Companions of the Firmament - Pathfinder RPG Compatible Kickstarter Project

harpy · Jul 17, 2012

We're in the Pipe, Five-by-Five: Vehicles, Magic Items, Constructs, oh my!

Five days to go till the end of the Companions of the Firmament Kickstarter campaign!

Here is a final stretch goal to add some drama as we come in for a landing. If we get to $3500 then a final creature sheet will be commissioned that will focus on vehicles, magic items and constructs that focus on flying.

As we make our descent, don't forget the Monster Sheet stretch goal which is set at $3250.

harpy · Jul 19, 2012

Feather Fall: On Falling in CotF and an important upcoming date for all of us!

Three days left and we're at $3191.58! Just $58.42 from the next Monster Sheet stretch goal, and $308.42 from the final Creature Sheet stretch goal.

When you make flying a big part of a campaign the issue of falling is going to inevitably come up. If you go by how the system is typically played the answer to the issue of plunging to your death is to have the spell Feather Fall on hand, typically with the Ring of Feather Fall.

That's fine, but I personally found that unsatisfying, both in working on Companions of the Firmament, but also because it simply solves the problem of falling far too easily and without much expense on the part of the characters. Once everyone has one of these rings, the tension from that aspect of play is gone, and that isn't really the best way to add drama to an emerging story.

Because of that I wanted to offer up some other ways of treating falling by looking at the basic rules on and the offering a set of tools to turn the dial on gravity so that it matches with the kind of feel you want from your play. Do you want falling to more of a “bullet time” cinematic moment where others can react and try and save the falling character? Do you want it to be grimly realistic so that the players need to build their strategies and tactics around the effects of gravity? Each table will be able to decide where to dial in this important aspect of the imagined reality.

Lets shift gears a bit and see how imagination and reality are coming together in a spectacular way. On August 6th the Curiosity Rover will reach Mars and attempt its landing. The Curiosity is much larger than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that have been on Mars for several years. Weighting five times as much as those rovers, the balloon bouncing landing isn't really feasible, and so instead NASA has devised it's own version of the Feather Fall spell with an incredibly elaborate landing sequence that is designed to gently lay the Curiosity on the surface.

Check out the video of what the landing is supposed to look like and cross your fingers on August 6th!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BudlaGh1A0o]video of what the landing is supposed to look like[/ame]

harpy · Jul 22, 2012

Final Destination: Last 24 hours!

It's the end run now with just 24 hours left of the Companions of the Firmament Kickstarter. Since the last update a pile of people of climbed on board and we've blown past two stretch goals! First we reached 150 Monster Sheets at $3250, and then the final Creature Sheet stretch goal at $3500.

Ahead we still have a stretch goal at $3750 to up the Monster Sheets to 200. We're only $160 away from reaching it so hopefully we'll have enough join us to get there.

This has been one wild month and I really, really appreciate everyone's support. I'm off to bed and hopefully I can dream up a few things during the night to make the last day more interesting.

harpy · Jul 22, 2012

Aces High: Hitting the Median, New Stretch Goal and the Final Hour

Hitting the Crowdfunding Report Median

When I began research on doing a Kickstarter I found myself collecting data on other RPG crowdfunding projects to help guide me what to do and what not to do with a crowdfunding project. Eventually this lead the crowdfunding report that I released this last spring so that everyone could get some help with this exciting new tool.

I designed this project around that report and those insights have definitely helped this project flourish. When the project first went live I had no idea how all of this would play out, but it ended up quickly reaching funding levels and it seems as if all the broad patterns of the report were falling into place.

As the funding campaign developed further one of the unspoken pet goals is to see the number of backers for Companions of the Firmament hit the report's median or beyond, which is 110 backers. At this moment we only need 14 more backers today to pull it off. So I'm just putting the call out to all of those who've already backed, if you know someone who might be interested in CotF, now's the time to pass on the word!

New Stretch Goal – Springtime Adventure

To help things along towards that median, I've decided to offer up one last stretch goal. This would be an adventure that would use many different elements of CotF to help illustrate their use in play and inject players into a decidedly aerial environment. I'm envisoning this adventure as somewhat like an organized play module (such as from Living Greyhawk or Pathfinder Society) in structure and length, roughly 16-20 pages. It will also have an intro video that I'll produce that the GM can present to players to set the mood and introduce the plot hook for the players.

