Project Update: Pledge Manager coming soon!
Just a quick up date for today: the pledge manager is being built out and the smoke test will go live some time in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile behind the scenes Boson is finishing up the card art and Christian is working on layout for all of the cards, fronts and backs both.
Cheers and thank you all for being so supportive!
This user contributed to this community!
So I went into this Mothership month super excited and as it came to the end I was ok with what I got but then this "Overtime" thing happened. It gave me a pause as to what mattered here and why the "Overtime." First the overtime was the easy one. Crowd funding has always had an element of Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) but as we've all become accustomed to this, people have lost the fear. This Overtime is a way to bring that fear back. "Oh my gosh. This thing could end at any second so I better throw some money down." At first I thought I was having a "buyers remorse" feeling, but the more I thought about it over the last 28 hours of this overtime, I realized it was both an aggravation at this artificial excitement that TKG was trying to generate, but more importantly I realized I didn't need any of this other than this project. So I canceled my other pledges and have kept this one. From the start this project was the one that drew me in and while the "drop pods" seemed like a nice bonus, the stickers were just going to end up in the trash and this project is already giving me the NPCs I would have wanted out of the cards. So while I think this is a low blow from TKG creating this FOMO experience, it's allowed me to take a step back and focus on what creators are giving us truly special material and this one was it for me. So a long way around the barn to say thank you. I'm looking forward to this project.
Project Update: Artist Insight
Hey everyone, Boson here with a couple of words about the visual side of things.
From the conversations with CK about the world, I felt the overarching theme and general feeling about this project to be “attrition.” While each might have a drastically different approach, every survivor in this series is consumed with picking up the pieces, licking their wounds, and just trying to stay alive.
This is a story of the aftermath. I hope the art illustrates their scars: physical, emotional, and mental adequately. I wanted the technology to be “advanced enough” with obvious shortcuts made and less than ideal repairs abundant.
As for technicals: Procreate is the tool, with the default “technical pen” that's been heavily customized for my particular pressure tendencies from bad ergonomics. Lots of tropes from 90s comic art (or homages if you wanna be nice). Generous uses of layers to self correct, etc…. Typical digital artist shit. For color, I almost always start with lassos and complementary colors, then something dry brushy or gouche in low opacity for layering. I definitely utilize a great brushpack from Jason Piperberg (https://jasonpiperberg.gumroad.com/l/hKBUm) for the Kirby Krackle effect. Please support the brushmakers, every dollar helps.
Oh, and as for the video soundtrack: it’s my buddy’s band Outsick! from Baltimore, MD. (https://outsickhc.bandcamp.com/) . Grown ass folk making HC Punk about annoying Grown Ass topics. Drop them a listen on their soundcloud/insta/youtube/what have you.
This user contributed to this community!
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Hey there, I was wondering if the physical quality of the cards has already been decided on, or if it's dependent on your funding. I really like those cards that have that high-quality, textured finish (I think it's called a linen finish?), but from my understanding, gloss finishes tend to work better for art which is likely something you would want to highlight with this project. Do you have any information to share about what option you are thinking about going with, or if you already decided on a particular finish? Thanks!
Project Update: Card Preview and Creator Commentary
First, here are some words from deck creator Christian Kessler.
"Hi, this is the author and designer of Survivors of the Core Wars, a 50-card character deck for Mothership Sci-Fi Horror RPG. I just thought I'd share a little on where this came from.
"The project started as a set of 5 NPCs I wrote for Stella Condrey's Red Solstice zine. These are the core members of the Bastard Brigade, a fleet of space pirates and mad scientists that was directly responsible for the destruction of the Core Supersystem and uncountable deaths.
"The project also started years before that, when I was working on a collaboration with Fiona Geist that sadly didn't go anywhere. Each player was expected to have several characters die, so it was going to include 20 pregen characters on postcards. Some of Fiona's contributions to the project were psychological obstacles that played on past traumas and triumphs, so each card included brief descriptions she wrote of some of the character's core memories.
"Years later, I liked the Bastard Brigade enough that it made sense to explore their origin. I knew I didn't want to write a gazetteer-style setting book, or a detailed history of the conflict. The strength of a concept, especially in an RPG setting, gets lost in minutia more often than not. I was inspired to think more about the conflict because the NPC descriptions I'd written asked more questions than they answered. Answers that raise questions are useful and thought provoking. Simple answers that don't are still useful but boring.
"So this wasn't really going to be a setting at all, but a bunch of snapshots of the memory of a setting. The postcard layout I designed years ago was perfect for it. The Core Supersystem is no more, but its survivors bring it with them, for better or for worse. Mostly worse. "
Cool, thanks CK!
Now, as requested, here is a wip of the card backs. Keep in mind this is an older iteration, but the current iteration of the card backs is very similar to this.
Also note that the above card back is one written specifically for 0e Mothership (the original game). All of the cards have been updated and tweaked to properly align with 1e rules, so no need to worry about that. As you can see, these cards will have a vast array of information for ease of use at the table, and will also be useful as reference cards for new players. We're pretty stoked about making these as useful as possible.
Alright, we'll be back the week after next (Happy Holiday next week to those celebrating) with some more creator commentary and some previews of some of the art for the card fronts, plus some insight into card art creation from the visual side of this, Boson Au.
Cheers!
-Space Penguin Ink
