I'll be sharing a handful of instruction and review-type posts about Reward Tiers & Add Ons, Stretch Goal reviews, and What Comes Next, so if you've got any process questions or are wondering about how the Crowdfunding steps work, I'm hoping to clarify any remaining questions before we finish. Of course, if you're still wondering about something, please ask and I'll help as best I can.

We get to pick our Path, and some of those paths lead just past our planned finish line. We're going to try something with this campaign and see what happens! It's called "OVERTIME MODE" and it allows us to keep the campaign rolling as long as backers are pledging.

Overtime Mode

Overtime Mode extends the campaign past its original end time to give backers a final chance to make their pledge and adds an interesting twist to the end of the campaign. How long will it extend? That’s entirely up to backers: The campaign will keep going for an additional 10 minutes as long as pledges keep coming in – a chain of back-to-back pledges is called the Backer Train. The campaign will end only when the Backer Train stops after a period of 10 minutes passing without any pledges.

You’ll know we’re in Overtime Mode when the campaign’s Backer Train counter displays a bright rainbow border and a new countdown that resets to 10 minutes after each new backer joins that final Backer Train ride.

So, we've scheduled the campaign to conclude on September 26th at 2:00 pm EDT, but it'll be extended in 10 minute chunks as long as backers keep pledging. Will we add an extra 10 minutes? An extra 20? Or will it all finish up as we programmed? Who knows, but we'll find out together! Ultra indeed!

Overtime Mode not only impacts our exact finish time, but also our backer poll, which runs until the campaign ends! The longer we extend the campaign, the longer the poll runs.

The first of the included example settings, Pinfall from Grace, Body Slams from Hell, not only offers a complete game set in the parallel version of the year 2000, but also illustrates exactly how Story Path was implemented and adjusted. We have plans to write two more, and as a backer you'll be able to vote on which ones you prefer.

For our Sci-Fi example, backers have chosen "An experimental space flight flings the player characters into a distant galaxy full of strange and alien sights."

For the final poll, you'll be voting on a Fantasy setting example. Your options:

Voting will run until the Crowdfunding campaign ends on September 26th. You must be a backer of this project to vote for this setting.

I know, this is something I've already said many times (and seem to say during every project!), but for this final week, you are officially a Storypath Ultra Ambassador. It's time to share your excitement for SPU! Basically, we want to recruit as many curious backers as possible to see how long we can keep our Backer Train running over this final week.

I know I've ended many update posts with "Keep spreading the word! Invite others to join in!" - but what does that mean, and how do you do it?

Easy answer - don't stop talking about Storypath Ultra until 2:01 PM EDT next Thursday September 26th  (and then as long as we continue running in Overtime Mode). Yes, family and friends are tired of me talking about it. But what else have I got to talk about? And they've learned to tolerate me during a crowdfunding campaign. But here's the thing - there are others around who haven't heard or don't know about the campaign.

There are many, many Onyx Path and Storypath fans who haven't yet heard about this campaign and would love to join in. We're right in the middle of a very busy season - tons of different things competing for our attention and changing schedules and big events on the horizon - so it's not surprising that new backers are just finding out about the campaign every day. If you have an opportunity to let someone know, please do and let's make sure they have a chance to join in before the end.

If you're inviting new backers, or if you are a new backer (hi new backers!), here are a few key resources to be aware of for this campaign.

Backers are able to review the (soon-to-be) complete manuscript for this book before the campaign closes and any pledges are processed. With the exception of the quick conversion Appendix coming on Saturday and our example game (Pinfall from Grace) coming next Monday, the entirety of the rules and options from this book are available for download and review by backers! 

Anyone who pledges to this campaign before the end can read the entire book now AND provide feedback directly to the developers to help guide the manuscript through the final phases of development and editing!

And, if you join now, as I've noted, you'll be able to vote on the third example game setting that gets included with the final version of the book!

Wanna learn more about this book? If you've got friends you want to tell about Storypath Utra, why not let the experts do it? You can listen to the Onyx Path team talk about SPU at these links:

This podcast came out just before we launched our Crowdfunding Campaign, and you can hear the team talk all about the Storypath Ultra Core Manual.

And back even further to earlier this summer when Danielle and Eddy talked with Terry Robinson about Storypath and answered some questions about the evolution of the system.

Beyond the podcast and convention panel and entire draft version of the manuscript, you can also download a free outline of the Storypath Ultra system <here>.

The Discord is particularly lively, but you might be able to gain further insight and some in-depth conversation at any of these Onyx Path discussion zones:

1) Don't forget to share a link to the Crowdfunding page in any discussion you have (where appropriate) - and feel free to pass any of the links above to those who may need more info (or, just point them to this post!)

2) Don't forget to tell us about any post or review or discussion you write! Come to the comments section and let us know so we can all go read and watch and contribute! Like Awkward GM Corbin's First Impressions video <link> or interview with Eddy discussing SPU <link>. I know I keep saying it, but really - these last days are key. Keep the enthusiasm high and keep on inviting others to join in, either directly ("Come see...") or just by setting an example of your enthusiasm and interest.

I'm really interested to see if we can get a backer train going at the end of the campaign and wondering if we can keep rolling for another 10 or 20 minutes past our set end time!

We've got one week to go, everyone! Thank you all so much for your support! We work together because it's the right thing to do, and because backers make it better! Let's finish strong! And let's continue dreaming up what we can do with the SPU engine, sharing our feedback with the writers and delving into the draft manuscript, and let's see if we can't get another Stretch Goal before we review next Wednesday!

At $45,000 in Funding –  VTT TOKEN PACK - Digital assets will be created to support online play for Storypath Ultra games, including key character and creature tokens from the book. This online asset pack will be added to the rewards list of all backers.