If we finish with 110 backers or beyond at the end of the campaign then anyone who contributed at the Wingmate ($10) reward level or higher will receive the adventure as a PDF. The video will be posted to Youtube which should make it readily accessible in a variety of ways to show to players.

The aim for delivery on the adventure would be the spring of 2013.

Final Hour

I'll put out one last update at that final hour of the campaign (10:30 EDT) so keep a lookout for it. I want to add some drama to the last few moments of the campaign

harpy · Jul 23, 2012

Magic Hour - Final Achievement Bonus

One hour left for the Companions of the Firmament Kickstarter!

Progress Update

Many people have been joining the host of the firmament over the last several hours, in particular an “angel investor” descended from on high and cast mana upon the project. While the Angel Investor was to me a hail mary pass, it's been answered and I'm still a bit stunned by that. Thank you Brett!

All of that activity has blown us through THREE Flying Monster Sheet stretch goals! Right now we're just $79 away from a fourth one. We're also just four (4) backers away from the final Adventure Stretch Goal.

Magic Hour Achievement Bonus

It was a big deal to me when the original funding goal was being reached. So much energy over the previous months went into that moment and that was just 60 hours after it started. Now another five weeks have passed with yet another wild ride as more support poured in. To make for a dramatic landing I wanted to offer up a similar achievement bonus to the one I offered all the way back in Update #1 .

From this point on in the funding campaign, the backer that contributes the most in within this last hour will get a Reaper figure painted by myself. See Update [URL=http://www.enworld.org/forum/usertag.php?do=list&action=hash&hash=1]#1 [/url] on your choices of which figure to pick from and examples of my painting skills. If you have already backed prior to this moment then you can either contribute more to your existing reward level, or upgrade to a new level. You're previous contribution does not count, so if you were a $50 backer and then upgraded to $100 then $50 is the measured amount for this achievement bonus. I'll be able to figure all of this out from the KS dashboard and how the emails roll in. Tiebreaker will be the last person to pledge between those tied.

If you want to change your amount, just click on the big blue “Manage Your Pledge” button. On the next page make sure the big dollar amount at the top of the page is correct. The dollar amount does not change when you just select a different radio button with the reward levels.

Two caveats:

First, people who cancel their backing and then back again within this hour will not count in this little achievement bonus. We're all gamers here, but no min-maxing/rule-loophole nonsense!

Second is that my wife doesn't qualify for this achievement. She's talked about backing, but has yet to do it. Honey... there's just an hour left!

Happy hunting and see you in the eyrie!

harpy · Jul 23, 2012

The Eagle Has Landed: Thank You!

Man, what a wild wild ride these last several months have been. I've been humbled over and over again from all the support that Companions of the Firmament has received during this time. Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement along the way.

We hit the 300 Flying Monster Sheet stretch goal AND the Adventure Stretch goal. Thanks everyone for hustling for that effort. It was great to see us get to 111 backers! After all that work with the crowdfunding report, I just though that it would be “statistically poetic” to be able to hit the median from the report.

Who was the winner for Magic Hour Achievement Bonus? That goes to Jez Clement. Congratulations and thank you for the extra backing!

Act one of this endeavor happened years ago with numerous game designs gently being herded along and culminated in the crowdfunding report. Act two has been a wild ride as I pulled together all the resources to make a Kickstarter, and then see it through till this evening. I've been sleeping and breathing this funding campaign for what feels like such a long time that it's hard to grasp that Act three has begun.

Tomorrow I'll be able to lay out the final budget and begin working with artists on filling the rest of this book up with terrific art. For the custom art backers I'll message you and start working on your visions of the art. I'll also make a point to check in with anyone else, such as Jez, to get the little details taken care of.

My white board is filled with to-dos that have been waiting for this moment. I'm going to bed and tomorrow I'll start grinding through those lists, getting the innumerable little details accomplished so that I can erase what's on the board. In a handful of months Companions of the Firmament should be appearing in your hands and/or on your screens.

Thanks all!