Hello everyone-- 

Seven here!

The end of December was mostly dead for us, as people took time with friends and family. But the Confluence team is already rapidly at work now for the year! (and actually made some choices in meetings around december too!)

Books are getting reorganized. Beta testing information is being internalized and changing how we name and write things! Elements in the Motley Coast are being updated to fit stylistically with how we approached material in regions you Have Not Yet Seen! An internal playtest happened already and we're looking into longform games with our team member's game groups. 

Mechanics have been adjusted a bit, as we were told that some of the Facet mechanics (now Proficiencies) felt a bit insular and like a lot to keep track of. For context, all of our player abilities had their own mini-game-like mechanics. So when someone wanted to make use of their Perform, there was a page to read and a little mini game to play, but it often made players feel a bit isolated from allies and took a little to learn and implement. We're making changes to move some of those elements into group rolls known as Story Rolls. 

Overall, I think it's safe to say that the team is doing a ton of work to bring the game up to snuff well before we head to manufacturing!

We did a quick one-week playtest in-team, and I got to join!

We were a rough and tumble group of folks who latched onto an ideal that one of us had Pulled by a conflux into their minds-- Danny's character got the movie history of an action and adventure loving teen from Earth pulled into his head, and as a result, we decided to be Cowboys! During our session 0 setup, Lauren suggested the theme of Cowboys, and we all excitedly ran with it to that conclusion.

We were a crew of a Goblin with a past of finding out revenge doesn't make things right, and an exo-suit in the form of a super advanced gun; A cat Bande who was slimy and good at picking locks (that was me); a disgraced Jernang who was our sluicemanta wrangler (our stand-in for horses); and an injured Eye of the Cauldron player who thought this group of outlaws was doing something good for his old small town. And to be fair, we largely were doing good.

We attacked the mayor's party barge and made it into a Stick Up until he signed the deed to the town over to us, because he was abusing that poor town and stealing all its money and resources! We also robbed a bunch of other things on the way, which was pretty delightful, and made friends with the boat's AI, teaching it about how fun it could be to be a cowboy, free to chase the wild blue yonder.

The mechanics were smooth as ever, with quick rolls to determine low stakes, single person actions rapidly, and Story Rolls where we roll dice to use our wits and wiles against the Story Leader's set of dice for the obstacles we must overcome, each taking turns to determine how we applied our skills and succeeded or failed with gusto.

Shubham also got to make use of his character's fun Tensormancy a few times to affect gravity, a really neat way to distract people while others do sneaky things, or to push away bullets so we don't get shot. Appreciated that, Shubham!

For the Moment, Stay Tuned

The team is hard at work with the game system, and I'll be getting a full update in late February on where we're at and how we feel about our timeline then. At that time, you will get some specifics on what's happening in the game system, what things are being added, what might be taken out for now, and what's next!

There are two other Confluence things happening this year to keep people excited! They are both tied to the Publishing Goblin's journey through the world of Ajurea-- the setting for Confluence. The Publishing Goblin is a real creature in this world, who travels around in Workshop, the living, walking home and workshop for the Publishing Goblin's various creations. 

Sam Dow, illustrator behind the Gold Normal Tarot deck I reprinted just last year, is handling this journey. The Publishing Goblin is a Fallen God on a journey to accept their mortality and live among the people in the world, rather than separate from them as purely an observer.

The first project launches tomorrow morning! This is an enamel pin project with pins based on Sam's art from the next project. It features enamel pins, a Glamordillo plushie, and a Glamordillo ita bag! So if that's of interest to you, check that out and sign up to be notified on launch. There are limited early bird tiers available!

The second project launches in July, and it's a full Goblin's Tarot about that journey! We have references throughout the deck to the various peoples and lands of Confluence, as well as references to worlds that none of you yet know anything about! From the singers of the god-song from a game unreleased known as A Song the Size of the Universe, to Lords of the Oracle Dice having food truck Indian food with the Pub Gob, to the New Timer revolt in Crop Circle Junction, these lines and sketches for cards in the Goblin's Tarot explore so much of what Ajurea has to offer.

The Goblin's Tarot is a standard 78 card tarot deck, with many cards actually reflecting the standard RWS compositions for their cards. The guidebook will share both card meanings for traditional readings as well as insights into what's happening in the card art in Ajurea.

This tarot deck is being made to be used with games that require tarot decks to run on, and will release alongside a couple games that want tarot decks for their play as well!

And don't let the empty teaser page fool you, Sam has actually finished first passes on every single card in the deck already, and we're now moving to final line work and colors for the full deck. As we creep closer, you'll see more and more of the art, packaging, games to go with, and more!

More quietly, there's also a game project in March for HISTORIC, which takes place in Prosipio, one of the worlds that can be pulled into Ajurea-- plus a small game for TEKET, the sport I invented that exists in Ajurea!

So stay tuned my friends, Confluence has more work ahead of its release and wonderful companion projects to come out along the way!

On behalf of the Confluence Team,
7DA
your pub gob

Hello friends,

I'm Seven, I haven't been around for this campaign much at all, leaving it to the incredible Confluence team. And they had quite capable hands! But now that the project is done funding, it's my turn to take up the mantle of showrunner for these updates. 

So hello! I'm the Publishing Goblin, the person behind the project who paid all these amazing people to recreate this world from my old material. I tried to fund Confluence three times years ago, each time it did rather poorly. I didn't have it right just yet, the system was large and clunky, and I didn't have this amazing team. I was doing it all on my own. So needless to say, I am quite excited to see the project here and now.

Apologies for the radio silence as well, conventions have been quite busy for me and I'm home now, settling in and sighing a sigh of contentment with my good cat, Tom Bombadil, who has missed me ever so much.

While I was in Philadelphia this weekend, we sent out Surveys to you all! These let you grab extra items if you wanted, put in an address, and get all ready for the future. Now, at this time we are quite a bit from shipping, or manufacturing for that matter. The team has recently gotten back to work on bringing in our Alpha/Beta testing feedback to the game system, layout, and Atlas. 

That means we'll be sharing monthly updates from here on as we head toward our manufacturing sometime next year. You will be made aware of our estimated schedule as we go, but our goal is to have games in people's hands in 2025. If in this next year of time you move, no worries-- simply go into your survey and adjust the address. We will be able to do that all the way up to when we head to shipping.

Also a reminder that we haven't added shipping to your orders yet, and that will be done and charged when we're more certain of when we're shipping, and the final weights for all items.

While we wait, consider showing friends the pre-order store! https://confluence.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
People can put in late pledges here as pre-orders. Please note these are not your surveys, and if you place a preorder it will be separate from your pledge, and thus will charge for separate shipping and ship separately when it happens.

Then if you need ways to convince people, consider watching/sharing the incredibly awesome AA Voigt video on our Ephemeral canon... (text version here)

Or the time we were on Polygon's front page!

Or over on Bell of Lost Souls!

Or this video from Goblin Mixtape!

Or our release notice on Rascal!

Or when Kandi and Laya were on Dicey Banter with Valiant Dorian!

and I'd be remiss to not mention the currently live Misery Tarot here on Backerkit!

You can pledge to that here today, if you so desire!

Thank you for hanging out with us, we'll have updates on Confluence to share in the coming year!
Happy New Year our friends,

7DA
your pub gob